WWC Aniversario 1988 (9.10.88) review 

 

September 10, 1988 

 

The full title of this show is: Capitol Sports Promotions 15th Aniversario 1988: A Hot Night in Bayamon. We’re in Bayamon (duh), Puerto Rico at the JRL Stadium. Estadio Juan Ramón Loubriel is the ground’s full name. It was built as a baseball stadium but currently hosts Bayamon FC. We’re only two months on from Bruiser Brody being fatally stabbed in this very venue. His killer, Invader #1: Jose Gonzales, will return to WWC in early 1989 to tag with promoter Carlos Colon. Thus proving Colon and everyone in the territory to be the dirt fucking worst.  

Commentary here comes from Hugo Savinovich and the Batten Brothers as Puerto Rico reaches out an olive branch to the English speaking world via video cassette. Commentary was added after the show, and they even talk about the main event and what a spectacle it was. 

 

Jimmy Valiant & Rufus R Jones vs. Wild Samoans 

Valiant finally departed from the NWA in 1988. He’s done as a big star and would retreat to Memphis for a while. Jones is wrestling his last match here and would pass away in 1993 of a heart attack. Sika just left the WWF and has re-teamed with Afa, who hasn’t worked anywhere of note for years.  

I’ve left the watermark on so you can find this channel on YouTube. It’s a good one if you want this kind of Puerto Rican action. You might want to skip this bout though. It stinks. Everyone is old, lazy and dreadful. One of the Batten’s describe Rufus’ punches as “big African soup bones”. He’s from South Carolina, ya fuckin’ racists.  

 

Anyway, the match is embarrassing. You can see why Rufus immediately retired, let’s just leave it at that. After ten minutes of this garbage the Samoans throw Valiant over the top rope and get disqualified. Holy shit, this fucking sucked balls. Just an awful, awful ball sucking match. I can’t stress how bad this was. -** 

 

WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship 

Ricky Santana (c) vs. Mr Pogo 

This is the lesser title but that means it has more interesting champions. Santana beat Super Black Ninja to win it. No idea who that is? Me either, I looked it up. It’s Keiji Muto! This match is miles better than the opener. It has way more energy and the basic striking is superior. They’re actually trying!  

 

The brawl spills outside and Pogo takes a slam on the floor. The match lacks some technical skill but they beat the crap out of each other, and that goes a long way to making it passable. Santana has decent fire for a babyface. He never caught on anywhere big, although he did work WCW as one half of the Barrio Brothers.  

 

The Batten’s commentary is bizarre again here as they accuse Mr Pogo of “constantly racially abusing” Santana. “Now that Latin blood is boiling” as Santana fires up. Good lord. Between Santana’s fire and Pogo’s spin kicks, the match is enjoyable. As it progresses, I’m struggling to process it. It’s….good? Santana catches Pogo with a sunset flip to retain, and I enjoyed this way more than I was expecting. Is it just the contrast between this and the shit heap opener? No, I think it was legitimately good. ***½ 

 

This might be the best Pogo match I’ve ever seen. Although I will add in that most of the work I’ve seen him do is awful 1990s death matches where it’s two guys attacking each other with knives.  

Ricky Santana gets strapped in the Cobra Hold after the match and to sell it he chews down on a little sachet of baking powder (or something similar) and FOAMS AT THE MOUTH. Brilliant. It’s a stretcher job for poor Ricky and this feud must continue!!! This was the best 15 minutes of WWC I’ve ever seen so I’m all fired up now.  

 

WWC Tag Team Championship 

Batten Twins (c) vs. Sheepherders 

These belts change hands constantly. The Battens get to put themselves over on commentary, which is a wild situation. Hugo can’t get a word in edgeways. The Sheepherders are still with Crockett at this point but would jump to WWF just after the Ted Turner takeover. Their summer of workrate is at an end here and it’s been replaced by the kind of crap the world will get used to during the horrific Bushwhackers run.  

 

My beef continues to be bumping and selling. It looks horribly fake. The commentary is bizarre as the Batten’s complain about the fans and work heel but in the match, they’re the babyfaces. It’s so weird. The Batten Twins never caught on anywhere big and most of the matches that I’ve seen were in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. They’re not good enough to drag the the Sheepshaggers to anything worthwhile.  

 

Just when I think the match can’t get worse they do an unbearably shitty ref bump. Sheepherders win by clobbering Bart with the New Zealand flag. However, another ref jumps in to overturn the decision in a bizarre opposite Dusty Finish where the faces look like chumps and the refs look like the heroes. This was shit.  

 

Wahoo McDaniel vs. Danny Spivey 

Wahoo left Crockett in 1987 and has been slumming it in the retirement home that is the AWA. Spivey has been out in AJPW for most of the year and will return after this match. He would return to America in 1989 as half of the Skyscrapers with Sid Vicious.  

 

Here it’s two Americans dogging it in Puerto Rico for an easy pay day. Bart tells us he wants Spivey to “put a hurting on that big Injun”. Brad points out they’re friends with Wahoo. What a bizarre commentary track this has been. Wahoo blades from punches.  

The crowd love a bit of claret, but Spivey puts on a chinlock and they just sit in it. Wahoo takes it with a roll up so weakly executed the only comparison I have is the Austin-Owen Hart one when Steve had just broken his neck on a botched piledriver. Nothing to see here. One of these guys (*COUGHWAHOOCOUGH*) needs to retire.  

 

Invader #3 vs. Chicky Starr 

We get a video recap of Invader #3 going on Chicky’s talk show; “Chicky Starr’s Sport Shop” and assaulting him. “He could have killed the man*” says one of the Batten’s. Invader #3 is Johnny Rivera, former WWF jobber. We get dramatic close up’s of Chicky’s busted open head. They sure love blood in Puerto Rico.  

 

*Is it a little off-putting that Brad Batten referenced a guy called Invader committing a homicide as a bit of a “haha, look at what happens in Puerto Rico” a couple of months after Bruiser Brody got stabbed to death? I can’t say I approve of it. I’m removed by some 35 years and it’s still a bit jarring. Imagine doing 9/11 gags in December 2001?

 

The first move of the match is Invader hitting Chicky in the face with an axe handle. I LOVE WRESTLING LADS.  

Johnny Rivera sucks. Everything he does looks terrible. Chicky bleeds all over the place to Invader’s crappy offence before getting bored and punching Rivera in the bollocks. The whole commentary team slates the referee, who is completely useless. Rivera spends most of the match punching at Chicky’s bloody forehead, which is basic but at least his punches look ok.  

 

Bart goes off on another rant about the fat, drunk fans of WWC who can’t tell the difference between a low blow and a hard shot to the solar plexus. He hit him in the pills mate. They continue to punch each other until Chicky wins with an elbow drop. What a lame finish. This was a whole lot of blood and not much else. Even though I saw the build up and the entire match, I’m still not sure who was supposed to be the heel in this. 

 

Ronnie Garvin vs. Iron Sheik 

These two are trading companies. Sheik finished in WWF in the summer after a lengthy run there and is destined for the WCW in 1989. Garvin left Crockett last month. He’s on his way to the WWF before the year is out. Sheik says he hates America pre-match and gets cheered. Garvin was shaping up to be a great heel in the NWA but he’s back to being a bland babyface here. 

Credit to both guys, they put some effort in. I guess Ronnie didn’t get the memo that effort isn’t required in Puerto Rico. I’m more shocked that Sheik puts some effort in. Ronnie brings the Hands of Stone!  

Aside from a few Sheik rest holds they go full pelt for 8 minutes before an awkward ring post spot that leads to Sheik being counted out. It’s a shame this didn’t come together for a good finish because the effort was there! I am as shocked as you are, gentle reader. **½ 

 

Hair vs Hair Match 

Huracan Castillo Jr & Miguel Perez Jr vs. Dan Kroffat & Bobby Jaggers 

Huracan you may know better as Jesus Castillo from Los Boriquas, the Savio Vega WWF stable, which also featured Miguel Perez and his hairy back.  

Across the ring you’ve got Bobby Jaggers, a Portland guy who’s nearly finished in the business. Kroffat is a guy I’m sure will come up again. He worked in the WWF as Phil LaFon and was noted for being awesome in AJPW. Comms make a series of jokes about Jaggers being in “peak condition”. He looks a little heavy around the mid-section lads. I sense a rib. 

 

Kroffat takes all the big bumps and big spots and Jaggers is just along for the ride. Dan is a bit slow and lacks snap on some of his bigger spots like the spin kick to the stomach. He will iron out those flaws in All Japan. The ambition here outstrips the talent. Kroffat and Perez do some ugly waistlock reversals leading a slooooow German suplex. It is 1988, so I’ll cut them some slack but I know Kroffat can do better. 

 

Speaking of him doing better; he hits a kneeling powerbomb that Brad Batten calls a “reverse slam” because no one is doing this shit in 1988! They do a Hart Attack too and Jaggers doesn’t budge on the Anvil part of it. He just fucking drops Castillo. They don’t stick to the rules so there’s no point doing tags and after they give up on that Kroffat gets himself pinned. This was fun but sloppy. I’ll call it the Gentlemen’s Three. *** 

Hair today, gone tomorrow! Hugo is outraged because both of the Kansas City Jayhawks are not natural blondes. I AM SHOCKED, SIR. I cannot believe an 80s wrestler bleached his hair. This is unheard of. Jaggers, you fraud. You brunette faker.  

 

FIRE MATCH 

Carlos Colon vs. Hercules Ayala 

The subtitle of this show comes from this match. It’s a hot night in Bayamon! Not just because we’re in Puerto Rico and it’s 32C in September. Nope, for this match they’ve set fire to the ropes.  

Yeah, this looks safe! Hahaha. They’ve strung up wires around the outside of the ring, hung combustible elements on there and torched them. It is similar but better looking than the WWF’s Inferno Match. Colon gets his hair singed and he’s pushing the ropes away because it’s so hot.  

As the match progresses the fires start to die down. Every match should have a fire burning and when it goes out, you must go home.  

The technical work in this is awful, thanks to the limitations of the fire. For some reason it makes Ayala forget how to apply holds. Carlos remembers the Figure Four and that finishes. This was more spectacle than anything else. I’m glad I saw it but it wasn’t a good concept for creating something exciting.  

 

The 411: 

This was miles better than the 1987 version. Probably because Invader #1 wasn’t on the show. A couple of the undercard matches delivered beyond what I was expecting. Especially the Santana-Pogo match, which was surprisingly good, and the hair vs hair match. Sure, some of this show is complete dogshit but not all of it, which counts as improvement. They might even dodge ‘worst promotion’ in the end of year awards. The commentary track was not ideal though. Having English commentary was nice, just not from the Batten Twins.