Road Warrior Animal
| Road Warrior Animal | |
|---|---|
Road Warrior Animal in July 2012
|
|
| Birth name | Joseph Michael Laurinaitis |
| Born |
September 12, 1960 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Spouse(s) | Julia Laurinaitis |
| Children | 3; including James Laurinaitis |
| Family |
John Laurinaitis (brother) Marcus Laurinaitis (brother) Daniel Bryan (step-nephew-in-law) Brie Bella (step-niece) Nikki Bella (step-niece) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Animal Animal Warrior Road Warrior Animal The Road Warrior |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Billed weight | 305 lb (138 kg) |
| Billed from | Chicago, Illinois |
| Trained by | Eddie Sharkey |
| Debut | 1982 |
Joseph Michael "Joe" Laurinaitis (born September 12, 1960) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Road Warrior Animal (or simply Animal). Along with Road Warrior Hawk, Animal was one-half of the tag team the Road Warriors/the Legion of Doom. Also a sporadic singles competitor, he headlined the 2001 WCW pay-per-view event Sin, in contention for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
While living in Chicago, Laurinatis met Michael Hegstrand, later known as Road Warrior Hawk, and the two became close friends. When Laurinaitis was around eight years old, he and Hegstrand both moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota Laurinaitis grew up in Minnesota, having to work for a living from a very early age. He attended Irondale High School. Because of his size and love of power lifting, Laurinaitis was an imposing figure and thus a very effective bouncer. He worked as a bouncer at Grandma B's in the Twin Cities where he caught the eye of Eddie Sharkey, a well known wrestling trainer. Sharkey thought that Laurinaitis and Mike Hegstrand, Richard Rood, and Barry Darsow could make it big in professional wrestling, and trained all four of them.
Laurinaitis made his debut in November 1982, competing as The Road Warrior using a biker gimmick. After only a few matches as a singles competitor, Joe’s career and life would change thanks to an idea by Paul Ellering.
When Paul Ellering was looking to put together a stable of heels in Georgia Championship Wrestling called "The Legion of Doom", it was decided to put Laurinaitis together with his good friend Mike Hegstrand and change their names to "Animal" and "Hawk" respectively. Thus, the Road Warriors were born. They first started out as biker gimmicks; on The Road Warriors DVD, Animal said he felt like one of the Village People. To look more intimidating, the two shaved their heads into Mohawks and started wearing studded dog collars, spiked shoulder pads, and face paint. The look and name were taken from The Road Warrior, helping to paint the two as no-mercy monsters. Their interview style was vicious, yet charismatic and a bit humorous.
...
Wikipedia