Other News Puerto Rico News: Update on upheaval of wrestling industry there, media coverage
Jan 9, 2008 - 10:54:20 AM
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PWTorch.com correspondent Luis Cuevas of www.wrestlingdom.com sent in aother update on the upheaval in Puerto Rican wrestling.
WWC Owner and Puerto Rican Wrestling Legend Carlos Colon conducted a Interview in mainstream newspaper Primera Hora to clarify and to explain to the people of Puerto Rico the events that happened last Sunday when half his roster, his booker, and his Universal Heavyweight Title ended up in main rival IWA hands.
A newspaper article starts talking about all the wrestlers who jumped including Biggie Size who was the last wrestler to hold the Universal Title and wrestlers Ash Rubinsky, William de la Vega, Rick Stanley (these last three from the group The Templarios, one of the lead Hhel teams in the island), female wrestlers La Morena and Amazon and the rest of the members of La Rabia Jeffrey and Niche who also hold the P.R Heavyweight Title and Light Heavyweight Title respectively.
Carlos Colon opens the interview stating that Biggie had until Tuesday Night to return the belt he stole before he goes and press charges (at the moment none of these things have happened). He said:
"He is not owed money as he did not wrestle this week. Besides, he is not the champion because the title was declared vacant. He was supposed to wrestle Black Pain to determine a new champion on our card and he did not show up. For that reason he is not the champion. He only had possession of the belt.
“We knew Booker Moody Melendez once he found out we were about to fire him that he would quit before that happen once he found out from other sources and because he brought those wrestlers we figured he was going to be taking them with him once he left the company.
“But the reality was that we as a company did not need him anymore. Ratings and attendance have been going down with him and la Rabia as main characters of our TV show. The Concept of La Rabia ( a Spanish Version of LAX) worked at the beginning because it was something new, but then it turned repetitious and their hardcore style contributed to push away the fans that are more oriented to a family entertainment aspect of the sport. For that reason we decided to move on and let go of Moody. Instead of Moody, we will Have Jose Rivera Sr. (a local star of the island in the '70s) be in charge of the responsibilities that Moody once had.”
He said the Universal Title, he said it would be vacant until further notice: "We have to return the prestige to the title. We are not in a hurry to have a new champion as we want someone who can represent as a champ to be proud of. We are going to be meeting this week to discuss our strategy and we might have a tournament with international and local stars to have a champion who can give respect to the title."
Concerning more wrestlers jumping to IWA like Bryan (Rising Star of Puerto Rico Wrestling), Colon dismisses the rumor, stating that the office had a talk with Bryan this week and that “Bryan was very unhappy with the actions of Biggie and because of this he would be staying in WWC.”
Concerning his son Eddie Colon going to WWE, Carlos Colon says Eddie would be leaving to Tampa this week to join one of the development territories and later join Smackdown with his brother Carlito. He said once Carlito finished his run with Santino, he would be moved to Smackdown. ”The only thing we need to find out is if they would move him once Eddie is established or before that happens.”
To clarify some of the things Carlos mentions on his interview concerning the declining ratings and attendance, the reality was that once La Rabia came in as a modern type of the NWO without alliances and going after both heels and babyfaces, both ratings and attendance went up but due to the fact that la Rabia were becoming more popular than Eddie Colon and Orlando Colon, the son and nephew of Carlos Colon, a decision was made to turn them heel and it was a disaster. They realized they made a mistake they try to turn them again into babyfaces, but fans did not bought this constant changing of sides for the group.
As of Wednesday Morning IWA still had possession of the belt and WWC has not pressed charges yet. This is not the first time that a wrestler has jumped company with WWC belts. In the early-'90s, the Batten Twins who were the tag team champions of World Wrestling Council jumped companies and did something similar to Madusa in WCW. At the beginning of this decade, another wrestler El NENE was owed money and took the Puerto Rico Title as ransom until WWC paid him and five years later he still has the belt and WWC still owes him his money. But the Universal Title has never been humiliated before by any one as is considered the belt even for wrestlers in IWA to this day as in at one time or another it has been Held by Dory Funk Jr., Carlos Colon, and many of the big time legends of wrestling (P.R is big on kayfabe).
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