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6/24 WWC ANNIVERSARIO 50 RESULTS & THOUGHTS FROM PUERTO RICO

WWC held their 50th anniversary event on 6/24 in Bayamon, Puerto Rico at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez Stadium.  I had a chance to watch a replay of the show on FITE.TV this morning, so delayed results and thoughts:

In a tournament final to determine the new WWC Caribbean Champion, "The Precious One" Gilbert defeated The Dragon Nihan.  Gilbert was carried out on a throne, like The King of the Ring.  Nihan was a big dude who towered over him.  The story was Nihan's power was beating down Gilbert, who finally escaped a powerbomb attempt and nailed a Rock Bottom to score the pinfall. 

Chicano won an Abdullah the Butcher Tribute Battle Royal.  They had two talents dressed like Abby and Carlos Colon recreating their classic battles to hype up the Battle Royal, complete with "Abby" using a fork to bloody "Carlos."  There were Team Rudo and Team Tecnico.  Pablo Marquez of ECW and WWF Babu fame was involved here.  Lots of weapons and wacky characters were. This was what you'd expect it to be.  Despite being busted open, Chicano scored the win and was awarded a trophy.  Someone masked struck Chicano with a steel chair and then disappeated when the lights went out.  The promotion had looked to bring Abdullah in for this but it didn't work out.  

Xavant defeated "El Hombre de Gomo" Slash Venom.  Venom is the former Flash Flanagan and replaced Ricky Banderas (who trained Xavant originally), who needed a surgery and wasn't back in time.  This was his first time on the Island in several years.  Venom was worked over but made a comeback and was going to use a Singapore Cane but Xavant's minions, The New Order, got involved.  He fought them off but when the referee was distracted, Xavant drilled him in the throat with the cane and scored the pin.

WWC Puerto Rico Champion Mike Nice defeated El Bronco.  Nice had a big entrance with a dance troupe surrounding the ring.  Bronco. who's been wrestling since the early 80s, now looks somewhat like actor Temuera Morrison.  Bronco busted him open early after hitting him with a stop sign on the floor.  La Rosa Negra was working as Bronco's second, liberally interfering.  Nice kept making comebacks with the veteran Bronco cutting him off.  Bronco mocked him by going to put on the title belt but that only sparked Nice's comeback.  Nice rolled up Bronco and scored the pin, although the referee was a little late as he was out of position.  Bronco attacked Nice and kept beating him down after the match on the floor before being pulled away.

In a match to become the WWC Director of Operations, Ray Gonzalez defeated Eddie Colon.  They actually opened the show with a faceoff between the two with Colon locking him in a figure four leglock.  Hugo Savinovich left the Spanish announcing position to work as an out of the ring referee here.  El Profe, who has been wrestling since the early 70s, was the inside the ring referee, working as a heel.  Colon went for a leaping dropkick in the corner but Gonzales moved and Colon caught himself and was hung upside down in a good looking sequence.  Colon sold his knee coming out of that.  The atmosphere for the two pounding the hell out of each other with right hands was unreal.  Colon's facial expressions while selling were off the charts, something he never had a chance to show off in WWE.  Colon was trapped in the figure four but El Profe attacked Gonzalez so Hugo attacked him, which was super fun.  Eddie grabbed Hugo, who snapped him into the ropes.  Ray covered Eddie and scored the pin.  This was perfect for the show and audience.  If you were looking for Omega vs. Ospreay, you can to the wrong place but Good had triumphed over evil, which was all that mattered to the live fans.  After the match, there was mic work to set up Profe vs. Hugo..in 2023?!

Lightning & Thunder defeated La Maldita Revolucion to become the new WWC Tag Team Champions.  This was the first time Thunder & Lightning had teamed in a long time but they were one of the franchise teams on the Island for a long, long time.  Lots of brawling.  Chicano hit the ring to help the challengers afteer one of La Madita tried to use a Tag Team title belt as a weapon.  The ref was getting manhandled like crazy by the defending champs.  Thunder and Lightning hit a 3D for the pin, winning the titles for the 30th time.  The team removed their masks to say goodbye to the audience.

WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion Intelecto 5 Estrellas defeated Carlito Colon.  Carlito was treated like a massive star from the audience.  Estrellas had a big entrance with a robot made out of armor adorned with LED lights aplenty coming out.  Estrella himself came out carrying a golden Captain America shield.  He looked and carried himself like a star.    It was obvious Carlito was being careful not to get hurt here as he has lots of other commitments coming since he's returning to WWE.    The ref was bumped late in the bout and Carlito tried to use the title belt but was thwarted.  Carlito nailed him with a foreign object but Estrellas kicked out.  Carlito failed with a DDT as well.  Carlito went to spit an apple but got the referee, who went down as if he was hit with a bullet.  Estrella hit a cutter and scored the pin.  The crowd was pissed Carlito lost.  They gave him a big farewell.

Chicky Starr defeated Gallo The Producer.  This was pretty, pretty awful.  Starr, 65, is a legendary villain on the Island who's been around so long that he's now beloved.  Gallo is apparently a local influencer but in the ring he was no Logan Paul.  Gallo was very much walked through the match by Starr.  Xavant interfered and Gallo got the win during a ref bump but when the referee saw Xavant, he restarted the match.  Starr drilled Gallo with his oversized baseball bat and nailed a legdrop for the pin.  This was a rough one but the audience enjoyed the spectacle.

Speaking of which, the atmosphere of the show was a LOT of fun as lots of fans were using air horns to make noise.  The fans just wanted to see the heroes kick the crap out of the heels and were into every comeback.  There was a nice mix of newer names and well known Island veterans.  The stadium looked pretty full and honestly, this seemed like a show that would have been a LOT of fun to attend live.

The show is available on FITE with Matt Striker doing English commentary or Hugo Savinovich leading the Spanish announcing team.

WWC airs Sundays at 1 PM on WAPA locally.

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