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Tag: Road Warrior Animal

  • JBL Jokes Donald Trump Learned From Road Warriors Following Assasination Attempt

    JBL Jokes Donald Trump Learned From Road Warriors Following Assasination Attempt

    “What a rush” may have been running through Donald Trump’s mind after an assasination attempt was made on the WWE Hall of Famer on July 13.

    The forthcoming Republican Presidential nominee was mere inches from death as he was doing a stump speech in Butler, PA. Trump’s ear got grazed by a bullet before secret service swarmed him to make sure he was safe.

    However, once matters were settled and the shooter was taken out, Trump made certain to stand himself up and give a fist pump to the people in the crowd. The moment certainly created a lot of memorable photographs for the press and felllow WWE Hall Of Famer JBL made note that Trump must have been taking notes from a certain legendary tag team in Road Warrior Hawk and Road Warrior Animal.

    RELATED: The Rock & Logan Paul U.S. Presidential Ticket Discussed: “I Think Logan Would Hurt His Chances”

    “Find the hard cam, don’t sell. Former President Trump been watching the Road Warriors.”

    Although JBL was posting in jest, it’s heaviily believed that Trump has adopted a lot of his speaking style and “promo skills” from the world of pro wrestling. There’s the urban legend that during his WWE Hall of Fame induction in 2013, Trump was really impressed with the promo work of Zeb Coulter, better known as Dutch Mantell.

    Trump did issue a statement following the assasination attempt, thanking the police and the secret service for their work, but also sending his condolences to the victims of the shooter as one rally attendee was killed and two others were in critical condition.

    RELATED: Wrestling’s Connection To The U.S. Presidential Debate

  • Update On The Death Of Road Warrior Animal

    Update On The Death Of Road Warrior Animal

    News broke yesterday that legendary wrestler and 1/2 of the famous Road Warriors tag-team, Joseph “Animal” Laurinaitis, had passed away. According to a report from TMZ, Road Warrior Animal’s death was of natural causes, although an exact cause is not currently known.

    Laurinaitis passed away at the Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, MO. Police received a call from his wife at 11:49 on Tuesday evening. When deputies arrived, however, Laurinaitis had already been declared deceased by responding emergency personnel. He is not known to have been suffering from any medical conditions or ill-health.

    Laurinaitis’ son James is a former NFL player and took to Instagram to pay tribute to his father:

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CFgT6dzsg-1/

    “I don’t have the right words to say. I’m absolutely crushed. I miss you already. I hate that I wasn’t able to say goodbye. Say hello to Mum Mum, Pop Pop, and Hawk for me. Thank you for your love and support and the many lessons you’ve taught me. I can’t believe you’re gone. I love you Dad,” wrote James Laurinaitis.

    The Rock recently shared a tribute to Animal as well.

    “When I was making my bones, still learning the business in the WWE as a very young “The Rock” – I wrestled these guys so many times on the road and they always took good care of me and made sure I learned.”

  • The Rock Shares How The Road Warriors Helped Him At The Start Of His Career

    The Rock Shares How The Road Warriors Helped Him At The Start Of His Career

    Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has shared his thoughts on the recent passing of Joe “Animal” Laurinaitis.

    Taking to Instagram, The Rock reflected on the news, sharing how he has been saddened and impacted by Animal’s passing. He highlighted how both Animal and his Road Warrior partner, Hawk, were the most “intense, legit tough bad asses tag team in the history of the wild world of pro wrestling.”

    He then opened up about the team helped him when he first began his in-ring career. The Rock shared how both Hawk and Animal always took care of him. He revealed how the pair always ensured he learned as much as he could:

    “When I was making my bones, still learning the business in the WWE as a very young “The Rock” – I wrestled these guys so many times on the road and they always took good care of me and made sure I learned.”

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CFgIe8-lGDR/

    The Rock stressed that both Road Warriors were “Tough as nails” and, ultimately, “Good men.” He then labeled them the “Greatest tag team of all time.” He signed off his heartfelt message by sharing how he will always be grateful to both men for all they did to help him.

    In the wake of the sad news, many within the industry took to social media to pay their respects to Joe “Animal” Laurinaitis.

  • Road Warrior Animal Has Passed Away

    Road Warrior Animal Has Passed Away

    Joseph Laurinaitis, better known to wrestling fans as Road Warrior Animal, has passed away at the age of 60. He was a father of 3 children, including former NFL player James Laurinaitis.

    News of Animal’s passing was confirmed on his official social media channels. A cause of death is not currently available. A formal statement is expected later today.

    SEScoops sends our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Joseph “Road Warrior Animal” Laurinaitis. RIP

    https://twitter.com/RWAnimal/status/1308747451415830529

    The Road Warriors

    The Road Warriors, Hawk and Animal, are widely regarded as one of the greatest tag teams in pro wrestling history. The childhood friends from Chicago, Illinois became household names during the 1980’s. They were known for their smash mouth physical in-ring style.

    They steamrolled opponents in virtually every major promotion worldwide and won tag team gold wherever they went. Fans will forever remember their jacked-up physiques, iconic war paint, spiked shoulder pads and war paint. The Road Warriors epitomized the notion of two guys you wouldn’t not want to encounter in a dark alley.

    The team are 4x PWI Tag Team of the Year award winners. They were voted #1 on the 100 Best Tag Teams of the “PWI Years” in 2003. They were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011.

    Animal is a 3x tag-team champion in the promotion. He twice won the belts with his longtime partner, Hawk, and once with Heidenreich. Hawk passed away in October 2013 at age 46.

    Animal was inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in 2012 and the NWA Legends Hall of Heroes in 2016. He also received the Frank Gotch Award in 2012 from the George Tragos/Lou These Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame.

    Earlier this year, he was presented with the Tag Team Award by the Cauliflower Alley Club. Animal is also in the Minnesota Wreslting Hall of Fame.

    Reactions to Animal’s Passing

    Animal and the Road Warriors were beloved figures in the wrestling industry. The following are some reactions to the news of his passing:

    https://twitter.com/FrankieKazarian/status/1308757590235635718
  • Jason Jordan Update, Road Warrior Animal Wants To Help AEW

    Jason Jordan Update, Road Warrior Animal Wants To Help AEW

    Jason Jordan Update

    Former RAW Tag Team Champion Jason Jordan has been on an in-ring hiatus since early last year. Jordan underwent surgery on his neck to repair an injury. Unfortunately, his return has been continuously stalled due to setbacks. Wrestling Observer Newsletter points out that Jordan is currently working as a producer with WWE.

    His in-ring return is still getting pushed back, but Jordan is said to be doing fine overall. However, Jordan has been having issues with his gripping power. He can’t make a full fist and can’t fully control one of his hands.

    Road Warrior Animal Wants To Help AEW

    A lot of news has been making the rounds about the new All Elite Wrestling (AEW) start-up promotion. The likes of The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Adam Page, Chris Jericho, and more are involved. The promotion is being funded by Jacksonville Jaguars co-owner Tony Khan. It looks like WWE Hall Of Famer Road Warrior Animal is intrigued by AEW.

    He recently took to his podcast, “What A Rush,” and expressed an interest in working with the promotion. Animal believes his professional wrestling knowledge in the tag team industry could be an asset to the company:

    “They got a great product and I think I’d help them enhance their product with my wrestling knowledge in the tag team industry especially, and I think I could be a good addition other than anything else,” Animal said.

    H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions

  • Becky Lynch Lambasts WWE Legend Saying She Should “Back Off Of ‘The Man’ Thing”

    Becky Lynch Lambasts WWE Legend Saying She Should “Back Off Of ‘The Man’ Thing”

    Former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch has gained massive popularity recently after a big slump in her career, when she got a change of character as ‘The Man’. The change has been well received by fans and critics alike.

    However, one WWE Legend and Hall of Famer is not really impressed with Becky Lynch’s gimmick.

    On the What A Rush podcast, Road Warrior Animal gave his thoughts on ‘The Man’ and said that she’s better off without the gimmick and should instead be a “pure white meat babyface that doesn’t quit.”

    “I would let her back off of ‘The Man’ thing and let her just be a pure white meat babyface that doesn’t quit. Those are the kind of babyfaces that work,” said Road Warrior Animal. “When you come out there with the attitude and strutting your stuff like she’s some kind of tough guy, come on! Jesus, Lord, anybody that’s ever been in a fight can see right through it and I’m just being realistic because that’s what works in this business.”

    Becky Lynch saw the article covering the podcast on WrestleZone and responded with the following:

    https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1076995831121743872

    In the usual Becky way, she replied with “The first four words of your headline are a lie” implying that Road Warrior Animal doesn’t think.

    The tweet has since blown up and is now at 22,000 likes. It is safe to say that pretty much everyone here disagrees with Road Warrior. Becky has been riding a wave of success and popularity with her new character, and it has been pretty entertaining to see and a change in her career in the WWE was long overdue.

    h/t to WrestleZone for transcription

  • Road Warrior Animal Praises All In

    Road Warrior Animal Praises All In

    WWE Hall Of Famer Road Warrior Animal was recently interviewed by WrestleZone during Starrcast last weekend. Animal gave his thoughts on Saturday’s All In pay-per-view (PPV) event from the Sears Centre. The former WWE Tag Tema Champion said the show was “awesome”:

    “It was awesome. This year was the 35th year anniversary of Hawk and I and to get 10,000 people chanting L.O.D. was fricking awesome. All I have to say is that the wrestling world needs to look out because there’s a new game in town.

    “Between The Young Bucks, you got Cody, and All Japan and New Japan and all the guys that were on the card and all the girls that were on the card, it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.”

    The interviewer mentioned that there was an intergenerational mix of talent at the event. Animal interjected and said that very fact made the event all the more successful:

    “I think what makes the difference there is that this company has gotten it that you have to mix in the heroes that got this business to where it is today and the new guys.

    “Once you blend that in there perfectly – they did last night- you get the result you had and that’s the benefit of it, it works. Its that hard formula that works.”

    [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/496662807″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]

  • Road Warrior Animal Tells Story of Jim Cornette’s Nasty Fall From Scaffold at Starrcade

    Road Warrior Animal Tells Story of Jim Cornette’s Nasty Fall From Scaffold at Starrcade

    Back in 1986 at NWA Starrcade The Road Warriors defeated The Midnight Express in a Skywalkers Match, but it ended with a nasty fall from the top of the scaffold by Jim Cornette. After the match ended, Paul Ellering chased Cornette up the scaffold before he was left hanging on to it for dear life from the bottom. Big Bubba Rodgers was supposed to catch Cornette during the fall, but that didn’t happen as he was way off target with where he was standing.

    Cornette suffered a severe knee injury as a result of the fall, as he landed very awkwardly on the canvas. During his recent interview with Hannibal TV, Road Warrior told his side of the story and called the event one of the ‘funniest moments in wrestling’:

    “One of the funniest moments in wrestling! You got to understand the story man, it’s funny as hell. God rest his soul too, Boss Man, right? Boss Man and Hawk were like this (crosses fingers), they road together – and I say that in a sense cause those guys rode with the smokers. They loved to get high. So they got high the night before the Scaffold match. Boss Man got high as a kite. Nobody could tell because he had sunglasses on. So I’m holding on to Cornette, and I give Cornette props, he’s afraid of heights. Definitely afraid, he doesn’t fly. He drives everywhere or takes a train. He holds onto the Scaffold and I say ‘Jimmy you got it?’ He says ‘Yeah, I got it.’

    “I told Boss Man, I yell down and go ‘Hey, you ready?’ I’m thinking ‘How is Boss Man going to catch Cornette?’ If he does catch him, Cornette is like a 250-pound sack of crap, he’s going to kill him. Then I tell Boss Man ‘You ready?’ I said ‘Okay,’ and I said ‘Go!’ Boss Man standing like this, and he’s three feet off and misses Cornette. Cornette falls and hits – both knees went ‘POP!’ like a big two-by-four, you hear them both go. He blew out both knees in that one deal. He was screaming! And Hawk and I are belly laughing on the Scaffold. He’s lying in pain, but it was so funny, you had to see Bubba standing there like this, and then staring like this watching Cornette hit. You had to be there and be involved in the match because it was so funny. We laughed our butts off at that.”

    You can check out the fall here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2m24JlJOW4

    H/T Wrestling Inc for the transcriptions

  • Road Warrior Animal on How he Found Out About Hawk’s Death

    Road Warrior Animal on How he Found Out About Hawk’s Death

    Former WCW and WWE Tag Team Champion and WWE Hall Of Famer Road Warrior Animal recently spoke with Hannibal TV to talk about his time in the industry. One topic of discussion included the passing of his former tag team partner, Hawk, and how he was alerted of his death. The highlights can be found here below:

    Finding out about Hawk’s death:

    “Well, I was actually vacuuming my pool and the phone rang. I thought Hawk was doing really good, and it’s my buddy Bob on the phone. ‘I said hey Bobby how you dong?’ He said ‘Hey you talk to Mike today? Hawk?’ I said ‘No, why?’ He said ‘Has anybody called you today?’ I said ‘No why? It’s Saturday, it’s the day off, why would anybody call me?’ He said ‘Joe, Mike died last night.’ I said ‘What?’ ‘Yeah he died,’ he said. I sat down on the steps of my deck, man, and I cried like a baby. I said man not only did I lose my partner in wrestling, I lost a brother and I lost a friend. As messed up as he was, I loved the guy. I was a proud man to say that. Hawk and I were like glue stuck to each other, made a lot of money together, to this day we’re still touted as the number one tag team ever in wrestling.

    “Even with the new guys. And that said something for what we did. He died and it was like someone took a stake and drove it through my heart. It was bad man, it was a bad time. I heard that there was some kind of medicine on the table, I don’t know what it was. I know he was moving his wife, they had a condo on the beach and they kept getting pelted by sand or a storm, so he wanted to move into a house. He moved and he wanted to move all the heavy stuff so his wife wouldn’t have to lift it. He goes ‘Honey I’m going to go and lay down for a little bit. My back is sore, let me rest for three hours then get me up so I can finish.’ She was there to wake him up at three o’clock but Hawk was gone. That was it.”

    What was the cause of his death:

    “They said heart failure, yeah. I think his heart was worse than he was telling me and it was only a matter of time when he got diagnosed. In Australia, when he had his heart problem, I thought it was a matter of time. Once he got the green light and they told him he was healthy he went right back. You can’t do that, not with a bad heart.”

    The best memory he has with Hawk:

    “Man the greatest memory of Hawk, that’s a tough one. I got a lot of funny ones, I got a lot of good serious ones. I remember Hawk doing the war games, being the last guy in and literally knocking out Arn Anderson, Tony Blanchard and Lex Lugar with three clotheslines. Bam, bam, bam and all three are laid out. Cause Hawk was waiting, five guys go in at two minutes at a time, and Hawk was the last guy who had to wait literally 30 minutes to get into the ring.

    “It was like a ticking time bomb. That was a pretty good one. Another one man, greatest moments of all, just the way he never had any kids of his own but he was great with my kids. He always thought of my kids as his kids. My son James was in high school and was becoming a stud football – Hawk was as proud as I was. My son Joe, playing hockey and my daughter Jessica, he was proud of all my kids man.”

    H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions

  • Judge’s Order Nets WWE A Big Victory In Concussion & Royalty Lawsuits

    On Monday night, WWE got some major good news in the concussion lawsuits spearheaded by lawyer Konstantine Kyros. Judge Vanessa L. Bryant of United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (New Haven) ruled that the more recent “concussion lawsuit,” Laurinaitis v. WWE (the one with 50+ wrestlers on board and Road Warrior Animal as lead plaintiff) must be consolidated with the existing ones. While technically, the only two plaintiffs left in the existing suit are Vito LoGrasso and Evan Singleton, the case is officially known as “McCullough v. WWE” from when it was consolidated with Russ McCullough’s since-dismissed case.

    WWE is also looking to get the Marcus “Buff” Bagwell and Scott “Raven” Levy WWE Network royalties lawsuit consolidated with the others, as “Laurinaitis” addresses royalties and the legality of WWE contracts on top of the issues with head injuries. WWE had another victory last week, when an appellate court ruled that the plaintiffs’ appeals of some of the dismissed cases can’t proceed until Judge Bryant rules on various related issues in the consolidated cases.

  • Road Warrior Animal Denied WWE Coaching Job

    When trying to get work within the WWE, being one-half of one of the most identifiable and over acts in professional wrestling history still doesn’t seem to do someone like Road Warrior Animal any favors. Animal spoke to the hosts on the latest edition of the “Jobbing Out” podcast about trying to gain employment with the WWE as a WWE Performance Center coach.

    “I’ve approached them,” Animal explained during the podcast, “Dusty (Rhodes) approached them on my behalf. For whatever reason, the office has their favorite guys. I understand that. One of the first deals I made when I signed with Vince McMahon was that when I was done that I wanted to coach. It’s water under the bridge, it ain’t going to happen. It’s never going to happen.”

    Needing tag team wrestling coaches in particular, Animal singled out the WWE Performance Center first. According to Animal, there is a lot of favoritism in job placement and he believes that coaching the tag division is imperative.

    “You have to have guys coaching who know tag team wrestling,” Animal explained. “You have to have the experience. The business has to get away from ‘this guy is my buddy, so he gets a job.’”

    Road Warrior Animal will be at the Maryland Championship Wrestling this upcoming weekend.

    You can listen to Road Warrior Animal’s appearance on the “Jobbing Out” podcast by clicking here.

  • Bill DeMott Comments On Return Of Tough Enough, Road Warrior Animal At WWE Show

    – WWE Hall Of Famer Road Warrior Animal, who was recently part of a promo that garnered a lot of heat on The Ascension, was front row at the WWE live event on Friday night in St. Louis, Missouri.

    – Bill DeMott wrote the following on Twitter regarding the confirmed return of the WWE Tough Enough reality show, which he served as head coach for in the past:

  • Lita Films Footage For CMT, WWE Brawls Playlist, Today’s Wrestling Birthdays

    – The official WWE website has added a new video playlist featuring a look at brawls that took place outside the arena at past WWE events. You can watch that at WWE.com.

    – Former WWE Diva Amy “Lita” Dumas filmed footage for the new CMT show “Tattoo Titans” recently. The show is set to debut on February 13th.

    – WWE Hall Of Famer Road Warrior Animal celebrates his 54th birthday today. Animal was born on January 26, 1960. Also celebrating birthdays in the world of wrestling today are The Stro (41) and Taylor Wilde (28).

  • You’ll NEVER Guess Who’s Returning At The Royal Rumble Tonight — CLICK HERE!

  • Road Warrior Animal Talks Past Issues With Vince McMahon, The L.O.D. “Look”

    The following are highlights from a recent interview with Road Warrior Animal:

    On the origins of the Road Warrior look: “We were sitting there with Bill Watts and Ole Anderson. At the time, Bill Watts had just gave Dewey, the Missing Link the paint. Down there in Louisiana, they said we want you guys to put a couple lines on your face. Then Hawk came up with the brilliant idea, hey, why doesn’t Animal get a Mohawk and I’ll do the reverse Mohawk, so we can look like we can plug our heads into each other. I said, ‘man, are you friggin’ nuts?’ But, we ended up doing it and it worked. Later on, I did the spikes in my garage, next thing you know, we had the spiked shoulder pads.”

    On The Road Warriors refusing to drop the Tag-Team Titles to The Fabulous Ones: “You guys know our gimmick, we are street fighters. They wanted to do a finish called the ‘switch-a-roo.’ I kept looking to Paul, we were in the locker room and I said, ‘man, that ain’t right. It just doesn’t feel right.’ They give us the finish in the locker room, we say, ‘ok, we’re gonna do it, we go to the ring.’ First thing Hawk says to Keirn and Lane, he says, ‘We ain’t doin’ the finish. Listen to us and nobody will get hurt.’ We came back to the locker room and Greg Gagne is yelling. Verne come down to the locker room and says, ‘Jeez, nobody has changed a finish on me in 25 years.’ I said, ‘Well Verne, first time for everything, we just did.”

    On the team jumping-ship to WWE and his initial dealings with Vince McMahon: “At the time Vince had the Ultimate Warrior. At first he tried to tell us, nobody knows who you are up here. I said, ‘Vince, come on, they know who we are.’ He said, ‘well, I gotta change your name, I can’t call you the Road Warriors, I got the Ultimate Warrior.’ Hawk and I were thinking, ‘that’s kind of dumb that he is acting like this.’ So, we said, ‘how about the Legion of Doom?’ And we used that, at the time, there was no rhyme or reason to anything he did. I was just literal chaos. People that you think should be wrestling each other were not wrestling each other and it was just the opposite, the other way around. I even cornered Vince McMahon one time, I told him I feel like you’re backing us in a corner here and you’re really starting to piss me off.”

    You can listen to the complete interview below:

    Former Tag-Team Champion CONFIRMS That He’s RE-FILING A Lawsuit Against WWE

  • Punk’s Top WWE Moments, WWE’s Sordid Love Triangles, Picture Of Road Warrior Animal & His Son

    – WWE.com has posted a “Pipebombs” list of CM Punk’s Top 15 WWE moments, which you can view here.

    – The WWE website also has a feature counting down the Top 10 “Sordid WWE Love Triangles.” Here’s the list:

    1. “Ravishing” Rick Rude, Jake “The Snake” Roberts & Cheryl Roberts
    2. Edge, Matt Hardy & Lita
    3. Tommy Dreamer, Raven & Beulah
    4. Daniel Bryan, CM Punk & AJ Lee
    5. Hulk Hogan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth
    6. Edge, Big Show & Vickie Guerrero
    7. Shawn Michaels, Rick Martel & Sensational Sherri
    8. Triple H, Kurt Angle & Stephanie McMahon
    9. Zack Ryder, John Cena & Eve
    10. Christian, Chris Jericho & Trish Stratus

    – NFL star James Laurinaitis, son of WWE Hall of Famer Road Warrior Animal, was interviewed by the NFL network on Thursday night and spoke about his father’s wrestling career. James said his father was always “Joe” at home and was very supportive of him, keeping his screaming & face painting for when he was on the road. Check out this picture of the father and son together:

  • Tensai Makes Racial Remark In First Tout, Best of Road Warriors

    – Tensai made a racial remark in his first Tout video post. Noting he was traveling with his personal chauffeur Sakamoto to Indianapolis—the site of tonight’s SmackDown taping—following Raw, he remarks it’s “very, very dangerous” to drive with a Japanese person. He then slaps Sakamoto as he’s driving and orders him “to open his eyes.”

    – WWE.com has uploaded a playlist of The Road Warriors’ greatest moments. Highlights include defeating The Nasty Boys to win the WWF Tag Team Championship, clashing with The Midnight Express in the dangerous Scaffold Match, a WarGames Match against The Four Horsemen at The Great American Bash in 1987, a match against Harlem Heat in 1996 and more.

    – Ezekiel Jackson, who has sparingly appeared at WWE events in recent weeks, noted on Twitter that he will not be on hand for tonight’s SmackDown taping in Indianapolis, Indiana.

    – Alicia Fox paid a visit to Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health on Tuesday prior to SmackDown. The WWE Diva sent out a Tout noting her appearance.

  • List Of Former WWE Stars In St. Louis For Tonight’s Raw 1000

    WWE officials have reached out to numerous former talents in recent months for tonight’s Raw celebrating 1000th episodes. The following former WWE Superstars have been confirmed as being in St. Louis, Missouri, site of tonight’s epic show:

    * Billy Gunn

    * Bob Backlund

    * Bret Hart

    * Diamond Dallas Page

    * “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan

    * Jim Ross,

    * John “Bradshaw” Layfield

    * Mae Young

    * “Mean” Gene Okerlund

    * Mick Foley

    * Psycho Sid

    * Road Warrior Animal

    * Ron Simmons

    * “Rowdy” Roddy Piper

    * Ryan Shamrock

    * X-Pac

  • Hall Of Famer Possibly Spoils Legends Angle For 1000th Raw

    After competing at Tuesday’s SmackDown taping in San Diego, California, Road Warrior Animal stopped by the 100.3 KFAN-FM studios for Extreme Pro Wrestling Radio to discuss this coming Monday’s historic 1000th episode of Raw SuperShow and confirmed his and other former WWE Superstars’ involvement on the program.

    The WWE Hall of Famer may have spoiled the payoff of Heath Slater’s returning Raw legend angle while addressing rumors of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s involvement with the program—who has not been announced to appear by WWE.

    When asked whether The Rattlesnake will encounter Slater on the show, Animal responded, “Austin will definitely give him the stunner, ya know thats coming! Fans get ready, you’re gonna see a stunner!”

    Animal, who appeared on Raw in 1997 and 1998, also confirmed that he will be on hand for the festivities: “I will be making an appearance…people will see that my spikes from SmackDown were excellently repainted! Yeah, I’ll be there all painted up, with bells on boys! If it happens it happens, I’m ready!”

    On what else to expect for the unprecedented show, he said, “It’s gonna be star studded, on my flight alone is me, DDP and Bret “Hitman” Hart!”

    Animal reveals more on Raw 1000, audio available here.

  • WWE Leaning Toward Punk Keeping Title?, Rock’s Rare Moments

    – WWE’s creative committee is rumored to be leaning toward CM Punk retaining the WWE Championship next Monday on Raw SuperShow when John Cena cashes in his Money in the Bank contract. According to PWInsider.com, there is a lot of talk within the organization that Cena will be the first person to not win a title directly after cashing in the briefcase.

    – WWE.com has published an article recalling fifteen of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s “rarest, heart-pumping” moments on Raw. Moments noted are his Raw debut against Salvatore Sincere, capturing the Intercontinental Championship from Hunter Hearst Helmsley, preparing for his first WrestleMania match against The Sultan, his explanation for joining The Nation of Domination, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin forfeiting the Intercontinental Championship to him, awarding gifts to The Nation of Domination, The Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection win the World Tag Team Championship, a Steel Cage Match versus Shane McMahon, facing Ric Flair, and The Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection reuniting to battle Evolution, among others.

    – The Road Warriors: Danger, Death, and the Rush of Wrestling by Joe “Animal” Laurinaitis will be released Tuesday in E-book form.

  • Animal On Road Warriors Not Doing Jobs, His Son In NFL

    Arda Ocal of The Score Television Network had a chance to speak to Joe ‘Road Warrior Animal’ Laurinaitis. Highlights:

    On how the Road Warriors gained the reputation as a tag team that “refused” to do jobs in the 80s:

    “I think the whole thing [not jobbing] is kinda blown out of proportion. If you look back on our career, we lost to Ronny Garvin – the belts to them in Georgia, that was in year one. In the AWA, we lost against Greg and Jim Brunzel . Doing the job wasn’t the problem, it’s when the job got ridiculous and they wanted us to look foolish. I think we were one of the guys that stood up for ourselves and said, ‘listen man, we want this business to grow as a whole’- the business was on a growing trend. Don’t make us look foolish when we’re helping you grow… Hawk and I never refused to do jobs, we did jobs for a whole year straight for WWF… this is a business and we all give and take.”

    On his son, NFL player James Laurinaitis, possibly following in his fathers footsteps one day:

    “James loves the wrestling business. I got pictures in my book that I wrote that he was power bombing his sister in the trampoline. I’d come home off 50 days on the road tired and he’s got his buddies in the pool and trying to suplex the guy off the diving board saying, “come on daddy let’s do the finish’… He’s got a future, he’s a natural add it. James is good on the mic, I’ve told him always be comfortable and say how you feel on the mic. He’s a good athlete- you never know what could happen.”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wyDpq1x2nLU

  • Melina Considering A ‘Dramatic Change’, Animal’s Replacement

    — Melina indicated Thursday during a seven hour live chat on her official website that she is contemplating overhauling her entire appearance. The WWE Diva feels she’s at a point where a ‘dramatic change’ is necessary.

    She wrote, “I’M ACTUALLY THINKING OF CHANGING MY LOOK ALL TOGETHER. MAYBE IT WILL MAKE PEOPLE SAD BUT I AM AT A POINT WHERE I NEED A DRAMATIC CHANGE.”

    The multi-time champion has not appeared on Monday Night Raw in nearly three months; her last appearance took place on February 28. She has sporadically appeared on WWE Superstars in the meantime.

    — WWE Hall of Famer Road Warrior Animal was advertised to guest host next weekend’s Raw live events, but pulled due to WWE’s belief that he was critical of their drug testing policy in a recently published interview with Power Slam magazine. He has been replaced by fellow Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart.

    Animal appeared on a Minneapolis area sports radio station Thursday and said his remarks were taken out of context by a wrestling website.

  • TNA Honors Savage At Live Event, New WWE HOFers Appear

    TNA Wrestling held a ten-bell salute for Randy Savage at tonight’s live event at Amsterdam High School in Amsterdam, New York.

    Savage, who performed for the organization in 2004, died in an automobile accident this morning in Seminole, Florida.

    Meanwhile, new WWE Hall of Famers Road Warrior Animal and Paul Ellering attended the event and were introduced to the audience alongside legendary grapplers Nick Bockwinkel, Danny Hodge, J.J. Dillon, Dominic Denucci, The Destroyer, Mark Lewin and Doink the Clown.

    Animal was advertised to guest host next weekend’s Raw live events in Canada, but pulled due to WWE’s belief that he was critical of their drug testing policy in a recently published interview with Power Slam magazine. He appeared on a Minneapolis based sports radio station yesterday and said his remarks were taken out of context by a wrestling website—actually copied verbatim from the magazine article.