Action Wrestling on the pay-per-view, Slammiversary, with Rick Steiner; he replaced Scott Steiner, who was out with an injury. They ended up losing to Team 3D. On December 15, 2016, Animal returned to TNA for a guest appearance on the Impact Wrestling special, "Total Nonstop Deletion". Second return to WWE (2003, 2005–2006, 2011–2012) Animal and Hawk made a surprise appearance on Raw on May 12, 2003, when they took on Kane and Rob Van Dam for the World Tag Team Championship. This would be the last time the two would pair together as Hawk died a few months later in October. Animal made a return to WWE on the July 14 episode of SmackDown! in 2005, where he was challenged by the then-WWE Tag Team Champions MNM to a title match at The Great American Bash. Finding a new tag team partner in Heidenreich, Animal went on to defeat MNM for the titles, dedicating the win to Hawk by saying, "Hawk, this one was for you, brother!" The two would team up for a few months in a new chapter of the Legion of Doom, with Heidenreich adopting the L.O.D.'s shoulder pads, face paint, and mohawk haircut. However, this came to an end with Heidenreich's release from WWE on January 17, 2006. On the March 3, 2006, episode of SmackDown!, Animal teamed up with Matt Hardy to face MNM. After he and Hardy lost the match, Animal turned heel for the second time in his career by attacking and injuring Hardy's knee. Animal reasoned that he had realized that Hardy and Heidenreich were screw-ups and that Road Warrior Hawk was the only tag team legend and partner for him. After the heel turn, Animal, once again known simply as "The Road Warrior", would drop many aspects of the well-known Road Warrior gimmick, losing the face paint, and shoulder pads. Animal's look at this time was similar to his old Road Warrior gimmick in the early 1980s he had prior to teaming up with Hawk. On the March 17 episode of SmackDown!, Animal lost to Hardy in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. Animal was defeated by United States Champion Chris Benoit on the March 31 episode of SmackDown!. In his final WWE match, Animal defeated Paul Burchill on the May 6, 2006, episode of Velocity. On June 26, 2006, Animal was released from his WWE contract. WWE announced on