I honestly cannot believe I hadn’t seen this movie up to this point in my life. I’ve obviously heard of it for a long while being a wrestling fan, but this film is right up my alley in that so bad that it’s actually pretty good and entertaining kind of quality. I figure since we’re officially in the month of April now, the month of WrestleMania, and I’m coming hot off my discussion of another wacky 80s film (that one starring Roddy Piper though), it was finally time to pop my cherry with this movie, flip it on, and check it out, and my goodness I was not disappointed. I’m not saying this movie was GOOD in the standard use of the word, but it was highly entertaining to me. So without further ado, let’s get into this thing and talk about the film more in depth.
No Holds Barred is a 1989 sports/action film directed by Thomas J. Wright and starring Hulk Hogan, Tom Lister Jr., Kurt Fuller, and Joan Severance. I believe this was Hulk Hogan’s first movie ever, during the height of the Hulkamania madness of the late 80s. This was like a year after he body slammed Andre the Giant in the Silverdome at WrestleMania III if that puts it in perspective for you. Hogan clearly never became too successful of an actor, he had a handful of cheesy films throughout the 90s some more entertaining than others, but he never reached the level that The Rock or Batista or even John Cena are seeing today. At this point in time though, in the late 80s, I can imagine that you could probably sell quite a handful of movie tickets just based off Hogan’s name and image alone. Hopefully the people that were coming to the theater at the time were real big Hogan fans though and not looking for him to branch out and really try that acting thing because he doesn’t really try it in this movie, he basically just plays a version of himself, Hulk Hogan. The character is a professional wrestler named ‘Rip’ who has shockingly similar ring gear to Hulk Hogan, bandana and all, and even rips his shirt off at the crescendo of his entrance to the ring. Rip wears blue & white colors and not red & yellow though so, clearly nothing like Hogan. The big bad guy of the movie was a slimy little TV executive named Brell. Intimidating. Since Hogan could feasibly snap that dude entirely in half though, the supposed “big bad” of the movie that could actually match Rip’s strength and power was Tom Lister’s ‘Zeus’.
The character of Zeus was the standout of the movie to me. Tom Lister’s portrayal was actually pretty intimidating, unhinged, and kind of cool. His introduction scene where he wins the tough guy competition and lays waste to all of these brawlers inside of a dingy bar and gets asked his name by Brell afterwards and he just looks into the camera and whispers “Zeuuussss” all ominously into the microphone. Badass. I will say though, I could not help but feel like Zeus’s character was portrayed in a liiittleee bit of a racist manner and I’m not usually one to be that guy. It wasn’t something I was hung up on, and it didn’t ruin the movie for me by any means, I just kind of take it as the times I suppose but that was really a real thing in combat sports. The black athletes were always portrayed more as the heels to their white counterparts in boxing and things like that throughout our sports history. Zeus’s character is a criminal who’s killed someone in the ring and has been to prison. He’s presented as a completely unhinged psychopath with practically no redeemable qualities, countered to Hulk Hogan’s Rip. The tan, blonde, All-American hero who is fighting the good and noble fight for his brother, his honor, and the girl he loves. It was just laid on a bit heavy is all I’m saying, but still. I think Tom Lister BROUGHT IT as the character of Zeus in a movie that otherwise felt almost entirely over-the-top and absurd.
I don’t say that in a bad way either. I loved the over-the-top 80s absurdity of this film and that’s a major part of what kept me pulled into it. The bad guys of the movie were absolutely evil, especially for their motivations. The TV executive Brell was simply upset that Rip draws ratings when he has wrestling matches on TV because he’s signed to another network therefore his channel loses ratings during his matches. When Rip refuses to sign over to his company he comes up with his own sort of less rules/more extreme version of wrestling and airs it on his own network as competition and Zeus becomes the clear standout quickly. Brell and Zeus start calling out and goading Rip into a match and like immediately both of them are just down to kill him during that match for whatever reason, that’s just the plan. Like damn, I know these guys are scumbags or whatever, but that escalation is wild. Brell at least has some sort of motivation, even if it’s psychotic, but Zeus is just like hell yeah, let’s kill him! They also kidnap his girlfriend and assault his brother on the lead up to the match, like committing real crimes. For what?! Then they have this wild no holds barred showdown live on TV, and it ends in the death of both of the evil bastards and Rip just immediately goes to celebrating in the ring with his brother and girlfriend and the crowd is going wild and I couldn’t help but lose it. Like there were just 2 deaths live on TV, and the bodies are currently in the arena with y’all, and they’re all just partying and celebrating and roll credits. Maybe that’s a spoiler, but I promise you I can say whatever about this movie and it doesn’t take away from the fun and ridiculous absurdity of it when you actually see it.
That’ll just about do it for this one though. This may have to become a yearly watch for me around WrestleMania season. So much fun. If this ridiculous 80s rollercoaster sounds like something for you as well, you can watch it for free on YouTube or Tubi with ads now so check it out! Make sure to like my page on social media or come back to the website elisupdatez.com to keep up with all my latest posts on pro wrestling, horror films (both new and classic), newly released movies, and more! Till next time, be good to one another!
