Former WWE duo left after refusing to beat up The Road Warriors, Vince Russo recalls

The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) were one of the world's most popular tag teams in the 1980s and 1990s. Vince Russo, WWE's former head writer, recently recalled how The Harris Brothers lost their jobs after refusing to beat up the legendary duo.

Ron and Don Harris worked for several high-profile wrestling promotions, including ECW, WCW, and WWE. According to Russo, the imposing tag team once received instructions to legitimately hurt Animal and Hawk, aka The Legion of Doom, in a match.

In an interview on The Hannibal TV, Russo said WWE released The Harris Brothers after they failed to follow the instructions:

"They left the wrestling business because they got orders to put a hit on The Legion of Doom. They were told to get in the ring and beat the s**t out of these guys, and Ronnie and Donnie said, 'We're not gonna do that, they're our friends, we're not doing that,' and they were let go from the company." [42:33 – 42:57]

The Harris Brothers worked under several names in WWE, including The Blu Brothers and The Grimm Twins. They were known as The Bruise Brothers and Creative Control in ECW and WCW, respectively.

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Vince Russo on WWE's treatment of ICP and The Road Warriors

In 1998, The Headbangers beat up Insane Clown Posse (ICP) on RAW after being told to do so by WWE's higher-ups.

Vince Russo is not aware of any backstage conversations that took place before the match. However, based on his knowledge of the situation with The Road Warriors, he has no doubts about the story:

"Do I believe that a hit was put out on ICP?" Russo said. "Absolutely, one thousand percent, because those guys, The Headbangers, bro, they wouldn't have done that on their own. They wouldn't have done that unless they were told to do that and were afraid of losing their jobs if they didn't." [42:59 – 43:18]

In the same interview, Russo discussed Vince McMahon's possible role in Shane McMahon's meeting with Tony Khan in 2024.

What's your take on The Harris Brothers being told to beat up The Road Warriors? Hit the discuss button and let us know.

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Please credit The Hannibal TV and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.