Paul Ellering reveals why the Road Warriors got renamed in WWE
Paul Ellering was recently a guest on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast. Ellering discussed the legendary Road Warriors - Animal and Hawk. When the Road Warriors moved to WWE, they were renamed to the Legion of Doom.
According to Paul Ellering, the decision came straight from Vince McMahon himself. Here's why Vince McMahon decided to rename the Road Warriors:
The Legion of Doom was purely a business deal. Vince wanted to be able to trademark the Road Warriors name, but those guys already did that, so Vince couldn’t have that. Hawk off the cuff said, how about the Legion of Doom and Vince said, yes, that’s good and then Vince could trademark that. H/T: WrestlingNewsCo
Paul Ellering on why he didn't move to WWE with Road Warriors
Paul Ellering didn't move to WWE at the same time as the Road Warriors despite being their manager. Instead, he came in later. According to Ellering, he didn't want to break his contract with the NWA and at the time, he still had around six months left. Ellering explained:
I was all on board with them. My thinking at that time was I’ve dealt with all these promoters from Puerto Rico to Japan to Montreal to Texas, you name it, and every one of these promoters would make a deal with me. My word was always my word. It was a bond. It was something we were going to fulfill and they could trust me that we would be there. Our deal was our deal. We had about 6 months left on the contract and the guys wanted to go to New York. I was all on board for it. I just didn’t want to back out of the contract that I had signed. I told the guys, you go ahead and I’m going to finish out my contract. I signed this contract and that was my word. That was my bond and I didn’t want to walk away from that. That’s why I stayed in NWA/WCW and then I came in later.
Paul Ellering also managed the Authors of Pain during their time in WWE NXT and led them to the NXT Tag-Team Championships.