In No Holds Barred, Hulk Hogan plays a professional wrestler who is best-known for his mustache, his thinning blonde hair, and for ripping his shirt in half when he climbs in the ring.  Hulk Hogan is playing himself except that everyone in the movie calls him Rip Thomas.  Why is Hogan renamed Rip Thomas?  It seems strange because No Holds Barred features “Mean Gene” Okerlund and Jesse “The Body” Ventura as themselves and there’s nothing about Rip that’s any different from Hulk Hogan’s own wrestling persona.

Rip is the World Wrestling Federation Champion and is loved by fans across the globe.  Rip may be fierce in the ring but outside of the ring,  he loves children and is devoted to looking after his younger brother, Randy (Mark Pellegrino).  Tom Brell (Kurt Fuller), the evil owner of World Television Network, wants to harness the star power of Rip but, when Rip refuses to sign with WTN, Brell goes his own way and hires ex-convict Zeus (Tiny Lister) to star in The Battle Of The Tough Guys.

Rip still wants nothing to do with Brell, not even when Brell sends Samantha Moore (Joan Severance) to seduce him.  In fact, Rip is such a beacon of goodness that he brings Samantha over to his side.  But when Zeus puts Randy in the hospital, Rip has no choice but to seek revenge in the ring.

No Holds Barred is a movie with an identity crisis.  It’s a pro wrestling movie that was made to capitalize on Hulkamania and a lot of the humor was meant to appeal to the kids who were a huge part of Hogan’s fanbase but it’s also a movie in which people die, Samantha is nearly raped, and Randy is crippled by Zeus.  The movie lacks the sense of fun that has made professional wrestling a worldwide phenomena.  The most surprising thing about No Holds Barred is that Hulk Hogan has very little screen presence.  I don’t think anyone would expect him to be a great actor but he also shows little of the charisma that made him a phenomena back in the day.  Especially when compared to the ferocious Tiny Lister, Hogan is just boring.  Maybe that’s the difference between Rip Thomas and Hulk Hogan.

David Paymer has a small role in No Holds Barred, playing a nervous television executive.  Out of the cast, Paymer was the only one who later went on to be nominated for an Oscar and Jesse Ventura was the only one to later be elected governor of a state, at least so far.  Hulk Hogan’s only 71.  He’s still got time.