Capital Combat 1990: The Return of Robocop
May 19, 1990
D.C. Armory
Washington, D.C.
This is Capital Combat, better known as The One Where Robocop Shows Up. To promote the upcoming release of "Robocop 2," WCW did a crossover where they pretended Robocop was real and would appear at the show alongside Sting. But we'll get to that later. This show is mostly a continuation of the last one where Lex Luger lost to Ric Flair by count out because he saved Sting from being attacked by Arn and Ole Anderson. To prevent interference in their rematch tonight, the match will take place inside a Steel Cage. Anyway, let's get to the action:
Six Man Tag Match: The Road Warriors and Norman the Lunatic vs. Kevin Sullivan, Cactus Jack Manson, and Bam Bam Bigelow
This is the Road Warrior's last night with the company, as they would depart due to issues with Executive Vice President Jim Herd. They wouldn't be the last ones, either. Good use of them on their way out to give the rub to Norman, who the crowd is surprisingly into here. The Varsity Club has disbanded now, so this is Sullivan's new "Slaughterhouse" stable. Cactus and Animal start. Cactus plays pinball for both members of the Road Warriors for a few minutes. Bigelow and Sullivan get thrown around when they tag in. Bam Bam gets the advantage on Norman and the heels go to work. Good sympathy heat for Norman. Norman manages to make a tag to Animal. He levels all three men. Hawk and Norman hit the ring and brawl. Hawk catches Sullivan with a Flying Clothesline for the pin at 9:38.
Result: Road Warriors and Norman the Lunatic by pinfall
Analysis: **. Pretty standard tag match, albeit with some great talent in the ring here.
Johnny Ace vs. Mean Mark
Johnny Ace is John Laurinaitis, future backstage WWE stooge. Mean Mark is the Undertaker. He's billed as being from Metropolis. JR puts over Mark's intelligence, pointing out that he has a degree in Sports Management from Texas Wesleyan. Never heard about that when he was playing Undertaker. Ace is aggressive early, knocking Mark out of the ring with a Dropkick and jumping him outside the ring. Back in the ring Ace hits a top rope Crossbody for two. Ace is getting in way too much offense here for my tastes. Mark gets control and works some pretty generic offense, although he does display some impressive agility. Ace makes a comeback to a mixed reaction. Actually, it's more just outright boos. Ace misses a Missile Dropkick and gets hit with a Heart Punch. Mark goes up top and does a rope walk before hitting an Elbow Drop for the win at 10:41.
Result: Mean Mark by pinfall
Analysis: *1/2. Nothing great here.
Gordon Solie is in the back near Sting's locker room, where there is security to protect Robocop. One of the greatest wrestling announcers ever shilling for Robocop and pretending he's real. Wonder how he felt about that.
Tony Schiavone interviews the Rock N Roll Express, who are heavily booed here. They talk about their upcoming "Corporal Punishment" match against the Freebirds. All four men will have leather straps in the match.
Samoan SWAT Team vs. Tommy Rich and Mike Rotunda
This is Fatu (AKA Rikishi) and Samoan Savage (AKA Tonga Kid), not the original Samoans. Lots and lots of stalling early. Rotunda and Rich control the early portions of the match. Rotunda gets Heabutted and the Samoans take over. They work a long heat segment with lots of restholds. Rotunda makes a hot tag to Rich, who applies a Sleeper Hold but gets hit with a Double Ax Handle from the top rope and is pinned at 17:54.
Result: Samoan SWAT Team by pinfall
Analysis: *. Wow, that went on forever.
Tony Schiavone interviews the Steiner Brothers.
Hair vs. Hair Match: Paul Ellering vs. Teddy Long
So notably neither of these guys has much of any hair. Teddy Long is amusingly in full sparring head gear and has boxing gloves on. Turns out the boxing gloves are loaded, as Ellering gets one off and decks Teddy with it for the pin at 1:57.
Result: Paul Ellering by pinfall
Analysis: 1/4*. Too short to be anything. Crowd enjoyed it.
We hear from the Four Horsemen, consisting of Flair, the Andersons, and Sid. Amusingly, Sid is wearing a horribly fitting tuxedo. Flair, Arn, and Ole explain how they are going to kick Luger's ass later.
NWA United States Tag Team Championship: Brian Pillman and Tom Zenk (c) vs. The Midnight Express
Jim Cornette, manager of the Midnight Express, will be locked in a cage at ringside to prevent him from interfering. Pillman and Eaton start things off and Pillman goes through his normal high-flying offense. Zenk gets in and continues the dominance with Dropkicks and Armdrags. Pillman tags back in and does some arm work on Eaton. Zenk tags in and the arm work continues. Ten minutes in it's been all Zenk and Pillman, so Eaton and Lane bail and consult Cornette. Eaton and Pillman do a nice mat wrestling sequence that ends with Pillman misses a Clothesline and tumbling over the top to the floor. As he tries to climb back into the ring he gets knocked off the apron and hits the guardrail.
Cue heat segment from the Express. The target is Pillman's neck because he landed on it and was hit with a Neckbreaker outside the ring. Pillman connects with a Sunset Flip that would get the win, but the referee is distracted by Zenk. Eaton hits a top rope Elbow Drop for a nearfall. He follows that with the Alabama Jam (top rope Legdrop) for another nearfall. Pillman reverses a gutwrench into a slam and tags in Zenk. Zenk applies a Sleeper Hold, but it's reversed into a Russian Legsweep. The Express hit the Rocket Launcher (One throws the other from the top rope for a Splash) for two. Lane hits Zenk with a kick to the back of the head and he gets rolled up into a Small Package for the pin at 20:20.
Result: Midnight Express by pinfall (New NWA United States Tag Team Champions)
Analysis: ****. Perfect execution of the classic southern tag formula by two great teams. It might not be original, but it's damn entertaining when it's two teams with this much talent doing it.
We go to Gordon Solie in the back and Sting and Robocop emerge from their locker room. Sting enters the arena to a huge pop. Robocop gets some heat. Fuck the police. The Horsemen jump Sting and throw him into the cage that Cornette was in. Robocop stumbles down the aisle and the Horsemen bail. Robocop bends the bars of the cage and tears the door off. Yeah, this was exactly as stupid as it sounds.
Tony Schiavone interviews a returning Junkyard Dog. He calls out all the heels: Flair, Horsemen, Mean Mark. Jim Cornette appears and complains that Midnight Express is having their spotlight stolen by JYD.
Corporal Punishment Match: Rock N Roll Express vs. The Fabulous Freebirds
There are leather straps attached to all four corners of the ring. Garvin and Morton start. Unsurprisingly the faces dominate early. JR and Caudle both reminisce about being whipped by their fathers growing up. Gibson ends up getting beat on and JR assumes it's Morton, because he's always the one getting his ass kicked. Morton fights back until Hayes drops him with a big right hand from the apron. This leads to the typical heat segment. It goes on for several minutes until Morton reverses a Bulldog and slams Garvin. Gibson comes in and beats down both guys. He ends up getting Clotheslined and DDTed by Hayes. Rather than cover he goes for another, but Morton catches him with a Crossbody Block for the pin at 18:32.
Result: Rock N Roll Express by pinfall
Analysis: **1/2. Pure formula. Straps basically didn't get used.
Tony Schiavone interviews Doug Furnas, billed as "The World's Strongest Man." He's big, but I doubt he could beat Mark Henry in an arm-wrestling contest. He says he thinks Luger will beat Flair tonight and win the championship.
Sting is next to be interviewed by Schiavone. He says Luger is hurt, but the match means too much to pass up. He too predicts a victory for Luger.
NWA Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers (c) vs. Doom
Doom no longer has masks on. It's nice that I'll be able to tell which one is which. Teddy Long is managing Doom and wearing a doo-rag to cover his shaved head. Rick steals it before the match. Scott and Simmons start. Scott levels Simmons with Shoulderblocks and then hits a Powerslam. Scott quickly follows that with a Release German Suplex. JR mentions that Scott wanted to be a school teacher. That anecdote never fails to make me laugh. He also says Scott wrestled at 191 pounds in college. That was before steroids. Reed Leapfrogs Scott, then gets a Dropkick, Backdrop, and Steinerline all in succession. Rick tags in and Reed takes over. Rick gets a Clothesline that sends Reed to the floor, where he slams him. Back in the ring, Simmons tries a Backdrop but Rick reverses into a SICK Piledriver. Dropped him right on his head. He dropped to his knees instead of onto his butt, which seems dangerous.
Reed and Scott both tag in. Scott quickly hits an Oklahoma Stampede. Impressive power moves all around here. Rick tags in and gets thrown to the floor by Reed. Simmons jumps Rick from behind. Rick no-sells it and tags in Scott, who gets hit with a jumping knee to the chest by Reed. Scott gets worked over outside by Simmons. Reed tags in Simmons. Scott manages to tag Rick, who cleans house. Double Suplex by the Steiners. Rick follows that with a Powerslam. All four men brawl until Rick attempts a Superplex. He gets taken down by Simmons and Reed falls on top for the pin at 19:13.
Result: Doom by pinfall (new NWA Tag Team Champions)
Analysis: ***1/4. Fun power match. A little sluggish and a few botches, but entertaining overall.
Schiavone interviews the new tag team champions.
NWA World Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage Match: Ric Flair (c) vs. Lex Luger
This is a Hell in a Cell-style cage, so it surrounds ringside. However, it's made of bars instead of fencing. There's no roof, but it's curved at the top so you can't climb out. Flair tries chops to start but Lex no-sells. Flair bails out, but he has nowhere to go because of the cage. Lex beats the crap out of Flair in the ring with Clotheslines and punches. He Suplexes Flair from the apron into the ring. Flair bails out again. He comes back in and gets caught with a Military Press. Flair rakes the eyes and hits some chops, but Luger again no-sells. Flair hits more chops and Luger does a pec bounce. Flair bails and tries to climb out. Luger tries to pull him down and gets kicked in the head. That allows Flair to get control and he goes to work out on the floor. Chops, punches, throws into the cage. Flair hits a Knee Drop and a Suplex back in the ring. Luger fights back with a Ten Punch and decks Flair after a Flair Flip. Flair bails and tries to climb the cage. Luger chases him up and rams his head into the cage over and over until he falls to the floor.
Flair blades. He tries to climb out of the cage again and gets pulled back down. In the ring, Flair begs for mercy as Luger poses. Another Ten Punch from Luger. A cover gets two after a Clothesline. Flair again climbs the cage so Luger can slam him into the cage. Third time they've done that spot. Getting a little repetitive. Luger is straight-up destroying Flair. Entertaining stuff. Shades of the Michaels/Undertaker Hell in a Cell match. Luger Superplexes Flair but hurts his knee in the process. Flair targets the knee immediately. Flair hits a Back Suplex and locks on the Figure Four. Luger manages to escape, but the damage is done. At this point the Horsemen emerge from the locker room and head down to ringside. Luger takes over with Clotheslines. Another Military Press from Luger. Sting runs in and goes after the Horsemen. At this point El Gigante (Giant Gonzales) enters the picture and takes out the Horsemen.
Ole Anderson gets to the cage controls and raises it. Barry Windham (another member of the Horsemen) gets into the ring and breaks up the Torture Rack, causing the referee to call for a disqualification at 17:21. A DQ in a cage match?
Result: Lex Luger by disqualification
Analysis: ****. Really good match with a bad finish. Of course, they had to keep the title with Flair so he could lose it to Sting, but there was definitely a better way to do it than a DQ in a cage match.
The Horsemen work on Luger in the ring until the cage is raised and Sting fights them off. The Horsemen retreat as Flair leaves with his title.
A bloody Flair is interviewed by Tony Schiavone. He rants and raves incoherently until Sting attacks him. The Horsemen bail as the tape goes out.
Overall: Pretty good show. The tag division was extremely deep at this point, and they showcased it. The main event was a very good match that probably could have been great with a better finish. The silliness with Robocop was brief and didn't detract from the show.
Grade: B+
