Tommy Lister Jr. aka Zeus passes away

[KawadaSmile]

As if 2020 couldn't get worse.

Really fond of his roles in Hulkamania Era WWF and WCW. He was one of those unmistakable characters, and his other roles are iconic to this day, even when his screentime is at a minimum.

Shame. 

 

 

[C.S.]

I first saw him in a TV miniseries with Tim Thomerson called "Glory Years."

But his most memorable role to me - and I suspect most of us - was, of course, as "Zeus" in "No Holds Barred." 

I didn't become a wrestling fan for a few more years, so I missed his actual in-ring exploits, but an actor I already knew claiming he was really this "Zeus" character was pretty much all the confirmation I needed that wrestling wasn't quite on the up-and-up.  

He later showed up for a cup of coffee in WCW as "Z-Gangsta" and notably appeared in the first two "Friday" films (along with many others).

2020 sucks.

[SirEdger]

I think my favorite role of him was in The Fifth Element. But I'll be damned if I wasn't impressed as a kid when I first saw him in No Holds Barred.

[sek69]

Zeus was awesome and all, but I'll always think of him as Deebo from  the Friday movies.

Dude had a lot of relatively small but memorable roles in all sorts of movies, and even as immediately recognizable he was he always was a standout.

[ohtani's jacket]

I'll always remember him as Sancho. 

[WingedEagle]

Deebo is amazing, but the childhood memory of Zeus standing on the steps above Hogan outside the cage is one that's permanently etched on my mind.  He had such an aura to this 9 year old.

[cm funk]

He also had a small but memorable role in The Dark Knight.  Dude had a hell of an acting career for someone who's breakout role was playing a fake pro-wrestler, then a real pro-wrestler, opposite Hulk Hogan.  Far better Hollywood career than Hogan amazingly

RIP

[Coffey]

I have a lot of nostalgia for that whole Zeus era of WWF. No Holds Barred was a big movie for me when I was a kid, during the height of my wrestling fandom when Hulkamania was in full swing. I remember the movie, I remember Zeus teaming with Randy Savage & a promo that Macho Man & him cut. Savage pointed at Tiny's cross eye & said he "had the eye of the madness!"  Also a Hulk Hogan cage match where Zeus was blocking the door when he got to the ring. Despite the fact that Tiny wasn't a worker, they made it work. 

No, granted, No Holds Barred is a cheesy, b-movie but I still love it anyway. Even Stan Hansen is in that bitch!

Rest in peace.

[SirEdger]

That cage match was on Saturday Night Main Event with Hulk Hogan defending the WWF title against Big Boss Man. Slick cut a promo prior to the match saying he had a surprise for Hogan and it was Zeus. I watched it back about 2 weeks ago. Hogan and Boss Man had solid chemistry together!

[TheDuke]

I remember as a kid watching a promo for No Hold's Barred on one of the WWF weekend shows with my brother. I am sure I remember seeing Zeus punch a concrete block and breaking it and thinking "what happens if he hits Hogan in the head that hard?" I also thought because his name was Zeus that he was a step above Hercules Hernandez.

[Blehschmidt]

So when I was a kid my Dad owned his own business, worked 50-60 hours a week, half a day on Saturday, and then did shit around the house when he was home. He wasn't a bad Father by any means, we did lots of stuff together, but it was mostly stuff at home. He introduced me to my crazy wrestling obsession when I was like 5 years old, and we always used to watch it together when we could.

Anyway, the point of me telling you all that is that when I got taken to see movies, it was always by my Mom. However, when No Holds Barred came out, and I absolutely HAD to see it, my Mother who HATES wrestling, absolutely was not going to see it under any circumstances. So my Dad closed his shop a little early on a Saturday, and we went to see No Holds Barred. So that movie, and Zeus will always hold a special place in my heart.

So Rest in Peace Mr. Lister

 

Now, 31 years later, my Dad is retired and he's always been something of a homebody (other than work), and No Holds Barred is the last movie he has ever seen in a movie theater, and I am constantly begging him to go see something else with me, because I don't want that piece of shit to be the last thing he saw in a theater before he dies!

[Cowboy Hats 4.0]

That's a great story

[cm funk]

Great story, thanks for sharing.  And if theaters ever get back to normal take your dad to a real damn movie!!

My memory of watching NHB for the first time was on VHS in the A/V room of the high school my mom worked at, with my best friend at the time.  I remember a couple of HS kids coming in and either kinda making fun of us for watching it or marking out and putting it over.  Must have been a half day at elementary school and this was the best way to babysit us for the other half, we probably had some good snacks too

[MoS]

I echo the ones remembering him as Deebo. My lifelong passions have been pro wrestling and horror movies, and that overlapped it perfectly.

Rest in peace. He was terrible as a wrestler and as a main event worker, but for me, his wrestling run will always have a soft spot for me

[flyonthewall2983]

I love the story Brutus Beefcake told about working those tag matches, and that when Tiny got too rough all anyone had to say was "free James Brown" and he'd let go. 

For some reason I love that he was a face in Puerto Rico, simply because of how much I would think that fanbase would hate Hulk Hogan. 

His scene in The Dark Knight was awesome. Christopher Nolan knows how to cast deep from the bench, and between his and Eric Roberts' performances that movie might have been the best at that aspect of his style.