Body Slam (1986)

"This is setting wrestling back 1000 years!" - Announcer

A music manager gets pulled into the crazy world of pro-wrestling. (And I got pulled into the 80's.)
Starring: Dirk Benedict, Roddy Piper, Tanya Roberts, Lou Albano

Link to IMDB

Harry

Harry Smilac is a slick business man in the music industry, but he's down on his luck lately and in need of some big bucks to pay off his debts. A chance meeting with a high profile entertainer, Quick Rick Roberts, gives Harry the opportunity to be his new manager. But Harry's in for a surprise when he finds that Rick is not a musician, instead he's a pro wrestler! Harry is not used to all the violence and aggressive rivalry of wrestling, but he's desperate to make some real money.

With Harry's help, Rick and his tag-team partner, Tonga, are having success and attracting more media attention than ever. This earns them a coveted spot on a sports TV show, Ring Talk. This is where the chaos really starts to rev up, as it seems like the talk show scenes are mostly improvised, and it gets pretty weird when a rival wrestler manager, Captain Lou, takes the insults too far.


Harry's a busy man. He has a love interest with the daughter of some rich politicians, and also has one last musical client, the garage band Kick. The band eventually gets mixed-up with the politicians and it's a disaster! Harry starts dressing as a lady to avoid being found by repo men, insane wrestlers and his angry lawyer. The 80's cliches really start piling up.

Tonga and Rick

Back to the wrestling, and things with the rivals get out of hand as Rick and Tonga get violently beaten in the ring. Harry feels like he's losing everything and wants to give up, but Rick convinces him to try again. Harry makes a last attempt at success by combining wrestling with the music of Kick into one show, so they all head out on tour for an extended montage of music and muscles.

"You don't need music to wrestle, you need balls. Big ones." - McClusky

Cpt. Lou still wants to see Harry destroyed, so the climax is a big match with championship belts and manager contracts on the line. The crazy goes off the charts. For better or worse, most of the cast are wrestlers not actors. It adds credibility to the fights, but doesn't help the story. Even Roddy seems inexperienced here.
It's predictable corny sloppiness with a lot of despicable characters, but is kept entertaining as we root for Harry and Rick to find success. This would have been a lot funner as a kid, but it has aged rather poorly.

Be sure not to miss:
- The band members have the most intense mullets ever!
- John Astin with a small part.
- That's the awesome Charles Nelson Reilly as the talk show host, but he seems to have no idea what these wacky wrestlers were going to be like.
- ♫ Body Slam. Take me to the limit if you can! ♫

Internet review:
"so implausibly stupid that we wonder if we're not becoming stupider as we watch the film. - SpiderPants

Should I watch it?
If you're really in the mood for some wrestling antics.

Where can I find it?
On YouTube

Body Slam gets...