Puerto Rico Roster
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
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
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