Legion of Doom

Early Life

Michael Hegstrand and Joe Laurinaitis, met in 1980 when they both worked at Minnesota's Gramma B nightclub as doormen and hired muscle alongside fellow Slenderslam inductee Rick Rude.Along with dishing out beatings to drunk college kids and bikers, they also shared a love of powerlifting, wrestling and 7 of the 8 the Police Academy Movies, both didn't enjoy 'City under seige' but then who did? (citation needed)It was these shared joys that brought them along to Eddie Sharkey's training school and their journey to the Slenderslam pinnacle commenced.

Slenderslam 7

WELL......It was no secret that Ginger McMahon always shied away from booking tag teams, he had previously stated that he would have to pay double for one act and it didn't make good financial sense.At Slenderslam 6, though he booked his first tag teams 'The Rockers' and 'The 2 Al Snows', the results were unprecedented, merchandise sales rose by 20% and McMahon reluctantly re-wrote the rule book.The following year he spent big bucks to get 2 Time WWE Tag Team champions and Hall of Famers, LOD, to the Waterloo Arms.
Initially both were reluctant to attend, whilst they were no strangers to the mean streets of Minnesota, the stories of Shirley and the infamous Warren, had travelled across the pond and Hawk and Animal were concerned about, not only their own safety, but the safety of their Manager Paul Ellering, Little Rocco and all the little Doomers who would no doubt flock the streets of Shirley to catch a glimpse of their heroes.Eventually McMahon's pockets proved too deep and whilst they persuaded Ellering and Rocco to stay at home, the Road Warriors hired a kayak and rowed across the Atlantic to attend.McMahon promised his 10's of fans a Rush and What a rush they got, with more spikes than a Dudley family tree, the shoulder-pad cladded duo dealt a performance that could not be forgotten, no matter how much you would like to.
The Doomers also got to re-ignite their fued with Modecai and The Brood who were also in attendance, whilst one was making promises of Doomsday, the others brought their patented finishing manouvre to anyone who got in their way, including an unfortunate Chris Jericho.Y2K had been very vocal about the winners purse for the Slenderslam 7, which was double that of Slenderslam 6. It transpires that Jericho had gone behind the others wrestlers and negotiated with Ginger his own additional appearance fee, which lessened the winners scoop. A wrestlers court was immediately held, Sergeant Slaughter the Judge, Bull Nakano the Jury and the executioner......WELLLLLL that was the dished out Doomsday style.

The Title

Animal and Hawk have held no fewer than 16 titles in their wrestling career, including NWA, AWA, WWE, IWS, World Japan and the Jim Crockett Snr Memorial Cup, but surely no higher acclaim than when they were presented the Slenderslam 7 Championship belt.Whilst the prize itself is worth its weight in copper, the title was made that much sweeter when, unknown to Hawk, it was in the presence of his father General Heenan and long time buddy Flakey G. Both had made the long journey to the Waterloo Arms to see their boy win the gold.

Post Slenderslam

Laurinaitis released an autobiography in 2018, entitled 'A Weekend in Shirley' part of which referenced many of the back stories and road diaries of their trip to the worlds greatest wrestling event but predominantly featured his intimate relationship with Mrs Shirley Glover, an 83 year old lady who works in the Sue Ryder charity shop on Shirley high-street and sold Animal a pair of size 11 moleskin loafers and a bum bag.

Legion of Doom - Slender Slam 7 (2015)

Born Road Warrior Hawk - (Michael Hegstrand) & Road Warrior Animal (Joseph Laurinaitis)Date of birth Hawk - January 26th, 1957, Animal - September 12th, 1960 Origin Hawk - St. Paul, Minnesota, & Animal - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Occupations Professional wrestlers, Bringers of Doom Slenderslam Apps Slenderslam 7 (2015)Favourite Quotes 'Well' 'What a rush' 'Broken Necks, Ruptured spleens, severed arteries, these are a few of my favourite things' 'We are gonna chew you up like dirty dog biscuits'

Grappling since 2009.