Mike Hegstrand

Known for ActingBorn 1957-09-12Died 2003-10-19Chicago, Illinois, USA

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.Read more

Movies & web series

WWE: 150 Best Pay-Per-View Matches, Vol 1

WWE United We Slam: The Best of The Great American Bash

WCW War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches

The Very Best of Monday Nitro: Volume 2

WWE Hall of Fame 2011

Jeff Jarrett: King of the Mountain

TNA: The 50 Greatest Moments

WWE In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker

WWE King of the Ring 1997

2nd Annual Battle of the WWE Superstars

WWE SuperTape: Volume 3

NWA Super Towns on The SuperStation

AWA WrestleRock 1986

The First Annual NWA Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament

Pro Wrestling USA: Star Wars 1985

WWE Ground Zero: In Your House

WWE Over the Edge: In Your House

WWE: Attitude Era: Vol. 2

WWE: The Best Of In Your House

WCW Starrcade 1993

WWE Unforgiven: In Your House

WWE Judgment Day: In Your House

WWE Survivor Series 1997

Dark Side of the Ring

WWE One Night Only

Road Warriors: The Life & Death of the Most Dominant Tag-Team in Wrestling History

NWA Superstars on The SuperStation

AWA StarCage

WWE: Road Warriors - The Life & Death of the Most Dominant Tag-Team in Wrestling History

WWE Saturday Night's Main Event

NWA Clash of the Champions

WWE D-Generation X: In Your House

WWE: Falls Count Anywhere: The Greatest Street Fights and Other Out of Control Matches

NWA Starrcade 1986

WWE WrestleMania VIII

The Monday Night War - WWE Raw vs. WCW Nitro

WWE SummerSlam 1992

The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro Vol.1

NWA The Great American Bash 1989

WWE Mayhem in Manchester

WWE SummerSlam 1997

WWE In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede

WCW SuperBrawl VI

WCW Uncensored 1996

NJPW & WCW Collision In Korea

NWA Chi-Town Rumble

NWA Battle of the Belts

AWA Super Clash