The combination of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa character and Hulk Hogan’s Thunderlips character made for one of the most compelling sports and entertainment crossover storylines in movie history. The combination even crossed over into video games which have become as iconic as the “Rocky” characters themselves.
Hulk Hogan seemed a natural fit in the third installment of the “Rocky” movie franchise, as the world of pro wrestling mimics the drama created in the epic battles between Rocky and Apollo Creed in the first two “Rocky” movies.
Looking back on it, the fight scene between Rocky and Thunderlips in “Rocky III” resonates well in today’s pro wrestling world, as most of today’s fans crave a wrestling product that feels more realistic than what is being offered by companies like WWE and TNA Wrestling. Sure, pro wrestling will always be predetermined, but as we all remember in “Rocky III”, what The Italian Stallion thought was a “fake” fight turned out to be quite the opposite of that, as the gargantuan Thunderlips threw everything he had at Balboa, with little regard to how “fake” the boxing Champion thought it was supposed to be.
Perhaps, pro wrestling can take a page out of the “Rocky III” playbook. We are already seeing the realism transfer over to video games, with the popularity of the “Rocky” franchise inspiring “Mike Tyson’s Punch Out”, one of the best boxing video games in gaming history. At the time, the training montage featuring Little Mac running behind his trainer on the bicycle was a work of video game cinematography magic. Couple that with the through line of Little Mac’s character being an “underdog”, and the game resonates the classic career path of Rocky Balboa in the many “Rocky” movies.
The reality aspect of film-to-game has even manifested itself in MansionCasino.com’s new “Rocky” game, which offers players 5 reels and 25 lines inspired by Sylvester Stallone’s Academy Award winning film.
At the end of the day, maybe pro wrestling can learn something from a film franchise which was launched 40 years ago, and infuse its product with not only the drama, but the realism found in classic fight scenes such as Rocky vs Thunderlips.
