Road Warrior Animal - Joe Laurinaitis - RIP

[Samson250]

I miss Lucians wrestling stories.

 

[bad rad]

Wrestlers are on everything. Being on the road all the time traveling, having a crazy schedule, and the injuries from abusing their bodies training and performing for the fans, lead to them taking a crazy amount of substances. Amphetamines and other stimulants to get up, alcohol and benzos to get down, steroids to get big, diet drugs to get lean, muscle relaxers and painkillers to deal with injuries and perform despite the pain, alcohol and rec drugs to party...it's a hell of a lifestyle, and no wonder so many wrestlers die early.

As an empathetic addict, that's such a terrible way to live.

 

[LATS]

Wrestlers are on everything. Being on the road all the time traveling, having a crazy schedule, and the injuries from abusing their bodies training and performing for the fans, lead to them taking a crazy amount of substances. Amphetamines and other stimulants to get up, alcohol and benzos to get down, steroids to get big, diet drugs to get lean, muscle relaxers and painkillers to deal with injuries and perform despite the pain, alcohol and rec drugs to party...it's a hell of a lifestyle, and no wonder so many wrestlers die early.

When I owned my gym some of the wrestlers came to town and put on a performance.. sid vicious was one of them.. but some of the others stuck around and talked after their workout.. they even stated how hard the schedules were and the stuff they had to take to get hyped up for the matches.. they were always on screwed up meal and sleep schedules.. add that to trying to get workouts in and wrestle and you have a recipe for health issues.. and yes peds were in the mix.. but the lifestyle led to alot of drug addicted wrestlers who had a hard time shaking it even after they retired..

 

[Sides]

As an empathetic addict, that's such a terrible way to live.

As a fellow empathetic addict, how can I judge anyone else's life? Personally, I'm currently on steroids, stimulants, antidepressants, and benzodiazepines myself, just to get through the day and sleep at night. So many of us are on a laundry list of drugs and supplements, and yet we're just fairly anonymous people. We will never have the glory that Hawk and Animal had, when they came out and heard that pop from the crowd, or raised their fists in victory. So we settle for the smaller but hopefully still satisfying victories in our lives, while trying to avoid the failures. But we all come to the same end in the long run.

 

[bad rad]

As a fellow empathetic addict, how can I judge anyone else's life? Personally, I'm currently on steroids, stimulants, antidepressants, and benzodiapines myself, just to get through the day and sleep at night. So many of us are on a laundry list of drugs and supplements, and yet we're just fairly anonymous people. We will never have the glory that Hawk and Animal had, when they came out and heard that pop from the crowd, or raised their fists in victory. So we settle for the smaller but hopefully still satisfying victories in our lives, while trying to avoid the failures. But we all come to the same end in the long run.

No judgement at all on my part. I know the issues of being an addict and that life is nearly guaranteed to make you one. I'm too much of an introvert to ever want what they had. My "issue" is the job creates a lifestyle of addiction to survive but then tosses you aside once the money stops rolling in. Dwayne J. was genius for quitting.

In my case I'm working to get clean from everything but I love androgens and need TRT. I have TBI that broke my endocrine system.

 

[austrianoak]

I was on a show with him once, great guy and had some crazy stories to tell. I agree drug use is rampant in our business (I had to retired a little while ago due to concussions/long-lasting negative effects of those) but it has gotten waaaay better over the last 15 years I’d say. Defo not as much pain killers and amphetamines used anymore, rec drugs mostly weed. Defo been way worse in the old days. AAS are also not as widespread anymore due to the fact that being big and “larger than life” is no longer the be all end all to be successful in the industry.

Rest in power Joe, you were one of the good guys.

 

[maldorf]

I was on a show with him once, great guy and had some crazy stories to tell. I agree drug use is rampant in our business (I had to retired a little while ago due to concussions/long-lasting negative effects of those) but it has gotten waaaay better over the last 15 years I’d say. Defo not as much pain killers and amphetamines used anymore, rec drugs mostly weed. Defo been way worse in the old days. AAS are also not as widespread anymore due to the fact that being big and “larger than life” is no longer the be all end all to be successful in the industry.

Rest in power Joe, you were one of the good guys.

So what has displaced the importance of being a big powerful guy now? Has personality and general athleticism taken over as being more important? In the 80s a lot of the most popular guys seemed to be mostly just big and strong but couldnt do the cool moves in the ring.

 

[austrianoak]

So what has displaced the importance of being a big powerful guy now? Has personality and general athleticism taken over as being more important? In the 80s a lot of the most popular guys seemed to be mostly just big and strong but couldnt do the cool moves in the ring.

That’s exactly it, Maldorf. Way more focus on athleticism nowadays, also lots of influence from the British style and Japanese style more or less creating a hybrid wrestling style. The stuff that is done in the ring nowadays is mind-blowing in terms of athleticism. Of course you have the odd big guy who stands out, but even those guys are (at least the majority) incredibly athletic compared to the guys in the 80s and 90s for example.

The sport in general is also way more demanding on the body nowadays imo. In the 80s a simple bodyslam and leg drop combo (Hulk Hogan) was used as a finishing combination and blew the roof off of stadiums and nowadays you might not even get a reaction for that.

But that’s just the way everything evolves and changes, the amount of business one can do today without being signed by WWE is the best it’s ever been without a doubt.

 

[maldorf]

That’s exactly it, Maldorf. Way more focus on athleticism nowadays, also lots of influence from the British style and Japanese style more or less creating a hybrid wrestling style. The stuff that is done in the ring nowadays is mind-blowing in terms of athleticism. Of course you have the odd big guy who stands out, but even those guys are (at least the majority) incredibly athletic compared to the guys in the 80s and 90s for example.

The sport in general is also way more demanding on the body nowadays imo. In the 80s a simple bodyslam and leg drop combo (Hulk Hogan) was used as a finishing combination and blew the roof off of stadiums and nowadays you might not even get a reaction for that.

But that’s just the way everything evolves and changes, the amount of business one can do today without being signed by WWE is the best it’s ever been without a doubt.

Ok, you confirmed my thoughts. I havent watched wrestling in many years but I imagine it is maybe more exciting now than ever. The two guys I knew that wrestled were with smaller outfits and I dont think either one ever got to sign with the WWE. The one guy might have been invited to do a show or two with the WWF but it wasnt something regular. Neither was able to break in. The guy that did better was about 6 foot and around 240 lbs solid and looked like a good bodybuilder. I think he called it quits after he got run through with that spear. He finished up grad school and concentrated on a career as a nurse practitioner.

 

[sbaker1061]

Are any of these wrestlers still alive? Only one I dont know is the guy on the far right. Sad to see them all gone.

View attachment 121046

no thats Kerry--he shot himself

 

[Fit2Serve]

i couldnt ever get into the wrestle thing.
had the action figures as a kid but never watched wrestling as a teen or grown up. meh.
-F2S

 

[maldorf]

i couldnt ever get into the wrestle thing.
had the action figures as a kid but never watched wrestling as a teen or grown up. meh.
-F2S

Going to see it live with my dad as a boy created some fond memories. We had a blast! Even on tv it was fun to watch as a kid. Funny thing, my dad is now 83 years old and still watches it! I do not however.

 

[Ashop]

One of my favorite wrestling tag teams of all time. RIP big man.

 

[Fit2Serve]

Going to see it live with my dad as a boy created some fond memories. We had a blast! Even on tv it was fun to watch as a kid. Funny thing, my dad is now 83 years old and still watches it! I do not however.

my wife said same thing. she went with her dad when she was younger and she said it really made an impact on her
-F

 

[xpoc]

The Road Warriors were prob the single biggest influence on me getting into weight training. I was dabbling a bit in 1984 and then these guys came along. I thought they were so much cooler than bodybuilders. My next biggest influence was prob the Barbarian Bros out of Venice. Once again, not competitive bodybuilders. But the Road Warriors...GAWD DAAAAM. To a kid they were icons. They came into the ring with the song Iron Man by Black Sabbath blaring and proceeded to behead their opponents. And they could take a bump. Here they are getting the shaft in a bench press contest. These bastard Russian's once again attacking America! Dang commies! Good shxt here:

 

[maldorf]

Great concession stand fight I watched in 1981. Mr. Yamamoto gets mustard all over him and the ring announcer says "he's yellow everywhere"! I loved the stuff that happened outside the ring. Real blood there mixed in with the mustard.

 

[maldorf]

When I was just a kid, if there was blood in wrestling then it was all that much better. I was bloodthirsty! I think wrestling has changed a lot there too. Im pretty sure that back then the guys would cut their heads before the fight and then reopen the cuts again in the ring to make it bleed. Is there still a lot of blood in wrestling? The old timers usually had some scars that ran horizontal with the wrinkles in their foreheads.

 

[Bio]

When I was just a kid, if there was blood in wrestling then it was all that much better. I was bloodthirsty! I think wrestling has changed a lot there too. Im pretty sure that back then the guys would cut their heads before the fight and then reopen the cuts again in the ring to make it bleed. Is there still a lot of blood in wrestling? The old timers usually had some scars that ran horizontal with the wrinkles in their foreheads.

It was called blading. They would clip a razor blade into a point. They would, put some tape at the base and hide it in their wrists if they were taped, their fingers if they were taped or hide it in their mouths. They would then slice their forehead when the time was right. Wounds were also reopened naturally if they were there. Vince McMahon did away with blading some time ago but other organizations do it and the deathmatch stuff is insane!

If you didn't see this on VICE before, Becoming A Deathmatch Wrestler, check it out. These guys are nuts!!

https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/becoming-a-deathmatch-wrestler/5d016263be407741574646c1

 

[Luv2test]

Man, Legion of Doom was my favorite tag team as a kid!
They used to put their opponents seated up on their shoulders and clothesline them off from the top rope. Brings back great memories of pretending I was a wrestler as a kid.

 

[lookslikesausage]

Man, Legion of Doom was my favorite tag team as a kid!
They used to put their opponents seated up on their shoulders and clothesline them off from the top rope. Brings back great memories of pretending I was a wrestler as a kid.

Doomsday Device. They were brutal with it when they did it on enhancement talent.