Puerto Rico Roster

The Caribbean has always had great potential for pro-wrestling. With boxing being wildly popular, a worked sport like pro-wrestling could whip fans into a frenzied riots that have become notorious in the rest of the wrestling world. Arcadio Brito’s Dominica Espectaculos promotion in the Dominican Republic was a long-time NWA member and in a famous incident, Ric Flair had an impromptu NWA title loss to Jack Veneno to avoid a lynching. Few outsiders ran promotions on the island and for that reason, few outsiders travelled there regularly and those company's histories are practically unknown. One example of an attempt that could have been fruitful was former Buffalo promoter Ed Don George's group that opened in Cuba in the 1950s when that island was a haven for the wealthy. The rise of Fidel Castro ended that. There are numerous other groups and promotions that have opened up and thrived in this region, but Puerto Rico is usually considered the main island with the premier pro-wrestling in the region. Although groups existed prior to the 1960s that was when Puerto Rico became affiliated with the United States and its documented pro-wrestling began. It was during this period that Florida promoter “Cowboy” Luttrell began running shows there. He was successful, eventually started L&G Promotions, but it seemed inevitable that a native product would develop. It was a group of Puerto Rican wrestlers and Gorilla Monsoon, who formed that company known as the World Wrestling Council. That group took over the island for the next twenty years and enjoyed great success. One start-up promotion, the AWF, had the potential to challenge them, but did not last long. A second, the IWA, became much more successful and became the premier pro-wrestling company in Puerto Rico in the new millenium.

L&G Promotions
When Puerto Rico aligned itself with the United States, it was a two way street. Puerto Ricans flooded into the United States for new opportunities and Americans invaded the island and tried to Americanize it. One could look at numerous aspects of Puerto Rican culture that were affected by America, but pro-wrestling is perhaps a frequently overlooked one. There was pro-wrestling in Puerto Rico prior to this era, native stars had small local groups similar to Mexico. Puerto Rico was just seen as a new market for NWA’s representative in Florida, “Cowboy” Luttrell. He came in with group, which bragged more financial backing and better workers and the small native looked bad by comparison and their stars were not afforded opportunities in this new outside company. Although numerous Americans established themselves there, there were scant Puerto Rican stars. They mainly pushed Jose Lothario as “Puerto Rico’s Adopted Son.” The Florida office ran shows there into the 1970s, but they were eventually undermined by a native product.

Bob Armstrong
The Assassin (Jody Hamilton)
Hercules Ayala
Jack Brisco
Jerry Brisco
Haystacks Calhoun
Huracan Castillo
Ciclón Negro
Don Curtis
Jim Dillon
Ron Fuller
Dory Funk Jr.
Mike Graham
Great Mephisto
Jose Lothario
Great Malenko
Hiro Matsuda
Missouri Mauler
The Mongolian Stomper
Don Muraco
Tony Parisi
Thunderbolt Patterson
Dusty Rhodes
Buddy Roberts
Bob Roop
Baron Scicluna
Dick Slater
Pak Song
Roberto Soto
Toru Tanaka
Lou Thesz
Les Thornton
Greg Valentine
Bill Watts
Johnny Weaver

WWC - World Wrestling Council (1973-)
NWA's influence over the pro-wrestling world extended into Puerto Rico in the 1960s when the country became an American commonwealth. "Cowboy" Luttrell moved in and established himself there with great success. However, a group of Puerto Ricans (Carlos Colón, Victor Jovica, José Miguel Pérez and a few others) along with Northeastern American star Gorilla Monsoon formed Capitol Wrestling Promotions and ran under the banner "World Wrestling Council". They ran regular shows and established their own stars and brought in talent from the United States' Northeast (they eventually aligned themselves with Pedro Martinez's IWA), Tennessee and Florida in addition to Canada and Japan and of course stars from Spanish-speaking countries, namely Mexico and the Dominican Republic. They even brought in El Santo in 1975, which really solidified the WWC as the main promotion in Puerto Rico. The company had some competition over the years, Mexican promoter Arturo Mendoza ran succesfully in the late 1970s and many wrestlers left to form the AWF in the 1990s. The company though remained strong albeit controversial until the end of the century when they were nearly run out of business by Victor Quiñones and his IWA company. Puerto Rico became infamous for its innovative gimmick matches. They had steel cages and street fights, but took things to another level with barbed wire and even fire! These bloody battles in huge stadiums became the trademark of wrestling on the island. However, they were a successful company and as an NWA member in the 1980s, they really boomed, until 1988. There are two infamous deaths in Puerto Rico. First, Michel Martel died in 1978 and Invader #1's heartpunch became the "reason," which led to a feud with the Martel brothers. Despite the ghoulish nature of this angle, it was a key element in building the WWC's peak years in the 1980s. Ten years later however, Invader #1 became known as the man who murdered Bruiser Brody. Everything about the incident turned heads: the premeditation, the violence of the act, the inadequate of medical assistance, the following legal action and the fact that José Huertas (Invader #1) never served time. This horrific event is perhaps what Puerto Rican wrestling is most famous for and it caused a near collapse of the promotion in the years that followed. The WWC has survived though and became one of the hottest promotions in the world when pro-wrestling everywhere else was struggling early in the new millenium. Although they nearly lost the promotion war with the IWA, WWC clung on to their native stars and has rebounded fairly well.

Abdullah the Butcher [37%]
Kengo Arakawa (Don Arakawa)
The Assassins
Tony Atlas
Hercules Ayala
Giant Baba
Ox Baker
Black Gordman
Jack Brisco
Jerry Brisco
Bruiser Brody [74%]
Bulldog Brower
Leo Burke
Can-Am Express
Huracan Castillo
Tony Charles
Carlos Colon [49%]
Danny Condrey (Honky Tonk Man)
Wendell Cooley
Kim Duk
Eric the Red
"Cowboy" Bob Ellis
Eric Embry
Fabulous Kangaroos (Don Kent & Bruno Bekkar)
Manny Fernandez
Mr. Fuji
Dory Funk Jr. [84%]
Terry Funk [84%]
Stan Frazier
Ronnie Garvin
"Crazy" Luke Graham
Dr. Jerry Graham
Mike Graham
Scott Hall
Higo Hamaguchi
Stan Hansen [78%]
Bret Hart
Hiroshi Hase
Invader #1
Invader #2 (Roberto Soto)
Bobby Jaggers
Victor Jovica
Tor Kamata
Kangaroos (Don Kent & Al Costello)
Kengo Kimura
King Tonga (Haku/Meng)
Ivan Koloff
Dan Kroffat (Phil Lafon)
Killer Karl Krupp
Ernie Ladd
"Cowboy" Frankie Laine
Buddy Landell
Jos LeDuc
"Dirty" Dutch Mantel
Pierre Martel (Frenchy Martin)
Rick Martel
Gilberto Melendez (Gypsy Joe)
Mighty Igor
Moondogs (Rex & Spot)
Pedro Morales
Angelo Mosca
Dick Murdoch
Kendo Nagasaki
Ted Oates
One Man Gang [38%]
Mr. Onita
Los Pastores (The Sheepherders)
Jose Miguel Perez
Al Perez
Perro Aguayo
Mr. Pogo [36%]
Harley Race
Jose Rivera
Buck Robley
Antonio Rocca
Rip Rogers
Bruno Sammartino
El Santo
Randy Savage
Sheepherders (Luke Williams & Butch Miller)
The Sheik
Gama Singh
Chicky Starr
Ron Starr
Dick Steinborn
Jay Strongbow
Super Black Ninja (Keiji Muto) [70%]
Sweet Daddy Siki
Bob Sweetan
Proffesor Toru Tanaka
Les Thornton
Greg Valentine
Jack Veneno
Ken Wayne
Wild Samoans
Barry Windham

AWF - A Wrestling Federation (1991-1993)
After the murder of Bruiser Brody, Puerto Rico has never been entirely the same. Many outsiders never returned and many natives quickly distanced themselves from the company. In 1991, a rival promotion was formed backed by a lady named Glora Uribe. The promotion was headed by Hugo Savinovich, a long-time announcer and creative mind behind WWC's success, Hercules Ayala, a top star for the WWC and Chicky Starr, the top native heel. The group had a solid base and secured some good WWC talent, but they could not compete with the establishment.

Hercules Ayala
Chicky Starr

IWA - International Wrestling Association (1994-)
Although the AWF did not succeed, Victor Quiñones started a company the following year that developed while WWC was still in a weakened state and through Quiñones' connections nearly toppled the giant in the new millenium. In 1999, the IWA secured a deal that aided their growth more than any other - they became a developmental territory of the WWF. This meant that biggest company in the US would send their young stars to the company for seasoning and periodically their established stars. This relationship only lasted until 2001, but it allowed the IWA to become very competitive with the established WWC. In 2001, the WWF began struggling financially, so they cut way back on their developmental program. The United States and the rest of the world was hitting a down time when the war over Puerto Rico was heating up. Over the next few years, IWA and WWC did battle on television and in the arenas with the IWA taking the dominant position. They never crushed the IWA like they wanted, but they became the top company and have maintained that spot. In the mid-00s, IWA changed bookers and Victor Quiñones died of a heart attack, which has seen them level off to an extent.

Tommy Dreamer
Eddie Guerrero
Scott Hall
Dutch Mantell
Diamond Dallas Page
Road Warrior Hawk
The Sandman
Chicky Starr
Rick Steiner
The Undertaker
Luke Williams

I'd like to thank Manuel Gonzalez and Luis Cuevas from kayfabememories.com for their articles as well as well as Royal Duncun and Gary Will's contributions to wrestling-titles.com