WWC Aniversario 1991 (7.6.91) review 

 

July 6, 1991 

 

We’re in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The Carlos Colon territory has given me some amusement over the years but with the rise of FMW, it’s incredibly seen (by me anyway) as a poor man’s violence promotion. It’s still nice to come here once a year and check out what’s happening in the Caribbean. Several notable visitors this year including WWF talent Koko B Ware, the Samoans, Ronnie Garvin and Demolition. Not to mention, Colon’s opponent tonight, *checks notes* DINO BRAVO? What the fuck lads? Bravo actually took a lot of bookings in the Caribbean in 1991 and had a trilogy of matches with Colon. This is the first. Host tonight is Hugo Savinovich but comms is only in Spanish.  

 

 

Loser Leaves Town: 

Ricky Santana (c) vs. Action Jackson 

Jackson arrives to “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer and comms get very excited about it. Someone in the crowd throws rubbish at Jackson and one of the seconds catches it. Man, that looked cool. Santana has been around and used by WWF going back to the mid 80s. Jackson is on his way to Global. He’s billed as 6’6”, which is a lie, I suspect. He looks like a cross between Curt Hennig and Rikishi. Both in appearance and movement. There is some goofy lucha stuff in here but it’s very heated. The best thing about Puerto Rico is how hot the crowd is.  

 

Jackson’s timing isn’t great, but Santana throws himself into the spots with abandon anyway. Jackson is also quite dull but then he is working heel. There’s a lot of slowing it down and rest holds. Santana sells the leg and works from underneath. Jackson doesn’t have the range to work the leg for an extended period. They start getting loose, but Jackson shows his skill in improvisation. It’s a shame nobody has taught him the basics of leglocks. He sits in this stupid hold where he hooks the leg and then kneels down with Santana on his back. There’s no pressure and Santana has full mobility.  

 

It would be forgivable if he only did it once, but it’s his “go to” hold in this match. Jackson is much better at selling. Although, his snapmare bump leaves a lot to be desired. The finish is sloppy with Jackson going to slam Santana off the ropes, and Ricky rolls through it to send Jackson packing. This was not good. Jackson wasn’t ready for a long match and was clearly gassed down the stretch. There were parts of it that did work. Jackson taking an ass kicking early doors and Santana’s selling of the leg injury was decent. Too much sloppiness in between and the constant crappy leglocks. Urgh. *¼ 

 

Samoan Swat Team vs. Hurican Castillo & Miguel Perez Jr 

SST are the same combo from WCW (Fatu & Samoan Savage aka Tama). They’re off to the WWF after this. Only one of them will find success there. No prizes for guessing. Skandar Akbar is the manager of the Samoans. Fatu runs the ‘hidden gimmick’ straight out of the Jerry Lawler playbook. I miss heels hiding their cheating. This match is far more competent than the last one. Everyone knows how to work here. The future Boricuas bringing the babyface fire and quick tags.  

 

Castillo gets whacked with the hidden gimmick, and that leads to a lengthy heat segment. While this is competent, it sure is boring. We get an assortment of nerve holds. SST aren’t getting paid by the spot, apparently. The crowd get surprisingly feisty in spite of the grinding nature of the match. Monster Ripper comes out to help overcome the odds, and Perez wins with a superplex. This was dull as fuck, lads. Maybe two minutes of stuff spread out across around 11:30? * 

 

Taped Fist Match: 

Ronnie Garvin vs. Invader #1  

I was not expecting to see Rugged Ronnie again. I’m still lamenting losing his heel run in WCW right before the WWF jump. It looked great the one time I saw it. He does appear in Smoky Mountain Wrestling next year, and then he’s done. It’s a shame I don’t get to enjoy this match either as he’s wrestling Invader #1; the guy who murdered Bruiser Brody.  

 

Invader is also an awful wrestler. Garvin makes matters worse by playing a chickenshit heel character. It doesn’t suit him at all. ALSO, it’s a taped fist match, and Garvin’s fists are not taped. This is another dog ugly, boring match. Invader is absolute shit. He can’t bump, he can’t sell, his timing is dreadful. Invader finishes with a heart punch, which Garvin treats as the stupid move that it is by selling it all wobbly legged. This was pure shit and a clear DUD. I hope I never see Invader #1 ever again. He’s one of the worst workers who’s not in the ‘clearly not a worker at all’ column*.  

 

*You know. El Gigante, Zeus, Mighty Wilbur, Nitron etc.  

 

Monster Ripper vs. El Profe 

Ripper is Bertha Faye. She’s about to head to Mexico for a few years before eventually showing up in the WWF in 1995. El Profe is a local dude in a mask, so we’re doing intergender here. Take THAT Maryland State Athletic Commission! Ripper definitely has the size to be considered a threat to the male dominated sport here in Puerto Rico. El Profe jumps her ahead of the bell, attacks her with flowers and works over her breasts. What an asshole.  

 

Profe misses a senton, and Ripper starts beating the shit out of him. That’s a more convincing big leg drop than Hogan’s brrrrrother. The Axe Bomber? Less so. Although Profe’s bumping doesn’t help. The finish is a mess with outsider inference from both sides (Travis and Savinovich) and the ref is so slow at getting in position. You heard the bump behind you, jack, just spin around and count that sumbitch. Profe continues the beating after the match as crap rains down on the ring. Getting heat in this country is awesome. The match was ok. Which might make it MOTN. ** 

 

WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship 

Carlos Colon (c) vs. Dino Bravo 

Local hero versus evil Canadian here. Bravo has ditched his blonde hair and gone back to a natural brown. It looks odd on him.  

Bravo is happy to embrace the heat and even gobs at a nearby punter who’s giving him shit. Given the standard on this show, Bravo actually looks ok. I know! I’m shocked too. Some of his bumps leave a little to desire, but the bumping standard on this show has been shambolic, so it looks fine. Colon himself isn’t known for forcing the pace, so they frequently slide into the comfort of rest holds, but it’s Bravo who forces the pacing! Who is this fucking guy? 

 

Bravo also does a good job of drawing heat. He doesn’t just bail. He’s on the floor threatening to go into the crowd and fuck someone up. Things do slow down with Bravo hooking the predictable bore-hug. Damn, I thought this was actually good for a minute there. Colon’s comeback is crap too. He’s just not good at doing moves. He looks stupid. Which is why most of his matches involve the opponent beating him up.  

The psychology goes to shit too with Bravo hitting an airplane spin despite having his leg worked over. Then, to really piss me off, they work in a ref bump. Invader #1 then runs in, the big jockass, and Colon wins with a roll up. **¼. This got really messy near the end, but there was some genuinely good work in there. Mostly to at the beginning before they got tired. 

 

TNT & Giant Warrior vs. Demolition 

Giant Warrior was in AJPW as Butch Masters! A big uncoordinated lunk who the Japanese laughed at.  

Demolition are on loan, music and all, from the WWF (as was Koko B Ware). Smash is about to be repackaged as Repo Man! Crush was actually not under contract at this point, but Vince signed him again in early 1992, so my brain refused to believe he left at all. Even WCW weren’t dumb enough to try and re-do Demolition. Without the music, it just wouldn’t have worked. 

 

Savio is lively here throwing spin kicks for fun. The Demos show a lot of ass here, which is surprising. Especially for TNT. They’re made to look foolish and, as a result, the match is actually quite good. Unfortunately there is one hulking issue with the match; the gigantic former Butch Masters. He has the same lack of mobility and lack of understanding as Kevin Nash in WCW around the same time. He’s a big dude but he’s not big enough to not sell anything. Not that he deliberately ‘no sells’, he just can’t sell.  

 

The heat segment goes on FOREVER too. FOREVER. What the fuck, lads? I look at the time stamp and it’s been going on for NINE MINUTES. After the full ten minutes, he finally tags Savio in and more spin kicks occur. They try a spot where the Demos are run into each other, which reveals how bad Giant Warrior’s timing is. Savio keeps looking over his shoulder and he’s not ready. Looks again…still not ready. Looks again…still not ready. Looks again… 

 

Anyway, this goes to a double DQ, which makes no one happy. The long heat segment killed this dead. It started quite well and Savio Vega is the best worker in the islands by a country mile at this point. He’s just come back from New Japan and will spend most of the next two years in NJPW before signing with the WWF. * 

 

Billy Joe Travis vs. Hugo Savinovich 

This was not the main event of the show, but it’s the last match on the tape, confusingly. Travis is a Memphis guy and spent most of his career there. Hugo, even at this point, is old and hasn’t worked since the mid 80s. If I’m polite, he’s not in great shape. He does know how to get the rubes going though and the shine, where he whups Travis for a couple of minutes straight, is perfect work.  

Hugo has good sympathetic selling where he takes the hit and then slowly collapses. As if the crowd are keeping upright initially, but the reality of the impact takes over. He also has fiery good comebacks. It’s a shame Travis can’t live up to Hugo’s fire. His bumps are odd. Hugo throws dirt into Travis’s eyes and pins him. They kept this quick and got rid of the rules for Savionovich to have a nice time. I really enjoyed this. One old man with great personality and fire against an evil foreigner who did very little. It worked. **½ 

 

The 411: 

A lot of this show stinks. That’s true. WWC isn’t a good promotion. However, seeing Hugo Savinovich here was worth the click. I also enjoyed Dino Bravo, for once in his career, and Savio Vega looks a good prospect.