Mike Hegstrand
Biography
Michael James Hegstrand was an American professional wrestler. He is best remembered as Road Warrior Hawk, one half of the tag team known as The Road Warriors (WCW) or The Legion of Doom (WWE), with Road Warrior Animal. ) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known as Road Warrior Hawk, one half of the tag team known as The Road Warriors (The Legion of Doom in WWE), with Road Warrior Animal. Outside The Road Warriors, Hawk was a sporadic challenger for world heavyweight championships on pay-per-view from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. He headlined the 1993 edition of ECW's premier annual event, November to Remember While the Road Warriors never officially broke up, Animal started making an increasing number of solo appearances after they left WWE as Hegstrand struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and generally did not appear at many wrestling shows during this time. In 2001 Hegstrand was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that stopped him from wrestling for a short while. He was able to overcome its effects and returned to a regular working schedule later on.
On June 22, 2002 International Wrestling Superstars, Road Warriors Animal & Hawk defeated The Headshrinkers for the World Tag-Team Championship. That victory also led to Team USA winning the Animal and Hawk made a surprise appearance on Raw on May 12, 2003 when they took on Kane and Rob Van Dam for the World Tag Team Championship. Although Hawk and Animal came up short in their attempt to become three-time champions, it was clear that Hawk had defeated the demons that had once kept him from competing, and The Road Warriors had hopes of returning to WWE.
Later in 2003, Hawk made an appearance with the All World Wrestling League, a take-off of the 'original' Big Time Wrestling that was owned by The Original Sheik who died earlier that year; it was run by the sons of The Sheik, Eddie and Tom Farhat. They decided to book Hawk for an event in Holt, Michigan; that event was the second to last time Hawk wrestled. Two weeks before he died he wrestled his final match with Ted DiBiase in Oshawa, Ontario against Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Marcus "Buff" Bagwell.
Death and legacy
Hegstrand died on October 19, 2003 in the early morning in his home in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. He was 46 years old. His friends said that he and his wife Dale had recently bought a condominium near their current home and were packing their boxes the night before. Hegstrand said that he felt tired and went to take a nap. When his wife checked on him at about 1 a.m., he had died of a sudden heart attack. At the time of his death, Hawk and Animal were working on a book about their careers.
Animal returned to WWE in mid-2005 and decided to dedicate his entire run to Hegstrand, including his tag team title victory with Heidenreich at The Great American Bash.
On the March 28, 2011 episode of Raw, it was announced that the Road Warriors would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2011. On April 2, 2011, the night before WrestleMania XXVII they, along with Paul Ellering were inducted into the Hall Of Fame by Dusty Rhodes.
Road Warrior Hawk was included, along with his tag team partner, Road Warrior Animal, in the Attitude Era, in the game WWE '13.
Personal info
Gender
Male
Birthday
1957-09-12
Place of birth
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Images
Cast
WWE Royal Rumble 1998
1998
6.43
AWA/NWA Night of Champions II
1985
0.00
NWA Grandslam
1993
0.00
WWE WrestleFest '91
1991
0.00
WWE WrestleFest '92
1992
0.00
WWE SuperTape vol. 3
1991
10.00
WWE SuperTape vol. 4
1991
0.00
WWF SuperTape '92
1992
0.00
WWE Invasion '92
1992
0.00
WWE Rampage '92
1992
0.00
WWE WrestleMania VII
1991
7.50
WWE WrestleMania 13
1997
7.60
WWE Royal Rumble 1991
1991
7.00
WWE Badd Blood: In Your House
1997
7.10
WWE Judgment Day: In Your House
1998
8.70
WWE Survivor Series 1990
1990
8.20
WWE SummerSlam 1991
1991
7.80
NWA The Great American Bash 1985
1985
0.00
NWA Bunkhouse Stampede
1988
6.50
NWA Chi-Town Rumble
1989
8.50
NWA Starrcade '88: True Gritt
1988
7.00
WCW Halloween Havoc '89
1989
6.70
WCW Starrcade '89: Future Shock
1989
7.40
WWE King of the Ring 1997
1997
0.00
WWE SummerSlam 1997
1997
8.00
WWE Mayhem in Manchester
1998
0.00
WWE Unforgiven: In Your House
1998
9.30
WWE Survivor Series 1997
1997
8.80
WWE Fully Loaded: In Your House
1998
5.00
WWE Over the Edge: In Your House
1998
9.00
WCW Starrcade 1993
1993
0.00
WCW Slamboree 1995
1995
0.00
WCW Halloween Havoc 1995
1995
7.00
WCW SuperBrawl VI
1996
8.00
WCW Uncensored 1996
1996
0.00
WCW Slamboree 1996
1996
0.00
Best Of Raw • Volume Four
1997
0.00
AWA Christmas Show 1984
1984
0.00
PWUSA Star Wars
1985
0.00
GCW at The Omni (December '83)
1983
0.00
NWA Live: March 18, 1989
1989
0.00
AWA Super Clash
1985
7.90
WWE Hall of Fame 2011
2011
10.00
NWA Battle of the Belts
1985
8.00
SMW Night of The Legends
1994
6.00
WWE: Attitude Era: Vol. 2
2014
9.00
WWE: The Best Of In Your House
2013
9.00
Jeff Jarrett: King of the Mountain
2009
10.00
TNA: The 50 Greatest Moments
2006
10.00
NWA Super Towns on The SuperStation
1987
10.00
AWA StarCage
1985
8.50
Legends Never Die
2006
0.00
Battlarts Battle Fiction
1998
0.00
AWA: WrestleRock '86
1986
10.00
NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 1995
1995
0.00
NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 1993
1993
0.00
NJPW Battle Zone Space II
1992
0.00
NWA The Last Battle of Atlanta
1983
0.00
NWA Clash of the Champions
1988
8.00
AWA Wrestling For a Cure
1985
0.00
NWA WrestleWar '90: Wild Thing
1990
7.80
NWA Night of Champions
1984
0.00
WWE SummerSlam 1990
1990
6.30
WWE Survivor Series Showdown '90
1990
4.00
NWA Lords of The Ring
1984
0.00
NJPW Battle Formation '96
1996
0.00
NWA Battle of The Belts II
1986
0.00
NWA Battle of the Belts III
1986
0.00
WWE WrestleMania XIV
1998
7.60
WWE The Main Event V
1991
0.00
WCW Clash of The Champions XXXI
1995
5.00
WCW World War 3 1995
1995
0.00
WWE SummerSlam 1992
1992
8.10
WWE SummerSlam Spectacular '91
1991
0.00
WWE Survivor Series 1991
1991
7.80
WWE Royal Rumble 1992
1992
6.85
WWE WrestleMania VIII
1992
8.20
WCW Clash of the Champions XXIV
1993
0.00
WWE UK Rampage
1992
5.00
WCW Clash of the Champions XXV
1993
0.00
ECW November to Remember 1993
1993
0.00
WCW Battle Bowl
1993
0.00
WWE Ground Zero: In Your House
1997
10.00
WWE One Night Only
1997
7.00
NJPW & WCW Collision In Korea
1995
0.00
NJPW Hyper Battle 1993 - Day 11
1993
0.00
SWS WrestleFest
1991
0.00