Dolemite is a pimp who was set up by Willie Greene and the cops, who have planted drugs, stolen furs, and guns in his trunk and got him sentenced to 20 years in jail. One day, Queen B and a warden planned to get him out of Jail and get Willie Green and Mitchell busted for what they did to him.

Dolemite comes to the rescue of Queen Bee, whose nightclub is threatened by the Mafia.

This low budget action film, originally titled "The Return of Dolemite", follows Rudy Ray Moore as Dolemite, who returns from Africa with superpowers gained from drinking Voodoo Juice.

The film was created by re-dubbing footage filmed for the 1986 Taiwanese kung fu film Ren zhe da (known in English as Ninja: The Final Duel). Ren zhe da producer Robert Tai had reportedly filmed 10 hours of footage for the film that was cut to 90 minutes for release. Much of the footage that was not included in the release of Ren zhe da is included in Shaolin Dolemite as well as original footage of Moore observing the story of the film and making obscenity-laced comments. Other new footage includes a segment portraying Moore's long time friend Jimmy Lynch as a Drunken Master named Sam the Spliff.