Hurricane Fiona has halted several scheduled wrestling events in Puerto Rico. However, it’s very doubtful that the gap before events are back up and running will be as big as the one that came after Hurricane Maria in 2017. No wrestling venues suffered any damage and it all hinges on the status of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid.
On a sad note, wrestling super-fan Yolanda “Yoli” Serrano passed away this week. Known by many wrestlers that either live or just compete on the island since the 80s. Former IWA Champion Primo Carnero, better known to US fans as Big Vito in WCW, WWE, and ECW, wrote a heartfelt post about her on his social media, as have many local wrestlers and promoters. She was known for being close to many wrestlers and listening to many of their backstage tales without telling anyone else. She was interviewed a few months ago by wrestling legend El Profe for Contralona’s YouTube channel. Let’s rundown the latest in wrestling news from Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico Wrestling Report #9 – Power Outages Force Changes
WWC, IWA, and LAWE
WWC – WWC’s last couple of months have been seen as very positive. Just prior to their 49th Anniversary show, their weekly TV shows had hit rock-bottom quality-wise as graphics were embarrassingly awful, the matches shown were actually from other companies. However, production has changed hands to avoid all of those previous issues.
Their card scheduled for this weekend has been canceled due to the island-wide power outage. It was supposed to be the setup for their next major card where Gilbert and Xavant would continue the company’s top feud and legend Ray Gonzalez would be challenging the near seven foot tall Puerto Rico Champion Nihan, the company’s number two feud. However, nothing has been slated for the current Universal Champion, Intelecto 5 Estrellas. Since winning the title at the Anniversary, he has not been given a major feud and all of WWC’s other major players are tied up at the moment.
IWA – IWA had a very successful summer, for two months, they were able to run a show every weekend. Something no company in Puerto Rico has been able to do in years. However, the company still suffers from not much of their product being impactful. Most storylines fly by too quick to make a real impact which contrasts with the company’s top angle. Which is still IWA vs IWE. Which is a spin off of promoter Savio Vega’s feud with top heel and current Champion Manny Ferno, something that has been going since 2017.
Despite that, they continue their string of scheduled events including an upcoming date on November 6th, in Orlando, Florida. Which would be the first time in many years that a company exits Puerto Rico to run outside the island.
LAWE – LAWE has re-scheduled their Rompiendo Cadenas [Breaking Chains] event for October 1st in Trujillo Alto. Hopefully electricity is restored prior. The event’s prime hook is it’s focused on women’s wrestling. As the company’s female roster as well as several women from outside fight to become the first LAWE Women’s Champion.
The biggest casualty of the re-scheduling is that Faby Apache will no longer being able to compete in the event. The legendary former AAA wrestler was scheduled to appear in the event for it’s original September 17 date, but can’t appear for the new October 1st date. She appeared in a pre-recorded promo for LAWE’s social media stating that she can’t appear for the event but still wishes to compete for the promotion.
CWA, GZW, and Espiritu Dojo
CWA – CWA had to stop their events well before the Hurricane due to protests going on where their Summer Mayhem event was taking place. Their Implantando Respeto [Demanding Respect] event was cancelled due to the Hurricane, and the company’s primary angle was supposed to see the company owner Robert Diaz ‘shooting’ on various criticism’s against him over the years. It was also cancelled due to the Hurricane.
So as of this moment, CWA is at a stand-still, waiting for things to clear out before they resume. They are no longer on TV, just as they were celebrating their ‘season premiere’. The show has gone back to being strictly on YouTube and the channels subscriber count has now been made public due to YouTube making changes. Revealing that they have a lower subscriber count than even Ground Zero Wrestling.
GZW – Speaking of GZW, the company has also postponed it’s Odio & Venganza [Hatred & Vengeance] event which was scheduled to be headlined by recently acquired top star Louis Forza against Peruvian wrestler Rayo. Who’s been notable in the east coast independents of the United States as well as having a few appearances on AEW Dark. D-Von Dudley’s sons, TNT were also scheduled for the event, challenging for the Tag Team titles. We’ll have to wait and see if the company can re-schedule them.
Espiritu Dojo – The Mike Mendoza school has been returning to having big events. All available on IWTV with their latest one, dubbed Master Series, featuring Mexican wrestling legend Negro Navarro on the card. This weekend, they taped their next event, Broken By Glory. It’s main event being Manu defending the Dojo title against JC Navarro. Another of Espiritu Dojo’s teachers. Other matches include LAWE’s Adam Riggs against WWC’s ring announcer Yaide in an intergender match. El Gentil and Hijo Del Enigma team up against Reckless Harry and Bruno Baltazar. The event will be available in IWTV in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.
