The Caribbean Report is a regular feature exclusive to Last Word on Pro Wrestling, as Emmanuel Rosado reports from Puerto Rico on the current events from the wrestling circuit of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean islands, as well as South America.
WWL Juicio Final 2018
Back in the mid 2000s, the best wrestling promotion in Puerto Rico was International Wrestling Association (IWA), not Carlos Colon’s World Wrestling Council. In those days, one of the more emblematic shows of IWA PR was Juicio Final, were top stars like Mesias, Apolo, Jeff Jarrett, among others, created lasting memories. Now, in 2018, with their first show in 2018, it seems that those same factors are once again appearing in the island.
World Wrestling League returned victoriously in a weird Friday night show – the shows are usually on Saturday – with Juicio Final. The show was in the same building that WWC has been running since their return in 2018 as well. WWL, with almost 200 fans, surpassed any attendance that WWC had in that building and the wrestling atmosphere was said to be on another level.
The show saw JC Navarro finally winning the Americas Championship against long-time veteran Spectro. Navarro is built like a pitbull, was trained in CMLL, and was billed back in 2017 to have a breakout year in 2018 in Puerto Rico. He is part of the Puro Macho stable which includes Electro, PMS and Khris Diaz. The latter as a trio won the WWL Trios Championship from Mark Davidson, Excellent Martell and Allison. Davidson, who was trained by Star Roger, turned heel and is now expected to have a solid year.
The big moments of the show were when Mecha Wolf 450 beat BIG for the WWL title, which was a title that was alluding the 2-times WWC Universal Champion. Savio Vega returned to WWL and is now the leader of the face faction feuding with Manny Ferno’s heel group Puro Macho. Angel Fashion wasn’t present in the show and Mike Mendoza & Vanilla Vargas lost to Roxxy and Vassago. Pupe Jackson beat Payatronic and Aidem Grimm to win the WWL Cruiserweight title. The next show for WWL is on May 26, the same day as CWA’s Anniversary show.
WWC Struggling Big Time
WWL had a successful return, CWA is solid and WWC is…struggling. The “number 1” promotion in the island isn’t doing much these days to stand out. They vacated the Universal championship last time they had a show, plus the Puerto Rican title picture looks like a mess with so much changing of the title holders. Some people want to make excuses, that WWC knows what they are doing, but is becoming clear they’re out of touch with reality. They vacated the most prestigious title that they can offer so that Mighty Ursus (who has lost his magic) and Thunder (the man that started the fall of attendance in 2017) can battle each other out for the title in their next show (4/29). As of right now, the only promising things in WWC are OT Fernandez’ heel run and Bellito’s recent breakout performances.
CWA On A Steady Road
Championship Wrestling Association (CWA) is having their Desafio show in Toa Baja these weekend, with their main event being Star Roger – who is having a historic CWA title reign – defending the CWA championship against former WWE Developmental wrestler and former WWC Universal champion, Black Pain (Monster Pain).
CWA turned Roger heel – as expected – and is building a big push for Justin Dynamite, who is in line to win the CWA title off from Roger in the summer. Other talents like the CWA Tag Champions Los Fugitivos (Lynx & Niche) are having a solid run and the Cuban gimmick of Rodrigo Garcia is getting over very big with the fans. CWA will have on 5/29 their Anniversary X show with the debut of CMLL star Carístico.
CKCW With An All-Puerto Rican Main Event
Cleveland Knights Championship Wrestling (CKCW) is having a big show in May 20, and their main event will feature arguably of the best tag team in Puerto Rico’s wrestling history, Thunder & Lightning, against the 3rd Generation of Mike Mendoza and Angel Fashion (Holy Fashion).
The promotion, which is built as a gateway for Puerto Ricans to the state, is having an impressive array of indie talent in their show Vanished Empire. Impact Wrestling’s Brian Cage will debut against former WWL champion and member of Holy Fashion, El Nazareno. LAX’s Diamante will meet with a familiar enemy, Vanilla Vargas. This will be a title defence for Vargas – she is the CKCW Women’s champion – who, in the past, fought Diamante in 2017’s Match of the Year – LAX vs. The 3rd Generation (Mike Mendoza, Fashion and Vanilla Vargas). The most intriguing match of the night will be the return of “The Juice” Juventud Guerrera, who will wrestle arguably the best prospect right now in the island, Justin Dynamite. This is a huge opportunity for the future of CWA, who is getting his third match in the US in May. Other names for the May show are JD Smooth and Lucha Underground’s Famous B.
Other News from the Caribbean
– Sammy Guevara is set to appear in AAA’s Verano de Escándalo. Guevara usually wrestles for The Crash shows, but with Konnan now in AAA, he is set to appear in AAA.
– Speaking of Konnan, the Wrestling Observer said that he was the booker for AAA’s 4/20 TV tapings. Dave Meltzer added that Vampiro will stay as a on camera figure in AAA.
– Dragon Lee was injured – torn quad – at last Friday’s CMLL Arena Mexico show, in a match against Carístico. The injury could affect Lee’s appearance in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Best of the Super Juniors but is being said that he will be ready in three weeks.
– Mark Davidson and Vanilla Vargas will join Alberto el Patron, Hijo de Dos Caras and the Nasty Boys for Coastal Championship Wrestling’s Summer Glory show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gte11EHWnOs
– 100% Lucha announce that their King of Indies tournament will take place in summer of 2018. They also released a funny, yet interesting, video of one of their big hopes, El Gentil. While in Puerto Rico the Strong Style is getting a lot of traction, Gentil is using a more European base-style in his matches, making him a unique character. He was trained by Salvadorian legend El Vikingo and Mike Mendoza.
