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Now their story is told for the first time on this special DVD set. The surviving "Road Warrior" Animal, talks candidly and truthfully about the roots of their team and their incredible success and "icon-like" status within the wrestling industry.
Animal freely admits that the "Road Warrior" concept was taken from the Mel Gibson film, "Mad Max" (released as "The Road Warrior" in the U.S.) and that he and Hawk just went in there and beat the hell out of their opponents because that's all they knew. As the documentary shows, The Road Warriors began life in Verne Gagne's now-defunct AWA, before their services were acquired by the NWA (which later became WCW).
Animal explains how the team was groundbreaking in both its look and in-ring style (The Road Warriors were seemingly invincible for years and only lost by count out or DQ). They were meant to be heels, but fans thought their butt-kicking, merciless attitude was cool (not even a highly bloody and dangerous "spike in the eye" angle with the NWA's beloved Dusty Rhodes could turn the fans against them).
Their WWF career (originally from 1990-1992) is also covered (incidentally, the "Road Warriors" tag was then dropped and replaced by "The Legion Of Doom" and blue or black "spike attire" was replaced by red get-up). Animal regards the infamous Summerslam 92' from Wembley Stadium as a top career highlight, but rather honestly admits that their WWF career ended shortly after due to Hawk's bad attitude towards Vince McMahon.
Animal fondly remembers an LOD reunion in WCW in 1996, but insists that they were screwed out of money by Eric Bischoff (hence the relationship ending abruptly).
Finally, we look at Hawk and Animal's return to the WWF in 1998 (not 1997, even though they were briefly involved in the memorable "U.S.A. VS Canada" feud leading up to "Canadian Stampede"), which is surprising, because this was their worst run ever. It's also shocking to see WWE's Jim Ross talking about the controversial "suicidal" story line with Hawk like it was the right thing to do (in real life, Hawk had been battling drug and alcohol addiction for years).
Hawk eventually changed his ways and found God, but sadly, his "rock n' roll" lifestyle caught up with him around a year later. Animal, Michael Hayes understandably speak with great sadness about his passing, but when you watch this DVD and hear about some of the "Hawk stories", you'll wonder how he even lived as long as he did. Nonetheless, the documentary is interesting, eye-opening and essential viewing for old-school fans as well as new.
The DVD extras are almost as impressive. There isn't much to offer on disc 1 (apart from a tour of Animals "trophy room" and a hilariously-bad music video from the 80's), but disc 2 is packed with classic matches (including the first ever "Scaffold Match", in which Jim Cornette broke both his kneecaps), promos and tributes to Hawk.
Unfortunately, the guest commentary (from JR and Animal) on some of the bouts isn't very insightful (Animal acts like he's in a real-life match most of the time), but then considering the wealth of material and the strength of the separate documentary, this is a minor gripe. Overall, this DVD does not disappoint and is something that Hawk would have been proud of.
