Michael Hegstrand, "Hawk" of The Wrestling's Road Warriors, dead at 46

George The Animal Steele ^

[AppyPappy]

Hawk of the Road Warriors has passed away in his sleep at 1:30 this morning.

Hawk was born on January 26th, not sure of the year but I believe he turned 45 years old. His real name was Michael Hegstrand.

Mike had everything going for him right now.

He had just sold his Condo to move today into his new home in Florida. His wife, Dale, said "he was going to lay down for a while, he didn't feel well. She thought it was from all the packing and excitement of the move into their new home.

I was with Mike at a Christian conference this past June. Mike gave his testimony that he had found the Lord. My deepest sympathy goes to Mike's wife and the rest of the family. Mike had given his life to God; for that we should all be thankful.

[AppyPappy]

I put this in religion because he has been doing some ministry work as of late.

[billbears]

Man, that's sad. But good news that he was working in the ministry as well. I wondered what had happened to him, matter of fact what had happened to a lot of the old 70s and 80s wrestlers

[CounterCounterCulture]

The legendary Stu Hart just passed away Thursday.

Hawk's death, considering his age, is surprising, but a lot of wrestlers in their 40s have passed as of late.

[CounterCounterCulture]

This year Road Warriors Hawk and Animal did have one televised match in the WWE (they lost) and one or two "dark" matches a few months ago but never were re-signed to a contract.

[CounterCounterCulture]

Wrasslin' PING list

Let me know if you'd like *ON* or *OFF* my rarely-used wrasslin' ping list

[billbears]

That's what I thought I remember seeing. But weren't they on a Sunday Night Heat or something? Either that or the late Saturday shows. I do remember seeing them one time this year but it really didn't look like the same guys

[flair2000]

They wrestled Kane and Rob van Dam on Raw earlier this year and got squashed. I thought the WWE disrespected the Warriors in that match, considering their place in wrestling history. RIP Hawk.

[Dan from Michigan]

Damn. I grew up with Road Warriors/Legion of Doom.

My prayers to his family.

[JoeSixPack1]

RIP
Hawk

[CounterCounterCulture]

Yup, an absolute squash to a team that would eventually break-up anyway.

Past atrocities include the "Hawk Commits Suicide" angle from the late 90s...

Road Warrior Hawk becomes a drug addict thanks to LOD newcomer Puke. Hawk decides that life just ain't worth living and climbs the Titantron to throw himself off. Yikes.

...and Rocco, a wooden puppet manager Paul Ellering would bring with them to the ring.

[LanPB01]

I saw Hawk at a small local promotion in the summer of 2001. There probably weren't 50 people in the stands. A guy I'd gone to high school with was also in attendance, and during the intermission, he went to the ring to talk to have his picture taken with Hawk. When he came back to his seat, he said Hawk was drunk.

[xzins]

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.

We'll be joining you soon, brother.

[GreatOne]

I have an interview on tape he and Animal did with the KQRS Morning Crew (Minneapolis - FM 92) from 1988 or so. Extremely funny. Another wrestling death - it'll be interesting to see how long the current stars last.

In another 10 years or so, we as a society will be experiencing a lot of celebrity deaths, maybe on a weekly basis, due to the growth of popularity of t.v. in the 1970s - stars from those hit shows will be in the 60s or 70s. And this is not even mentioning those great stars from the 1960s who are still with us. Sports, the same thing.

[ambrose]

From left to right... Animal, Precious Paul Ellering, and Hawk (RIP)

[prisoner6]

How sad. ON the ping list please.

prisoner6

[RonPaulLives]

"What???" That was my response when I read this headline under "new posts to me." I was just thinking about Hawk today, as I was reading the new PWI 500 list in the magazine at the bookstore. I was thinking about how he had some success as a singles wrestler after his and Animal's glory days in the tag team ranks were done.

RIP, Hawk. What a rush.

[NewRomeTacitus]

A few excerpts from “12Q Interview with Road Warrior Hawk” by The Wrestling View’s Mike Parker, September 3, 2001.

“Animal and I have known each other almost our whole lives. It's funny because people always think that we're not from Chicago, but we are. I first met Animal when I was about 8 and we started hanging out together, when I 12. At 15, Animal's family moved to Minneapolis, due to his father's job with a computer firm. My family wound up moving there too, for similar reasons, so we were never really apart. We used to lift weights in Jesse Ventura'a gym and we were discovered by Eddie Sharkey there. We trained with him and Animal worked first as the original Road Warrior in Georgia.”

"We worked more scaffold matches than anybody. I think we worked them at three Great American Bash's in a row. At least it seemed that way to me. It's a dangerous place to be. One mistake and you can break your neck. Originally they had it 20 feet high and then lowered to 14.
When I worked the Starcade match, my leg was pretty messed up. I had broken it in Japan taking a backdrop and the doctor told me it would took eight weeks to heal. Of course, the match was in four weeks, and they told me, that they needed me. So I took the cast off right before the match. Thank God, I had my partner of partners, Animal out there to take care of things. Again, it's so dangerous. I don't know who could take a fall like that except for Mick Foley."

"Vince told us, that he wanted us to grow our hair out and not wear the paint anymore. He claimed it was so there wouldn't be any confusion with The Ultimate Warrior. I gagged and felt like I wanted to puke. Because I was always the one who had spoken up, Animal was kicking me under the table. He is a mastermind and he brought up new people. That's the only good thing I can say about him, though. Otherwise, he is evil."

"I would say, when we were getting pushed, I would have tried harder for a union. Piper tried too. The boys are in a bad position. You really have to make a lot of money to make it worth it. But there are no benefits. That's a big problem. I mean it's a billion dollar industry and there are no benefits.
Why? Because it doesn't help the promoters any. They'd rather stuff their own pockets with money than do anything good for the boys. Imagine that, doing something good for the boys."

Substance-abuse aside, it's apparent that Mike went out of his way to perform for the fans while watching out for his co-workers. I truly wish Bill Goldberg would stop using the line "Who's Next?", because it always reminds me that these guys are going too fast. - NRT

[Hatteras]

These guys were awesome in their prime. The scaffold matches added a whole dimension to the "sport". Everything else started becoming boring.... That is, until Mick Foley did the flip off the top of the steel cage onto the announcer's table...

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, WHAT A RUSH!

Unfortunately, everything I've heard or read was that Hawk was screwing himself with drugs and/or alcohol as they were trying to make a comeback. I hope he's found his peace.

[E Rocc]

Hawk's death, considering his age, is surprising, but a lot of wrestlers in their 40s have passed as of late.

Lyle Alzado died at age 42. Steroids will do that.

-Eric