While at Long Beach, he recorded a 52 ft (16 m) shot put throw, which helped to earn him a scholarship to California State University, Los Angeles.

[7][6] After college, Lister competed for the Converse Track Club, eventually raising his shot put mark to 64 ft 3 in (19.58 m), before trying out with the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League.

[8] Lister had numerous guest appearances on TV series, including playing Klaang, the first Klingon to make contact with humans, in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.

[11] In the Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown,[14] he played bail agent Winston, who "finds people who don't want to be found".

[15] Lister had a supporting role in the 2016 Disney animated movie Zootopia as the voice of the diminutive fennec fox, Finnick.

Lister was billed as "Zeus: The Human Wrecking Machine",[2][9][12][7] and used the same "monster heel" gimmick in his matches by no-selling his opponent's moves.

[7][34] Following SummerSlam, Zeus formed an alliance with "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase leading into that year's Survivor Series.

[35] After the Survivor Series, the feud between Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake versus Randy Savage and Zeus ended with a steel cage match on December 27, 1989, at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view event.

[7][36] On July 7, 1990, Zeus fought Abdullah the Butcher in a double countout at a World Wrestling Council show in Puerto Rico.

[37] Lister spent March 1996 in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as Z-Gangsta, as part of The Alliance to End Hulkamania, culminating in failure at Uncensored.

[7][6][39] The athletic department of Lister's alma mater Cal State LA sponsors an annual track meet in his name.

[43] On August 31, 2012, Lister agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to commit mortgage fraud, in a scheme that led to $3.8 million in losses.

[9] He became ill with symptoms similar to COVID-19 a second time in early December, exhibiting weakness and trouble breathing, which forced him to cancel shooting for a film.

[45] His manager Cindy McGowen, who said it was not normal for him to miss filmings, became concerned and sent her assistant to his house to give him vitamins and antibiotics.

[46] On December 10, 2020, police performing a wellness check found Lister dead in his home in Marina del Rey, California; he was 62 years old.

America's favorite bully was a born entertainer who would pop into character at the drop of a hat terrifying people on and off camera.