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A grip on the game
- Courtesy Laurinaitis Family James Laurinaitis is the son of professional wrestler Joe "Animal" Laurinaitis. This photo was taken when James was eight years old.
Columbus - James Laurinaitis was visiting the locker room after one of his father's wrestling matches when World Wrestling Entertainment head honcho Vince McMahon extended the invitation.
"James," said McMahon, "you'll always have wrestling here waiting for you if you want to try this business."
The younger Laurinaitis has other priorities right now, but he brings his family wrestling background to the field each week as the starting middle linebacker for Ohio State.
"He's not crazy," linebackers coach Luke Fickell said. "But there's not a whole lot that fazes him. He's just got a sense of confidence about him. I'm sure growing up he's been around a lot of things."
Things like watching his father wrestle in front of 90,000 people, or hanging with Hulk Hogan and The Rock. So his parents weren't surprised when at halftime of Ohio State's 24-7 win over Texas, a game in which the sophomore had 13 tackles, an interception and two forced fumbles in his third career start, they saw their son standing tall.
"Just watching James walk, we could see the difference in his step," Joe Laurinaitis said. "I know my kid so well, it was like he had this awareness in him that he knew he could do it. It was the same look he had in high school. It wasn't that new kid, 'Oh look, I'm in the Big Ten now.' It was like 'I truly belong here.' "
It wasn't an act, though the son has learned all the tricks.
Laurinaitis' father, Joe, was "Animal" in one of the most successful professional wrestling tag teams of all time, known as the Road Warriors and the Legion of Doom. A 6-2, 325-pounder who could do a flip off the top rope, he and his partner "Hawk" helped revolutionize wrestling.
Though Joe is in semi-retirement, his reputation lingers. The family voicemail in Minnesota still has three message options - for Joe, his wife Julie or Road Warrior Animal. Joe will miss the Penn State game next week while in Japan helping to launch a new Animal action figure. And James still slips on his dad's tights and pads and stomps and tosses his friends around when he goes back home.
"He could wrestle, there's no doubt about it," Julie Laurinaitis said of her son. "He's got the personality to do it and he loved it since day one. But it's a hard life and it's very cutthroat, and I just don't want him to have to go through that."
Pro wrestling is filled with competitors who played college football. Joe Laurinaitis played in junior college and was prepared to head to BYU as a defensive tackle when he chose instead to earn a living as a wrestler after the birth of his oldest son, Joe Jr.
So, maybe . . .
"It's always in the back of your mind, if football didn't work out," James Laurinaitis said, "but my fo cus is on football and school. It ran in the family, but it's more of a last resort."
What didn't work out for Joe's football dreams has led to the Lauri naitis family's immense pride in their kids. Joe Jr. is stationed at Dayton's Wright Patterson Air Force Base after serving in Iraq. Their youngest, daughter Jessica, is a high school junior drawing interest from several schools, including Ohio State, for ice hockey. James was Minnesota's defensive Mr. Football as a high school senior.
"Whenever I'd go to a match, Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Rock would come up to me and say, 'Oh, we heard you were doing this and that,' and it was like, 'OK, is my dad trying to brag again?' " James said.
And how can you not play like an Animal when your parent is in the stands yelling, "Kill, kill" - and that's just your mom.
"It was cute before the Texas game," Julie Laurinaitis said, "because James said 'Whatever you guys do, don't get arrested.' I said, 'I promise I'll be good.' "
While Joe wrestled more than 250 nights a year, flying home to coach football and baseball on Saturday morning then flying back out to wrestle again that night, it was Julie, a power lifter and bodybuilder, who played catch during the week. So James grew up on a bodybuilder's diet, popping cherry tomatoes like they were gumdrops.
Both parents lifted weights with James, his dad training him all through high school. In the end, they created a linebacker. James doesn't wear the spikes or the face paint like his dad, but on his best days, you can see more than a little pro wrestler in the way he plays football.
