- hace 4 semanas
LUCHA LIBRE WRESTLING VIDEOS RANDOM
Categoría
🥇
DeportesTranscripción
00:00¡Suscríbete al canal!
00:30They were just like the guys in Mad Max.
00:33I mean, they were meaner than the guys in Mad Max.
00:36In the history of professional wrestling, no duo has dominated the ring like Hawk and Animal, the Rogue Warriors.
00:45When we go to Japan, they were like Godzilla.
00:49You look at them and you went, holy shit, I hope they don't kill me.
00:53They were legitimate tough guys.
00:54They clawed their way to the top, becoming one of wrestling's biggest attractions.
01:00But an unrelenting lifestyle for one ultimately led to their downfall.
01:05Partied hard, played hard, he lives hard.
01:08That switch would flip after the bash of bam.
01:12I woke up this morning, this is where I felt sick.
01:16It becomes a way off as well as an escape.
01:19You'll feel like you'll want to be dead when we're done with you.
01:23The Rogue can eat you alive.
01:25At the age of 46, Road Warrior Hawk unexpectedly passed away of a suspected heart attack.
01:31I literally cried like a baby.
01:33I mean, that was my friend.
01:35I've been through hell and back with this guy.
01:37Oh my God, alright!
01:46The art of tag team wrestling engages fans in a dynamic, far more complex way than one-on-one matches.
01:54The greatest tag team duos in history share a sixth sense.
01:58Operating as two halves of one whole, there's no one without the other.
02:02And no team proves that more than Mike Hawk Eggstrand and Joe Animal Laurinaitis.
02:11In an era dominated by iconic personalities...
02:14Just what exactly goes to the Road Warriors' mind?
02:18...whose singles matches were the star attraction.
02:20The Road Warriors would break the mold as comic book heroes come to life
02:24and post-apocalyptic warriors beyond the realms of Earth.
02:28The most important thing to us has always been beating people up!
02:32Their larger-than-life personas propelled them to main event status around the world,
02:37winning titles wherever they went.
02:39But the price for success is often high.
02:42And in this episode, we reveal the heavy costs paid by both men
02:46and how their wrestling brotherhood met its heartbreaking end.
02:50I think tag team wrestling is the most interesting part of the wrestling business.
02:55Tag team wrestling is an art.
02:57It's a four-person athletic dance.
03:00A road warrior animal?
03:02What half of the greatest tag team ever in the history of professional wrestling?
03:07The Road Warriors.
03:08There's more of a story told with the tag team than there is the single.
03:12You can't just put two guys together and make them a tag.
03:16You have to have two guys that really know each other.
03:18My name is Barry Darso.
03:22I was the repo man in Demolition Smash.
03:26And I always thought we had incredible matches with the Road Warriors.
03:30What made the Road Warriors successful was there were two guys that really clicked.
03:34Everybody believed that they could beat anybody.
03:37And they looked incredible.
03:39I saw the it.
03:42These two have the it factor.
03:46Paul Ellery, manager of the Road Warriors for 20-some years.
03:51The Road Warriors, it's a group that comes along once in every generation.
03:56And they're always copied, never duplicated.
03:59Hawk and Animal are just two no-nonsense badasses.
04:03Hawk was the off-the-wall flyer guy and Animal was like, the buck stops here.
04:08Most teams had one big guy and one little guy.
04:11Here you got two frickin' monsters.
04:13They could do things in the ring that prior to them, big guys didn't do.
04:19I'm Nikita Kolov, not from Russia.
04:21Although that's what I portrayed for many years in the wrestling business.
04:24It was the chemistry of tag team.
04:26Picking the guy up to the shoulder and coming off the top rope.
04:30The doomsday, you know, he flew off of the top turnbuckle.
04:33And that was the ultimate finish in wrestling for decades.
04:39They knew what each other one was thinking all the time.
04:42But sometimes Animal knew more than Hawk as far as what was going on.
04:47Joe was much more patient than Mike was.
04:50Again, you hear some of the stories, right, of how Mike would snap in an instant or fly off the handle.
04:56Oh yeah, man, we got along instantly.
04:57I was like 18 years old and I knew of Mike Hegstrand, known as a loose cannon, tough guy.
05:05In 1977, Mike Hegstrand and Joe Laurinaitis are two kids growing up on the streets of northeast Minneapolis.
05:12A tough, working class neighborhood.
05:16You know, I was at Jesse Labonte Ventura's gym.
05:19And I'm sittin' there and I'm doin' inclines.
05:21And I got like 315 pounds on the bar.
05:24And all of a sudden, in the middle of my set, I get this whack on my chest.
05:30This big, fat palm print.
05:32And he goes, Laurinaitis, you ain't right.
05:33You should be lifting more weights than me.
05:35That was my meeting with Mike Hegstrand.
05:39This is a great school photo of Mike and he was voted class bully.
05:44Yeah, you can see it there.
05:46I think that was staged, but...
05:48Mike's reputation in school was a scrapper.
05:52His idea of a good time was to go beat up someone.
05:56Just stay away from them.
05:57You'll be a great friend to you, but don't cross them.
06:01I'm Rich Hegstrand, Mike's older brother.
06:04And I'm Dan Hegstrand.
06:05I was four years younger than Mike.
06:07Mike was a lost soul as far as what am I going to do and everything.
06:11And our mom had passed away.
06:12But he obviously found his way, but it was a bit of a road to get there.
06:26He was hyperactive.
06:27He didn't sit still.
06:28You know, if he was sitting still, his leg was bouncing up and down.
06:31And, you know, he was, he had a lot of energy to lift weights and punch people.
06:35The way we put it is I'm from the other side of the tracks.
06:41And Hawk was pretty much the toughest guy on his side of the tracks.
06:44And I was pretty much the toughest guy on my side of the tracks.
06:46My name is Scott Norton.
06:48I'm a professional wrestler from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
06:51I grew up with Mike Hegstrand, known as Hawk.
06:53He was going to kind of like mark his territory in his school.
06:57So he got a little brawl with a guy from South High School.
07:01Knocked his ass off.
07:02Got a moment with a guy from North High School.
07:04Like him, I went to the West.
07:06Same thing.
07:08And he would condition himself.
07:09He would punch himself in the face.
07:12And I mean, it wasn't just a, I don't even want to hit my hand that hard.
07:16Fractures between each one of his teeth.
07:19You know, basically broke his face.
07:21Their hard-hitting lifestyle growing up in northeast Minneapolis
07:24would serve as a training ground for their careers in the ring.
07:28And their circle of friends soon expands to include a massively talented roster
07:33of future superstars.
07:35Pretty interesting that in Minneapolis was just a mecca of guys who ended up in the crazy,
07:41wacky world of professional wrestling.
07:43Mr. Perfect Kurt Henning, the Road Warriors, and John Nord, and Barry Darso.
07:48Uh, Nikita Koloff, Rick Rude, Scott Norton, too, right around the same time.
07:55We all knew of each other.
07:56We got closer as Hop would ask me to fill in working at this bar, Grandma B's, down in Minneapolis.
08:03It's at one of Minneapolis' toughest bars that Joe and Mike get a chance to cut their teeth.
08:11Paid the bills and it was a perfect outlet for him, I guess you might say.
08:16And why was that?
08:17Uh, just because he could beat up people and get paid for it, you know.
08:20I mean, it was just like wrestling, so.
08:23I can't mention any names, but the guy that used to own the bar we used to bounce at,
08:27he dealt in coke, and when someone owed him a lot of money, they'd say,
08:31hey, man, you need to go have a conversation with this guy.
08:34I remember one time, you know, Hawk had one leg, I had the one leg of the guy,
08:37and we were hanging him over the Frankel Avenue Bridge here in Minneapolis,
08:40and said, listen, man, you need to freaking pay up.
08:43At Grandma B's, there was a strip bar in the afternoon,
08:46and then they'd always have wet t-shirt contests and everything.
08:49So, I mean, it brought some of the worst of the worst guys.
08:52Every night, something happened.
08:54Lo and behold, the bartender was Ed Sharkey.
08:58I heard of Ed Sharkey before, because he wrestled for Vergany in the AWA,
09:02and he comes up to us, and he goes, hey, we're going to do a wrestling school.
09:06You guys want to do it?
09:07And we all did each other and said, ah, man, I don't know if I want to do that.
09:11And I'm thinking to myself, well, what could it hurt?
09:13My name is Eddie Sharkey.
09:15I've been in the wrestling business for, well, most of my life.
09:18Starting on a carnival, I've been a professional wrestler,
09:21a referee, promoter, trainer.
09:25I've done just about everything.
09:27Eddie ended up having a church in northeast Minneapolis,
09:30and he had a boxing ring downstairs.
09:34Eddie was a character.
09:35He sat down there, and he'd go, yeah, guys, good tackle, you know,
09:39good drop kick or good whatever.
09:40But Eddie really never got out of his chair.
09:43Well, you know, if I would leave the room or something,
09:46I said, now, don't try a suplex.
09:47I mean, you know, you're going to hurt yourself.
09:49And I'd walk out of the room for whatever reason,
09:52and the ones got the other up in the air, and it's all, my goodness.
09:55Ed never showed us how to throw what they call today a working punch.
09:59So we would literally back up and go, bam!
10:03You know, and punch each other.
10:04He knows if he broke it, it would bleed like crazy.
10:07Eddie never really smartened us up on exactly what was going on
10:11until after a while he says, you know, well, here's what you do.
10:14Eddie soon realizes that this promising crop of talent
10:18might have a future in the squared circle.
10:21O.Y. Anderson was a very, very good wrestler,
10:24another Minnesota guy, and he became a promoter.
10:26He worked for Ted Turner, so he was the main guy.
10:29And he came up to Grandma B's.
10:31One night, some guy was misbehaving, and I had to escort him out.
10:36Well, I had one hand behind his collar and one hand on his belt loop,
10:40and I threw him through the front door.
10:42And we had this trip wire outside.
10:45And we used to gauge each other
10:47by how many flips the guy could do around this wire.
10:50And when the guy gets done flipping,
10:51he lands right on O.Y. Anderson's shoes.
10:54And all I did is say, hey, how you doing?
10:56And I turned around and went back at the bar.
10:58Next thing you know, O.Y. brings me down to Atlanta.
11:01While O.Y. recruits Joe to work in his Georgia territory,
11:04his future tag-team partner
11:06has already been scouted by another promotion.
11:09Mike started first for Al Tomko up in Canada.
11:14Now, you men up there that are married to some good-looking wife,
11:17you know, when your wife takes a look at this man,
11:19she's going to go crazy.
11:21I went down for O.Y. Anderson
11:23as the road warrior singularly by myself.
11:26I look like a giant version of the village people.
11:29Now, keep in mind, when Joe broke into the business,
11:32he had got his girlfriend pregnant.
11:34And Joe did the right thing.
11:36And by that meaning, he got married
11:38because he wanted to, you know, raise his child.
11:42You know, I was sending all my money that I was making back home.
11:45I was wrestling nine times a week, making $150 total.
11:49You know, I lost 50 pounds in body weight.
11:51I said, I can't live off this.
11:53And Mike's experience wasn't that great up in Vancouver.
11:57So we both came back to Minnesota.
11:59I actually could make more money in one night bouncing
12:01than I was making working there in two weeks.
12:03O.Y. Anderson came back into the bar
12:05and Ed Sharkey showed him a picture
12:07that Mike had taken up in Vancouver.
12:10O.Y. thought it was a picture of me.
12:12Eddie Sharkey goes, no, that's not Joe, that's Mike.
12:16And O.Y. goes, there's two of these guys?
12:19Joe and Mike.
12:20You're a tag team.
12:21Be in Atlanta next week.
12:23You son of a bitch.
12:24And O.Y. called me up and said, hey,
12:25I want to bring you guys in as the road warriors.
12:28From rough-and-tumble beginnings in the Minneapolis bar scene,
12:33Joe and Mike are about to be catapulted into superstardom
12:36and eventually towards their own undoing.
12:38In 1983, Joe Laurinaitis and Mike Hagstrand are recruited
12:48to wrestle in Georgia, except this time as a tag team.
12:52They have no idea they're about to revolutionize the world of wrestling.
12:57Hawk, thanks for spending a few moments with us.
12:59What got you started wrestling?
13:01I just started to watch it one time,
13:03and I thought, if they could, I could do it better.
13:06And first time we appeared together on TV,
13:08you know, we were both real green.
13:11And the road warriors moving out.
13:13The start of the road warriors on TV was, like, surreal for Hawk and I,
13:18because it was like, man, here's all these megastars
13:21of Georgia's champion wrestling.
13:22There's Sergeant Slaughter, and there's Tito Santana,
13:25and there's Dusty Rhodes, and I'm going, holy crap,
13:28there's some major superstars here.
13:29And then here we are, now we're a part of this.
13:33Upon their arrival in the territory,
13:36matchmaker Ole Anderson approaches his new tag team
13:39with a bold new idea.
13:41They actually handed us the belts
13:43what we got at the TV station.
13:46They say, here's your belt, here's your belt,
13:49and we're going, where do we say we want them?
13:51They say, I say, well, you want them
13:52in a tag team tournament in Chicago.
13:54From Chicago.
13:55Ole says, this is going to be the new tag team,
14:00and they're Minnesota boys like you.
14:02Take care of them.
14:04The names, they both came up with themselves.
14:07I think Ole pointed at him, he says,
14:09you look like an animal.
14:11And then he said to Hawk, you look like,
14:13I forget what he said, but Hawk says,
14:15I think I'm a hawk.
14:17Hawk, so it became Animal and Hawk.
14:20After their very first match together,
14:23newly crowned champions Hawk and Animal
14:25soon joined forces with Paul Ellering.
14:28He acts as both their on- and off-screen manager,
14:31leading them to the big leagues.
14:34So I just took them from that day one.
14:37They jumped in my van, and that was it.
14:40Paul was great at fine-tuning us.
14:44He said, you know, he said, go with your raw strength.
14:47Go with what you do best.
14:48We sit there at Denny's,
14:50and Paul would take the time to draw on a napkin.
14:53Animal, you're here.
14:54Hawk, you're here.
14:55Throw this guy into this rope.
14:57See, after you make the tag,
14:58Hawk, you drop down.
14:59Let's incorporate that in.
15:00We had the motorcycle boots and everything, you know,
15:03and that's what we wore down to the ring.
15:05After about a month, Ole says,
15:07hey, we got an idea for you guys.
15:09Remember the heel guy in the Road Warrior movie
15:11that had the red mohawk and the feather in his ear?
15:13Well, we want you to try and do something with the face paint.
15:18And that became an evolution
15:19because the early face paint was, you know,
15:22like a black eye or something.
15:24But we were trying different things at that time
15:27to try to get a painting of expressing the way we feel.
15:31And Mike Hextran goes, hey, I got another idea.
15:34What if Animal shaves his hair into a mohawk
15:38to look like the guy in the movie?
15:39I'll shave my head in a double mohawk
15:42so when Animal bends over and I bend over
15:44and we plug our heads in, it looks like one unit.
15:47How did the spiked shoulder pads
15:48kind of work its way into the pole?
15:50You know, that came from Animal.
15:51That was his idea.
15:53And it was genius on his part.
15:56I had a friend of mine that worked for Honeywell.
15:58He milled me some spikes.
16:00I said, listen, man, I need some six-inch spikes.
16:03I want some four-inch spikes, some two-inch spikes.
16:05And I sat in my garage with my drill
16:07and I drilled holes in those shoulder pads,
16:10licking my thumb like frickin' Picasso, right?
16:14Then I put some chains on them
16:16and that was the birth of the Road Warrior shoulder pads.
16:18They put them on and it was just frosting on the cape.
16:23And, you know, people just ate it up.
16:25These poor guys they're working against,
16:27I mean, they ran people over.
16:29Huck used to apologize to them and back
16:32sort of for what's gonna happen to you, pal,
16:34but your ass is getting kicked.
16:38They were bad boys.
16:40But when they were bad, they were very good.
16:43Man, as long as we stayed away from the guys nuts
16:46and we didn't break their nose or anything,
16:47it was cool.
16:49But if you look back, man,
16:50some of those clotheslines we hit guys with,
16:53guys were doing natural flips.
16:55We were hitting them so hard.
16:57This cable was spreading across the country.
16:59It was creating a revolution
17:02in the wrestling business.
17:05Unlike other promotions in the early 1980s,
17:08Georgia's World Championship Wrestling
17:10enjoys a prime-time spot on Atlanta's TBS,
17:14the first superstation
17:16to be broadcast across the entire USA.
17:19I told the guys, I think it was 84,
17:23I said, we can work the whole world.
17:26We'll just make it our territory.
17:28Paul would book us in the AWA
17:30or he would book us for the Rougeos up in Canada,
17:33go to Puerto Rico for Carlos Colon,
17:36and then go to the NWA.
17:37We were going all over the world,
17:40not tied to any one company.
17:41Paul was very instrumental in not letting the promoters manipulate us.
17:47We were one of the few tag teams that were main events every night in the arena.
17:51We never stayed in any one place and it kept us fresh.
17:56And it was always good because they'd bring us in
17:59and the place would fill up.
18:01Everybody in the business recognized that road warrior pop just loud.
18:08I've lost all my hearing.
18:10Even today, if someone gets a good cheer going down the match,
18:14it's called the road warrior pop.
18:17At what point in your career did you realize that you guys were getting huge?
18:21You know, first trip to Japan, we got there,
18:24we get off the flight, we got to do an interview.
18:26In this room was literally 150 photographers and reporters
18:31from all over the country of Japan.
18:33They said there was more reporters there
18:35than when Michael Jackson came over to Japan.
18:38We will fight tonight like we will never fought before!
18:43Well, Japan wanted us,
18:45and the Japanese people always like to be scared.
18:49You know, we're entertainers as well as wrestlers.
18:54Hey, are you guys hungry?
18:55You know, the Japanese responded to us
18:57because we were so far ahead of our time.
19:00We were so nothing like the Japanese wrestlers.
19:04We don't care who it is.
19:05We're going to stomp everybody in the country.
19:07I mean, we wrestled some top guys, man.
19:09You know, Killer Khan.
19:11When I pressed Killer Khan,
19:13Japanese people were like,
19:15what kind of an eye?
19:15Like, I can't believe it!
19:17Killer Khan was 6'3", 6'4", 365 pounds.
19:22I pressed him over my head.
19:24And then I guerrilla slammed him down.
19:28It was national news.
19:30It was no secret that, you know, Mike liked the party.
19:37Partied hard, ran hard.
19:39There was nothing he was afraid of.
19:41No situation bothered him.
19:43Mike got involved with these people.
19:45The Japanese mafia over there,
19:47they would pick him up and he would go out there
19:49and one of them the next day, you know,
19:50he wouldn't see him for two days.
19:52He'd meet Japanese mafia over there
19:54and he'd tell me about if you made a mistake over there,
19:56they just took a digit off of your fingers.
19:59He'd come home with just stacks of $100 bills,
20:01which he declared.
20:02I think Joe was more of the guy that would rather, you know,
20:07go out to dinner and go to the room and get some sleep
20:09so you can get up and have a great workout the next day.
20:12Where Hawk, he was wild.
20:14He wanted to go out to the bar.
20:15He wanted to do this.
20:17He had no shutoff valve to it, man.
20:19It was just like, go, 100 miles an hour all the time.
20:23That's when it started hitting a nerve with me.
20:25By 1986, the Road Warriors have become
20:35one of the top wrestling attractions in the world.
20:38To be that good in that many different territories,
20:42it's unprecedented.
20:44My vision was, of course, to make money,
20:46you know, for all of us.
20:47This is an opportunity that only comes along once in a lifetime.
20:51Everybody out there watching,
20:53we'd like to kick your teeth in, too.
20:56My first reaction to seeing Mike and everything was,
20:59wow, this is amazing.
21:02And it just took you by surprise
21:04at how far he had come
21:06in such a short period of time, really.
21:09As their popularity grows,
21:11the promotions booking the Road Warriors
21:13realize they're not just getting a run-of-the-mill tag team.
21:17They're getting rising stars
21:18with a guaranteed sell-out crowd.
21:21The greatest thing about the Road Warriors
21:23is that we never had to change who we were,
21:27whether we were babyface or heel.
21:29I mean, we were stone-cold heels
21:31until we wrestled the Kolovs.
21:33Probably some of the best matches that I remember
21:35are the Russian chain matches that we had against them.
21:38And now we're getting USA cheers
21:40and cheers from the fans.
21:42We were over so bad as heels
21:44that made us great babyfaces.
21:46The winners of the match,
21:48the Road Warriors!
21:49In early 1986,
21:51Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions
21:54approaches the Road Warriors
21:56with an offer to headline their flagship event.
21:59Dusty Rose comes to us and he says,
22:01hey, we got this idea.
22:05A scaffold match
22:06had never been done on a national scale.
22:09Man, I was 310 pounds,
22:11315 pounds,
22:12and Hawk was 270.
22:14Then you had both the men at Express up there
22:16as they were over 200 pounds each.
22:18About three days before the scaffold match,
22:21Hawk broke a small bone
22:22in the bottom part of his leg
22:23over in Tokyo.
22:25We were the old school,
22:26the show must go on.
22:27And he wrestled up there
22:28with a broken leg in a boot.
22:31You know,
22:31he didn't want to let the people down
22:33because it was sold out
22:34and it was a big, big deal.
22:36Well,
22:37what you see in a lot of sports,
22:39and wrestling's no different,
22:41is there's injuries
22:43and there's pain
22:44and you just self-medicate.
22:47After a while,
22:48you don't even go to a doctor.
22:49And then it becomes a vicious cycle.
22:52And that's probably where Hawk was at that time.
22:54So when and what signs
22:56did you start noticing
22:57when Hawk's lifestyle out of the ring
22:59was kind of getting a little out of hand?
23:01It started getting bad.
23:03Latter part of NWA, WCW run
23:06before we went to WWF.
23:09The drinking's a no-brainer.
23:11I mean,
23:11that's,
23:12you know,
23:12Hawk was a straight up
23:13vodka on the rocks guy.
23:15The muscle relaxers
23:16were a big part.
23:17I would say
23:1885% of the guys
23:20that died early
23:21in the wrestling business.
23:22The common denominator
23:23was the muscle relaxers.
23:25I think
23:25Joe was very disappointed in Hawk.
23:28And he didn't let that out
23:31so people knew it.
23:32But knowing Joe,
23:33I could see that.
23:35I think it's just like any marriage,
23:37you know,
23:37which it kind of was,
23:38that I don't think they all,
23:40you know,
23:40saw eye to eye on everything.
23:41So I think there was,
23:42you know,
23:42some friction there at times.
23:44It wasn't until
23:45we really got into
23:47WWF years
23:49where it really started to get bad.
23:52The road warriors
23:54have conquered the wrestling world
23:56with one big exception.
23:57And the pressures of performing
23:59in the WWF
24:01will soon set the stage
24:02for their downfall.
24:04The WWF
24:06was always on our screen.
24:08It looked like
24:09they were the place
24:10to go
24:11in this wrestling war
24:13if you want to be
24:14on the winning side.
24:15And we did.
24:16You're going to feel the pain
24:18by the hands
24:19of the Legion of Doom.
24:20Vince had just hired
24:21the modern day warrior,
24:23Kerry Von Erich.
24:24He already had
24:25the ultimate warrior.
24:27And he says,
24:27hey,
24:27I know you guys
24:28have been the road warriors.
24:29Can you think of a different name
24:30that we could use
24:31to call you guys?
24:33I said,
24:33how about the Legion of Doom?
24:36Oh, that's great.
24:37I love the Legion of Doom.
24:38Let's call you guys
24:39the Legion of Doom.
24:40It was actually
24:41he.
24:41He-man,
24:42the most powerful man
24:44in the universe.
24:46And Hawk would watch
24:47that all the time.
24:48He always watched
24:49He-man.
24:50This was Hawk
24:51back at the Legion of Doom.
24:54And then he'd just
24:55start to make up stories.
24:57And this is while
24:58we're driving in the car.
24:59And he'd just start
25:00to make up
25:01that we were
25:01the Legion of Doom.
25:04The WWF
25:05on the road
25:07at the time
25:07was a grind.
25:09And you were busy
25:1014 days on,
25:124 days off.
25:13all year long.
25:14So it's like
25:15your whole life
25:16is no sleep.
25:17But when you get
25:17in the ring,
25:18then all of a sudden
25:18you get an injury.
25:20Well,
25:20now there's no sleep.
25:22You have to train.
25:24That injury
25:24doesn't go away.
25:25And you have to perform.
25:27So now all of a sudden
25:27you take a pain pill.
25:29Pretty soon
25:29you're drinking,
25:30you're taking pain pills,
25:31you're taking this,
25:32you're taking that.
25:33That's kind of
25:33the cycle
25:34that a lot of guys
25:35got into.
25:38But now,
25:39Hawk's downward spiral
25:40is about to intersect
25:42with the Road Warrior's
25:43historic climb
25:44to the top
25:45and in front
25:46of a record-setting crowd.
25:54To the non-wrestling fan,
25:56I wrestled for many years
25:58in the WWF.
26:00The Godfather
26:01is probably what
26:01I'm most well-known for.
26:03All right.
26:07So,
26:07we're in this club
26:09and then all of a sudden
26:10for some reason
26:11Vince decides
26:11to take everybody's finish.
26:14In the Road Warrior's case,
26:16it hurt people.
26:17Have you seen their finish?
26:19I wouldn't take it
26:20in the ring.
26:21And Vince took that finish
26:23in the club.
26:24The CEO
26:25of this big
26:26f***ing company
26:27is taking people's
26:28finishes
26:29in a f***ing
26:31titty bar?
26:32Just,
26:33I was like...
26:35Just as the Road Warriors
26:38are reaching new heights
26:39at Vince McMahon's WWF,
26:42Hawk's substance abuse
26:43was becoming harder
26:44and harder
26:44to hide.
26:46That's when
26:46we were starting
26:47to get in the age
26:48of doing the pay-per-views now
26:50and now we're doing
26:51the big, huge events
26:52and everything else.
26:53So,
26:54there was a lot of respect
26:55and a lot of pride
26:57in what you did
26:57for your work
26:58because you wanted
26:58to be that guy
26:59that was going to be
27:00top dog
27:01in that pay-per-view.
27:02Those WWF years
27:03is when it started
27:04getting real
27:04kind of nasty.
27:06He would fail
27:07a drug test
27:08and then there'd be
27:08three months off
27:09and of course
27:10me being a tag team partner
27:11I'd take three months
27:12off with him.
27:13But Mike,
27:13again,
27:14he wasn't shy
27:15about hiding anything
27:17whether it was
27:18his drinking
27:19or his drug use
27:22or his steroid use.
27:23He was pretty outspoken
27:24about all of it.
27:26as Hawk drifts
27:27closer to the edge
27:28over 80,000 fans
27:31await their match
27:32at London's
27:32Wembley Stadium
27:33and things are about
27:35to come to a head.
27:37Wembley Stadium
27:38was a classic event
27:40because they had
27:4190,000 people there.
27:43We were supposed to
27:44wrestle for the tag team
27:45championships
27:45on Wembley Stadium
27:46and getting ready
27:48to go out to the show
27:49and we're doing
27:50a run through.
27:51Vince McMahon's trying
27:52to tell us
27:53what we're going to do
27:54and I could just see
27:55where Vince is fuming
27:58because every time
27:59Vince tried to say
27:59something,
28:00Hawk's going,
28:02Vince,
28:03I got this idea.
28:05Found out later
28:06there was this thing
28:07called Placidils
28:08which is another
28:09kind of little
28:10like a hallucinogenic
28:11drug that
28:12Hawk had took it
28:13and it lasted
28:13like for six hours.
28:14Here we are
28:15going to drive
28:15motorcycles down
28:16to the rink.
28:17We went from
28:17semi-main event match
28:19against the
28:20natural disasters
28:20to wrestling money
28:22and he incorporated
28:23I think their first
28:24or second match.
28:25As Animal watches
28:27his partner
28:27step into the ring
28:28it's clear that
28:30Hawk is in no shape
28:31to perform.
28:33Get in the ring
28:34and they wanted us
28:35to do the finish
28:35the doomsday
28:36off the top rope
28:37and everything.
28:37I said,
28:37we can't do it.
28:38He's going to fall
28:39off the top rope.
28:40And he goes,
28:40no, no, we got it.
28:41I said, look at him
28:42he can't do it.
28:42They're watching him
28:43and Hawk was
28:45kind of like
28:46inebriated
28:47quite a bit
28:48and so we changed
28:49the finish.
28:50Hawk's like right
28:51in the middle
28:52and I kind of
28:52had to push him
28:53out of the way
28:53and when Hawk
28:55was on
28:55he was the best man.
28:57Nobody was better
28:59but when he kind
29:00of was like that
29:01it kind of really
29:02I wasn't very happy
29:05with him.
29:05I knew there was
29:06a suspension
29:06coming on
29:07and I was
29:07freaking hot.
29:09You know,
29:09and it's like
29:09we're going to
29:10spend millions
29:11of dollars on TV
29:12and do all this
29:13stuff for these guys
29:14at Wembley.
29:14The biggest show
29:15ever,
29:16if he came in
29:17messed up,
29:18right there,
29:18you're not
29:20the top guys
29:21anymore.
29:22Irritated by
29:23Hawk's recklessness,
29:24Animal chooses
29:25to go his
29:26separate way
29:27alone.
29:28We went to
29:29from that
29:31London taping
29:32to Hershey,
29:32Pennsylvania
29:33to do TV
29:34and when we got
29:35to Hershey,
29:35Pennsylvania,
29:36Paul Lerner and I
29:37are ready to do TV
29:37waiting for Hawk
29:38to do interviews.
29:39Well, Hawk hasn't
29:40shown up yet.
29:41Nobody knew
29:41where Hawk went.
29:42What do you mean?
29:43Oh, he's just
29:44not on the plane.
29:45Nobody knew
29:45where Hawk was.
29:46Got a phone call
29:47and Hawk called
29:48Vince's secretary
29:49and said,
29:50hey, I quit.
29:51We're sitting there
29:52like, okay,
29:52now what am I
29:53going to do?
29:55Animal decides
29:56he's not going
29:56to chase after
29:57his partner
29:58this time
29:58after performing
30:00the role of
30:00fixer
30:01for so many years.
30:03I think
30:04that it just
30:05got the time
30:06to draw the line
30:07in the sand
30:08and listen, man,
30:09shit, I've had enough.
30:11That's it?
30:11Frick, I'm done
30:12with this.
30:13You know,
30:13Joe's probably
30:14in a panic.
30:15Wondering
30:15how in the world
30:16are we going
30:16to solve this?
30:17You know,
30:18wrestling is your
30:18whole life.
30:19That's all you have.
30:20Your family's at home
30:21and you're with the guys
30:22and you finally
30:23get that push
30:23and you can't
30:25have something
30:25be negative
30:26to bring you
30:27back down
30:27and that's
30:27what was happening.
30:29Mike kind of,
30:30you know,
30:30the short fuse
30:31and losing his temper
30:32and whether it was
30:33with a promoter
30:34could have a real
30:35impact on Joe's career
30:36and even Ellering's
30:37career, right?
30:38So I'm thinking
30:38to myself,
30:39well, I'm going
30:39to be a businessman
30:40and I'm going
30:41to serve out
30:42the dates
30:42that I had left
30:44with WWF.
30:45to protect our name
30:46in case we ever
30:47want to come back.
30:47I said,
30:48man, I want to do
30:48these dates, Mike,
30:49so we leave
30:50on good terms, right?
30:51To be businessmen.
30:52I put my foot down
30:53and Hawk was
30:55so out of his mind
30:56he called up
30:57a couple guys
30:58and ended up
30:59working out
31:00his own deal
31:00in Japan.
31:02Like,
31:02screw the team.
31:03He just went on his own
31:04and we were done.
31:06Well, he took
31:07the gimmick over there
31:07and had Kensuke Sasaki
31:09dressing up
31:09as the Power Warrior
31:10and all Spike
31:11shoulder pads
31:12and face paint
31:12and I said,
31:17man,
31:18that's our gimmick.
31:23Hawk inadvertently
31:26leaves the future
31:27of the world's
31:28biggest tag team
31:29in limbo
31:29by replacing Animal
31:31and continuing
31:32the Road Warrior's
31:33brand in Japan.
31:36Standing in front of you
31:38lies the future
31:39and tag team wrestling
31:41my new partner
31:43Power Warrior.
31:45What are you doing, bro?
31:46I'm not doing that
31:46here in the U.S.
31:48I'm not having anybody
31:49replace you.
31:51I'm by myself.
31:52I ended up doing
31:53a two-on-one match
31:54and I herniated
31:55a couple discs.
31:56Animal got injured
31:58and, you know,
31:58there were like
31:59two years there
32:00where I didn't do
32:01anything with wrestling
32:02anymore
32:02and I didn't think
32:04I'd ever go back.
32:05While Animal lies
32:07in wait
32:07recovering from his injury,
32:09Hawk presses on.
32:11But without the guidance
32:12of his partner,
32:13he spirals
32:14out of control.
32:17Like three different times
32:18he'd been rushed
32:18into an emergency room
32:20of drug overdoses.
32:22He told me
32:22a head-on collision
32:23with an 18-wheeler
32:24and rolled the pickup truck
32:25six times
32:26with no seat belt on
32:27and walked away from it.
32:29You know,
32:30I don't know how many
32:31near-death experiences
32:33Hawk had.
32:34I know he had a few.
32:36When he got Hep C,
32:38it's like he got
32:39slapped in the face.
32:40Like, wow.
32:41He's not the first wrestler
32:42that had contracted that.
32:44You know,
32:45guys in this wrestling business,
32:46man,
32:47used to do some crazy things,
32:49you know,
32:49speedballing,
32:50mixing different drugs together,
32:52different things like that
32:53where the old guys
32:54would share a needle
32:55and just go,
32:56oh, god dang, man.
32:57You guys are nuts.
32:58He was on the Interferon,
33:00which is the medicine
33:01you get for Hep C.
33:02He freaking cured himself
33:04of the Hep C.
33:05But the worst part about it
33:06is the doctor gave him
33:07the green light
33:08to go do whatever
33:09he wanted to do.
33:10So he thought that meant,
33:11okay,
33:11I guess I could
33:12keep drinking and partying.
33:15Hawk's Wild Side
33:16shows no sign
33:17of slowing down.
33:18But in 1997,
33:20a new opportunity arises
33:22from the WWF
33:23and is too tempting
33:25for either man to resist.
33:27Vince McMahon
33:28has been great to us.
33:30And the WWF
33:31has been great to us.
33:32And they're a class organization
33:34and we only want to associate
33:35ourselves with
33:35a class organization.
33:37I knew eventually
33:38that it would come back
33:39to what's going to be
33:39the Road Warriors.
33:40We were so unique
33:42in the way we did everything
33:44and we were so unique
33:45as a tag team
33:45and it's like nothing else
33:47like it in the wrestling business.
33:49Animal and I
33:49have become so close.
33:51We're probably the only
33:52tag team that's been
33:53around 14 years straight.
33:54We're pretty much a unit.
33:56Their new contract
33:58comes with a strict
33:59insurance policy
34:00guaranteeing
34:01they will make their matches.
34:03But WWF introduces
34:04a third member to the team,
34:0729-year-old ex-Denver Bronco,
34:09Darren Drozdov.
34:11They introduced Droz
34:12and he was going to be
34:14like the youngest member
34:16of the Road Warriors.
34:18Actually, I remember
34:18when I first saw them,
34:20you know,
34:20they've been icons forever.
34:22Hey, this is Droz.
34:24You know,
34:24I'm one of the players
34:26they brought in
34:27for the Road Warriors
34:27to work with
34:28and I had a great run with them.
34:32While the WWF
34:33has enforced
34:34the contingency plan,
34:35it also sees
34:36the Road Warriors'
34:37real-life problems
34:39as something
34:40it can capitalize on.
34:42Vince McMahon
34:43came to us
34:43and said,
34:44hey,
34:44we want to do this
34:45angle with you guys.
34:46We're Hawks.
34:48We're going to portray
34:48him as drunk
34:49and having habits on TV.
34:51I don't know
34:51if he's an inebriator.
34:52The referee's not going
34:53to start this match,
34:54is he?
34:54Yeah, he'd come out
34:55like staggering around.
34:57You know,
34:57they were saying
34:58I was trying to separate them.
34:59But Drozdov
35:00is assaulting Hawks.
35:01We don't need him.
35:02You know,
35:02he's messed up again,
35:04so.
35:05Drozdov!
35:06Delivering Hawks
35:07on move
35:07to Hawk!
35:08Yeah,
35:09it was heartbreaking.
35:11But that's wrestling.
35:12They take
35:13the dominant part
35:14of your personality
35:15and they just
35:17make it bigger.
35:18You know,
35:19it's kind of tough.
35:20It's like,
35:20you know,
35:21they're doing this.
35:22But he had been through it
35:23and he didn't have
35:24a problem with it.
35:25They wanted Hawk
35:26to climb to TitanTron
35:27and they wanted me to,
35:28you know,
35:29they wanted me to portray
35:30like,
35:31hey, Hawk,
35:32don't jump
35:32type of thing.
35:34Hawk,
35:34I wish I could say
35:35I know how you feel,
35:37but I can't!
35:38But I care about your life!
35:41Drozdov did a deal
35:42where they made up,
35:42made pretend he was going
35:43to go up to TitanTron
35:44and help Hawk.
35:46And Hawk had all
35:46his demons there he else
35:47and he was drunk up there
35:48and when he really
35:49wanted to go grab him,
35:50he really went
35:51and pushed him.
35:52Get a shirt.
35:52Oh,
35:53what?
35:54God almighty!
35:55You know,
35:56to be honest with you,
35:57I didn't really
35:58have it in me
36:00to want to do
36:00the angle
36:01that was too close
36:02to what was going on
36:03in real life
36:03and that bothered me.
36:06The angle is not
36:08only unpopular
36:09with Hawk and Animal
36:10but with the fans as well
36:11and once again,
36:13the road warriors
36:14make the choice
36:15to hit the road
36:16on their own terms.
36:18We're a wrestler
36:19in Australia
36:19and you got the beach,
36:22you got drinks,
36:23you go buy Xanax
36:24over the counter
36:25and so it's just
36:26not a good mix.
36:28Rumor had it
36:29that three or four
36:30of the guys
36:31and Hawk was one of them
36:32had gotten a hold
36:34of some party essentials,
36:37let's just say,
36:38and they were pretty much
36:39up for two days.
36:40So when you're
36:42doing the coke
36:42and you're doing
36:43the muscle relaxer
36:44you're going
36:45yo, yo, yo
36:47like a yo-yo
36:48your heart can't
36:49take that all the time
36:50and as I'm looking
36:51around the arena
36:52by the entrance area
36:53there I see
36:54this big crowd
36:55of people.
36:56I don't think
36:56unto myself,
36:57well somebody just
36:58came back from
36:58the last match
36:59and just laying down
37:00and I push
37:00everybody aside
37:01and it's freaking
37:02Hawk
37:03and they're putting
37:04the oxygen mask
37:05on and I say,
37:05whoa, whoa,
37:05what are you doing?
37:07I say,
37:07he's got to go out
37:07and wrestle.
37:08They said,
37:08man, he can't wrestle.
37:09He goes,
37:10this guy's about
37:11ready to stroke out
37:12and they took him
37:12to the hospital.
37:13Hawk had cardiomyopathy
37:15and his heart was
37:16about ready to blow up
37:17and he calls me up
37:19and he says,
37:20animal,
37:21you got to come
37:21get me.
37:22I said,
37:22what's going on,
37:23man?
37:23He goes,
37:24I am not dying
37:25in this freaking country.
37:27Hawk and I were literally,
37:28when we were on the road,
37:29we were brothers.
37:30It was a hard situation
37:32because there was
37:33such a love
37:34of the guy
37:36but the hate
37:37of what was going on.
37:39So I went,
37:40picked Hawk up,
37:41checked him out
37:42of the hospital
37:42against doctor's orders
37:44and from Sydney
37:45flew all the way
37:46to LA
37:46and I said,
37:47from LA,
37:48he was going back
37:49to Tampa.
37:49I said,
37:50you're on your own now.
37:51When it seems
37:52Hawk and Animals run
37:54as wrestling's
37:54most dominant tag team
37:56is about to come
37:57to an end,
37:58an unlikely event
37:59brings them back
38:00together
38:01in a way
38:02nobody expects.
38:08Animal is faced
38:09with no choice
38:10but to strike out
38:11on his own
38:12when Hawk's
38:13drug affliction
38:13threatens to ruin
38:14both of their careers.
38:17I had just gotten
38:18home off the road.
38:19We got done
38:19working out at the gym
38:20and there's six
38:22300-pound guys
38:23called the Christian
38:24Power Team.
38:25They did this event.
38:26So I went to it
38:27and I was pretty
38:27impressed by it.
38:28Eventually,
38:29Joe shared that story
38:30with me
38:30and I said,
38:31man,
38:31why don't you come
38:32out to this conference
38:33in Phoenix?
38:34Come on out.
38:34He goes,
38:35could Hawk come?
38:36They came to Phoenix
38:37and I just remember
38:39Mike was the first one
38:41to the altar
38:41and wanted to make
38:43a decision
38:43to give his life
38:44to the Lord
38:44and that weekend
38:46we actually even
38:47baptized him.
38:48We did a,
38:48in the swimming pool
38:49we did a water
38:50baptism with him
38:51and from that point on
38:53Hawk lived
38:54in a good way.
38:55I think he found
38:56religion
38:57and then he married
38:59a gal named Dale
39:00and he was very happy
39:03with it.
39:03He was a different
39:04person then
39:05with her.
39:06Now my motivation
39:07is different
39:07than what it was
39:08when I first started out.
39:09My motivation now
39:10is my family,
39:11my fiancee
39:12to make sure
39:13that if something
39:13were to ever happen
39:14to me,
39:14she's not going
39:15to be hurt.
39:15He used to say,
39:16Cat has nine lives
39:18but God gave me ten
39:19so I could give
39:20my life to Jesus.
39:21He was moving
39:22out of his house
39:23off the beach
39:23and he had just
39:25moved the last piece
39:26of heavy furniture
39:28in the house
39:28for his wife Dale
39:29and he said,
39:30Dale,
39:31I'm going to go upstairs
39:32and lay down
39:32for a little bit.
39:33I don't feel well
39:34and I was out
39:35in my backyard
39:36and all of a sudden
39:37I get a phone call.
39:38A friend of mine,
39:39Bob Muller
39:39and he goes,
39:40hey,
39:41have you talked
39:41to Mike?
39:42I said,
39:42yeah,
39:42man,
39:42I talked to him
39:43last night.
39:43He goes,
39:45huh,
39:46have you talked
39:46to him yet today?
39:48I said,
39:48no.
39:49He goes,
39:50Joe,
39:50Mike died.
39:51It was an early
39:53Sunday morning,
39:54October the 19th
39:55when the world
39:55of wrestling
39:56was saddened to hear
39:57that Michael Hegstrand
39:59had passed away
40:00at the young age
40:01of 46.
40:02And it wasn't
40:03that he OD'd
40:04or whatever,
40:05you know,
40:06it's just that
40:06his heart just stopped.
40:08It was probably
40:09one of the hardest
40:09things I ever
40:10had to go through.
40:11Well,
40:11it was,
40:12you know,
40:12I was just at home
40:13and an animal
40:15calls me up
40:16and tells me,
40:19you know,
40:19Hawk is gone.
40:21Joni,
40:23my wife,
40:24I said,
40:26we got to get the,
40:29yeah,
40:31we got to get the
40:33black van
40:34and drive to the funeral.
40:37The old black van
40:38that I took him
40:39to the airport in
40:40our first day together.
40:43I still had
40:43that black van.
40:45Went to the
40:46Kmart
40:47and got cans
40:49of black spray paint
40:51cover up
40:52all the rust.
40:53And we
40:54got in the black van
40:56and drove
40:57all the way
40:57to Tampa.
40:5955 miles an hour.
41:02Got passed
41:02by 10,000 cars.
41:06Do you remember
41:07what are the,
41:07some of the things
41:08that you said
41:08at the eulogy?
41:09Yeah,
41:10I remember.
41:13Ah,
41:15October 19th,
41:172003,
41:19the dark clouds
41:23covered the bright sun.
41:27Today we lost our friend,
41:30our brother of planes,
41:33trains,
41:33and automobiles
41:34many miles.
41:40If I could
41:40steal a line
41:41from,
41:42from the outlaw
41:45Josie Wales,
41:47Hawk,
41:47it is good
41:49that men like us
41:50met
41:51in the struggle
41:53of life.
41:56Hawk's death
41:57brings to an end
41:57a partnership
41:58that has not been
41:59matched in wrestling
42:00ever since.
42:01He was unique
42:02both in and out
42:03of the ring.
42:04A warrior,
42:06a partner,
42:07a friend,
42:08and a brother.
42:10He wasn't Hawk.
42:14Yeah.
42:15I think that is
42:16a key point.
42:18He was still Mike.
42:20And,
42:21and,
42:21I never looked at him
42:22as Hawk.
42:22Yeah, yeah.
42:23He just,
42:24he really gave a shit
42:25about his friends.
42:27He just had your back.
42:29And he probably
42:29knew I needed it.
42:34The biggest compliment
42:36that I make to Hawk
42:38is that everybody
42:40liked to be around him.
42:43So,
42:44it was a huge void.
42:45And,
42:46Animal would know
42:47a lot more about that
42:48than me.
42:48Because they'd been together
42:49and always thought of
42:51as a two-some.
42:53Had a lot of things
42:54in common.
42:54I mean,
42:55Jim worked hard.
42:56They were a great tag team.
42:57They performed unbelievably
42:58in the ring.
43:00But,
43:00you know,
43:01totally different.
43:02They were brothers.
43:03You know,
43:04brothers,
43:04they love each other.
43:06But they'll have a fight
43:08once in a while.
43:09I mean,
43:09listen, man,
43:10there were times
43:10where we were
43:11at each other's throat
43:12because we were together
43:12so much.
43:13But 99.9% of the time
43:15there was a common
43:16respect there.
43:18It's,
43:19over half my life,
43:20man,
43:21when I was with Hawk.
43:22From being stars
43:23in Japan
43:24to being family members
43:26to being brothers
43:27to everything else,
43:29you know,
43:29now what do I do?
43:30Now he's gone.
43:31And that's the hardest thing.
43:32Well, I think what we'll be
43:33remembered as the greatest
43:34tag team in professional wrestling.
43:36I just liked him
43:37to go down
43:37as one tough dude.
43:39I had one tough partner.
43:41Hawk should be remembered
43:42as one of the,
43:43one half of the greatest
43:44tag team ever.
43:46He had one of the best
43:47punches in wrestling.
43:49One of the best interviews
43:50for sure.
43:52Well!
43:53Hawk was definitely
43:54a character.
43:55To be honest with you,
43:56a part of the wrestling business
43:57died when Hawk died.
Recomendada
44:13
|
Próximamente
1:29:43
44:13
46:05
44:00
Sé la primera persona en añadir un comentario