What the Gimmick Was: A character from a motion picture. Why its Confusing: Hulk Hogan was the toughest dude in the WWF for years. No man in the company could possibly handle him, but even he must have been a little afraid to battle someone straight from a movie. No, it wasnt The Terminator, Robocop or even Crocodile Dundee coming into his world, it was the dreaded Zeus from the theatrical powerhouse No Holds Barred! This coincidentally happened to be a movie that Hogan starred in alongside Tommy Tiny Lister. It was going to be big! Lister won the role of Zeus in No Holds Barred, which was the quintessential wrestling movie, until Ready to Rumble came around that is. In the film, Hogan (playing the character Rip Thomas) was the WWF Champion and battled Zeus after he won the Battle of the Tough Guys tournament. Screw King of the Ring, Battle of the Tough Guys is a real man's tournament! Anyway, of course Hogan came out on top. Even in a movie that man wasnt going to job to anyone! Well, Zeus wasnt too happy about this and he joined the actual WWF to get his win back. Yes, as part of the storyline Zeus was angry that Hogan won in the movie. Did he not read the screenplay before he signed on? Can you imagine Tom Hardy wanting to fight Christian Bale in real life because he came up short in The Dark Knight rises? Now in the WWF Hulk Hogan wasnt Rip Thomas from the film, he was Hulk Hogan, but Zeus was still Zeus. That just doesnt make a lot of sense. After a few failed attempts by Zeus at trying to dethrone Hogan, he was gone from the company. Its too bad that someone couldnt have wrote him a different ending.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
