10 Wrestling Storylines Totally Ripped Off From Movies

9. Hulk Hogan Battles Zeus

It's perhaps the ultimate irony that a wrestling storyline was born out of a movie about pro wrestling, but that's exactly what happened in 1989. After Vince McMahon had tried his hand at being a film producer, releasing 'No Holds Barred' onto the world, one of the movie's main villains was brought into the "real life" WWF to collide with Hulk Hogan. Known as 'Rip Thomas' on the silver screen, Hogan battled the evil Zeus at Summerslam '89. Teaming with his good pal, Brutus Beefcake, Hogan emerged victorious over Zeus and Randy Savage in a main event tag-team match. That wouldn't be the last WWF fans would see of the 'Human Wrecking Machine' Zeus, as he'd return once again at the Survivor Series as part of Ted DiBiase's 'Million Dollar Team', facing Hogan and his squad once more. After losing again, Zeus would retreat with his tail between his legs. In retrospect, this kind of thing perfectly summed up where McMahon wanted to take his product in the late-80's. By casting a movie bad guy to invade the WWF and claim he wanted to defeat Hogan "for real", the WWF were trying to garner interest for the film, which didn't do great at the box office, only eventually breaking even with the reported $8 million budget years later through distribution fees.