World Wrestling League is the #1 promotion in Puerto Rico, no doubt about it. The promotion was practicably death by the start of 2017, but a shift of owner and new influx of cash change that path. In that same rebuilding, former IWA, TNA and AAA booker Hector “Moody Jack” Melendez arrived in the scene. Yesterday at 8/25, Moody made official his exit from WWL. It took everybody for surprise, with some even shouting the fall of the promotion and some asking questions on how one of the key elements of the rise of WWL could have exited the promotion, but if we examine closely in the sequence that have followed Moody’s return to WWL, we can find some of the reasons.
Moody started out in the business by being the right hand of GFW agent and former WWE talent (as Zeb Colter) Dutch Mantell. It was in the old International Wrestling Association with Dutch that Moody learned how this business worked and started putting some input on IWA’s product in the early 2000s. By mid 2000s, Moody was already in Total Non-Stop Action and later booking for Mexico’s AAA. The man had an Attitude Era-style booking, with a lot of shock value, that was appropriate for those times.
Rise and Fall of Moody with WWL
Now, in the newly rebooted WWL, things went in different ways. Moody saw success in the early going, with WWL ranking up the ladder and Moody’s Magnum Opus being the WWL Golpe the Estado show, that saw the debut of Mecha Wolf 450, plus the likes of The Crash owner Konnan, Willie Mack and the surprise appearances of Mike Mendoza & Angel Fashion. But, right after that honeymoon period, things with Moody (and Dennis Rivera’s partial influence) way of booking became apparent. Al thought the matches were of a high level, the stories were disorganized, with Moody still implementing tactics from the 2000s and having head-scratching decisions. Maybe the most notorious one being, turning the beloved Puerto Rican hero, Mecha Wolf 450 heel.
Hardcore fans of the WWL product didn’t seem to mind those decisions, but the dislike was vivid, with the attendance dropping from May to August 50%. It was apparent that Moody slowly was failing in his work to put over the product to a wider audience, with WWL being treated like a soap opera and being given an angle based of the political situation of Puerto Rico. Many said what everybody says when their company shows signs of failing, “let the stories be told and enjoy the product” and some even saying to the critics, “now everybody wants to be a booker”. But the reality was, that WWL was declining and bad judgment by Moody was one of the key reasons. Also, the way that Moody treated the situation wasn’t the best. He fired back at the critics, telling them (including me) that they not know what are they talking about and that they were just fans “trying to do fantasy booking”.
Those words from Moody seemed to be his frustrations, but things turned in 180 degrees, with him announcing on Facebook that he was leaving the company. Many knew about his tantrums, but no-one was expecting him to leave the promotion.
The Crash is likely to be our answer
Now… Moody’s exit wasn’t based on his frustrations with talents or media, but more likely that The Crash came calling. It was said by various sources, that if Konnan was to get a TV Deal, the person that would be writing the show was probably Moody Melendez. As for this day, no TV deal for The Crash has been announced or being leaked to the wide wrestling media, but is apparent that Konnan is closing in on one or already sign one.
Konnan worked with Moody closely in TNA and later in AAA, with them being “close” friends for at least 10 years. It was a series of videos of Konnan and The Crash talent, like the likes of Rey Mysterios, Willie Mack & Brian Cage, that started to rise the WWL from its death. It’s with WWL that The Crash (and with Defy Wrestling & GFW) has a working agreement, with the Puerto Rican based promotion witnessing LAX and Willie Mack making the debut in the island.
Talent wasn’t happy and vice versa
Although the previously stated is known by fact, there is a lot if truth of wrestlers in WWL not liking Moody. Much is said in what happens behind the scenes, some sources have said that the talent dislike for Moody was evident and that there wasn’t a lot of direction by him. Even though Moody failed to put the WWL Title on Mecha Wolf, give Spectro a decent push and make more of a movement for the women (instead of having intergender matches), the main reason for the internal problems with WWL talent and Moody was his disconnection with the talent.
Everything was said to be centered around their “Junta Fiscal” angle (Fiscal Overseas Board) and restricting the talent’s originality in hopes of the angle to work. But, as we know now, this lead to Moody losing some authority and having some headbutt with some talents. Is unknown if this will lose the WWL and The Crash agreement or if WWL is going to perish. The future seems uncertain for them.
