This is one of those stories that has gone back and forth over the years, and it is something that I, myself, have to blame for peddling lies and fabrications.
Mystery: Who was inside the Robocop suit and saved Sting from the Four Horsemen at the Capital Combat PPV in 1990?
Before you start shouting answers, please let me set up a few things. The 1987 film Robocop featuring a cop blown to bits by a street gang and getting scientifically resurrected as a robotic superhero is fantastic entertainment. Without even touching the deeper symbolism the movie presents, questions of what it means to be human, or the deeply tragic affair of Officer Alex Murphy becoming a corporate zombie puppet of a capitalist regime; Robocop distilled to its basic core is thrilling sci-fi popcorn flick where good prevails over evil with a sadistic amount of violence. A flawless film which became a successful franchise that led to video games, action figures, a Saturday morning cartoon, and even a cameo in World Championship Wrestling.
The whole angle of a fictional action movie character getting thrown into a pro wrestling pay-per-view is the kind of trashy thing that the site WrestleCrap was built on. It’s been debated to death whether or not this was a worthwhile investment overall, and what reasoning could’ve been at play to include such a cartoonish idea during a time when wrestling shows were attempting to still be presented as a real sporting event.
It all breaks down to one thing: money.
Dave Meltzer reported at the time that Turner Home Entertainment had a hand with securing video rights for Robocop 2, and corporate synergy at play led to Robo showing up Where the Big Boys Play. The May 19th NWA pay-per-view event was branded Capital Combat ’90: Return of Robocop and promotional footage was shot with Sting and Robocop pairing up to taunt the Four Horsemen.
I’m unsure of what the exact deal Turner and Orion Pictures had set up, but adverts for Robocop 2 were slipped into NWA television programming, and the WCW Wrestling Wrap-Up magazine. Wrestlers and announcers talked up the upcoming PPV as if Robocop was an actual authentic threat, the highlight being a Four Horsemen promo where Sid Vicious proclaims himself “THE REAL MAN OF STEEL OF THE NWA” alongside a ponytail’d Ric Flair.
Sting was sidelined by a legitimate knee injury that was blamed on the Horsemen, so Robocop was brought in to act as his backup during Capital Combat. There were originally discussions regarding having actual physicality inside the wrestling ring between the two groups, but thankfully, it was realized that whoever was going to be inside the Robocop suit would be extremely limited in what they could possibly do.
A lack of mobility led to a challenge for the booking committee to sort out how to inject him into this pro wrestling feud. Robocop could not fall over or climb stairs. He couldn’t raise his arms too high or walk too quickly, otherwise parts of the actual movie suit could slip off in front of the Washington D.C. crowd. The above advert cuts away before Robocop pulls out his iconic Auto-9 handgun, so Ole Anderson getting his dick shot off live on PPV was also apparently not on the table either.
It was decided that Robocop’s involvement at Capital Combat would be kept as simple as possible. Sting gets locked into a shark cage that was left at ringside from an earlier match and Robocop would 1) walk out towards the ring, 2) bend the gimmicked steel cage bars of the shark cage, 3) remove the cage door to rescue Sting, and 4) stand completely still until it was time to go home:
Even here in this brief clipped portion, you can notice that Robocop almost slips when walking out and his thigh-piece flapping around when he steps away from the cage. WCW knew this segment was potentially milliseconds away from being a complete disaster at any given moment, but thankfully, it went off well. The crowd even cheered too!
I would’ve been five years old at the time of Capital Combat, but I was not cognizant of World Championship Wrestling by then. With Robocop, I did have the Kenner action figures where you could put a cap in the back to simulate real gunfire from around this time frame, so this stunt would have been something scientifically engineered specifically to draw me in. Looking at this in hindsight, I can understand the vitriol towards this over-the-top nonsense from the NWA diehards. To have members of the Four Horsemen running away like cowards from a cybernetic plastic man shuffling towards them? Modern equivalency would be like having your former 6’5″ WWE Champion face and back down to nonathletic 41-year-old singer/actor/rapper during your big summertime pay-per-view premium live event.
But this all leads to the question at hand, who was actually in the suit at Capital Combat? Keep in mind that we currently have things good with being able to immediately call up clean and clear footage of old wrestling shows. Back in the golden days of wrestling forums, when this topic came up, there would be back-and-forth debates on who was actually in the suit. Grainy screengrabs and promo photos would be analyzed. Is that actually Peter Weller’s pouty, succulent lips on the guy beside Sting or is it someone else?
Granted, this was nothing I ever thought too hard about until Jim Cornette addressed it on his MLW podcast back in 2014. For me, he settled all the debates and confirmed that, yes, Peter Weller, the lead actor in Robocop and Robocop 2, was the man in the suit:
Jim Cornette: “[T]his was one of the biggest goddamn abortions in the history of wrestling. I was on the creative team at the time that this fucking ill-conceived abortion was, well, conceived, and the instructions we were given was–who was the guy’s name? Peter Weller, I believe it was, was Robocop.”
Alice Radley: “Well, he was the actor in the films, I’m sure that’s not the guy that–“
Jim Cornette: “No, he was the guy! That was the guy that actually shot [the angle], even worse!”
Alice Radley: “No shit?!”
Jim Cornette: “Yeah, yeah! The real guy because Turner Broadcasting had gotten the rights somehow to ‘Robocop 2’ or ‘Return of Robocop’ or whatever the fuck.”
Afterward, I posted this tidbit as an absolute #WCWfact over on Twitter and since then, I’ve seen WCW Worldwide cited for this proof several times over the years. Jim Cornette was the type of person who had a brain not affected by drugs or physical abuse common in the world of wrestling, so surely, he could be trusted on this. Right??
Turns out, maybe that was not the case. Even though Jim Cornette does have a great recall ability, maybe he doesn’t know shit outside of his career or what Peter Weller actually looks like. Over time, more wrestling podcasts have emerged with several people who were there that night giving more details on who was in the suit.
Sting: “No, no, no. It was not Pete Weller. I think it was some stunt guy. I’m not sure who it was, but I know it wasn’t Peter Weller. At the time, it was one of the most embarrassing things to endure. Now, I am glad that it happened, and I have an original Robocop shirt with both of us. I wear it sometimes for podcasts and it gets a good laugh.” – Bleacher Report [March 2021]
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Kevin Sullivan: “I thought if we had Peter Weller–now this is, you know, an afterthought. When we saw that, we had kicked around the idea after that was over, we’d shoot some stuff with Peter Weller as Peter Weller. Let him talk about how great the show was, plug the movie, but also say, ‘Boy, this is some’–you know, get the rub from him. You know what I’m saying? Get the rub from him and inject it into the shows. Right off the bat, [WCW] kind of shortchanged the people.” – HannibalTV Interview [2022]
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Tony Schiavone: “It was a Hollywood stunt man.” – What Happened When Podcast [May 2018]
The possible name of that Hollywood stunt man? Russell Towery.
Photos of Towery in the Robocop suit backstage with Sting have emerged to give credence to this, and @awrestlinghistorian on Instagram managed to get him on the phone in a strange exchange to confirm it:
Russell is credited in all three Robocop movies as an stunt double and would be the perfect person to replicate the specific mannerisms of the character live on television. He’s also slightly smaller that the six-foot-tall Peter Weller, so seeing this shorter Robo alongside Sting makes all of the sense in the world that it is indeed him in the plastic suit. When I asked @awrestlinghistorian exactly how this call came to be, I was told that it was a legit cold call, and he appreciated the answer given. He was also shocked and relieved that Towery didn’t just immediately hang up on some wrestling crank calling him.
Still – I didn’t want to let this go without getting another confirmation directly from the main source himself, Dr. Peter Weller (which he will be the first to remind you that the doctor title is not honorary, btw). He has briefly talked about it on a podcast, but I wanted to try and see if I could prod any more details from the elusive actor. The easiest way to do this? Paying him the $300 Cameo fee to have him answer my question.
I’ve sold shirts and pins of wrestling-related Robocop merch over the past few years, so I will just consider this payment to him as a way to realign my cosmic karma a bit.
Dr. Peter Weller: “Regarding 1990, WCW Capital Combat show to break pro wrestler Sting out of a cage? No, this was not me. I don’t know if it was Russell either. I don’t know who it was. I know we all got some money for it, but that’s not me. They gotta pay me a lot of money to put on that suit, man.
The only time, I gotta tell you honestly, that you’ll ever see me in that suit is in Robocop 1 and Robocop 2. There’s no other thing other than a movie poster for those two films where you’re gonna see me in that suit. So, everything else is P-H-O-N-Y or a mock-up. I hope this helps, Russell Towery is a great dude. It might have been Russell, I’ve never seen the clip on YouTube.”
So, after all the years of confusing back and forth, I think we can finally put this one to bed.
Thank you, Dr. Peter Weller, and make sure to watch his upcoming Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sequel, The Adventures of Cliff Booth. In the full Cameo that was sent over, he did a full ad for this new film just for me. Very flattered at Dr. Weller cutting a commercial for a Netflix film directed by David Fincher with the total reach of one (1) human being (me).
I’ll put the full Cameo on the WCW Worldwide Patreon so maybe we can help by extending that organic reach a little further.
40-year-old World Championship Wrestling fanatic/collector/hoarder. Safety officer by day, scanner of wrestling magazine by night.
He’s got posters on the wall, his favorite rock group’s KISS.