Movies - No Holds Barred

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	Movies - No Holds Barred

: For the combat sport, see Mixed martial arts.

No Holds Barred is a 1989 film starring professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. It was launched as an attempt to boost Hulk Hogan's acting career several years after his appearance in Rocky III
.

Today the movie is a prelude to the founding of WWE Films.

Plot

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 (Tom "Tiny" Lister Jr), who sports a "Z" tattoo 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 eletrical panel to his demise. With his friends rescued and his brother recovering in the hospital, Rip celebrates his victory.

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.

Box office gross

Movie debuted at #2, right 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.

Category:1989 films Category:Sports films

The match

The movie and the match was shown live on Pay-Per-View, December 27, 1989.

Hulk Hogan
and Brutus Beefcake def. Randy Savage
and Zeus
in a Steel Cage Match

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for No Holds Barred ]

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Movies - No Holds Barred

Plot

Criticisms

Box office gross

The match

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