Professor Wrestling: The Animal Interview, Part 2
A Conversation With Joe Laurinaitis
POSTED: 12:30 am EDT May 7, 2004
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HAMEL, Minn. -- (This is the final segment of a two-part interview with Joe Laurinaitis, who gained fame as "Animal" of the Road Warriors. The interview was conducted after the death of his partner, Mike Hegstrand, known as "Hawk." Part one, published last Friday, can be seen right here.)
The Animal As A Family Man
One thing about pro wrestlers, when the camera is off, most tend to be pretty normal guys. Bigger and tougher than the rest of us -- and better tumblers -- but they put their superhero tights on one leg at a time. Minnesota's Joe Laurinaitis is a family man. He lives with his wife, Julia, 40, and their two children, James, 16, and Jessica, 14, in suburban Minneapolis. Like dad, both are standout athletes. James is ready to play football and hockey at the University of Minnesota, Jessica is considered one of the best girls hockey players in the state. Joseph, 22, his son from a previous marriage, is in the U.S. military, with tours of duty in Kuwait and Iraq under his belt.
"He sent me letters and called me on the phone and said 'Dad, I just sit here and hope and pray I'm not the next one to go. Because mortars are going around us all day,'" Laurinaitis recalled. "He said it's nothing like what you see on TV. He said, "They are all spitting on us, throwing stuff on us, they're trying to kill us. And we're trying to help. We're trying to rid 'em of the evil and they're spitting on us.'" It's just another real-life drama for a man with a lot on his mind. But he's confident his kids will be OK in life, especially now that the family has embraced Christianity. Of the three, Animal says James has the charisma to perhaps make it in the wrestling world, but he isn't exactly encouraging him to follow that path. "It's not a nice business," he admitted. "You've always got somebody wanting to jump in your shoes, telling you to your face, 'You're a great guy,' ... and just when you turn around, here comes a stilletto in the back. It's just the nature of the beast. I think most professional sports are like that."Oooooh, What A Rush!
Don't get Animal wrong, however. He's seen the world and made a lot of money over the years. In the ring, he says the highlight was the 1992 SummerSlam pay-per-view event at Wembley Stadium in London. There were about 90,000 people there, and they made so much noise he couldn't hear himself think. He and Hawk rode to ringside on Harleys."The only bad part about it is Hawk rode too close to me and I couldn't get off the bike on the left side so I had to jump off on the right side, and my calf stuck to the tailpipe. It burned my tights right into my leg and I had to do the whole match like that. I'm just jumping around and Hawk says, 'Do you have to go to the bathroom or something?' I said, 'No, Mike, look at my leg!' It was brutal. It hurt so bad."
Outside the ring, Joe's biggest rush is coaching football, the other game he loves. As if his schedule isn't busy enough, Laurinaitis and Marion Barber II also coach the Minnesota Lumberjacks semi-pro team. Before that, he helped coach football teams for both of his sons. That's where his personal "Oooooh, what a rush!" comes in. Over 10 seasons of fourth through eighth grade football for both boys, he says they never lost a game: "For them to experience that and to feel that joy and that rush .. that's what life is all about."The Next Road
What's next for Laurinaitis? Certainly more family time. Certainly more Christian wrestling events. As for WWE -- the biggest promotion in the land -- Animal says if the gimmick is right, he's still interested in working for Vincent Kennedy McMahon. "Look at (Ric) Flair, look at (Hulk) Hogan. Those are two guys that are 12 years older than I am, still doing what they can do. I'm a young 43, I could go for five to seven years real strong, and go 150 percent, like I've always gone."Spoken like a true Warrior. Not an Animal, mind you, but a man at a crossroads.Class dismissed.(Professor Wrestling is a masked employee of Internet Broadcasting systems. This article was reprinted courtesy of The Minnesota Score, Minnesota's Premier All Sports Magazine.)
The Animal As A Family ManOne thing about pro wrestlers, when the camera is off, most tend to be pretty normal guys. Bigger and tougher than the rest of us -- and better tumblers -- but they put their superhero tights on one leg at a time. Minnesota's Joe Laurinaitis is a family man. He lives with his wife, Julia, 40, and their two children, James, 16, and Jessica, 14, in suburban Minneapolis. Like dad, both are standout athletes. James is ready to play football and hockey at the University of Minnesota, Jessica is considered one of the best girls hockey players in the state. Joseph, 22, his son from a previous marriage, is in the U.S. military, with tours of duty in Kuwait and Iraq under his belt.
"You've always got somebody ... telling you to your face, 'You're a great guy,' ... and just when you turn around, here comes a stiletto in the back." - Joe 'Animal' Laurinaitis, on the professional wrestling business. |
"He sent me letters and called me on the phone and said 'Dad, I just sit here and hope and pray I'm not the next one to go. Because mortars are going around us all day,'" Laurinaitis recalled. "He said it's nothing like what you see on TV. He said, "They are all spitting on us, throwing stuff on us, they're trying to kill us. And we're trying to help. We're trying to rid 'em of the evil and they're spitting on us.'" It's just another real-life drama for a man with a lot on his mind. But he's confident his kids will be OK in life, especially now that the family has embraced Christianity. Of the three, Animal says James has the charisma to perhaps make it in the wrestling world, but he isn't exactly encouraging him to follow that path. "It's not a nice business," he admitted. "You've always got somebody wanting to jump in your shoes, telling you to your face, 'You're a great guy,' ... and just when you turn around, here comes a stilletto in the back. It's just the nature of the beast. I think most professional sports are like that."Oooooh, What A Rush!
Don't get Animal wrong, however. He's seen the world and made a lot of money over the years. In the ring, he says the highlight was the 1992 SummerSlam pay-per-view event at Wembley Stadium in London. There were about 90,000 people there, and they made so much noise he couldn't hear himself think. He and Hawk rode to ringside on Harleys."The only bad part about it is Hawk rode too close to me and I couldn't get off the bike on the left side so I had to jump off on the right side, and my calf stuck to the tailpipe. It burned my tights right into my leg and I had to do the whole match like that. I'm just jumping around and Hawk says, 'Do you have to go to the bathroom or something?' I said, 'No, Mike, look at my leg!' It was brutal. It hurt so bad."
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Pro Wrestling TorchWhat's next for Laurinaitis? Certainly more family time. Certainly more Christian wrestling events. As for WWE -- the biggest promotion in the land -- Animal says if the gimmick is right, he's still interested in working for Vincent Kennedy McMahon. "Look at (Ric) Flair, look at (Hulk) Hogan. Those are two guys that are 12 years older than I am, still doing what they can do. I'm a young 43, I could go for five to seven years real strong, and go 150 percent, like I've always gone."Spoken like a true Warrior. Not an Animal, mind you, but a man at a crossroads.Class dismissed.(Professor Wrestling is a masked employee of Internet Broadcasting systems. This article was reprinted courtesy of The Minnesota Score, Minnesota's Premier All Sports Magazine.)
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