Capital Carnage was a 1998 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the American promotion World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It aired exclusively in the United Kingdom and took place on December 6, 1998, at the London Arena in London, England. It was released on DVD in the UK and Europe on July 12, 2010, in a set also including the UK exclusive No Mercy as part of the WWE's Tagged Classics range released by Silver Vision, without any edits to the original content, most notably keeping all mentions and appearances of the WWF logo intact and un-blurred.
Jim Ross suffered his second Bell's palsy attack on-air during this event. He did not officially call matches again for the WWF until the main event of WrestleMania XV.
Background In 1998, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), an American professional wrestling promotion, scheduled a pay-per-view (PPV) event titled Capital Carnage that would air exclusively in the United Kingdom. It took place on December 6, 1998, at the London Arena in London, England.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorsJim RossJerry LawlerVince McMahon InterviewerMichael ColeRing announcerTony Chimel Special GuestVinnie JonesRefereesMike ChiodaEarl Hebner Tim WhiteShane McMahon
During the event, Jim Ross suffered his second Bell's palsy attack on-air.
The opening contest between Gangrel and Al Snow began with a mixture of head grapples and arm bar take downs. Snow quickly clamped Gangrel and headbutted him, before using Gangrel's legs to throw him over Snow's back. The first unsuccessful pin count came from a flying crossbody from Snow, the ensuing calm allowing Gangrel to perform a DDT on Snow and then subdue him with clotheslines and a leg sweep. When Gangrel tried to perform a second DDT, though, Snow managed to reverse the hold into a bridged suplex pin. By the time Gangrel had kicked out, The Brood came to ringside and distracted the referee allowing Snow to use Head on Gangrel, but it also gave Edge the opportunity to floor Snow with a missile dropkick which gave the victory to Gangrel.
The tag team match saw Droz and Mosh fighting, Droz dropkicking both Mosh and then Thrasher who tried to interrupt his offense. As Mosh came back into the ring he tagged Thrasher who was also dominated by Droz but a blind tag back again allowed Mosh to make a diving crossbody to take down Droz and choke him on the ropes, another tag permitting The Headbangers to double team Droz with a leap frog body guillotine. Droz soon tagged in Animal but the match suddenly ended when Animal was illegally double teamed, when the referee tried to push out the illegal man Droz ran in, pushing Animal out of the ring to take his place but before he could do anything was rolled up in a schoolboy pin by Mosh and lost the match, despite Animal handling the Headbangers quite well. More referees appeared when an impromptu fight broke out between Animal and Droz, Animal leaving the ring in disgust.
Goldust began the match by dropping Val Venis onto the steel steps, before taking him back in the ring to scoop slam him and then slap him in the face. Despite being thrown into the turnbuckle, Goldust did the same to Venis and gave him a clothesline to boot. Goldust almost pinned Venis after a bulldog but attempting another running attack proved too much for Goldust who was caught in the air with a spinebuster. Venis followed this up with a flying crossbody and a fisherman suplex pin but to no avail. The two collided from a running attack, with Venis falling to the floor and Goldust leaning back into the ropes and then falling forward, dazed, inadvertently headbutting Venis' crotch. As Venis retired to the turnbuckle to recover, Goldust put him in position for Shattered Dreams but Venis pulled the referee in the way as Goldust attempted the kick. As Goldust argued with the referee, Venis rolled him over into the pin and won. As Venis celebrated, Goldust took him from behind with a sitout rear slam and then performed the Shattered Dreams for the pleasure of the audience.
After a clip of Vince McMahon's speech at Oxford, and then a promo from McMahon and his followers about changes to the card (X-Pac facing The Rock in place of Triple H) and the inclusion of Vinnie Jones as a special guest enforcer, Tiger Ali Singh fought Edge. Edge began punching Singh as soon as he had come through the crowd for his entrance and after losing some advantage, threw Singh over his back and dropkicked him. When Singh tried to escape the onslaught by going outside, Edge threw him back in. Despite a thumb to the eye, Singh still fell foul of an inverted atomic drop and a missile dropkick, surviving a pin fall with a rope break. As Singh recovered, Edge climbed to the top rope and attempted a diving crossbody but was caught mid-air and powerslammed into the mat before being covered for the pin, helped by Singh's feet gaining leverage from the second rope. Edge beat down Singh after the match and celebrated.
Before the mixed tag match, Jacqueline attacked her partner Marc Mero and had to be separated by referee Tim White. The match began with Christian hip tossing and dropkicking Mero, from which he escaped with a tag meaning that WWF Women's Champion Sable had to be tagged in. Despite wanting to spar with Christian, as soon as Sable entered the ring she fled to the corner and tagged in Mero. The mixed rules were ignored as Sable went to fight Mero; Mero mocked her by pulling his boxing shorts up high (so that she had less places to punch him 'below the belt') but Christian swiftly pulled them down to his ankles from behind. Sable kicked him on the floor until Christian took over as the competitor, kicking Mero out of the turnbuckle before tagging Sable in again and double teaming him with an Irish whip and superkick, respectively. Jacqueline refused to join the match and so Christian continued to fight Mero, who was pulled to the floor by his hair while taunting the crowd and then floored with a crossbody pin that Jacqueline stopped. Mero then set Christian up with a Samoan drop in order to attempt the Wild Thing, but Christian pulled at the top rope causing Mero to fall off and performed a reverse DDT. Again Sable was tagged in without Jacqueline joining the match, to which she replied by performing a Sable Bomb on the dazed Mero before pulling Jacqueline into the ring over the top rope as Mero tried to flee, with Christian in pursuit. Sable, meanwhile was kicking Jacqueline in the corner, before reversing an Irish whip into the TKO to pin her. An enraged Jacqueline tried to attack the referee, punching him to the floor but White stood up, with Jacqueline on his shoulders and Sable ripped away her clothes, leaving her completely topless and causing her to run to the back. The nudity was not edited out of the VHS tape in the United States.
The WWF Intercontinental Championship match began with Steve Blackman being scoop slammed to the mat by Ken Shamrock but replied with a spinning heel kick. A fast-paced affair early on, the match saw a number of kicks and punching variations from both competitors until Shamrock slowed the match with a slam suplex that could not lay Blackman down for the pin. Despite many attempts from Blackman, Shamrock remained dominant over the match, keeping Blackman subdued in the corner with punches and then weakening him with a front face lock sleeper hold in the middle of the ring. Even when Blackman escaped it, he was still floored with a knee to the face. When Blackman managed to daze Shamrock, throwing him out of the ring, he baseball slid into Boss Man's face which he retaliated by striking with his nightstick when Blackman was back inside the ring. This allowed Shamrock to secure his ankle lock and make Blackman tap out.
Triple H began dominating Jeff Jarrett with basic wrestling headlocks and trying to pin his opponent after a spine buster. After Jarrett kicked out he threw Triple H out of the ring and then, when he was back in the ring, choked Triple H on the bottom rope, with Debra aiding the effort. When she repeated the effort Chyna chased her off and helped Triple H back into the match, but Jarrett applied a sleeper hold which Helmsley reversed with a belly to back suplex, leaving both men on the floor. As they fought their way back up, Triple H used the ten-punch in the corner and, despite being thrown into the opposite corner, Triple H was aware of where he was and stopped short, attacking a celebrating Jarrett. After dropping Jarrett's face on his knee, Triple H threw him out of the ring and went to continue his assault when Debra made her presence known on the apron. Chyna tried to intervene but the referee disputed with her, and Debra walked into the ring to distract Triple H with her sexuality as Jarrett brought a steel chair into the ring. But as Tim White tried to rid Debra from the ring, Chyna grabbed the chair out of Jarrett's hands allowing Triple H to use the Pedigree and win the match.
The WWF Tag Team Championship match began with D'Lo Brown throwing Road Dogg around the ring but Road Dogg replied with a series of punches and his signature shaky kneedrop. Brown recuperated outside of the ring with a pep talk from Mark Henry while Billy Gunn was tagged in on the opposing team. Brown had a similar time against Gunn, being whipped around the ring before being picked up for a gorilla press slam before fleeing the ring again. When he returned he instantly tagged in Henry who, after a show of strength, swung Gunn around with a bear hug. After slapping Henry's ears, Gunn was able to pick up speed, Road Dogg being tagged in for a double team dropkick to floor Henry and double hiptoss to Brown. Road Dogg tried to stay dominant over Henry but was soon thrown on the ground, before Brown was tagged in and isolated Road Dogg finishing with the Lo Down before tagging Henry back in who jumped on Dogg with a big splash and had to be saved by Gunn from being pinned. While in the ring Gunn dragged his partner to the corner, returning to the apron only to tag himself in and taking out both Brown and Henry. Throwing them around but being caught mid-air by Henry who slammed him into the mat, taking his breath away so that even after a Fameasser on Brown, he could not move to cover him. By the time the two had recovered, Gunn was able to pick Brown up for a piledriver, which he botched halfway between the traditional move and a piledriver face slam, but nevertheless pinned Brown afterward.