Ranking All 30 WWE SummerSlam Main Events

28. 1989 – Hogan/Beefcake Vs. Savage/Zeus

brock lesnar john cena summerslam 2014
WWE.com

This match is the blueprint for how not to do a movie crossover.

The release of Hulk Hogan’s movie “No Holds Barred” led WWF to look for ways to increase the movie’s visibility. And the braintrust decided that the best course would be to have the movie character Zeus, who lost to Hogan’s character Rip in the movie, challenge Hogan in the real world, with actor Tom Lister still portraying Zeus. Confused? You’re not alone.

Nevermind that Lister was an actor, not a trained wrestler. Nevermind the confusing backstory. This was a license to print money! Or not.

The match itself was brutal. Thankfully, Randy Savage was Zeus’ partner, keeping things from falling apart. But after a rematch in a steel cage, Zeus was gone from WWF, and this entire storyline faded away and became the butt of many jokes.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.