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.
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.
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