In Memoriam

2003 - WWE Hall of Famer and tag team legend Road Warrior Hawk died at the age of 46. Hawk and Animal actually met as children, with both moving to Minneapolis at a young age. The pair attended different high schools, but maintained a friendship into adulthood and were recruited into wrestling by Eddie Sharkey whilst working together at a local nightclub.

Hawk began his career working in Vancouver as ‘Crusher Von Haig’, but it was in 1983 that his career would begin to take off. Animal’s scheduled tag team partner had run into legal difficulties, so Hawk was brought in to fill the spot. Ole Anderson christened them ‘The Road Warriors’ and a legend was born.
By the turn of the millennium, Hawk was struggling with personal demons and was later diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, all of which saw him take nearly a year away from wrestling. Towards the end of his life, Hawk still teamed regularly with Animal, appearing once more on WWE programming before his passing of an apparent heart attack at his home in Florida. Several tributes were paid to him following the news; WWE aired an ‘in memory of’ graphic at the following shows, Animal dedicated his entire mid-2000′s WWE run to his former partner and finally, in 2011, the pair were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame alongside their manager Paul Ellering. Across a 20-year career, the pair amassed 17 Tag Team Title reigns across 3 continents.