November 20th is the big date for the island of Puerto Rico with multiple cards announced. We also look ahead as many companies announce big future events with prominent names attached. Primarily, for the first time, All Elite Wrestling contracted wrestlers will come to the island. Danny Limelight and Daniel Garcia did come and work recently, but Limelight did not sign with AEW while Garcia competed just prior to signing, meaning The Lucha Bros coming this Saturday for the Latin American Wrestling Entertainment (LAWE) Origenes marks the first time we see this excursion. In addition to The Lucha Bros coming to LAWE, Andrade El Idolo is set to debut for LAWE’s prime rival, the traditional World Wrestling Council (WWC).
Here’s a look into what’s happened this week on the island of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico Report #3 – Andrade El Idolo, Lucha Bros, etc.
WWC Finally Announces 48th Anniversary With AEW Talent (Andrade El Idolo, Lucha Bros, etc.) Involved
The biggest news of the week comes from WWC, when they finally confirmed the date for their 48th Anniversary after nearly 2 months of “it’s coming soon”. The event will take place on January 15th and is being billed as “Anniversary is Coming With Euphoria”. This is a nod to the fact that the event is taking place when their other major show of year normally takes place. Their annual Euphoria event would usually take place in early January. During some years, it proved even bigger than their Anniversary card.
The special attraction match announced for the Anniversary/Euphoria event goes back to a reliable well: Carlito vs Andrade El Idolo. The old Mexico vs Puerto Rico trope is a tried and true one in the territory, as long as it has a strong story attached to it. The last time they did it was for Ray Gonzalez vs Alberto Del Rio with the infamous story of Del Rio slapping Gonzalez’s son at the Texas Wrestling Academy and drawing many international eyes. It drew their biggest gate in years and they haven’t come close since with the company not really knowing how to capitalize on the mainstream attention the angle drew. With so many other promotions in the island dipping into the pay-per-view landscape, one would think WWC would try and capitalize. However, time and time again, WWC has shown to be very stubborn in their old ways. Time will tell.
Their November 20th card, coming back after the electric issues, has seen some big changes as they seem to be holding off on the big Carlos Calderon vs Gilbert Universal title match many fans were very hyped up for. The issue is, if this match is being held off, what about the Gilbert vs Eddie Colón grudge match? Only one of these is going to make it to the Anniversary card. People want the Colón vs Gilbert match. They also want the title off Gilbert and put it on Calderon. Would they have the title match before the Anniversary show? Is there a change of plans? The weekly ‘Opinion De Gilbert’ segment makes it clear that the title match, as well as a Colón bout, is still very much in the plans. It seems like WWC has their hands full as to what they will do for the next month before they take their holiday break and come back for the Anniversary show.
I would not look too deep into the fact that AEW talent are competing in both WWC & LAWE. I don’t think anyone in AEW, including The Lucha Bros and Andrade El Idolo, care about whatever heat there is between the two promotions. For that matter, neither do most fans. That hasn’t stopped Stacy Colón from trying to stir up some noise with interviews about family drama. However, the fact that such names as The Lucha Bros, Andrade El Idolo, and others are making their way to the island can’t be overlooked.
https://twitter.com/cwaprtv/status/1049019631296499713?s=20
CWA Keeps Pumping Out The Content
In what was a very clear last-minute decision, Champion Wrestling Association followed their national TV debut by doubling down on content. This past Wednesday, they made the surprise announcement that Acción Vibrante, their online weekly show, would return to YouTube with new content, effectively making it a second show to their Campeones Del Hexagono program. It was clearly a last-minute move as during several portions of the show, the commentators mentioned they were on TeleOnce as well as saying we were watching Campeones Del Hexagono. The probable reason for this may be that they noticed they can go back to new tapings faster than expected, so they opted to just put out more content faster.
Their TeleOnce show saw an interesting angle in the talk show segment ‘El Malecón Night Club’ where top heel Rodrigo Garcia brought in viral musician Machito Swing, a guitarist that became very popular at the start of the pandemic when he started playing virtual concerts. He’s an avid wrestling fan that could be easily found in all the various wrestling forums. Garcia brought him in and they did a singing bit where Swing got mad at Rodrigo’s insults. Afterward, Rodrigo hit him over the head with a completely real guitar. It felt like a classic wrestler/celebrity angle, not to mention that Machito Swing’s style of music is the type typically heard during the Holiday season.
In short, it was perfect integration. This comes just in time for their next PPV, Christmas Showdown, announced for December 11th at the 24 Marketplace with a December 12 PPV airdate. The main event will be Star Roger vs Marty Scurll in a 2/3 Falls match. Months in, it’s clear there’s no blowback to bringing in Scurll. This is in contrast to the negative reaction of Bandido bringing in Travis Banks for his shows in Mexico. Whether this choice came down to ignorance or carelessness, fans don’t even seem to wonder why a guy that was such a prominent star just vanished at such a crucial period of U.S. wrestling to show up in Puerto Rico and make that his home base. Hopefully, we don’t see even shadier individuals being booked on the island. Albert El Patron is one that has a strong friendship with the Colóns, despite all the clear red flags surrounding him. Despite this, he hasn’t been brought in in years.
https://t.co/FqqD3knX7C
IWA Impacto Total a solo días del Mega Evento de Lucha Libre Más Extremo del Año IWA Hardcore Weekend Lucha Libre ¡Una Noche Para La Historia! Dedicado al Hombre que manda y va, Víctor The Bodyguard
sábado 20 noviembre
8PM
Acrópolis de Manatí. pic.twitter.com/K17c0rOAyj— IWA Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 (@IWAPuertoRico) November 13, 2021
IWA Puerto Rico Prepares Itself
IWA Puerto Rico promises there will be no issues for their November 20th Hardcore Weekend PPV. It’s the only company doing live PPVs. They are pushing the card as hard as possible with the idea that we might see the end of the very dreaded IWE Alliance angle; I doubt it will actually end there. They also push hard the idea of all titles being on the line with 24/7 rules, but fans either don’t care or don’t understand it, as there’s very little buzz for that particular announcement.
For all the negativity surrounding IWA’s booking, they still do very well on YouTube and even simple test streams on Facebook see lots of eyes popping in. This is all pointless, though, if they can’t get enough paying tickets or retain their PPV buys. Savio Vega himself clearly does his best to actively promote IWA’s events and act as the company’s face. But its creative structure is not a viable one in the face of so much competition.
LAWE’s Home Stretch
November 20th is days away and LAWE’s debut event looks like the best thing since the pandemic. It’s odd that there are so many angles happening in social media before the company even runs their first card, though this is Puerto Rico in a nutshell – soap opera first, wrestling second. When there are no ticket sales, one must wonder why this is still done. However, when there are ticket sales, one must admit that it’s hooked fans. Has LAWE hooked fans with this? Well, they’ve done a far better job than anyone else. A 1,500 crowd would be enough to make them the most successful card since WWL’s Insurrection event in 2019. But with talent as expensive as the Lucha Bros, La Rebellion, and other fly-ins, they better hope for more. They’ve also made the announcement that the event will be available as a PPV. The airdate will be revealed on the day of the actual card, as Orlando Colón announced that extra content will be added to the PPV, perhaps to get people that attended the show to also order it.
Televisión Results:
- CWA Acción Vibrante 11/10/21:
- Yoma defeats Bambino via DQ
- CWA Tag Team Champion Victor Melendez defeats Alfredo Melies
- CWA Campeones Del Hexagono 11/12/21:
- Bambino & Rodrigo Garcia defeat El Pequeño Enel & Yadiel Rodriguez
- Jack Xavier defeats John Slayer to retain the CWA Intercontinental Championship
- El Gentil defeats CW Accion Vibrante Champion Alejandro Diosdado in a non-title match
- IWA Impacto Total 11/13/21:
- John Hawkings won a Battle Royal for the Impacto Total Cup and future title opportunity
- Savio Vega defeats El Wizard
- WWC’s Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre 11/13/21 & 11/14/21 featured old matches due to the recent power outages postponing TV tapings.
All these weekly programs can be found on YouTube on each company’s respective channel.
Other News Notes:
- Organizacion Internacional de Lucha (OIL) announced a full-blown calendar of events for 2022 with 13 future dates given. They did not name venues for all these dates due to what they claim as “strategic purposes” (read as “we don’t actually have a venue”). Personally, I doubt they will follow up on these dates. Right after, they rescheduled their November 20th card. It’s just not viable. I’ve yet to see a single match from this company; only promises, vignettes, and promos.
- Ground Zero Wrestling (GZW) presented their new heavyweight title design, created by renowned championship belt creator brand Collection Spot. For the past 3 years, they’ve created nearly every new title introduced in Puerto Rico, made custom titles for the likes of Kane & Bret Hart, and even worked for international promotions such as DDT Pro-Wrestling in Japan. The main creator, Rigo Ventura, is a veteran wrestler of the island.
- Ponce Pro Wrestling School has a card for November 21st.
