Puerto Rico Wrestling

[Dylan Waco]

I had a thread where I reviewed/talked about WWC before, but I think it was on the old SC board. In any event this will be the catchall thread for wrestling from Puerto Rico

 

Stan Hansen v. Carlos Colon - Cage Match 1987

 

 

I thought this was an outstandingly great match. This is the sort of match that really bolsters the case for Hansen as a GOATC. I have no clue how regularly he was working WWC at this point, but he is crazy over here and of course Colon is like god on the island. Colon ambushes him as he is nervous about even getting into the cage and they proceed to have a sub-fifteen minute brawl that has all the staples you want. Hansen was really great here selling the blood loss and Colon legwork by just stumbling around clutching onto to shit to survive. I thought the transitions in this were really great for a brawl of this sort. There is a fun visual spot with both guys brawling while on the top rope which led to a great re-set and at one point Colon hits this reckless headbutt where he sort of flings himself at Hansen's head that looked absolutely brutal. Hansen eventually takes off the boot in desperation and starts whacking Colon with it, but it ends up coming back to bite him as he is trapped bare footed in the figure-four. Meanwhile a huge brawl breaks out on the floor and Colon walks out the front door to join it while the crowd goes batshit insane. Awesome stuff.

[Dylan Waco]

Billy Joe Travis v. Huracan Castillo Jr - Scaffold Match 1990

 

 

This sucked but I couldn't not watch it because of how random it was. It looks like there is at least one other BJT match from PR which is good because that's really what I was looking for. Mostly notable for how wide and high up the Scaffold was. And BJT's dancing.

[Dylan Waco]

Leo Burke v. TNT - 1990

 

 

I am not Dave Musgrave, but I do enjoy Leo Burke. In general I am a fan of journeyman types, that show up a lot of places and seem to fit well everywhere they go. On paper this looked like it could be pretty good, but because of a commercial break edit and weird structure it was more entertaining than anything. I do like Leo's offense and his heeling, but I wasn't overly impressed with TNT and the finish with Colon was bullshit. Still the randomness of WWC is always appealing.

[Tim Evans]

Dylan you should watch Travis vs Hugo Savonivich from 91. I remember that being pretty fun. And some 2012 Ray Gonzelez matches so I won't be the only one voting for him in the WKO100.

[Dylan Waco]

Dylan you should watch Travis vs Hugo Savonivich from 91. I remember that being pretty fun. And some 2012 Ray Gonzelez matches so I won't be the only one voting for him in the WKO100.

PM me links to the best Gonzalez matches from 2012...or post them here I guess.

 

I almost watched Travis v. Hugo tonight. Maybe tomorrow

[Dylan Waco]

Texas Hangman v. Carlos Colon/TNT - Cage Match 1990/91?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li_uhP7ffA4

 

Boy this was great. I know Jerry Blackwell Cage Matches are great, but WWC cages matches are right there with it. Virtually nothing I didn't like about this. Opening shine has a super hot crowd and goes on for a while but the Hangman make it work and everything looks extremely violent. Quad bleeding in this when things got going and the heat section on Carlos was great. Started off with him taking the big bump unprotected into the cage and spiraled from there with some awesome hope spots and cutoffs. Nothing fancy here, though the Hangman hit some big tackles and Carlos hit a decent crossbody for a near fall. But the psych was really good. Hot tag is solid and guess what? TNT gets a run before the double FIP on him kicks in. More violence and bleeding and then Colon shows up after the hot tag. Finish with the double sunset flips kind of sucked, but the post-match with the Hangman second passing them a baton to beat the fuck out of the faces was awesome. They ended up leaving them for dead in the ring, which was soaked in blood and looked like a steph infection waiting to happen. Jeff Jarrett and others make the save and The Hangman leave, bloody, with ripped masks as thousands of Puerto Rican fans belt them with trash and batteries. This ruled.

[Dylan Waco]

Rougeau Brothers v. Super Medicos - 1990

 

 

This was a perfectly okay tag match I guess, but the only thing that stands out is the fact that the crowd spends the entire match in a near righteous state throwing shit into the ring. At one point there is a kid front row that throws six or seven consecutive things in the ring in about a twenty second span. Rougeau's heel act seems really forced to me and always has, but you have to give them credit for risking death here.

 

Leo Burke v. Invader #1 - Boxing Match 1990

 

 

I watched this on Dave's Leo Burke comp some time back and remembered liking it, but I absolutely loved it here. To be sure this is not for everyone, but I have always been a mark for this gimmick in the right setting. This is pretty much the perfect setting as Invader has fucking Hector Camacho and Robocop for seconds. Leo shows up and gets pelted with trash, meanwhile Invader's entrance includes some strange Robocop voiceover. At one point when Invader gets knocked down Robocop does this hilarious "get up" gesture from ringside that is to awesome for words. The match itself is really funny as the guy trained by Camacho doesn't even seem to use a real boxing stance, meanwhile Leo is working jabs from the jump. Loved the bit with Leo busting open Invader with headbutts and Invader going to drop toeholds to cut him down. Also thought Leo coming out from a round and spitting in Invader's face to gain an advantage was awesome. Lots of the blows looked pretty "eh" but the atmosphere was pretty great, I liked the way Burke sold everything and he really connected with one super nasty shot on Invader. Third fall with Leo going to wrestling and nasty knees to try and take advantage, only to get paid back and knocked the fuck out with a bare fisted heart punch is something that was really random, but I thought it was a great finish. This really has to be seen to be believed and even if you don't like it as much as me I can't imagine not enjoying it on some level.

 

Carlos Colon v. Chicky Starr - Cage Match 8/3/86

 

 

Man the more I see these crowds the more wrong it seems to me that Colon is not in the WON HoF. Anyhow this was a fun little cage match, but even at less than nine minutes it was probably too long. Starr was a manager/wrestler and this was basically Colon beating his ass. There was one short heat segment off of a low blow that I thought was well done and I enjoyed the way they milked the violence, but the logical ending for this was during the awesome visual spot with both guys brawling while sitting on the cage and Colon nearly tumbling to the ground. Instead one of Starr's protege's runs out and throws in the towel after a piledriver. This is actually better than it sounds, but I'd hesitate to call it a good match.

[Tim Evans]

 

Ray Gonzalez and Carlito vs Thunder and Lightning Aniversario 2012

 

It's been a while since I've seen this but I remember it being real good. These 4 had feuded for the whole year basically. Ray and Carlito beat T&L and took the masks. Thunder and Lighting are really awesome as heels, especially since losing the masks. Ray vs Thunder from late in the year that aired on tv was one of my favorites this year. It's in DEAN's big 2012 link thread.

 

 

Ray Gonzalez vs Davey Richards Aniversario 2012

 

Yeah I know it's a Davey match but I liked it. Not as good as Xix Xivant/Velvet Sky vs Davey/Melina but still decent. Ray really carried him.

 

Dylan, if you like WWC cage matches, you should watch WWC's War games from 1987:

 

 

Chicky Starr, Hércules Ayala, Abdullah The Butcher, Iron Sheik & Grizzly Boone vs. Carlos Colón, Bruiser Brody, Invader #1, Dutch Mantel & TNT (Savio Vega)

[Dylan Waco]

WWC Cage Match is my new favorite match ever I think. I don't give a fuck what anyone says I really enjoy Colon as a worker. He's not flashy, he has huge flaws and he's limited, but he will bleed, run headfirst into skulls and steel and I actually think his figure-four act works. I'm 90% sure I've seen that Wargames match but I'll be watching it again.

 

Thanks for the other links btw. No way in hell I'm gonna try and navigate through DEAN's thread, but I'll search for Ray v. Thunder too.

[Dylan Waco]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q7iUnGrFnk...C&index=104[/url]

 

Ray Gonzalez and Carlito vs Thunder and Lightning Aniversario 2012

 

I thought this was a pretty decent little match, but it didn't blow me away. I really don't like Carlito at all and he was in for the bulk of this but he was pretty inoffensive and I like Thunder and Lightning as a team. Gonzalez was clearly the best guy in this but he was also in for the least amount of time. Honestly I liked the post match beatdown more than the match.

 

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Ray Gonzalez vs Davey Richards Aniversario 2012

 

This was the best Davey match I've seen from 2012 which seems like damning someone with feint praise, but Davey did work Finlay in August. Extremely fun match and I have to give Davey credit as he was surprisingly fun as the chickenshit heel. I still thought Gonzalez interactions with the crowd and selling carried the match, but this was well put together, had plenty of fun moments and went about the perfect length. Thought the finish was a bit flat, but this was still a good match.

[Dylan Waco]

Carlos Colon v. The Great Kokina - Cage Match 1991

 

 

This started really slow, but got better as the match went along. The man who would be Yokozuna was insanely green here, but it was fun to watch him work cowardly heel spots. I thought the match was much better when Colon was on offense as Kokina's bumps were really big and he generally looked more comfortable working underneath than on top. Slam came off as a big moment and had the weird gym they were in shaking. Finish was a bit iffy, but this won me over.

[Dylan Waco]

Pulling these over from other threads so all my thoughts are in one place

 

Carlos Colon v. Greg Valentine Cage Match from 1991

 

 

First five minutes or so is missing which is too bad because this is really good. Escape the cage rules but they make the most out of things and I thought the way both guys cut off the other worked well. Both guys bleed, Valentine takes some great bumps, and the match has a good flow to it. I also thought the finish was really clever. This was Valentine past his prime, but it's hard to imagine anyone having a better match with Colon in 91 (not so sure of that now - Colon is way better than I remembered).

 

 

Tajiri v. El Lobo Andy Anderson - 12/15/01

 

I don't have a date on this, but it may have been from 2001. Anyhow someone find me a date because this was a great match and an insanely great performance from Tajiri. I don't want to sell El Lobo short. He was really awesome too selling the fuck out of his leg, eating all of Tajiri's stuff and coming back with some truly impressive and really athletic spots. But my god was Tajiri off the charts here. He is just vicious with his shots throughout the entire match. He creams Anderson with shots to his leg and hits some really nice pointed elbows for good measure. When it comes time for a hope spot he is flailing wildly for the sick delayed vertical, then bails to the floor and shoots back in to take over control before Anderson can run a string of offensive together. Later Anderson hits a huge gutbuster but uses his hurt knee. Tajiri sells the impact, runs over and dropkicks the knee to keep him on the defensive and then goes back to selling his ribs. Tajiri's mocking claps, using the ref as a shield, shoving at the ref, et is just all wonderful. Stretch run of this is really great too as Anderson gets a great near fall off of an Alabama Slam/80% across the ring diving headbutt. Tajiri has this great visual freak out as he is screaming in slightly comedic terror as Anderson hits a sit down Razor's Edge for another huge spot. Tajiri's seconds try to get involved and hold Lobo in place, but he ducks and Tajiri sprays the mist into his comrades eyes. You think he is going to turn around into a big spot for the face victory, but instead Tajiri cleans his clock with a blind side kick and follows up with the tarantula. He sprawls himself out on the top rope, leaning head first out towards the crowd literally laughing in their faces, kicking his feet like a little kid in the bath tub, and signalling that he's about to punt El Lobo's head into to the tenth row. But of course he whiffs on the head kick and Lobo hits a kick double underhook/flapjack thinking that Tajiri took really well for the fall. This is one of the best Tajiri matches I've ever seen and everyone should go watch it right this second.

[Dylan Waco]

Abdullah The Butcher v. Carlos Colon - 1981

 

 

This is one of those matches that is worth watching just for the atmosphere. Match is from Trinidad and the crowd keeps swarming closer and closer to the ring as this goes on. Carlos looks totally different here. Abby does not. This is about what you would expect, but the brawling around ringside was somewhat limited by the crowd that was right up on top of the ring. I really did love Colon targeting Abby's ear early on, but Abby's selling is so poor that it really didn't work as well as it should. Both guys end up a blood mess and this had some Abby schtick that I did enjoy but this was mainly notable for crazy shit like a fan stealing a foreign object out of Abby's hands and the ref calling the match to avert a riot only for Abby to keep going on post-match and making things worse.

[Dylan Waco]

Billy Joe Travis v. Hugo Savonivich - 1991

 

 

This is the Anniversary show and there are a shit ton of people there. WCW and WWF would have fucking moved heaven and earth to have a crowd like this at that point. This goes about five minutes and is totally awesome. Seriously one of the best matches of this length I've ever seen and completely satisfying. Travis comes out and is getting pelted with shit and he seems to revel in it which just means more shit is going to get thrown at him. I have no clue what the back story is here - my guess is Travis beat Hugo's ass during an interview segment or something as I think Hugo was already working mainly in the booth at this point - whatever the case the story of the match is that Hugo is out Memphis'ing the guy from Memphis. He lashes the fuck out of him with a belt at the jump. Billy Joe takes over with a low blow and they end up fighting by home plate. I don't give a shit what anyone says the best thing about Puerto Rican wrestling is that you get to see guys fighting in the infield of a baseball diamond so naturally I loved that, but the detail here was really great as Travis was measure his shots, leaning down to perfectly plant an uppercut and then doing this great running stomp that was much better than it sounds on paper. Hugo comes back with a huge chop that Travis leaps right into, followed by a dropkick that he takes a wild staggering bump off of. Back in the ring and they go to a chain with Hugo working it to gain an advantage. Travis is getting his face ripped at and is great throughout this running through the shots for nice looking bumps, but also trying to beg off only for Hugo to keep coming forward because he ain't falling for that Memphis shit, he's bringing that Memphis shit. Travis eventually gets a hold of chain and makes a big deal about going up top to drop a bomb with it onto Hugo. But Hugo has been watching his Memphis tapes and brings the powder and tosses it right into Billy Joe's eyes as he comes off the top and then hits him with an elbow drop for the finish. This was pretty much perfect for what they were going for.

 

Andre The Giant v. Abdullah The Butcher - 1983

 

 

This will not be for everyone, but I thought this was a really fun match. Andre enters by stepping over the barricade and they go right to it. Andre's offense is some simple but looks every bit as massive as he is and Abby bumps for him more than he does for most. Abby's offense is Abby's offense. I like the thrusts and headbutts, but we don't get any close up of the stabbings which hurts the effect a little. Still Andre is really great selling the impact of the blows. Not surprisingly this ends with Andre picking up some massive fixture on the ground and tipping into onto Abby before they brawl to the back. Short match, but the sort of thing that you want out of two giant freaks.

 

Stan Hansen v. Carlos Colon - Bullrope Match 2/87

 

 

I thought the Cage Match was really great and the Bullrope/Chain/Strap gimmick is not something I am a huge fan of. Having said that on first watch this felt like one of the best matches of the 80's. Not one of the best as in "good enough to make an 80's Set." I mean one of the best as in "if someone had this in there top twenty for the decade I would be hard pressed to disagree with that."

 

WWC matches always benefit some from the atmosphere, but the atmosphere here is really incredible as it has a sort of Wrestlemania feel in this big outdoor arena (Roberto Clemente Stadium?) but with full seating coming up alongside the ring unlike a lot of their shows. Hansen shows up and just whips the Bullrope at Colon almost as a challenge and the match is just a complete war from the start. Hansen charges forward with a boot, but Colon catches him and just goes straight to town. Hansen gets busted open almost immediately and is really great bumping round like a lunatic for the boss. The face shine is really strong and gets the crowd primed for this one big time.

 

One of the things I really like about this is that both guys take advantage of the bell at key moments to deliver huge shots. I also like how every time Colon got into a disadvantaged position he would do something to out think Hansen, whether it be an early eyepoke from over his shoulder, a great spot where he cut off the momentum of Hansen when he was going to touch the corners by sliding out to the floor, or just evading a big corner charge for a huge bump.

 

They really make the most out of this gimmick as there are several great struggle spots where Hansen in particular looks like he has is gonna make it to the fourth corner to win the match and Carlos is just able to pull him away. I give Hansen tons of credit for milking this moments in really effective ways and making the whole thing seem like a constant struggle. No inches were given in this match.

 

The big pay off here is the finish as Hansen looks to be almost there after cutting down Colon's hulk up spot with a sick bell shot. He realizes he can't quite make it, turns around for the death shot, but Colon back body drops and then stumbles through to touch the fourth corner and win the match. Just excellent stuff. The best match of it's kind I've ever seen including Piper/Valentine and Vader/Sting.

 

Stan Hansen v. Carlos Colon - 1987

 

 

I am sticking with this feud because it has only done me right so far. This one starts off like the last one, a total war with both guys going right at each other and Colon taking over by beating Stan with his own rope and smashing his face onto the wooden platform holding up the ring while he's still walking around in his straps. They brawl out into the crowd/field and Hansen is knocking shit over while Colon throws him into anything he can. Hansen tries to fight back, but Colon has this look on his face that is just great as he is registering the blows but also feeding off the crowd and comes right back at him. Colon goes for his roundoff/Hulk up bit but Hansen hits him with a deep slam which only buys him a few seconds before he's back on the defensive. A few seconds later he is finally able to gain some real momentum with a double leg and low blow, which allows him to take over and get his chaps off. A seriously great opening to this.

 

Hansen takes over and it's like he knows it's not his night as he immediately starts going for big shots on Colon to keep him down. You could argue that Colon's first hope spot is too soon, but it's a minor complaint and Stan puts him right back on his ass. Colon keeps trying to counter by going to the leg which is awesome because the figure-four is his big move. Stan cuts him down to size and knees the fuck out of him but goes to the well once to often which opens up more leg work.

 

Colon takes a lot of this and I could see that being a complaint from some, but he comes across as the best possible Bruno here, an ethnic hero, up against a tough challenger that knows he's on foreign turf. For his part Hansen keeps coming forward and making runs, but keeps making mistakes that get his leg in trouble. He is great selling the shit out of this and Colon is great making him pay. I really loved the spot with Hansen going to the floor thinking it would give him an advantage and Carlos still going to work on his leg even out there. This leads to an awesome moment as Hansen fights through and just heaves a chair at Carlos head in desperation.

 

The final bit of this is somewhat disappointing. I had hoped they were leading up to Hansen stealing a win. Instead they do a bit where Hansen is in the figure-four forever and tries everything to escape before grabbing a hold of a crutch and cracking Colon with it for the DQ. The struggle in the figure-four is actually really good with Hansen trying all sort of things to break free, but the finish is still unsatisfying. Still this was a very good match, that brushed up closely to greatness at times and might have gotten there with a more compelling finish.

 

Stan Hansen v. Carlos Colon - 11/86

 

 

This has the same ambush opening of the last match, but is worked far more even. In a sense it helps the last match which came after this and was probably something of a Colon payback affair. Colon does get first blood here on Stan, but Hansen get some series licks in himself. I really liked Hansen's early legwork in this even if it was short lived and I also liked him bashing Colon on various fixtures all over the ball park as a bit of payback. Hansen ends up missing a lariat against the post and Colon attacks his arm some before honing in on Hansen's cut which is really nasty. Just when you think this is starting to get too one sided again Hansen loads up his elbow pad and lariat's the fuck out of Colon. A pro-Colon official shows up and stops the ref from making the count and Hansen fucking snaps and destroys Colon with a piledriver, before running out to the floor and crushing the official with a loaded lariat too. Really awesome sprint. That last match I watched really does make more sense in this context and Hansen running out of the stadium antagonizing fans and covered in blood is an awesome visual.

 

Stan Hansen v. Carlos Colon - 1986

 

 

Holy shit this time Hansen storms the ring from behind Colon and gets at him first, knocking him out on his ass. The ref tries to break this up and Stan beats the fuck out of him! Hansen ties the rope around Carlos neck and then whips him from post to post. Then he beats his ass with the WWC belt. Meanwhile fans are throwing shit at the ring, so Stan runs at them kicking, while the paramilitary style cops run around trying to keep order. Hansen grabs the table the bell was on and literally destroys it smashing it into Colon. Colon is a bloody mess and a second ref shows up at this point but Hansen can only get a near fall on Colon. Colon sort of makes a comeback by evasion, so Stan says fuck this and throws Colon back out to the floor where he chokes him out over the guardrail while trolling the fans. You've got to be either really brave or really stupid to do that in Puerto Rico.

 

Back in the ring and Carlos starts to flurry, so Stan headbutts him but of course it hurts him more. Gotta love that racist standard existing even in PR. Hansen cuts him back down anyhow and fucking stiffs him with an elbow for another near fall. Carlos puts together another big flurry of punches, but Colon gets kicked in his face for his trouble and shortly thereafter eats a modified lariat in the corner. Stan has him down for the fall, but pulls up his shoulder. Hansen goes for the lariat off the ropes, but Carlos blocks it and hits a dropkick.

 

And now the tide has turned. Carlos beats Stan's ass all around ringside, busts him open, does his round off and then starts biting at the cut as only he can. He holds Hansen up in the corner and mule kicks him right in the fucking balls which naturally can only be followed up with a jumping toe touch (what else?).

 

A second ref gets knocked over and Hansen is just getting peppered with shots. Fucking Al Perez (I think?) of all people shows up and passes something to Hansen who loads up his elbow pad for the lariat, the finish and the title.

 

Man this was pretty fucking awesome too. These are the only five Hansen/Colon matches I can find on youtube, but even if that's it this is one of the most unheralded wrestling feuds of all time. Excellent stuff.

 

Dick Murdoch v. Carlos Colon - Barbed Wire Match 1991

 

 

I love Dick Murdoch showing up to a barbed wire match wearing his same old gear likes it's no big deal at all. The first barbed wire contact is Murdoch's ass which he sells in a standard silly Murdoch way. Murdoch's manager is suspended above the ring in a cage and drops something into the ring which Dick uses as a weapon for a bit, but Carlos gets a hold of it and Murdoch gets rubbed against the wire. Murdoch sees his own blood and heats up a bit but he eats a big punch and stumbles face first into the wire which was a nice spot. Murdoch goes back on offense after a low blow and Colon finally taste the wire. Murdoch's manager has a fucking chalk board and is lowering it down into the ring with words of advice on it. That might be the best thing I've ever seen in the history of wrestling. Dick opens up on Carlos with the big shots and has him bloody on the ropes. He pauses long enough read another message from above and it gives Carlos the time he needs to fire up. Man Murdoch's reactions to the wire are really over the top to the point where I'm not sure if they are good or bad. Murdoch cuts him off and hits a piledriver but that asshole manager in the cage fucks him again by lowering a foreign object into the ring which Carlos gets a hold of and uses as a weapon for the fall. Very entertaining match. It's not great but it's safely good. Post-match Colon gets to the manager in the cage and makes him pay for being a shitty manager.

[Dylan Waco]

Barry Windham v. Terry Funk - 1986

 

 

I have watched this before many times and it is a match that will be divisive to say the least. There are four piledrivers on the floor in this match and none of them spell doom for anyone. Having said that, if you can get over that this is fun as fuck and a really awesome Funk performance. One thing I love about Terry is that he works different variations of "crazy old man" in different places. In Puerto Rico he totally plays up the crybaby, whiny, self important, chickenshit, pussy act. He literally can't even run the ropes without almost falling onto the floor onto his head. He can't execute a headbutt without almost killing himself. He goes for a neckbreaker and Windham stands him up and he falls right on his ass. So what does he do? Well he suckers Windham out to the floor and post the shit out of him of course! Then he proceeds to do every dirty thing he can thing of, including one of the most deliberate nut shots I've ever seen. When Barry takes over and gets the call back post shots and piledrivers it's probably egregious, but I can't help but smile and Funk's way of reacting to everything is perfect. Barry does this really great measured uppercut at one point while Funk is staggering around and it's just awesome. Both guys take some really massive bumps, Funk gets angry and throws chairs, and the cheating bullshit finish was classic. Capped off by a ridiculous Funk promo where he calls everyone in PR pigs, says he doesn't need to cheat and says he will make Rick Martel end up like his brother. God even I wanted to slap the shit out of him for that one.

 

Carlos Colon v. Jos Leduc - Barbed Wire Match

 

 

I liked this a good bit better than the Murdoch match. Whereas the Murdoch match was more of novelty, this was just extremely violent and was worked around the wire being exceptionally dangerous. Leduc got color first and did a good job throughout the match reacting every time he touched the ropes as if the wire was piercing the fuck out of him despite the fact that there were times where it clearly wasn't. Lots of nasty close ups and visuals here, including Colon with a mouth full of barbed wire. Later Colon is spitting up blood while tangling up in the ropes with Leduc hanging on him and it's really gross as shit but you've got to give these guys credit for selling the fuck out of the gimmick. Colon ended up winning with the figure-four, but the fill of violence you want out of a match like this was there. Good stuff.

 

Abdullah The Butcher v. Dutch Mantell - ?

 

 

It's impossible for me not to enjoy Abby matches like this on some level. Just a short fight with both guys bleeding and getting there licks in. Abby even slammed Dutch on a table at the jump which was surprising. Dutch made a comeback with his whip, but ended up getting back down when Chicky Starr slipped a coathanger in which Abby used as a weapon for the DQ. Entertaining sprint.

 

Wendi Richter v. Monster Ripper - Cage Match ?

 

 

This is a cage match built all around escapes. Almost Bret v. Owenesque in that regard, though this is more overtly violent, so to that end it feels more like your standard cage match. The cage is really short, which in a way makes it visually interesting, though in my mind I can envision it being the result of some arcane commission rule that only allows women to wrestle in cages the size of privacy fences. Richter was really sloppy at points in this, but she was super over and that helped the match a lot. I enjoyed some of Ripper's offense and they did work some good teases around escaping the cage, my favorite of which saw Ripper yanking and holding Richter up nastily by her hair. Finish with Richter running out of the door after ducking a clothesline was logical almost to a fault. This was worth watching, but I don't know if it was really any good.

[Dylan Waco]

Invader III v. Chicky Starr - Scaffold Match 86 or 9/88 ?

 

 

Not sure of the date as KrisZ says Sept 88, but youtube says 86. Unless we are talking different matches though I don't think we are. Whatever the case may be this was a GREAT match. The best scaffold match I've ever seen and that includes the two really good ones from Memphis. What made this work is not only did they get over the danger of the gimmick (the scaffold was so fucking high it would have been impossible not to), they also worked in some surprises and enough violence to make it feel like the sort of feud that merited two guys climbing on a scaffold and trying to kill each other. Lots of big punches in this. Starr bleeds and I give him a ton of credit here for the way he was bumping. It's not that he took huge bumps, but he took a suplex on this thing that was shaky as hell and after Invader hit a dropkick he did this great scurrying collapse that made my heart skip a time or two as even knowing he lives, it looked like one wrong movement would have killed him. There were some other good weeble wobble moments up there and guys hanging off the side and barely surviving. The bit with Starr thinking he won and Invade sneaking up on him was good and the finish was satisfying. Really awesome stuff. Totally exceeded my expectations.

[jpchicago23]

Dylan, just being curious but are you finding all these matches strictly on youtube? Always been interested in the bloodbath that is Puerto Rico so thanks for the thread.

 

 

On another note, how do you feel about savio in WWC? I've always heard he was very good there

[Chess Knight]

That dude's channel has a pretty nutty amount of WWC.

[rzombie1988]

WWC is posted weekly online if anyone is interested.

[Matt D]

WWC is like the magic wrestling genie. So many random matches.

[KrisZ]

The one thing about WWC from the 80's is that they had some of the most godawful TV you would ever see match quality wise but sometimes they would show matches from the stadiums and arenas and it was like holy shit this is a totally different promotion. A problem though was they would clip up the matches which when it came to watching them for the pending 80's set I couldn't nominate quite a few that deserved it because of said clipping.

[Dylan Waco]

Carlos Colon v. Bruiser Brody - Chain Match 1983 or 85 ???

 

 

Maybe I've lost my fucking mind, but I'm starting to think that Carlos Colon is a lost great worker. I'm sure someone will come along to tell me hundreds of smart fans have been pimping him for years and I somehow missed it and hell maybe that's true. But I've watched a fair amount of WWC before and I have no memory of him being so good. This is a gimmick I usually don't like, with a wrestler I usually don't like and despite the b.s. finish I would call this a good match. To be fair Brody looked better here than he usually does as he was bumping and selling far more than usual. Sure he bladed in a ridiculously egregious way, but if that's the most annoying thing Brody does in a match I can live with it. Lots of big punches from Colon that were over huge with the crowd. Also thought he made great use of the chain and he is the master of struggle spots in these sorts of matches. Also thought the spot with Brody pulling the chain up into his eye sockets was sick as fuck. This was structured with Brody pinballing around at first, then Brody cutting down Colon, then Colon taking back over and run-in finish with the two seconds of each men, foreign objects and Hugo Savonivich bloodied. A run-in like this would usually kill a match like this to me but the PR atmosphere is so great that it was remarkably easy to forgive.

[Dylan Waco]

Bruiser Brody/Stan Hansen v. Abdullah The Butcher/Carlos Colon - Lumberjack Match

 

 

This is JIP. No clue how much of this is missing. The pre-match footage of Colon going to Abby and his business manager and paying him big cash to team with him v. the evil white guys is pretty great. Just the look Abby gives the camera, sitting behind his desk, tossing the money down, with his ridiculous hat on. It's fucking hysterical. The rest of this was perfectly fun as a senseless, insane spectacle. Very short match, with the Lumberjacks spilling into the ring and all hell breaks lose. All four guys bleed and then they brawl into the dugout and dressing rooms. Hugo and Bobby Jaggers make sure to note that Tom Renesto is taking a piss as Colon beats the shit out of Brody and Hansen with a nightstick he lifted off of a cop. Not much of a match really, but this is pretty much the sort of thing you expect with these pairings.

[sek69]

WWC continues to be a land of completely random wrestling, just this past year Big Andy Levine of Tough Enough fame had a run as Universal Champion.

[khawk20]

Carlos Colon v. The Great Kokina - Cage Match 1991

 

The man who would be Yokozuna was insanely green here

It would be worth tracking down a match or two from his AWA run circa 89-90 to see if he had improved much by the time he was in this match. Pretty sure he had a match with a "name" competitor or two in the AWA near the end.