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Submitted by Degenerate on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 10:50 PM EST
 Hey everyone. You all thought I left, never to be seen again. But you can't keep a good Puerto Rican down, and I'm the best of them all. So kick back and enjoy the column that refuses to die. In case someone forgot about me, this is Degenerate, the Puerto Rican not living in Puerto Rico anymore. For the one of you who cared about my disappearance (hi mom!), I got a job in New York City at the beginning of the year. So it took a while for my ass to quit my old job (where they're undoubtedly still crying about my departure), clean up my old apartment, pack everything, fly to New York and get settled in. I've been here for a week, and I feel great. The city is just awesome, and the new job is something I've always wanted to do. And getting paid three times more than what I was getting paid back in Puerto Rico isn't bad either. After a month off, I'm finally able to sit down with a computer with some Internet access and write something off for you. A quick disclaimer, however: The main column is actually a repost of my second column ever, written way back in July 2005. Just want to make sure that's out of the way. Still, I believe it's a largely unread piece, and I'd estimate about 99% of you have never read it before. So I hope you enjoy the column in its entirely unedited and crappy form. Hey, after doing this thing 70 times, I have to admit I've gotten a tiny bit better. I will add my current thoughts at the end, so keep an eye out for that. * I don't know why, but Bobby Lashley's sudden departure from the WWE was truly surprising for me. Here's a young man who rose through the ranks in such a rapid manner, and it seemed like only a fraction of his true potential was ever reached. He had a lot going for him, and if he had stayed in the WWE for a couple of years, he definitely would've become a major player in the industry. This story does seem awfully familiar... Young, strong kid with kick-ass amateur wrestling skills that translated well into the pro wrestling world, rose to the top quickly... Oh yeah, good ol' Brock Lesnar. Something about these guys getting too much, too quick, I guess. However, if the reports about Lashley bitching about receiving a quarter-million dollar payout from his participation in Wrestlemania 23 are true, then I say fuck you, Lashley, fuck you. * Yeah, it's already been more than a week since this passed, but John Cena returning at the Royal Rumble, months before his expected return, is also shocking to me - as in a "something's-not-right-here" kind of way. If the initial prognosis was for him to return in June, yet he returned in January, to me that's just not normal. There just had to be something else involved. Of course, I'm no doctor, and I've never had an injury of Cena's magnitude before. But come on... Five months ahead of schedule? No fucking way. Cena, give some of that shit you took to Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle, to see if their fine asses return on TV soon as well. * Chavo Guerrero is ECW Champion. I still can't believe Chavo is the main man of one of the WWE's brands. Nothing against the guy, as I think he's a fine wrestler and can teach the younger generation a whole lot. But to me, he just seems like someone who's destined for the mid-card, forever and ever. That probably shows the lack of depth in ECW right now. I wonder if the WWE gave up on the brand and is just putting on the shows to make some bucks and that's it. I did catch the show last week after months of not watching it, and I almost fell asleep. I wonder if the WWE will ever do something about that show. The only thing that amuses me about ECW being on the air is that TNA is using it as some sort of ratings benchmark, claiming some sort of non-existent victory when their ratings are higher than the WWE's third-string show. * Speaking of TNA... I tried to over-look most of their corny segments. I tried to get used to an annoying Kurt Angle, horribly misused wrestlers like A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe and their constant pushes of old guys who can't give much inside the ring. But then they give us "Stone Cold" Shark Boy... That was seriously a "WHAT THE FUCK?!?" moment if I ever saw one. If you don't watch TNA, let me break it down for you: There's a skinny wrestler with a shark mask and bodysuit on, who took tons of ass-whoopings week after week, until he fell into a 'coma', only to snap out of it and be a Stone Cold Steve Austin imitator. Not only does he imitate his walk, mannerisms and moveset (yes, even the Stunner), he went as far as to get a vest - like Stone Cold's - with a shark skull on it. Yes, you haven't been missing much. It's the most annoying thing I've seen in TNA ever. My prediction for the future is that he'll win the X-Division title and promptly replace it with a smoking shark skull version. Count on it. Note: As I said, this is a repost of a column that was written in July 16, 2005, when I was a virtual unknown in the Column Forum. This column surprisingly got a lot of positive responses, so I'd thought I pass it along. The only reason why I'm reposting an old column is simply because last month, I went to a local independent show in Puerto Rico from a promotion called the IWA (mentioned below). It brought back memories of what I wrote in this column, so I thought it would be relevant to see how things are today, compared to when I wrote this column two years ago. Please note that it's totally unedited. Enjoy some of my old work. Being only 24 years old, and not growing up in Puerto Rico during the 1980’s (My family moved back to Puerto Rico in 1988), I didn’t catch much of the wrestling action that the local federations were having. All I knew is that my mother wouldn’t let me watch too much wrestling in the period because of the grueling style of hardcore action featured on the weekends (at 11:00 AM, interesting enough). As I grew older and started to appreciate the wrestling industry itself, the curiosity grew stronger each time someone older mentioned that era. So I decided to start sleuthing around and get some more information about those years. I wanted to find out how popular wrestling was here in Puerto Rico, and how it has gotten to where it’s at today. I’ve been talking to a couple of older friends who are in their late-thirties and in their forties. Whenever I asked them about wrestling, they remember lots of great matches and personalities from that timeframe. The names that are dropped instantly whenever I mentioned ‘Puerto Rican Wrestling’ are Carlos Colon, Abdullah the Butcher and The Invader (Jose Gonzalez). Those are the true icons of pro wrestling on this island. Puerto Rico seemed to be an increasingly popular hotbed for wrestlers to apply their trade. Before the WWE went international, there were territories where wrestlers would go to. Once their run was finished, they would just go ahead to the next hot territory and have a fresh start. Puerto Rico was famous for bringing in the toughest wrestlers and have the sickest matches this side of Japan. Granted, the WWC didn’t always have the best talent around, but they did wonders with what they had at the time. I have seen footage of old matches from the World Wrestling Council (WWC), which was the hottest fed here. The matches that Carlos Colon had with Abdullah the Butcher were so bloody, that 99% of ECW’s matches were tame compared to this one. I even met Carlos Colon one day at a mall here a couple of years back (and as a side note, I also met his sons Eddie and Carly Colon – the latter now known as Carlito Carribean Cool), and his forehead resembles a slab of steak. All the blading he did, and he also assured me that most of the time his opponent was the one who busted him open, took a toll on his face forever. Puerto Rican fans are notorious for being blood-thirsty, so the wrestlers never let the fans down. The most notable aspect I saw from those old tapes was the jam-packed arenas. In some stadiums, there were more than 15,000 strong. Tons of established American and Japanese wrestlers were active here all the time. Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Big John Studd, Randy Savage, Harley Race, Andre The Giant, Kendo Nagasaki, Dory Funk Jr., Terry Funk, Keiji Mutoh and Kendo Nagasaki were a few of the great wrestlers that have battled in a Puerto Rican squared circle. After doing a bit of research on the Internet, the largest wrestling show ever here in Puerto Rico drew more than 30,000 fans. After all this success and influx of great stars coming in and making great business, it seemed that it would remain as one of the top spots in the world to wrestle. But because of one event that shook the entire industry, the WWC and Puerto Rican Wrestling in general would never be the same. I can be argued that the downfall of the WWC can be pointed to that day. On July 17, 1988, in a WWC event, an American wrestling star, Bruiser Brody, was murdered by Jose Gonzalez, The Invader, in the locker room. To make a long story short, there was supposedly real-life tension between the two of them. For whatever reason, Gonzalez asked Brody to step in the shower to speak privately about business. A few moments later, Gonzalez stepped out of the shower by himself. Someone later found Brody stabbed a couple of times in the shower floor. Brody was then taken to a hospital, where he later died. Reportedly Tony Atlas was on the scene, and saw Gonzalez enter the shower with Brody, while having his hand wrapped with a towel, covering the knife that was used in the murder. Because he did nor any other wrestler testified against him, plus a probably weak justice system, Gonzalez was acquitted of all charges due to the stabbing being in ‘self-defense’. From that point forward, all the great wrestling stars stopped traveling to Puerto Rico. They were probably scared, or sick of the fact of what happened to Bruiser Brody, that they just stopped working here. Most thought that the WWC higher-ups were covering up the entire mess. Even after that happened, Jose Gonzalez was still wrestling as if nothing ever happened. He wasn’t fired, not even reprimanded for what happened. This led to a drastic reduction of talent. Ever since that day, the WWC never really could get back in the game as they used to. Small crowds, less talented wrestlers and bad matches plagued them for years to come. I can honestly say that the quality of the matches nowadays are so bad, that even I feel sorry for them. Also, you can look at the crowds on TV, and you can count how many people attended that night. The last time I went to a live event with a friend, there were less than 100 people there. It also hasn’t helped that the stars from yesteryear, like Carlos Colon, Abdullah, Invader, Chicky Starr and others, are still main eventing, even though their skills and physical attributes have all but vanished. Even with bad business, the WWC still managed to stay afloat. Suddenly, a new federation appeared in the form of the International Wrestling Association (IWA). This new fed wouldn’t help the struggling business of pro wrestling on the island by itself. But the IWA formed an alliance with the almighty WWE, and started featuring some WWE Superstars on their programming. The WWC saw this threat and quickly formed a partnership with the IWA that stands up to this day. The interesting part is that I started writing this column on Friday, only to see that the WWC is having an event tonight (July 16) in honor of Brody. Dubbed as the “1era Copa Bruiser Brody” (The First Bruiser Brody Cup), there are a couple of notable wrestlers who are competing for the Cup, like Sabu and The Sandman. What is kinda eerie for me is the motto for the event: “Porque nunca es tarde para recorder a los Grandes y la Historia obliga”. That is roughly translated to “Because it is never late to remember the Greats and History demands it”. I’m thinking that I was born a tad bit too late. I wish I could’ve seen all those stars and classic matches from that era. My best friend’s father told me that he attended a show way back in 1982-83 that featured Carlos Colon vs. Harley Race (who was NWA Champion at the time), Andre the Giant vs. Abdullah the Butcher and even a young Ric Flair vs. Pedro Morales. It’s also amazing how it could all crumble. Some argue that there were other backstage factors that buried the WWC in a hole they took a long time to crawl out from. But I still insist that the Brody murder was the main factor. If I were an American wrestler, I would be scared enough not to work here after the Brody incident. Nowadays the WWC seems like most of the independent feds out there. There aren’t too many stars who want to stick around here for a long time. I really hope that the partnership form between the WWC and the IWA lasts, because it could only benefit both federations. Plus, I heard some rumors that the WWC could become a breeding ground for the next WWE stars, like OVW. That would rock, since I would be able to attend most of the shows! Well, I certainly enjoyed finding out all these facts from the long history of wrestling here. I never knew how hot wrestling was here in the early eighties. Hope you all had a great time reading this, as much as I had writing about it. After all this time I spent writing, I’m impressed in how much I love pro wrestling, no matter how much things suck. I’ll always stick with it, through the good and bad times. Okay, just you know, we're back to the present day, February 2008. Now how does all of this tie into my current experience with local Puerto Rican wrestling? First I want to state that I had absolutely zero interest in going to that show in my hometown this past January 5. I didn't even know there would be a wrestling event that day, until that afternoon when a bus passed by announcing the show. I called up my brother and asked if he was interested. So we had about one hour to get leave before the show started. Luckily the place was five minutes from my place, so I got there with plenty of time left. It didn't matter, though. There were about 150 people, maybe a bit more. I even took a blurry picture with my cell phone as proof:  Yeah, that was on the hard camera's side. The rest of the place, including the sides, behind the hard camera and the second level, was totally empty. That's the current state of Puerto Rican professional wrestling. There are some exceptions, when there are 'special' shows on holidays like Three Kings Day that have been in promotion for months on end, but usually these shows are like this. I heard from someone working for the promotion that this show was more of a 'success' than they expected. I don't even want to imagine when their attendance expectations aren't met. Still, I have to admit that the show was major fun. Since there were so few people, everything my brother or I yelled would be completely audible by the wrestlers inside the ring. So we had a lot of fun fucking around with the heels, and rooting on the 'good guys' when they were in trouble. My brother and I were like cheerleaders that day. The babyface is in a headlock, gasping for air? My brother and I would start chanting his name and stomping our feet, and soon the rest of the crowd followed. In seconds, the face would gain a burst of energy and whoop the heel's ass. I felt powerful. A funny anecdote to mention here: the wrestlers known as The Naturals in TNA, Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas, were working as heels for the IWA, and actually were their World Tag Team Champions. My smart-ass brother, out of the blue, yelled at Chase Stevens during a silent moment in the arena "Stevens, you suck, go back to TNA!", to which he quickly replied "FUCK TNA!" Later in the match, as he had his opponent down, he looked towards us and said "Here's your fucking TNA for ya." Good times, indeed. I don't think he's too happy to be wrestling in front of 150 people on weekends. My experience is that this show was fun to go to, even if the crowd was dead most of the times and I had to wake them up. There were familiar faces (the aforementioned Naturals, newly-signed and recently-jailed Apolo, and even a rotund Savio Vega!), some solid wrestling all around, even some comedy spots (wrestling matches with midgets are ALWAYS entertaining). So I recommend that if there's a small wrestling organization having shows around your area, you should definitely look them up one day. You'll probably enjoy it much more than you expected. I certainly did, and regret not going to more shows when I had the chance. Outside of my experience, I wanted to note that there have been some changes in Puerto Rico in the past two and a half years. As far as both the IWA and WWC promotions, to say they're not partners and not in good terms is a total understatement. The day after the show I went to, the IWA held one of their yearly special events, and I read that the WWC World Champion actually appeared on the IWA show with his championship belt in tow, challenged the IWA World Champion, and lost the WWC Championship to the IWA Champion, crowning him Super-Duper-Mega-Undisputed Champion of the Universe. At least I think that's how they called it. I didn't follow much after that. But it seems like it was a total screwing of the WWC by part of the former champ. The word is that the WWC Champion (called Biggie) had some creative differences with bookers Carlos Colon (daddy of Carlito) and some other people running the company. So he and his crew of three other wrestlers collectively known as "La Rabia" jumped ship. Apparently there are no written contracts in either the IWA or WWC promotions, which allowed this to happen without immediate legal ramifications. They best the WWC could do was to 'officially strip' Biggie of the championship and let him be with the IWA. Also furthering WWC's woes is the fact that the WWE never used them as a breeding ground, as was expected would eventually happen three years ago. This reportedly had Carlos Colon rather angry with the WWE for this. It's odd that back when I wrote the original column, the WWC seemed to be the on the same level as the IWA, yet are in a deep, deep hole now, one that'll be very difficult to climb out of. When wrestlers don't want to go to your promotion, or your own wrestlers want to leave, you know you're in some serious shit. Well, that's enough Puerto Rican stuff for me. Yeah, I do miss my home country, but I'm comfortable here. If you want to keep me occupied, feel free to send any type of feedback my way at dennmart@gmail.com, or get an account at LOPForums.com and leave me something at my feedback thread. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to write something. Sorry I don't have any column plugs for you all, since I haven't been able to read much. But I promise I'll give you some more good stuff sooner rather than later. Hope to see y'all again here soon. Thanks for reading, Degenerate ***DIRECT LINK*** MUST SEE Gallery of JESSICA ALBA!! Her HOTTEST EVER!!
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