Joe Laurinaitis, otherwise better known as Animal of the Road Warriors and Legion of Doom, passed away at the age of 60. No cause of death was announced.
TMZ.COM reports that his wife dialed 911 yesterday at around 11:49PM from the Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, MO., where they were staying but when they arrived at the scene it was too late and he was declared dead.
With a career that started in 1982, Laurianitis and his tag team partner Road Warrior Hawk, took the wrestling tag team division in any promotion they worked for by storm, with instant success in the NWA, WCW, and WWE. Their legendary feuds against The Four Horsemen, Demolition, The Steiner Brothers, The Midnight Express and many others are still talked about to this day. The Road Warriors remain one of the most decorated tag team in the history of professional wrestling.
Animal last appeared on WWE television on the Raw 1000th episode in July 2012. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame along with Hawk and Paul Ellering in 2011.
In 2016, Animal joined a class action lawsuit filed against WWE over traumatic brain injuries but that lawsuit was dismissed in 2018 and the judgment was upheld this year.
He is also the brother of WWE official John Laurainaitis.
