Sharkey thought that Hegstrand, along with Joe Laurinaitis, Rick Rood and Barry Darsow could make it big in professional wrestling.

Needing a quick replacement, Ole Anderson gave Hegstrand a call, and he accepted the booking to team with Laurinaitis.

[5] When Paul Ellering was looking to put together a stable of heels in Georgia Championship Wrestling called The Legion of Doom it was decided to pair Laurinaitis with Hegstrand and change their names to "Animal" and "Hawk" respectively; thus, the Road Warriors were born.

To look more intimidating the two shaved their heads into Mohawks and started wearing studded dog collars, leather chaps, and face paint.

"[6] The team was an instant hit, revolutionizing the tag-team scene with their power moves, no mercy attitudes, and innovative face paint that would spawn many future imitators in wrestling.

[6] Near the end of 1988, the Road Warriors captured the NWA World Tag Team Championship from The Midnight Express whom they mauled in short order to win the titles in New Orleans.

The Road Warriors immediately signed with the World Wrestling Federation[26] and were pushed into a feud with Demolition (which once again included their old training partner Barry Darsow).

(Popular rumor at the time cited a heart condition on Bill Eadie's part, but this has been discredited in recent years.

[6] During the early part of the feud, Legion of Doom often teamed with WWF World Heavyweight Champion The Ultimate Warrior in six-man tag matches against all three members of Demolition.

[8] When they lost the titles in February 1992 they were briefly taken off television, only to return with long-time manager Paul Ellering by their side, as well as a wooden dummy called "Rocco".

Both members of the Legion of Doom thought the gimmick was stupid, as did most of the fans and it led to Hawk quitting the WWF,[29] leaving Animal on his own for the first time in nine years.

During that time, Sting and Lex Luger had won the WCW World Tag Team Championship and the Warriors challenged them, to no success.

[8] In November 1997 the Legion of Doom faced the newly formed New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) and shockingly lost the titles to the upstart team.

[29] The storyline found the Legion of Doom crumbling as Hawk repeatedly showed up to matches apparently drunk or under the influence of drugs, and began demonstrating suicidal tendencies.

This led to the conclusion of the storyline, in which a suicidal Hawk climbed to the top of the TitanTron, the giant television monitor erected during episodes of WWF's Raw Is War to show match highlights to fans in attendance.

On June 22, 2002, International Wrestling Superstars, Road Warriors Animal & Hawk defeated the Headshrinkers for the World Tag-Team Championship.

[38] 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.

[citation needed] Two weeks before he died, he wrestled his final match with Animal in Oshawa, Ontario, defeating Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Buff Bagwell.

The pair, alongside gym employees Bob Truax and Dan Stock, conceptualized the Zubaz workout pants and helped popularize the brand globally.

[46] 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.