2008 Road Warrior Animal Shoot Interview (RIP Road Warrior Animal)

Joseph Michael Laurinaitis (September 12, 1960 – September 22, 2020), better known by his https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_name Road Warrior Animal (or simply Animal), was an American https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling. Along with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Warrior_Hawk, he was one half of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_team https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Warriors.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Warrior_Animal#cite_note-alumni-2 He headlined multiple https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WWE_pay-per-view_and_WWE_Network_events and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NWA/WCW_closed-circuit_events_and_pay-per-view_events, competing for the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_World_Heavyweight_Championship at 2001's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_Sin.Laurinaitis made his debut in November 1982, competing as The Road Warrior using a biker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimmick_(professional_wrestling). After only a few matches as a singles competitor, his career and life would change thanks to an idea by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ellering.American and Japanese territories (1983–1986)- When https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ellering was looking to put together a stable of heels in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Championship_Wrestling (GCW) 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Max_2, helping to paint the two as no-mercy monsters.Jim Crockett Promotions (1986–1990)-Their hard hitting style, no nonsense attitude, and winning ways made the Road Warriors fan favorites. Even when they were booked as heels, the fans refused to boo them.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Warrior_Animal#cite_note-LODDVD-6 They started to split their time between the AWA and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Wrestling_Alliance (NWA) until finally leaving the AWA for big money contracts with the NWA and a huge push for the monster duo. During their initial run in the NWA, they helped popularize the