Robocop's Ludicrous Real-Life Professional Wrestling Debut Explained

"RoboCop" premiered in theaters in 1987, introducing audiences to what has become one of the most iconic movie characters of the decade. Peter Weller plays the titular cyborg to perfection in a film that has been recognized as a standout in the realms of action flicks and political satire. Thus, it's no surprise that these elements and more came together to make "RoboCop" a critical and commercial success, and it's even less of a surprise that a sequel came to fruition in short order. Come 1990, "RoboCop 2" was on the way, and the minds behind it promoted it in some unexpected ways.

In May of that same year, World Championship Wrestling was gearing up for its next pay-per-view event, Capital Combat: Return of RoboCop. As the subtitle implies, the event promised an appearance from the former Alex Murphy in some form, and appear he did. The dastardly Four Horsemen — represented here by Sid Vicious and Ole and Arn Anderson — attack fan-favorite Sting and lock him in a cage. Unwilling to let this injustice go, RoboCop enters the arena, tears off the cage door, and stands triumphantly alongside Sting as the Horsemen retreat.

All in all, this is a pretty corny segment, hence why it has gone down as one of the most infamous in wrestling history. However, one could argue that another of WCW's pop culture crossovers was infinitely worse.

At the end of the day, professional wrestling is meant to entertain, and that's why so often fans have seen celebrities of all kinds appear in the ring. Specifically speaking of WCW, which closed its doors in 2001 after a lengthy ratings battle with the then-World Wrestling Federation, it does have some successes to its credit. The likes of Karl Malone, Dennis Rodman, and even Jay Leno popped up on WCW TV to great effect. However, there's an example of a guest from the entertainment world who finds their WCW appearance potentially even more negatively remembered than RoboCop's.

In 1998, New Line Cinema's "Child's Play" franchise was a hot commodity, and horror fans were looking forward to the release of the latest installment, "Bride of Chucky." Given that WCW and New Line were owned by Time Warner, the powers that be saw crossover potential. In the lead-up to that year's Halloween Havoc event, Rick Steiner was preparing for a match against his brother and former tag team partner, Scott. However, things got weird on an episode of "WCW Monday Night Nitro" when Chucky himself appeared on a screen to talk some smack to Rick. He argued with the possessed doll, creating one of the strangest and hokiest wrestling promo segments out there.

Seeing as Leatherface recently appeared on All Elite Wrestling's weekly "Dynamite" show, and WWE prominently features names such as Logan Paul and Bad Bunny, it stands to reason that there's no end in sight for head-scratching wrestling-pop culture crossovers.