Trivia: Mr. T was chosen for this role by Stallone himself - he spotted Mr. T in a "world's toughest bouncer" contest (which Mr. T won). What sold Stallone was Mr. T's snazzy dressing, no-nonsense attitude and spectacular lingo. Apparently, the line that solidified him on the idea of hiring T was Mr. T's answer to the question "how do you handle potential troublemakers?". Mr. T had his head shaved bald at the time, and his answer was "I tell dem fools that mah patience is as long as the hair on mah head." He was hired almost instantly. The role in Rocky III got him the spot in the A-Team, and the rest is history...
Trivia: When Rocky is on the exercise bike during his public training session for his first fight with Clubber Lang, a blonde groupie comes along and asks him if she could have a kiss. This groupie is Sasha Czack, who was Sylvester Stallone's first wife.
Trivia: Before Mr. T was cast, heavyweight boxer Earnie Shavers was considered for the role of Clubber Lang. This was because Sylvester Stallone thought that he was good enough to fight a real boxer instead of an actor. But during a practice fight Shavers, taking it easy on the star, broke two of Stallone's ribs in less than three rounds, and was immediately dropped from consideration.
Trivia: When Rocky takes a swig of water from the bottle during the rematch with Clubber Lang, he spits the water into the bucket and some of it goes onto Paulie's shirt. Watch for Burt Young's genuine reaction.
Trivia: The first fight between Rocky and Clubber Lang is the only time in the entire series where we actually see Rocky get KOed.
Trivia: Hulk Hogan revealed on Joe Rogan's podcast that Vince McMahon Sr. fired him from the WWF for skipping out on an event in Charlotte in order to appear in this film.
Trivia: One of Clubber Lang's famous moments, when he yells at Adrian that she should be with him instead of Rocky, was ad-libbed by Mr. T. Director Sylvester Stallone liked this moment and kept it in the final cut, because it helped show how despicable Lang was, as well as driving Rocky to fight again.
Trivia: After the film Hulk Hogan started to use the theme song "Eye of the Tiger" to make his entrance in the WWF where he wrestled.
Trivia: The footage of Rocky in the Muppets show were taken from the real show with Sylvester Stallone as the guest.
Trivia: Even though it lasts for about five minutes on screen, the fight sequence between Rocky Balboa and Thunderlips took 10 days to film.
Trivia: Balboa and Creed keep making references to how Creed is getting up in age and how Balboa is younger and all that. In actuality, Stallone, who plays Balboa is about a year and a half older than Carl Weathers, who plays Creed.
Trivia: This is the only time in the series where Rocky actually gets KOed. (Although he loses his first fight with Apollo Creed, in that fight he lasts to the end of the fifteenth round and only loses by decision.)
Answer: Unlikely. Lang shoved him in the heat of the moment, and there's no indication he meant to kill or injure him.