Vince McMahon can never let the WWF stand just as a wrestling promotion. He always needs to have something else on the burner, which is kinda sad, considering that all of his non-wrestling endeavors tend to fail. Just look at the WBF. Or wait a year or two and look at the XFL.
One of his earliest ideas to expand the Titan empire was to create motion pictures. And he did so with “No Holds Barred”, starring an untalented oaf you might have heard of by the name of Hulk Hogan. Hogan was the mighty hero Rip in the movie, and he battled a big evil black man named Zeus, The Human Wrecking Machine (portrayed by Tiny Lister).
The movie was bad; it was panned by critics and fans alike. Hogan’s acting skills were almost as bad as his in ring skills, and the script was terrible. So it made perfect sense that Vince decided he would take the rivalry between Zeus and Rip from the movie to the wrestling ring.
Zeus started appearing at WWF events attacking Hulk Hogan. The storyline was that he was pissed that he lost in the movie, and would get his revenge on Hogan in “real life”.
Now let’s think about this. Could you imagine seeing, oh I don’t know, maybe Jack Nicholson attacking Michael Keaton because Batman beat The Joker? Or Keanu Reeves getting pummelled by Dennis Hopper for killing him in Speed? Or the Wicked Witch going after The Wizard of Oz? (So THAT’s where WCW came up with the idea!)
Vince could. And he had big plans for Zeus, until he was laughed out the door by fans and critics alike. Rumor had it he was looking for a Zeus-Hogan WrestleMania. Keeping in mind that Zeus knew one move (a really lame neck twist), the grand total of maneuvers in the match would have doubled. Thank God a singles match between the two never happened.
Anyway, all this led up to the titanic PPV, “No Holds Barred: The Match, The Movie”. Finally realizing that a match between Hogan and Zeus wouldn’t draw, he sold the movie on PPV with a cage match featuring Hogan and perennial buddy Brutus Beefcake versus Randy Savage and Zeus. Hogan pinned Zeus, who then left the WWF to continue his acting career. (And of course, show up later in WCW when Hogan was around…)