Stars have come and gone throughout the history of professional wrestling, but few have remained locked in so many fans’ memories as The Road Warriors, Animal and Hawk. We’ve heard about their lives, especially the lows involving Hawk’s substance abuse problems. Unfortunately, that seems to be more the norm than not during that time in professional wrestling, as we’ve lost a great deal of our favorites from the 80s and 90s before their time. Tonight (5/12) on VICE channel, Darkside of the Ring will air their newest episode, “The Last Ride of the Road Warriors.” It’s for that reason I thought it’d be a good time for a Road Warriors Darkside of the Ring Tribute.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CADHb2ogwQD/?igshid=kjezf3snreou
The good and the bad
For that that haven’t seen it, Darkside of the Ring delves into the dark true stories we either haven’t heard of, or only heard parts of before. It’s an award winning documentary that has fans excited for more so we can learn more about some of our favorites.
While the show generally does a good job of walking the line between the good and bad times to keep a balance, we want to share some of the great moments that we may not have seen in the United States or elsewhere.
As we all know, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and other Japanese promotions have long been a home away from home for many wrestlers, and the Road Warriors were no different.
What’s really cool about these matches (like the clip above) is we get to see things we didn’t here. There’s a rumor out there that Hulk Hogan didn’t like being pressed by Animal (above) or by Hawk (below), but they didn’t care and did it anyway even when he resisted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uMNDsqaidY&t=305s
That’s one of the things about this team we continue to love. They played by their own rules and you’d be damned if you didn’t agree. They were aggressive and massively powerful.
Out of the two, Animal is universally considered the strongest, while Hawk was the better wrestler. But that only added to their legendary careers. They even spawned copies in other promotions like the Blade Runners (Sting and Ultimate Warrior), Powers of Pain (Warlord and Barbarian), and Demolition (Ax and Smash) to name a few.
They never did it alone
As awesome as the Road Warriors were, they couldn’t have done it without some of the greatest teams in history working with them. While they did things their own way, they were smart enough to know they couldn’t do it alone, and having rivalries with legendary teams like the Midnight Express (their scaffolding match is the stuff of legend and nightmares) and the Four Horsemen gave them a boost and helped build their legend.
It’s these moments that we held onto during the midst of the tragedy of Hawk’s fall from grace and eventual death after he worked to try to clean himself up.
The Darkside of the Ring is going to be difficult for many of us, but also a story we’ve been waiting to hear.
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