37 years ago, WWF turned a movie feud into a real wrestling rivalry. Released on June 2, 1989, No Holds Barred starred Hulk Hogan as WWF Champion Rip Thomas and Tommy “Tiny” Lister Jr. as the intimidating villain Zeus. While the movie received mixed reviews, it ended up creating one of the most unique PPVs in pro wrestling history.
No Holds Barred was financed and produced by Vince McMahon, who saw the film as a way to expand WWF’s entertainment brand. The company heavily promoted the movie on its TV shows, making sure fans stayed connected to both the film and its characters.
WWF used No Holds Barred as a wrestling storytelling experiment
Instead of treating Tommy Lister’s role as a one-time movie character, WWF introduced Zeus on TV as the same character from No Holds Barred.
In the storyline, Zeus was angry that Hulk Hogan’s character, Rip Thomas, had beaten him in the movie. He claimed Hogan only won because the fight was scripted and demanded a real match to prove who was actually better. This allowed WWF to continue the movie’s story on its wrestling shows.
Zeus made his first major appearance at Saturday Night’s Main Event XXI, where he attacked Hogan before a steel cage match. The surprise attack gave fans a reason to invest in the rivalry.
WWF continued developing the feud throughout 1989.
At SummerSlam, Zeus teamed up with Hogan’s rival, Randy Savage. The partnership led to a major tag team match where Hogan and Brutus Beefcake defeated Savage and Zeus.
The story didn’t end there.
Zeus later joined Ted DiBiase’s team at Survivor Series 1989 and continued targeting Hogan. By the end of the year, WWF felt the rivalry was strong enough to headline its own special event.
That led to No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie, which aired on December 27, 1989. Fans first watched the entire No Holds Barred movie before the broadcast transitioned into an exclusive wrestling main event.
The main attraction was a steel cage tag team match featuring Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake against Randy Savage and Zeus. The match had quite a lot of memorable moments. At one point, all four wrestlers were down after Hogan suplexed Zeus while Beefcake and Savage crashed into the cage.
Later, Sensational Sherri tried to help Savage by giving him a chain. Savage tried to use it during a diving attack from the top of the cage, but Beefcake recovered in time to stop him.
At the end, Hogan fought back against Zeus, hit three straight leg drops, and scored the winning pinfall.
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