This Day in Wrestling History is a special one as it’s a guilty pleasure of mine despite not being a big Hulk Hogan fan growing up in the 1980s.
It marked Hulk Hogan’s first starring role and No Holds Barred was released 7 years after he appeared in Rocky 3, another personal favorite as I was a huge Mr. T fan growing up.
While Hogan had to quit the WWE under Vince McMahon Sr. to film Rocky 3, there weren’t any problems with Vince McMahon Jr. as Vince and Hogan were executive producers.
The movie is reportedly owned by the WWE under a “Shane Distribution Company” copyright and New Line Cinema released it on June 2, 1989.
Dual reality
The movie worked in conjunction with the WWE storylines as Hogan (as Rip in the movie)’s opponent Zeus (played by Tiny Lister) was angry at being defeated in the movie and stepped into the square circle for revenge.
It was a pretty cool way for Vince and the WWE to merge the two worlds as at the time, very few outside of the business new Vince was WWE’s owner and there was still a staunch defense that wrestling was real.
The feud was more a story of tag teams to limit Tiny’s lack of ability in the ring as he was a legitimate actor, so he worked with Randy Savage against Hogan and Brutus Beefcake toward the end of Tiny’s run with the company.
Following their match, Tiny went back to wrestling while Savage continued challenging Hogan and then the Ultimate Warrior for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.
The story continues
In 1996, WCW would bring Tiny back as Z-Gangsta to face Hogan at 1996’s WCW’s Uncensored. Savage teamed with Hogan this time as they were in a two against eight Doomsday Cage Match.
Since then, the movie has remained semi-popular with fans as it’s a fun romp through childhood memories for many.
The movie debuted at number 2 behind Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with $4,957,052 in ticket sales, but it didn’t have staying power and finished earning about $16 million.
Hulk Hogan claimed the budget was $8 million, and Vince broke even after disbursement fees were added in.
It continued to be a joke/point of contention as on an episode of Monday Night Raw in 1997, Vince took a shot at Hogan during the Monday Night Wars with: “Hogan promised me that if the movie lost money he was gonna return his salary. I guess the check is still in the mail.”
What are your memories with No Holds Barred? Is it something you enjoy or try to forget? Let us know in the comments below.
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