[WWW] WWE.com Superstars comment on Hawk

http://www.wwe.com/news/headlines/1238879

Superstars comment on Hawk  

WWE.com asked several of the Superstars for their comments on Mike
Hegstrand, aka Road Warrior Hawk. Here is what they had to say:

Lance Storm
The Road Warriors were the reason behind me first purposely watching
wrestling. My dad was always against wrestling -- wouldn't let us
watch it. It was just after seeing the movie, "Mad Max 2: The Road
Warrior," which I was a big fan of. I was flipping channels, and it
was an AWA show. It was just going to commercial and they said, "When
we come back, the Road Warriors." I'm like, "Oh cool," because of the
connection with the movie. And it was the first time I purposely
stayed on a channel to watch wrestling -- to watch the Road Warriors.

Molly Holly
When I was 10 years old, my dad took me to an APF power lifting meet.
The special guests there were Animal and Hawk, and they were signing
autographs. My mom walked me up to the autograph line, and I was so
scared because they were the biggest guys. But they didn't have their
face paint on, so I was a little confused, being 10. (Laughs) But
Animal and Hawk were both very, very nice. So my very first wrestling
autograph ever was from Hawk.

Ivory
Hawk was actually the first real WWE Superstar that I ever met. We
were at a convention where the GLOW girls were promoting the show. WWE
and Mr. McMahon sat with us, and I remember the Road Warriors being so
charming and interesting. They had all of their garb on with their
spiked shoulder pads. But they were very respectful to us all as
newcomers to the business. It's such a shame. It's too early to pass
on. We see so many unfortunate passings in such a short amount of
time. This is my fourth year here in WWE, and it's not like three or
four people have passed; it's more like 10 or 15, and some tragically.
All of them too young. So it's a very tough business. It's all the
more reason why it's important for people to stay close to their
families and make sure their off time is very productive -- lay
around, enjoy your kids, kiss your wife and try to get some of that
stress out.

Steven Richards
The few times I've had the pleasure of talking to Road Warrior Hawk,
he was nothing but courteous, kind and always had nothing but positive
things to say about my work and what he knew of me as a person. I just
wish I had the opportunity to know him better.

Theodore Long
We worked a long time for Jim Crockett Promotions. The Road Warriors
vs. Doom -- Butch Reed and Ron Simmons. We had a lot of classic
matches.  The wrestling world is certainly going to miss Hawk. I'm
going to miss him. We traveled down the road together. I broke up a
fight that him and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams were in one time. I'll
never forget that. I mean, me trying to break it up. That wasn't
happening. But I was just in there. He always called me "Tedders." God
bless his wife and his kids and I just hope that their life will
continue to go on as peacefully as possible.

Jerry Lawler
The Road Warriors along with Paul Ellering worked for us down in
Tennessee basically when they were just starting. Hawk mentioned this
every time I'd see him: He'd always come up to me and say, "King, you
were the guy who made the Road Warriors." It was the Road Warriors
against Austin Idol and me in Memphis one night. I gave him the
piledriver, and he got up before I did. That was my finishing move,
and when I used the piledriver on someone, that was it. Until that
night. At least in Memphis, they were made after that. I really
enjoyed working with those guys. They were a huge influence on the
business. They were responsible for the change in the appearance of
wrestling, and a big change in the style of wrestling, from their time
until now. All of a sudden, the Road Warriors were what everybody
wanted to look like. And still to this day, guys want to have that
look. We worked together probably 40 or 50 times, which is a lot when
you think about it. I always had good matches with him.

Harvey Whippleman
Hawk and I were the best of friends. I used to travel with Hawk. When
he came to Memphis, he stayed at my house, and I don't let that many
people from the business come to my home because that's my private
time away from the business. But Hawk was one of my good friends.
Steve Lombardi and I travel together exclusively in WWE, but one
person we always let travel with us was Hawk because he wasn't a
troublemaker. In fact, he was a great guy. He would do anything for
you. I love Hawk very much. I always stayed in touch with him. He sent
me a Christmas card every year. I saved them all. I've still got the
invitation to his wedding when he married Dale. He was a great guy and
a true good friend of mine, and I'll always miss him. He was a good
Christian man too.

Kevin Nash
You can't say anything bad about him. He was a good guy. He was a
great talent. He and Animal had a hell of a run together. I heard he
felt tired and he went to sleep. If anything else, it's nice that he
probably wasn't in any pain.  The wrestling world is certainly going
to miss Hawk. I'm going to miss him. We traveled down the road
together. I broke up a fight that him and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams
were in one time. I'll never forget that. I mean, me trying to break
it up. That wasn't happening. But I was just in there. He always
called me "Tedders." God bless his wife and his kids and I just hope
that their life will continue to go on as peacefully as possible.

Jerry Lawler
The Road Warriors along with Paul Ellering worked for us down in
Tennessee basically when they were just starting. Hawk mentioned this
every time I'd see him: He'd always come up to me and say, "King, you
were the guy who made the Road Warriors." It was the Road Warriors
against Austin Idol and me in Memphis one night. I gave him the
piledriver, and he got up before I did. That was my finishing move,
and when I used the piledriver on someone, that was it. Until that
night. At least in Memphis, they were made after that. I really
enjoyed working with those guys. They were a huge influence on the
business. They were responsible for the change in the appearance of
wrestling, and a big change in the style of wrestling, from their time
until now. All of a sudden, the Road Warriors were what everybody
wanted to look like. And still to this day, guys want to have that
look. We worked together probably 40 or 50 times, which is a lot when
you think about it. I always had good matches with him.

Harvey Whippleman
Hawk and I were the best of friends. I used to travel with Hawk. When
he came to Memphis, he stayed at my house, and I don't let that many
people from the business come to my home because that's my private
time away from the business. But Hawk was one of my good friends.
Steve Lombardi and I travel together exclusively in WWE, but one
person we always let travel with us was Hawk because he wasn't a
troublemaker. In fact, he was a great guy. He would do anything for
you. I love Hawk very much. I always stayed in touch with him. He sent
me a Christmas card every year. I saved them all. I've still got the
invitation to his wedding when he married Dale. He was a great guy and
a true good friend of mine, and I'll always miss him. He was a good
Christian man too.

Kevin Nash
You can't say anything bad about him. He was a good guy. He was a
great talent. He and Animal had a hell of a run together. I heard he
felt tired and he went to sleep. If anything else, it's nice that he
probably wasn't in any pain.  Still, another guy at 45 years old, in
the prime of his life, is gone.

Howard Finkel
I always used to watch them when they were in WCW and the NWA and the
AWA, and I always thought that their unique characters combined with
their physical prowess was a can't miss. They certainly proved that in
those federations. So when we got the opportunity to bring Mike and
Joe (Laurinaitis, aka Animal) into our organization, I thought it was
a tremendous, tremendous acquisition. I really didn't know Mike all
that well, but for the times I got to talk to him about life in
general and the wrestling industry in general, he was always very
gracious to me. He was also very knowledgeable about our business. The
LOD/Road Warriors are one of the most unique tag team combinations in
the history of our business, and Mike certainly had a strong presence
to make that happen. Twenty years from now, when you ask about some of
the greatest catchphrases in our industry, "Oh what a rush!" will
probably still be very close to the top of the list.

Gerald Brisco
Going back to the earl 1980s, my brother and I had the privilege of
working with the Road Warriors quite a bit. Hawk was one of the
leaders of the new age of sports entertainment. Politically, I can
tell you a story: He helped prevent me from getting my arms and legs
broke when I sold Georgia Championship Wrestling to Vince McMahon.
There was a lot of animosity towards me and my brother. Hawk and
Animal came to me and told me that we'd better watch our backs, and
that certain people had put other people up to try to injure my
brother and I. To this day, I hold a lot of respect for those guys for
breaking ranks and doing what they did.

Dave Hebner
I refereed the matches with Animal and Hawk back in the 80s. Two of
the greatest guys I've ever been in the ring with. Hawk's one of the
guys who would always have your back. If something happened to you, he
was there to help you. He was just a great individual.

Goldberg
He was one of the inspirations for my character -- no question -- (due
to) his intensity and his ferocity in the ring, along with Arn
Anderson, Nikita Koloff and guys like that. When I did watch wrestling
as a kid, those were the only guys I really watched. Great guy too. It
was an honor to finally wrestle on the same card as those guys.

"Brooklyn Brawler" Steve Lombardi
I knew both very well. I actually did some road trips with Hawk. I
enjoyed his company every time I was with him.  Hawk's death touched
me; it touched me like a family member. Hawk was a great guy and he'll
always be in my heart.

Shawn Michaels
I'm going to miss him, but I'm glad to know that I know exactly where
he's going to be. I was there when he got saved. Anytime you go, it's
too early, I think, for the people in your life. But he was content
and happy, and that's about as good of a way as you can go -- being
very happy, with everybody in your life knowing where you're going to
spend eternity, and knowing that they're going to see you again.
That's as good as it gets. It's always heartbreaking whenever people
are taken early, but to know they're going to have their family and
are going to have peace is nice.

Bubba Ray Dudley
One of my heroes has died. I wanted to be in a tag team my whole life.
Those were the guys that I remember sticking out the most in my mind
as the epitome of tag team wrestling. They weren't the greatest
wrestlers in the world, but they were without a doubt that most hated
and most loved tag team that ever existed, and that's why, to me, they
were the greatest tag team of all time. D-Von and I regret that we
never got to actually get in the ring with them and have at least one
match. I always thought that somewhere down the line there would be
that possibility, and when I saw them here in WWE when they wrestled
Kane and Rob Van Dam, I thought the chance was still there. I hope
he's in a better place. I hope his soul is at peace. I hope his
family's taken care of. I'm sure it's very difficult for his family
and for Animal -- for Joe Laurinaitis. Those guys were brothers. More
than 20 years they spent together. My hat is off to them and all due
respect to those guys.

Sgt. Slaughter
I met Hawk and Animal in Minneapolis. We had a tag team match --
myself and Jerry Blackwell against them. Jerry Blackwell, of course,
was almost 500 pounds. The first thing Hawk did was grab him and slam
him, to everyone's surprise, and I think to Jerry Blackwell's.

Jim Ross
When I first went to work for Crockett in the 1980s, he and his
partner, Joe, were really supportive of my work, and helped me become
accepted in the locker room, which is not always easy for a new guy in
our business, or in any locker room. Probably one of the scariest
moments of my career was when he had a disagreement with Steve "Dr.
Death" Williams in the locker room.  And I was the foolhardy soul that
happened to be at the right place -- or the wrong place, depending on
your perspective -- and stepped in to stop a fight between the two of
them. They hadn't come to blows yet, but they were about to. They
both, over the years, thanked me for that because they became good
friends afterwards. But Hawk and Animal were certainly influential, to
say the least, in a strongman style. I'm sure a lot of guys were
influenced in tag team wrestling by some things they did. They were
phenomenons in their day. At one time, they were without a doubt the
best tag team in the world as far as selling tickets and merchandise.
You think of Patterson & Stevens and the Brisco Brothers and the Funk
Brothers, who were probably better technical wrestlers. But I don't
know of any team that sold more tickets, and at the end of the day,
that's kind of what it's all about.

Stone Cold Steve Austin
I loved Hawk to death. I made a lot of trips with him, to Japan and
everywhere in the U.S. Hawk lived life to the fullest. But he was a
great guy, he was straight-up, he'd tell you what was going on. He
didn't lie, and he'd look at you when he was talking to you. You knew
where he stood on everything. I really, really loved Hawk to death,
and I'm sad to see him go -- one-half of one of the greatest tag teams
in the history of the business.

D-Von Dudley
Without a doubt, one of the greatest teams ever, whether it be in WWE,
AWA, NWA or WCW. These guys set the trend for tag teams. These guys
had charisma. They did what they had to do to attract a crowd. They
had that look. They were scary. They had that Road Warrior/Mad Max
look that, you knew when you came in the ring, they were going to kick
ass. When Bubba and I got here, we wanted so much to be able to work
with those guys. When they came back a few months ago, we thought we
might have the opportunity to do that. Sadly, we didn't have the time
to do it. It's definitely one of the biggest tragedies in this
business. What Hawk and Animal have accomplished will never be broken,
not by us or any other tag team.

Michael Hayes
The Freebirds and the Warriors go back a long, long time. We first met
them, and were excited to meet them, in Raleigh, N.C., at Jimmy
Crockett's bachelor party. We had a bond from them on. Hawk and I had
a real special one too. We drew a lot of money with those guys.  What
I'll always remember about him is that even though he was a very
impressive person verbally and physically, even though he lived by
intimidation and could back it up, he really, truly had a good heart.
I will miss him every day that I wake up. I saw him a couple of months
ago in Gainesville, Ga., and I was in Terry Gordy's son's corner -- my
nephew Ray. I had a good talk with Hawk that night. One of the last
things he said was, "I hope we get to come up there and work with you
guys." I told him, "I'm sure it will happen. I just don't know when."
More importantly than anything, Mike straightened out his life and
gotten right with the Lord. He'll be missed. There will be tears of
joy and tears of sadness, but he'll always be remembered, "Oh yeah!"

Faarooq
Hawk and I have been very good friends for a great many years. I was
just very sorry to hear about the sudden death of him. I can promise
you that he will be missed a great deal by me. I'd like to give my
condolences and my sympathies to everyone.

Eddie Guerrero
What I remember most about him was him turning over his life to
Christ. It just goes to show you the power of Christ. It's amazing. To
see the personal change in him -- I mean, I traveled a lot with him in
Japan, and I even got into it with him in my heyday. My heart and my
prayers go out to his family. The only thing that gives me comfort in
this is that he's at rest with God. You just can't express the
feeling. You lose a family member. In wrestling, we're all family
members. But like I said, I'm thankful that he knows Christ and he's
in His presence right now, so there's no more pain, no more sorrow.
He's at peace. I truly believe that in my heart.

John Laurinaitis
A lot of people realize that Animal is my older brother, and Hawk is
his partner. Hawk has been like a brother in our family since they've
been together, which is about 21 years. So the loss of Road Warrior
Hawk is like a loss of my own brother. Hawk had a great heart. He
would give you the shirt off his back. And I think I could say this
for everybody: A lot of guys, talent, bosses, males (and) females, are
going to miss what he brought to the business. Obviously, the Road
Warriors paved the way for a lot of tag teams.

Kurt Angle
Hawk and Animal were the innovators of what you would call "guys that
can squash their opponents." They proved to be the most dominating tag
team in WWE history.  Watching them wrestle, they were the kind of
guys who would dominate and not get beat up much. I think that they
could have still, today, continued with their popularity. that Hawk
will be engraved in many wrestlers' minds and in the history books
forever.

Bradshaw
The most influence tag team in history, by far. They created the
monsters that later came about in the tag team division, but they were
the originals, and they were the best at it. No matter what people
say, that's the simple fact that can't be argued with. Mike was
fantastic. I had some absolutely great times with Hawk. He was a good
guy and a stand-up guy. There wasn't a dishonest bone in Hawk's body.
And they took it like they gave it. They got accused of being overly
stiff sometimes. But Hawk didn't mind getting hit hard either. You
appreciate that in guys. He was a real man.

Scotty 2 Hotty
They were a tag team before there were real tag teams. They set the
standard for a lot of teams, even today. For me, being a fan of guys
my size, I was still a fan of theirs. I got to work with them. My
first real match at Madison Square Garden was against the Road
Warriors, before SummerSlam on Sunday Night HEAT.

Rikishi 
It was the Road Warriors that made SST (Samoan Swat Team) as far as
recognition. They were our first rival as far as people with names
when we were in NWA. We ran up and down the road a lot. We had a lot
of fun times. Much love goes out to his family and friends and
everybody that was close to him, and may God bless his soul.

Chris Benoit
I remember watching the Road Warriors as a wrestling fan, and then
when I first broke into the business, I remember watching them. The
first time I was around them was over in Japan. And I didn't know what
to expect because their characters on TV were so intimidating. But
Hawk was just so down to earth, such a caring person. One of the boys.
Just treated me as an equal. I'll never forget that about Hawk, about
how right away he came up to me and hugged me, and introduced himself.
We've always had a great relationship.