WCW/NWA Capital Combat (1990 TV Special) User Reviews

The return of Robocop...

[callanvass · 5/10 · 6 June 2016]

Live from Washington, DC

Attendance: 7,500

Your commentators are Jim Ross & Bob Caudle

Cactus Jack, Bam Bam Bigelow & Kevin Sullivan (W/Sir Oliver Humperdink) Vs The Roadwarriors & Norman The Lunatic

Norman The Lunatic is Bastion Booger. The Roadwarrios & Norman win. This was much better than I thought it was gonna be. I wouldn't call it a good match, but it certainly had some exciting moments and it was fast paced more often than not.

**1/4

Mean Mark Callous (W/Teddy Long) Vs Johnny Ace

Johnny Ace is John Laurinaitis and Mean Mark is that fellow known as The Undertaker. Callous wins with an elbow drop from the top. Good god, this was boring. Not only boring, but LONG. They could have easily trimmed this a little bit. The Undertaker wouldn't really come into his own as a wrestler until 96/97.

*1/2

Mike Rotunda & Tommy Rich Vs The Samoan Swat Team

The Samoan Swat Team wins. This match felt like an Iron Man match, only with nothing but boredom. If you're looking to cure your insomnia, this match is worth considering. It's nothing technically bad, just extremely boring.

*1/4

Hair Vs Hair Match

Teddy Long Vs Paul Ellering

For god's sakes! Please let this be quick. Teddy Long is wearing boxing gear.... Ellering wins by nailing Teddy Long with a loaded glove. Teddy gets his hair cut after the match. This was utterly pointless in every way. This was designed to be a comedy match, but it failed miserably at that. I'm not a Scrooge either. It's just not funny.

DUD

United States Tag Team Championship

Brian Pillman & The Z-Man (Tom Zenk) (C) Vs The Midnight Express (W/Jim Cornette)

Jim Cornette is locked inside a cage. The Midnight Express win the Tag Team titles. This is more like it! This was a really good match with both teams on top of their game. It went back and forth nicely with several great near falls.

***1/2

Next, is one of the most unintentionally hilarious segments in wrestling. The Four Horsemen lock Sting inside a personal cage. Robocop meanders down to ringside VERY slowly and rips the cage door of to free Sting. I give JR all the credit in the world for having the guts to give it his all and play it straight during this segment.

The Junkyard Dog makes his return to the NWA. He and Jim Cornette almost get into a physical confrontation after Cornette tries to stir things up with JYD.

Corporal Punishment Match

The Rock & Roll Express Vs The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin)

This is a variation of a strap match. The Rock & Roll Express win. This match heated up in the last 5 minutes, but its way too inconsistent overall. Just when you're getting into it, it would run into some boredom. The straps ended up being kinda pointless.

**

Tag Team Championship

The Steiner Brothers Vs Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed) (W/Teddy Long)

Doom wins the titles after a double team maneuver. This was a solid match for the most part. I expected The Steiner's to carry this match, but Doom actually held their own. Depending on how the cage match goes, it'll probably be the 2nd or best match on the card.

**3/4

World Heavyweight Championship (Thunderdome Cage Match)

Ric Flair (C) (W/Woman) Vs Lex Luger

Luger has the title won until Ole Anderson runs down and fiddles with the cage switch to allow Barry Windham to run in and attack Luger to cause the DQ. This main event was a tad underwhelming. Flair bled like stuffed pig and put on a good show like usual. It just felt like there was something missing. It didn't feel epic to me. For those that care, El Gigante (Giant Gonzalez) made his debut here.

**3/4

Well this wasn't a bad PPV, but it wasn't exactly good either. The Main event was decent, but underwhelming overall. The best match on the card is The Midnight Express Vs Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk. Robocp was heavily promoted, but barely featured.

5.5/10 overall

Good card except that thing with Sting and Robocop

[amanwhorocks · 5/10 · 24 June 2013]

1. Hair Match: Paul Ellering Vs. Teddy Long - Manager's matches are always bad, but this was short at least. 5/10

2. Us. Tag Titles match: Champs-Flyin' Brian/Z-man Vs. Midnight Express - I don't expect that high quality match. New champs. I Give credit where credit is due 8/10

3. Rock 'n Roll Express Vs. Fabulous Freebirds 5.5/10

4. World Tag Titles Match: Doom Vs Champs-Steiner Brothers - Excellent match, Scotty has skills. New Champs! 7/10

5. World Heavyweight Championship: Lex Luger (US. Champ) Vs. Ric Flair (World Heavyweight Champ) - Another main event Flair Luger w. bad ending 5.5/10

Who got that brilliant idea to put Robocop on card... -5/10

Important part of Capital Combat was another face push for Sting... I like "Crow" Sting but this "Surfer" gimmick sometimes makes me sick.

Robocop and Pro Wrestling don't mix!

[Captain_Couth · 4 June 2004]

Capital Combat (1990) was the card that featured Ric Flair defending "Big Goldie" against the ultimate "choker" Lex Lugar. The two settle their differences within the confines of a steel cage!! This is to keep the Four Horsemen from beating the snot out of Flexy Lexy and helping the "Nature Boy" keep his precious belt. Sting was supposed to receive his long awaited title shot against Ric Flair but a near crippling beatdwon from the Horsemen put the Stinger out of action and into traction. But he ignored the doctors and showed up at the event (in crutches) and was giving his usual promo when the Horsemen and newest member Sid Vicious showed up and they were about puke him out again until Robocop showed up.

Robocop? It's as lame as it sounds. The horsemen ran off with their tail between their legs. Afraid of some bad no named actor in a plastic suit. Everyone was selling Robocop as if he was a real person instead of a character in a movie. It was bad, real bad. Even the great announcer Gordon Solie was hyping up Robocop. This act of sell-out and stupidity ruined a decent card. It's even on the home video!!

If you can make it through the lame Robocop segments then the event is watchable but the video tape is heavily edited, sadly the Robocop segments are all there.

Recommended because Ric Flair puts on his usual one man show.

Not the best NWA/WCW PPV, but still pretty good.

[Outsiderfourlife · 10/10 · 4 September 2006]

Firstly, I want to emphasise that I don't look at these events based on their "Entertainment" value. If you want entertainment, go see a show on Broadway/The West End. I am reviewing this event based on the standard of WRESTLING contained within. I am also doing this as a fan of WCW, mainly because I despise the WWE for constantly rewriting the past and monopolising an industry with their boring, plodding "One size fits all" ring style. Back to the event, and unfortunately I had to borrow a friend's 12 year old VHS copy of this event, but it still wasn't bad (Even if it was missing the first FOUR matches). That said, the remaining 3 tag team matches and the main event were excellent.

The bout featuring Brian Pillman and Tom Zenk against the Midnight Express was solid, with lots of good exchanges between the two teams. Bobby Eaton once again shows why he was such an underrated wrestler, and the finish was good.

Directly after this match, which had Jim Cornette locked inside a cage to prevent his interference, was meant to be an interview between Gordon Solie and Sting. However, due to "Technical difficulties" Sting makes his way out to the ring, where he is promptly thrown inside the steel cage (Just vacated by Cornette) by the Horsemen (Old, Arn and big Sid Vicious). However, Robocop comes to Sting's rescue, sending the Horseman running for the hills. This segment was meant by WCW management to emulate the WWF, who at the time had achieved mild success with a movie starring Hulk Hogan. WWF even bought in "Zeus", played by Tiny Lister to feud with the Hulkster until they realised Zeus' offence was basically eye rakes and lame punches. Anyway, RoboCop saves Sting by chasing off the Horsemen, then he "bends" the steel bars to free the Stinger. This segment was so badly done it was funny, not detrimental as mentioned in other reviews. I personally found it quite amusing, especially as Jim Ross kept talking about it as if it were genuine.

The Rock & Roll Express vs The Freebirds was probably the weakest of the 4 matches I saw. It seems that every match I saw featuring the R&RE had Ricky Morton getting his @$$ kicked; only to pull off a fluke win and this one is no exception. This was also advertised as a "Leather strap match", but the use of straps is minimal at best. The only thing that saves this match from the scrapheap is the always reliable Michael Hayes (That's Michael Hayes, not "Dok Hendrix"). His work in this match as the cowardly heel had me laughing quite a bit. Just look at him when he moonwalks or is hit with the strap to see what I mean.

The third match, featuring the Steiners (Rick and Scott) vs Doom ("Hacksaw" Butch Reed and Ron Simmons, AKA Faarooq) was the best tag match on the tape I saw. Lots of stiff ring work here, but from the Steiners that was always guaranteed. My personal favourite spot here was Scott Steiner's release German suplex on Simmons, who as Jim Ross puts it, gets "turned inside out". Rick Steiner also gets in some nice offence, including a few sick looking Steiner lines. Until they broke up in 1998, the Steiner's were such a great tag team. Barring their forgettable run in the WWF (Where they were, (Surprise surprise) quite boring and predictable) they were always a credible tag team. Ron Simmons also works extremely hard here. Looking at him bumping like crazy for the Steiners is a total parallel to his career in the WWF, where he seemed slow and boring. Whether that was him slowing down through age or just him working the standard (Read: Plodding and boring) WWF ring style is debatable, but here he was like a different wrestler.

The main event, featuring a rematch (Yet again) between Lex Luger and "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair wasn't bad. WCW had hyped this match with Luger's injuries (Jim Ross mentions it several times), as well as using the cage to try keep it one on one. However the idea of a cage match (To keep people out) was once again rendered useless, as the fiendish Ole Anderson managed to raise the cage up, letting Barry Windham in to attack Luger (Conveniently causing a disqualification). Sting then hits the ring (Bad leg and all) along with El Gigante (Also known as Giant Gonzalez during his terrible 1993 feud with the Undertaker). They manage to chase the Horseman away, only for Sting to attack Flair as he is being interviewed by Tony Schiavone at the end of the show.

In closing, Capital Combat is definitely not WCW's finest hour, but it is by no means a bad PPV. The ring work in all the matches was solid, and the segments involving RoboCop were so ludicrous they were funny. Overall I'd rate this PPV a 7/10.

BONE CRUNCHING ACTION PACKED CARD

[Big Movie Fan · 10 March 2002]

Twelve years has elapsed since this event took place but in my mind it is the most action packed card that WCW ever promoted.

There is an awesome tag match between the Steiner Brothers and Doom and an exciting main event between Lex Luger and Ric Flair. We even get a guest appearance from movie star Robocop. All the matches are superb.

The true WCW is now defunct. The WWF brought WCW in mid 2001 but the current WCW is not it's own organisation-the WWF can do with it what it wishes. Watching this card brings back great memories. I believe 1990-1992 were the best years for WCW as the emphasis was on technical wrestling rather than the soap opera type wrestling we see today. I strongly recommend any fans of the late WCW to see this card if they haven't already.

In spite of Robocop this is a great video

[kwaynecrider · 8/10 · 7 June 2006]

You've got Ric Flair and Lex Luger for the World Heavyweight Title in a cage that gets bloody, what could be better? The Fabulous Freebirds fighting the Rock-n-Roll Express in a leather strap match, albeit the straps played a very minuscule part in the match. You have an up and comer Mean Mark Callous, better known as the Undertaker, facing a nobody in Johnny Ace. In the first match on the card the Road Warriors were billed as under-carders by competing in a six man tag team match with their partner Norman (Bastion Booger) versus Cactus Jack Manson (Mick Foley), Bam Bam Bigelow, and Kevin Sullivan. This match was a huge disappointment for me since I am an avid Road Warriors fan. What a disrespect to this legendary tag team. Finally we have the Steiner Brothers against Doom, with "Peanut Head" Teddy Long at Ringside. This match was probably second in interest to Ric Flair and Lex Luger, in that it was fierce competition throughout. There were Steinerlines, Frankensteiners and Spike pile-drivers in the mix. Even though Doom double teamed to win, their win was a legitimate one. Overall this card was great with the exception of Robocop defending Sting against the Four Horsemen, why in the world did the NWA do this, what a horror!!!