Binge Media Sports: The Revisit-No Holds Barred
Welcome to another Binge Media Sports crossover version of the film revisit. Today, we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of No Holds Barred, starring the one and only immortal Hulk Hogan. Didn’t see this one coming, did you? That’s right, folks. I am still to this day a huge wrestling mark and on June 2, 1989, I was at Westlake Cinemas in my hometown of Peoria, IL for opening day to check out one of my childhood idols first starring role. Sure, he had been Thunderlips in Rocky III, and a guest spot on The A-Team, and had been entertaining the millions and millions (take that Dwayne) of wrestling fans for years as the top guy in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now the WWE). So there I am, with my homemade T-shirt and the specialty magazine that had come out the week before that I had gotten for my birthday and I was ready to watch the Hulkster kick some serious ass.
No Holds Barred stars Hulk Hogan as Rip, the current WWF champion (yes, I will be saying WWF until the end, so if the World Wildlife Fund wants to call me, go right ahead), obviously true to life back in the day as Hogan was an international icon as the actual champ. In an early scene as he defends his championship with cameos from Mean Gene Okerlund and Jesse Ventura, Rip shows his tenacity by basically “hulking up” and proving once again, he’s the best in the world. His younger brother, Randy, is Rip’s biggest fan and is always on hand to cheer on his big brother (keep that plot point in mind).
However, things start to turn as a TV executive from a rival network wants to cash in on Rip’s popularity, Played by Kurt Fuller, Mr. Brell tries to buy Rip onto his network with a blank check, but Rip downright refuses.
Unhappy with this decision, Brell sends his thugs to change Rip’s mind and teach him a lesson, resulting in an amazing fight scene that ends with a classic encounter.
Well, if Brell couldn’t convince Rip with force, then he’ll go with another option, a hot chick. So he sends Samantha, played by Joan Severance, to spy on Rip and change his mind yet again. But wouldn’t you know it, after some playful flirting and crazy sexual tension, she can’t resist the charm of the champ and joins the good guys in their battle against the evil Brell.
So now Brell is really pissed off, and if he can’t have Rip, then he will find a way to completely destroy him. So he comes up with his own brand of fighting program called “Battle of the Tough Guys”, which would probably draw huge ratings in the world we live in today. It’s just random tough guys fighting in bars and he promises the winner $100,000 and just when he thinks he has a champion, in walks this man….
ZEUS! You’re damn right that’s Deebo from Friday. Zeus is an ex-con and he walks in and destroys everyone that is put in front of him and becomes the new face of violence. Brell immediately begins to control him, and soon enough, it’s time to issue a challenge to Rip at a charity function.
But not wanting to set a bad example in front of the children, Rip holds back and refuses the challenge. But as Zeus continues to destroy opponents, Randy decides he must see for himself what all the hype is about the man who wants to destroy his brother. Wearing his “Rip ‘Em” attire, he is confronted by Brell and Zeus after a fight and his idiot friend blurts out that he is Rip’s brother and then Randy proceeds to be pummeled by Zeus. Shit just got real. After destroying Zeus’ private gym, Rip decides that he has no choice but to fight Zeus, but not before visiting Randy in the hospital, which gave us an emotional scene that includes the Hulkster crying on camera.
As fight night comes, it’s clear that this will be the toughest challenge of Rip’s life, and to make matters worse, Brell wants to guarantee that his boy will come out on top and kidnaps Samantha and orders Rip to lose if he wants to ever see her again. As the match begins, Rip has no choice but to let Zeus dominate the match.
But as the match continues, Rip’s trainer and one time trainer of Zeus, Charlie, rescues Samantha and they return, along with Randy, to cheer on our hero as he tries to fight his way back into the match. But if there’s anything we’ve learned from 30 years of Hulkamania, it’s that you never count out the immortal one. Brell is beside himself as he sees his plan falling apart, and starts yanking electrical wires from the walls. Rip is fully in control now and the fight leaves the ring and up into the stands for our big finale. Rip seals the victory by knocking Zeus from the catwalk all the way back down to the ring, collapsing it and leaving a bloody Zeus as the loser.
As Rip walks towards Brell to confront the thorn that’s been in his side the whole movie, Brell backs into the live wires that he himself pulled out and electrocutes himself, leaving our heroes with no more fights to fight, and Rip reunites with Randy in a beautiful finish.
I remember coming out of the theater as a kid and being so excited about what I had just seen. Is the movie cheesy? Yes. But is it still awesome? Yes. It also crossed over into the WWF that summer. As Vince McMahon, who also was the executive producer on the movie, likes to do, he used the movie to create a storyline for Hulk Hogan. He brought the Zeus character in to challenge the real Hulk Hogan throughout that summer, which culminated at Summerslam ’89 in a match that saw Hogan team with Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake to battle Zeus and Hogan’s longtime friend and rival, the late great Randy “Macho Man” Savage.
That show also saw the return of the beautiful Miss Elizabeth, who had taken a break after the yearlong storyline between Hogan and Savage that saw Hogan win back his title at WrestleMania V. I still watch this match from time to time and it ended with Hogan once again getting the better of his movie rival.
It’s been pretty awesome to look back at this movie that I loved so much as a kid. As I talked about, I remember the theater as a kid and right after I broke my arm that fall, my dad took me to the video store to pick out any movie I wanted and it was the night before this was being released on VHS, so they had the boxes out, but not the actual tapes yet, but my dad talked the clerk into letting us have it anyway just so I could watch it that night, and I must have watched it at least 4 or 5 times over the next couple of days. And just a few years ago, the WWE (now I’ll call them that) actually released it on DVD and Blu-Ray so the next generation of wrestling fans can watch this classic for years to come.
So on this 25th Anniversary, I salute No Holds Barred. I’ve been a fan of Hulk Hogan for most of my life. I remember my dad taking me to see him and putting me on his shoulders so I could watch him slam the One Man Gang at the Civic Center. It’s WrestleMania III and the biggest moment in wrestling history happened as Hogan slammed Andre. It’s all the battles with Savage or Warrior and the NWO and everything else that I could use as another story for another day. But today is about the movie, so instead of saying that Hulk Still Rules (which he does), I’ll just say “Rip ‘Em”……..BROTHER!
If you’d like to comment on the movie, feel free to do so below or tweet @THElukenorris
Eric King
June 2, 2014 @ 6:26 pm
Holy crap! Now I’m going to have to watch it.
Kupka
June 2, 2014 @ 11:23 pm
Can’t believe it’s been 25 years. I need to revisit this shit real soon.
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