NWA (WCW) Capital Combat (May 1990)

After WrestleWar, after Lex Luger (again) failed to defeat Ric Flair for the NWA Title when the Horsemen got involved, WCW had painted themselves into a bit of a booking corner. Logically, Luger would get a rematch with Flair (which he did) and destroy him to win the title (which he didn’t), but WCW had already long decided they wanted the still injured Sting to be the next world champion, and by this point, had all agreed that it would be best for Flair to be the one to drop it to him – making Luger a placeholder.

That left Luger brutally twisting in the wind, as the fans (the majority unaware of the backstage politics) were clamoring for him to get revenge, but from a booking standpoint, he was fucked if he did win, and fucked if he didn’t. If they did put him over Flair in the rematch, he would have to drop it to Sting as soon as the guy was cleared to wrestle – making his first World Title reign a pointless transitional blip – and if he lost, it would be his fourth failure to defeat Flair for the title in under two years, and would certainly put him in danger of irrevocably damaging his credibility.    

From Washington, D.C.; Your Host is Tony Schiavone, with Jim Ross and Bob Caudle on commentary.


Opening Six-Man Tag Team Match: Norman the Lunatic and The Road Warriors v Cactus Jack, Kevin Sullivan, and Bam Bam Bigelow: Animal starts with Cactus Jack, and a big criss cross ends with Animal powerslamming him. Big boot, and a clothesline puts Jack in his home corner. His partners are reluctant to tag, but Bigelow bites the bullet, and faces off with Hawk. Slugfest ends in a stalemate, so Bam Bam throws a headbutt, and drives Hawk into the wrong part of town. Hawk no-sells the three-on-one assault, and both tag (Jack/Norman). Norman with a cross corner clothesline, but he wants Bigelow. Bam Bam obliges, but it's a trick on the part of the Lunatic, as he immediately tags Animal. I'm not sure if that was so much 'trick' as it was 'the Warriors not wanting to trust Norman with Bigelow.' Animal quickly clotheslines him to the floor, and Hawk dumps Cactus Jack over the top, and pitches him into the front row - crashing into a set of chairs. Hawk throws the (wooden) ring steps at him for good measure, but Jack still manages to tag. Norman gets a double-stomp from Kevin Sullivan (no longer sporting his insane rattail), and the heels cut the ring in half on Norman. That continues until Jack loses a shoulderblock collision, and Norman tags to Animal. Six-way brawl quickly breaks out, and Hawk catches Sullivan with a flying clothesline at 9:38. Solid opener - well paced, making good use of quick tags, and a few crazy Cactus Jack bumps thrown into the mix. The Road Warriors bolted pretty much right after this show, and turned up in the WWF weeks later. * ½

Mark Callous v Johnny Ace: Callous jaws with the fans, and segues into talking Ace down, so Johnny tries a standing side-headlock. Callous shrugs him off, but misses an elbowdrop, and a dropkick puts 'Mean' Mark on the floor. Ace follows with a plancha, but Callous beats the count back in. They trade wristlocks, until Ace hits a springboard bodypress for two, and hooks an armbar. Callous powers him to the floor for a couple of shots into the steps, and brings him back in with a hanging vertical suplex for two. Savate kick, and a jumping clothesline gets two. Callous works a chinlock, but Ace gets uppity, so he hits a legdrop for two. Ace tries an inside cradle for a fluke win, but that just gets Callous nice and mad, and he chokes Johnny out on the mat before finishing him with a flying elbowdrop at 10:41. Well, if nothing else, the match proves that, while the early version of The Undertaker gimmick certainly limited his offense, it's not like Mark was putting on four-star classics every night before that - which is also what made it the  perfect gimmick to suit him. ½*

The Samoan Swat Team v Tommy Rich and Mike Rotunda: Long stall session, as the Samoan's go through pre-match rituals, before Samoan Savage starts with Tommy Rich. He immediately gets into complaining over a hairpull (Hey, fair enough. It wasn't long before this, at Starrcade, that Rick Steiner pulled one of his extensions out. Shit gets expensive). They both decide to tag before messing up their hair, and Fatu tries to sucker Rotunda into a handshake. He won't go for it, but his streak of intelligence ends when he tries a faceslam on a Samoan. Rotunda manages to get Savage in an armbar, and unloads a dropkick before tagging Rich to keep after the arm. He ends up getting powerslammed, but Fatu misses a flying headbutt follow-up, and Rotunda gives him a turn in an armbar. It's important to be fair. A Samoan double team ends the armbar fun, and Fatu suplexes Rotunda as the Samoan's cut the ring in half. Rotunda finally manages to escape the barrage of restholds with a clothesline, and tags Rich. He's a house of wildfire, but a cheap shot by the Samoan's during the obligatory four-way brawl allows Savage the pin at 17:54. Who the fuck thought it would be a good idea to give these four twenty minutes on pay per view? Aside from all the stalling at the beginning, the heat segment on Rotunda was a brutally boring resthold exhibition - and would have really benefited from cutting about ten minutes off of this whole thing. ¼*

Hair v Hair Match: Teddy Long v Paul Ellering: Loser gets their head shaved. Long comes out in boxing gloves and protective headgear, and jumps Ellering before the bell with some weak forearm shots for two. He puts a roll of coins into his glove for a knockout, but Ellering kicks out at two, rips the glove off, and unloads a knockout blow of his own for the pin at 1:57. Short, but still managed to border on negative stars. DUD

NWA United States Tag Team Title Match: Brian Pillman and Tom Zenk v The Midnight Express: To make sure Midnight manager Jim Cornette stays out of things for once, he's locked in a shark cage at ringside - one of the few instances where they don't also suspend it in the air (likely due to Jim's legitimate fear of heights), but just leave him locked in there. Big brawl to start, immediately spilling to the floor, as the champs take out the Midnight's, and force Cornette into the cage. Pillman and Bobby Eaton start all official-like, but it quickly devolves into another four-way - the champs taking the Midnight's out with a pair of monkey flips, and a slingshot shoulderblock from Pillman. The dust settles on Tom Zenk and Stan Lane, and Lane immediately tries to drive him into the wrong part of town for some double-team fun, but Zenk unloads a pair of dropkicks, and pinballs Lane with Pillman. Brian with a sunset flip for two, so Lane tags, but Eaton runs right into an armdrag/armbar. Pinfall reversal sequence ends in a stalemate, and both men tag. Zenk tries to go for the arm, but Lane powers out - only to miss an elbowdrop, and end up in an armbar anyway. Lane bails to consult Jim Cornette, and hits a pair of savate kicks to slow Zenk down, but Eaton walks right back into an armbar. Guess he should have made a Cornette stop, too. Pillman with a sloppy flying sunset flip for two - drawing Lane in - but the champs put together a couple of double-teams to clean house again. Lane goes back to Cornette for advice, and manages do avoid another armbar - but Eaton fails to keep it going when he tags. Seriously, dude. Just talk to Jimmy. Clearly he knows something you don't. Pillman misses a blind charge, however, and goes tumbling to the floor, and Eaton's right on him with a swinging neckbreaker. The woozy Pillman crawls to the apron, but Lane knocks him right off, and into the rail. The Midnight's cut the ring in half with their signature double-teams (necksnap/elbowdrop, droptoe-hold/elbowdrop), and referee distractions, but Pillman won't quit. Well, he will. But not until 1996. Eaton with the Alabama Jam (a flying legdrop) to finish, but it only gets two, and Pillman manages a tilt-a-whirl slam. Tag to Zenk, and he's a house of arson, but walks into a double-team, and they cream him with the Rocket Launcher - but it only gets two. Zenk tries one last comeback, but Lane whacks him with an enzuigiri, and Eaton cradles him for the titles at 20:20 - ending the Pillman/Zenk experiment, as head booker Ole Anderson wouldn't get behind them as a team. Match was fine once they got going (particularly the heat segment from the always entertaining Midnight's when matched with a guy like Pillman - who would bump and sell for them), but took forever to get there with all the false-starts in the first half. The Express wouldn't last as champions, either, as they too got into multiple run ins with management, before Lane and Cornette finally bailed on the promotion all together later that year. * ¾   

Sting comes out for an interview, but before he can get started, the Horsemen (Ole Anderson, Arn Anderson, Sid) jump him, and lock him in Cornette's shark cage. One of the greatest bits of unintentional comedy then kicks in, as RoboCop (in attendance as part of a promotional move for RoboCop 2) lumbers out, and rips the obviously rubber door off its the hinges. The Horsemen run scared, though I would have loved to see a Sid/RoboCop showdown.

Corporal Punishment Match: The Fabulous Freebirds v The Rock 'n' Roll Express: A 'Corporal Punishment' match means everyone is armed with a strap. The initial promotion billed it as a Capital Punishment match, before somebody realized they wouldn't exactly be able to pay that stipulation off. It wasn't until the next year - with Dusty back in control of the direction of the product - that WCW ran an angle with a guy getting fried in an electric chair. At this point, they still had a modicum of logic. The Express ride to the ring on a WrestleMania III/VI-esque cart, complete with jukebox. The Freebirds walk. Well, skip - but close enough. Michael Hayes starts with Robert Gibson, and, surprise surprise, stalls - doing everything from dancing, to threatening the crowd, to ducking out to the floor. He finally tags Jimmy Garvin in (after about, maybe, five seconds of total contact in five minutes), and Garvin DEMANDS Ricky Morton. The Express oblige, and start unloading double-teams, drawing Hayes back in - only for the Express to literally whip their asses. The Express take turns chinlocking Garvin (nothing says 'punishment' like a chinlock), so Hayes runs in again - only for both Freebirds to get locked in figure fours. The Freebirds manage to drive Gibson into the wrong part of town for some lashes, and we get a Hayes/Gibson swinging straps showdown. The Express clean house again, but another double-team finally quiets Ricky Morton down, and the Freebirds cut the ring in half. Translation: chinlocks. Garvin tries to go to the top rope, but Morton manages to slam him off, so Hayes tries a bulldog, and Morton shoves him off, too, then tags. Gibson barely even gets a chance to set anything on fire before a four-way brawl breaks out, and as Hayes goes for a DDT on Gibson, Morton comes off of the top with a sunset flip to finish at 18:33. Corporal, Capital - the only ones punished here were the poor audience. Painfully dull – particularly the long heat segment on Morton. ½*

NWA World Tag Team Title Match: The Steiner Brothers v Doom: The Steiner's play literal head games with Doom to start - harassing manager Teddy Long over his newfound baldness. Scott Steiner and Ron Simmons start, and immediately go to a power-stalemate. Scott with a powerslam to settle things, and a nice release German suplex sends Ron running to Reed. They fight over an armbar, until Scott unloads a dropkick and backdrop, putting Reed on the floor to regroup with Simmons and Long. Back in, he has to face Rick Steiner, and gets dumped to the floor again with a lariat. Steiner follows for a slam out there, and Scott rams him into the rail for good measure. Reed doesn't even bother trying, and immediately tags Simmons, and he tries to overpower Rick, but ends up piledriven before getting dumped to the floor. Scott makes sure to toss him into the rail, too, so he doesn't get jealous, and he bails back to Butch. Scott powerslams him into the turnbuckles, then scrapes him off for a shoulderbreaker. Tag to Rick to unload some closed fists, but Reed reels him in, and returns the favor by dumping him. Scott tries to make the save, so Reed dumps him, too, and Simmons pays him back with a trip to the rail. Inside, Doom cut the ring in half, putting Scott through the power-offense wringer. Scott manages a belly-to-belly on Simmons, but can't capitalize/make the tag, and gets bulldogged for his efforts. More double-team fun, until Scott catches Reed with a backdrop, and manages to follow-up with a Frankensteiner to allow the tag. Rick's a doghouse of fire, and a wild four-way brawl breaks out. Rick looks to finish Reed with a belly-to-belly superplex, but Simmons runs in, rips Steiner off by the hair, and Reed falls on top for the pin at 19:14. Fantastic power match, as good as their Halloween Havoc match, but leaps and bounds better than that stinker that opened Starrcade - with a nice ending, to boot. *** ½

Main Event: NWA World Title Cage Match: Ric Flair v Lex Luger: Though not billed as such, this is actually the 'Thunderdome' version of the cage - with large, square shaped bars, a sloped roof, and covering all of ringside. During the pre-match frisk, the referee finds them both clean - but when he checks Flair's manager Woman (after many objections from Flair over the touching of his Woman) he actually finds something in her gloves. I'd have loved to have seen someone try that bit on Elizabeth while Randy Savage was still a heel (or even after, really), just to see him murder the referee instead of even tying up. Luger gets the best of the initial lockup, so Flair bails to the floor to kill the momentum. Back in, Luger tackles him, and starts unloading punches. Clothesline gets two, and a hanging vertical suplex forces Flair to bail again. Pair of press slams, so Flair goes to the eyes, but Luger doesn't even blink, and starts throwing clotheslines. Chops do nothing, so Flair starts climbing the cage - desperately hoping to get away. It turns out to be a ploy (shocking), as Luger follows up, and Flair - finally in an advantageous position - kicks him down from the higher ground. A couple shots into the steel take the pep out of Luger's step, and inside, Flair drops a shin. Hanging vertical suplex switches Luger back into no-sell mode, and he drives Flair into the corner for a ten-punch. Flair Flip puts Ric on the outside, and he tries to climb again, but Luger doesn't fall for it - bolting to the floor to pull him down before he gets too high. He gives him a few shots to the cage, and one to the ringpost for good measure - triggering a bladejob. Flair tries to climb again - this time not for strategy, just plain fear - but Luger pulls him down and starts flexing! Another ten-punch gets two, and a superplex - but Luger lands on his knee on the way down. Flair smell blood (probably his own, which he's covered in), and literally dives onto it. Side suplex, and he hooks the Figure Four - but the referee catches him using the ropes, and breaks it up. That draws the Horsemen out - as Luger starts CHOKING UP!! Series of Clotheslines! Ten Punch Count! Forearm Smash! Press Slam! - so the Horsemen start climbing the cage, and here comes Sting! He makes a valiant effort, but can't hold off three Horsemen alone, so El Gigante makes his debut, coming down to help calm the wild Horsemen. Much like RoboCop, a very tall man is all it takes to scare the Horsemen away (he may not have a metal breastplate, but he has a wacky headband!), and inside, Luger is still murdering Flair. Powerslam, and suddenly the cage starts to rise - allowing Barry Windham (making his return to WCW) to slide in and nail Luger just as he hooks the Torture Rack - and that's a disqualification in a cage match at 17:21. Afterwards, the Horsemen destroy Luger until Sting makes the save. Match was the usual Flair/Luger match before the wacky ending - which would have been right at home on one of Vince Russo's booking sheets. ***

BUExperience: The tag title match is a good, hard hitting power match, and while the main event is solid – it’s not near enough to make up for the long, dull undercard supporting it. Like Bunkhouse Stampede or Chi-Town Rumble, this was a one off show (replaced by SuperBrawl in the lineup the next year, and eventually Slamboree), today mostly remembered for RoboCop’s antics than anything else. *