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The Legion Of Doom's Legacy In WWE & Why They Never Had A Great Run

Posted: Jul 30th 2022 By: Joey Haverford - TheSportster.com

The Road Warriors are a legendary tag team, but their run in WWE as The Legion of Doom didn't live up to expectations.

The Road Warriors became the Legion of Doom in WWE to enter their tag division after years wrestling all over the world. Many fans and wrestlers still use the term “Road Warrior Pop” to describe the audience going wild for someone. Unfortunately, WWE didn’t have the same level of success with the iconic tag team that they had elsewhere.

Vince McMahon is known for being hot and cold with tag team wrestling throughout the years. Even when the boss believes in a team, they are slated to be much below the top singles stars. Road Warrior Animal and Road Warrior Hawk thrived working together everywhere. However, WWE didn’t see the Legion of Doom didn't hit their full potential during the stints there.

The Legion Of Doom's Disappointing First WWE Run

WWE became quite aggressive with signing the most noteworthy names on the free agent market after playing a role in the territories dying off. The Road Warriors joining WWE felt like an even bigger move than some other main event acquisitions since they were an attraction tag team. However, Vince McMahon’s desire to make some changes led to the legendary duo losing some momentum and feeling frustrated.

The Road Warriors name was changed to the Legion of Doom due to Ultimate Warrior already having ties to the warrior name. Legion of Doom was a fun name to make it less negative, but the change showed they weren’t as valued as the top singles stars of WWE. Their manager Paul Ellering wasn’t even there at the start until a return down the line.

Fans still treated them like a big deal with huge cheers for moments like winning the WWE Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam 1991 in Madison Square Garden. The duo left the promotion for a few weeks after having disagreements about pay with Vince McMahon. WWE brought them back in time for WrestleMania 8 with Ellering as the manager.

However, there was a strange dynamic, with Ellering having a ventriloquist dummy named Rocco. Hawk despised this angle and chose to leave the promotion to work in Japan. Animal remained in WWE to finish his house show dates and the rest of the schedule on his contract, but an injury even caused Animal’s in-ring work to end faster than expected.

The Legion Of Doom Return To WWE During The Attitude Era

The Legion of Doom returned to WWE in 1997 right around the time of the New Generation Era moving to the Attitude Era. WCW had the Road Warriors for a short time during the early stages of the Monday Night Wars, but they could not agree to a long-term contract with Eric Bischoff. WWE was more than willing to bring them back after falling behind in the ratings war.

There were some fun moments during this time with LOD teaming with Ahmed Johnson to defeat the Nation of Domination at WrestleMania 13. WWE also placed Animal and Hawk with other face wrestlers to feud with the Hart Foundation. However, the same issues came up once more with WWE eventually losing interest in their general act.

Vince McMahon had them take some time off after putting over the New Age Outlaws as a new top team, losing the tag titles to them and having them shave Hawk’s head. The return came at WrestleMania 14 as LOD 2000 with Sunny as their manager. Unfortunately, there was little chemistry, leading to more disappointment.

A Horrible Storyline Ruined Legion Of Doom's WWE Legacy

The final storyline for the Legion of Doom came during the thick of the Attitude Era when everyone was in outlandish roles. Former NFL player Darren Drozdov joined WWE and looked to find the right character to get over. WWE placed him in a ridiculous storyline, joining the Legion of Doom and seemingly trying to drive a wedge between the two long-term partners and best friends.

Hawk’s real-life alcohol and drug abuse issues were things that he always struggled with. WWE ran an angle of Animal getting frustrated with Hawk's issues and him being unfit to wrestle. Droz trying to replace him just made fans groan as they watched the story unfold. A low moment came when Hawk threatened to jump off the titan tron and Droz accidentally pushed him off.

The storyline flopped with no pay off as they just made a few appearances afterwards. Animal and Hawk both left WWE and saw their tag run reaching the end of the road. Animal signed with WCW on his own for a few months before the company closed. WWE did later bring the Legion of Doom back as a surprise team to challenge Rob Van Dam and Kane to a massive pop. Unfortunately, the overall WWE run didn’t work out, becoming yet another story of Vince struggling to book a tag team perfectly.