No Holds Barred

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No Holds Barred
Home video box
Directed by	Thomas J. Wright
Produced by	Vince McMahon, Michael Rachmil
Written by	Dennis Hackin
Starring	Hulk Hogan, Joan Severance, Kurt Fuller
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	June 2, 1989
Running time	93 min.
Language	English
Budget	$8,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

No Holds Barred: The Movie / The Match
Details
Promotion	World Wrestling Federation
Date	Taped December 12, 1989 Aired December 27, 1989
Venue	Nashville Municipal Auditorium
City	Nashville, Tennessee
Pay-per-view chronology
Survivor Series 1989	No Holds Barred: The Movie / The Match	Royal Rumble 1990

No Holds Barred is a 1989 film directed by Thomas J. Wright, produced by Vince McMahon and Michael Rachmil, written by Dennis Hackin, and starring professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. The film is produced by WWE and was released by New Line Cinema on June 2, 1989. It is rated PG-13. It was launched as an attempt to boost Hulk Hogan's acting career several years after his appearance in Rocky III.

1 Plot
2 Criticisms
3 Box office gross
4 The match
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Hulk Hogan plays Rip, a very popular professional wrestler. Although Rip looks and acts like a brute, he is actually a golden-hearted guy. He has a younger brother whose presence in the audience motivates him enough to win his matches.

Rip appears on a television channel which screens all his matches. Thanks to Rip, the channel is highly popular. However, an evil money-hungry chairman of a rival channel, Brell (Kurt Fuller), wants to employ Rip in exchange for a lot of money. Rip having learned faithfulness and honesty from his training in the past, refuses, as he considers that wrestling is a noble art that is not meant for show.

Brell then decides to counter the popularity of Rip's channel by creating a new kind of wrestling program with brutal, merciless and violent fights. Brell's new program gets high ratings. His leading fighter is a brainless but brawny wrestler named Zeus (Tim "Tiny" Lister Jr), who sports a "Z"-shaped patch of hair on his skull; Zeus' main characteristic is that he is unfazable, and that he mercilessly beats his opponents unconscious. An example of Zeus' brutality is displayed in a factory "fight" scene, where someone accepts Zeus' offer to fight but is pummelled.

A beautiful female spy (Joan Severance) is sent by the evil Brell to seduce Rip and look over him for her boss. As she realizes Rip's good nature, she tells the truth to the wrestler and turns to his side.

Brell then challenges Rip to fight Zeus in an ultimate violent battle to be aired live on Brell's channel. Rip rejects the offer to protect his honor, but Zeus beats up Rip's brother, who is then sent to the hospital in critical condition. To avenge his brother, Rip accepts the challenge in order to face the two villains.

Before the match, Brell abducts Rip's friends and threatens to kill them if Rip doesn't lose deliberately. With the odds against him, Rip wins the match after Zeus falls from a perch in the arena. Rip turns his attentions to Brell, who accidentally falls into an electrical panel to his demise. With his friends rescued and his brother recovering in the hospital, Rip celebrates his victory.

[edit] Criticisms

Some critics consider the movie as a B-movie at worst and camp at best and criticize the simplistic storyline and clichéd characters. Hulk Hogan is also criticized as an unexpressive dramatic actor. The movie's immature and vulgar dialogues and jokes are also pointed to. In addition, some wrestling fans see the movie as an obnoxious attempt to display kayfabe. No Holds Barred is available on VHS, and is yet to be released on DVD.

Furthermore, given that (at various times) Hogan has wrestled for WWE, AWA, and WCW (in some cases, reportedly leaving said federations in acrimonious circumstances), it could be considered somewhat hypocritical that Hogan would star in a film extolling the virtues of remaining loyal to a single wrestling promotion.

[edit] Box office gross

The movie debuted at #2, behind Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, with $5,000,000 in ticket sales. Hogan writes in his autobiography the budget was about eight million dollars. Vince McMahon, who financed the movie, more or less broke even because of distribution fees. The final tally was about $15,000,000 in ticket sales.

[edit] The match

No Holds Barred: The Movie/No Holds Barred: The Match, which is how the event was billed, was shown on pay-per-view, on December 27, 1989. The match itself was pre-recorded at a Wrestling Challenge taping on December 12 in Nashville, Tennessee.