10 Times WWE Mocked What Fans Hated
7. No Holds Barred
After his appearance in Rocky III, Hulk Hogan teamed up with Vince McMahon to produce No Holds Barred, a film centered on a seedy TV producer trying to buy out Rip (played by Hogan) and then destroy him with a brute named Zeus.
McMahon was determined to push his film so much so he tied it into WWE programming. Despite not being able to wrestle, the CEO brought Zeus in, with the same goal of destroying the man with 24-inch pythons. Both the movie and feud received a rough, critical response in the end.
The film cost around $8 million, and it made a little over $16 million. After distribution fees, McMahon barely broke even. He recognized the movie was a failure on the 13 October 1997 episode of Raw, when he quipped, "Hogan promised me that if the movie lost money, he was gonna return his salary. I guess the check is still in the mail."
WWE knew the movie was trash, and it joined the Universe in ribbing No Holds Barred when it promoted the digital re-release in 2012. During promotional clips, WWE Superstars sat down to make fun of the film and sell it on the basis that it was so bad it was good. After acknowledging the poor sales and reception years ago, WWE wasn't going to try to convince fans otherwise.