World Wrestling Council finished their three-day wrestling extravaganza, Aniversario 45, which included stars like Alberto el Patron, Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions The Briscoe Brothers, WWE Superstar Primo Colon, among others. The company experienced a mixed bag of reactions by the fans. The company was met with a poor attendance on the first night. Fans report that the company barely got 200 fans in the 3,000 seat Arena in Manatí, Puerto Rico. On Saturday, the story changed drastically for the company. As usual, the Saturday shows in Puerto Rico are the biggest ones. WWC Aniversario 45: Guaynabo – my home town – was met with a huge resurgence by fans in attendance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8owOPYEy8s
The company once again delivered the biggest wrestling event in Puerto Rico. Last year, WWC: Euphoria was the biggest show in Puerto Rico (by a Puerto Rican company, WWE did 11,500 last year). This year, Aniversario 45, which was schedule for September of last year, but because of the hurricane it was canceled, had approximately between 1,500 fans to 2,300 fans. It’s still almost half of the 5,500 seat arena.
In comparison with other promotions like World Wrestling League, the second biggest show of the year is WWL: Golpe de Estado 2018 with 800 fans (sold-out). In Ponce, on the third night, the attendance was said to be between 200 to 350.
Is WWC the number one promotion in Puerto Rico again?
Sadly, the answer is still no. The company brought their big guns like Primo, Carlito, Jack Swagger, Alberto el Patron & The Briscoe because it was Aniversario and because of them losing ground to WWL.
The company still has a very poor quality in their wrestling and their stories of El Sindicato vs. Juan Manuel Ortega/WWC is going nowhere. Although Ray Gonzalez has taken a step back, he’s still in the main event, wrestling alongside veterans that the fans are not responding to.
The Saturday show is an example of tradition, big names and no competition. The company had the stars aligned for that show and fans were willing the see the product. Some fans had a positive response to some wrestlers, like the WWC Television Champion Bellito and the return to WWC of Chicano, who wrestled the three nights, but other than that, WWC has a long road ahead.
Before Aniversario, the company biggest crowd was their 2018 debut show after the Hurricane in Dorado. After that, the company has seen canceled shows and fans turning away and trusting other wrestling products like WWL and even Championship Wrestling Association.
WWC’s Demons
WWC’s demons haven’t gone away – they still rely on veteran wrestlers in their main events, poor quality of wrestling for the sake of “doing it the right way” and their young stars are now stuck in the lower card.
OT Fernandez, who first won the WWC Television champion, now is nowhere to be seen in the midcard after losing the title to Bellito. One would have thought that Fernandez was going to be elevated to the midcard and have a run at the Puerto Rican championship, but again, WWC is having Lightning as their champion.
The company brings young talent like Barreto, but still had veterans like multiple-time Jr. Heavyweight Champion El Diabolico return to feud with Bellito. Another example was the surprise appearance of Anarchy, who is an IWA-Original and one of the best Junior Heavyweights of the early 2000s. While you have young wrestlers that can take the spot of Anarchy and feud with Bellito, who is right now the favorite of the crowd, the company decides to put an overweight veteran that can’t mix well with their young stars.
For WWC to keep the steam going, they need more opportunity for their young stars and less part time wrestler taking the main event. Carlito, Primo and Swagger, those are big names, but in 2018, they don’t draw as they used to and they don’t fit anywhere in the interest of fans in Puerto Rico.
If WWC wants to reclaim their crown , they have to change how they think and reconstruct all of their operation. But, along as their owners keep getting a check for their programing, no matter how bad the show is, a change of mind is difficult.
