Professional wrestling in Puerto Rico

Technical approach and elements The Puerto Rican professional wrestling style has been influenced by several countries, beginning with the settlement of local wrestlers in New York during the 1950s Great Migration. Among the first performers to adopt the American style was José Miguel Pérez Sr., who added an aerial element to it during an age where aerial maneuvers were uncommon. This hybrid version became common among Puerto Rican wrestlers that permanently settled in the United States, with Pedro Morales using a cannonball dive and Gilberto "Gypsy Joe" Meléndez being the first to jump successfully from the top of a steel cage onto an opponent, a move that later became associated with Jimmy Snuka. Morales' style was also influenced by his gimmick of "Latin brawler", heavily relying on stiff kicks and punches as well. These performers were among the first to introduce this way of performing to Puerto Rico during the early years of local professional wrestling. Later, after spending several years wrestling in Canada, he learned a more aggressive or "stiffer" approach than the one seen in American wrestling, while also learning the grappling practices used there. The local circuit became notorious for its gimmick matches, and is credited with the introduction of fire as an element in professional wrestling. Their rivalry gained such momentum that it was commercialized with the release of a set of action figures in a series known as "Greatest Grudge Matches". Prior to this, Atsushi Onita had imported the concept of the "death match" from Puerto Rico to Japan, becoming successful in FMW. With the creation of the International Wrestling Association and its developmental contract with the World Wrestling Federation, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), some of the blading was reduced, generally reserved as a shock factor for bigger events and eventually being dropped altogether. However, the other elements of the Puerto Rican style have remained unchanged, except for the occasional influence of the "sports entertainment" formula during storylines, being passed down to the current generations of wrestlers developed by the IWA and WWC. However, the World Wrestling League has chosen to exclude blading from its events, only conserving the stiff approach and aerial maneuvers. Storyline structure The most common storyline format used in Puerto Rico involves the "foreign heel" formula. This began during the early years of local professional wrestling, when there was direct competition between the emergent local promotions and more established foreign competition that imported its product. In the 1970s, the World Wrestling Council adopted it as its main creative tendency. The promotion began to fully exploit this by introducing Lawrence Shreve, a Canadian performer more commonly known as "Abdullah the Butcher", as the first WWC World Heavyweight Champion. Portrayed as a wild and violent foreigner, he was billed as having won the belt in a fictional tournament held in Japan. However, this was part of an angle to elevate Colón to main event status by winning the title three days after its introduction. From that point onwards, he was consistently portrayed as a "Puerto Rican patriot" and a "sports hero". Since then, the local promotions have continued to employ this tactic, with the latest notable example taking placing at the IWA's Golpe de Estado 2010, where both Dennis and Juan "Savio Vega" Rivera went over Daniel Bryan on the same night. Bryan was brought in as the defending IWA Puerto Rico Heavyweight Champion, while being contracted to WWE and serving as the first contender to the WWE United States Championship. This tendency is also seen in tag team competition, with examples including Thunder and Lightning defeating The Dudley Boyz and "Los Dueños de la Malicia" defeating The Latin American Xchange. ==Commissions and regulation==

The first government entity to regulate professional wrestling was the (lit. "Boxing and Professional Wrestling Commission") which also covered both amateur and professional forms of boxing, which being a legitimate combat sport remained the main focus of the commission. By the early 2000s a revision to the regulations of professional wrestling was being discussed, however, this plan was fully abandoned when the commission was disbanded and professional wrestling was assimilated into the recreation division of the Puerto Rico Department of Sports and Recreation (DRD). Despite this, former commissioners Ismael Van Drake, Hugo Duarte and Héctor González remained tied to the business by appearing in angles for the IWA and WWC. Following the dissolution of this entity the practice of professional wrestling was loosely sanctioned as a form of entertainment for a period of nearly a decade. However, in 2007 a new regulation was drafted and approved, the document known as Reglamento de Espectáculos de Combate (lit. "Combat Spectacle Requirements") also extended to forms of martial arts. A joint effort between the DRD and Puerto Rico Department of Treasury (DH) resulted in the issue of several licenses and the normalization of the tax statements of independent companies. The effort was led by the president of the relevant subdivision of the DRD, the (lit. "Commission for Safety in Recreation and Sports"), led by Osvaldo Rivera Cianchini. On June 5, 2007, the DRD concluded the first phase of a broad investigation into the licenses of several wrestlers, resulting in fines ascending to several thousands of dollars. In 2011, the commission was revived with Miguel Laureano, son of José Laureano, serving as its new director. A new set of requirements was proposed in November 2011, which forced professional wrestlers to undergo yearly tests for blood-transmitted diseases in order to receive and renew their licenses. However, the approval of this document was stalled and Laureano handed it over to his successor Ramón Dasta. In 2013, the commission was disbanded and integrated into the DRD's Security Commission which then organized a committee led by former basketball referee Juan "Pucho" Figueroa to draft the latest revision to the regulations. The new proposal also pursued mandatory anabolic steroids tests as an addition to the ones performed to detect infectious diseases. ==History==

The early years; Géigel and other pioneers Professional wrestling was introduced to Puerto Rico during the second half of the 20th century. However, what was seen of the discipline was through television programming imported by foreign companies and rarely featured Puerto Rican wrestlers in notable performances. No actual events or cards were regularly organized in Puerto Rico until the 1960s, with the few exceptions focusing exclusively in foreign talents and only occurring on an average of twice a year. Capitol Sports made its television show a cornerstone in its marketing strategy. Súperestrellas de la Lucha Libre has remained on the air since the promotion's inception in 1973 first appearing in Telecadena Pérez Perry, before being acquired by Teleonce and its sister network WSTE-DT, and airing on Sunday's primetime slot at 6:00 in the evening. After being unknown during its start, WWC heavily relied on its local talents. The promotion also brought in other attractions to boost assistance, such as André the Giant. During this timeframe, the promotion was being consistently rated in the global top five, reaching the third position among the Americas. While Colón and a doctor tended to Goodish, Huertas-González entered into another confrontation, this time with Jovica, who was trying to prevent him from exiting the building. The incident resulted in a period during which the promotion lost support from the fan base, losing most of its previous acquisitive power. Several high-profile international wrestlers refused to work in the promotion as a form of protest. On April 23, 1997, Rivera defeated Ramón Álvarez to win the WWA Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship. However, the promotion closed in June of that year. The last of the Colón-Abdullah matches took place in 1997, when Colón won a "loser leaves Puerto Rico" contest. This banishment was short-lived, since he was brought in again and both teamed again one last time. By this time, Colón's popularity had started flailing and González was again promoted to the main event scene after performing several years in the midcard. WWC also contracted Laureano again and resumed the feud with Huertas-González. In that country, he eventually became an associate with Micky Ibaragi in order to begin his own promotion, Wrestling International New Generation (W*ING). He led the company into a radical storyline approach, even referencing the Goodish incident by bringing in Ray "Hercules" Fernandez and booking him as the "Super Invader", an "assassin" character. This innovative style was carried over to Quiñones' other promotion, IWA Japan, which opened two months after W*ING closed and continued with the "extreme" booking. In the first storyline jab between them, Rivera avoided the legal case by simply renaming the character El Hombre Dinamita (lit. "The Dynamite Man") with his attire and overall gimmick remaining unchanged. In 2002, the IWA responded by recruiting Ray González, who after being involved in a monetary dispute for six months left WWC. Known as "Rey Fénix", Gonzalez served as fold to Germán Figueroa and Gilbert Cosme, helping to establish them as main attractions in local wrestling. In May 2003, Rivera and Eddie Colón had a legitimate discussion when they casually coincided in a restaurant. IWA responded to the event by having Armando Gorbea read a purported fan letter that was signed by someone named "Eddie" to the crowd. In June 2003, Carly Colón signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. The following month in the tour to promote Summer Attitude 2003, Daniel García Soto claimed in a segment that he had confirmed the arrival of the "son of a former world champion" and "legend that is universally recognized" to the IWA, which was heavily implied to be Colón, but actually served as a plot devise to introduce David Flair. Before the identity was revealed, Colón's music was played over the sound system, only for the crowd to be told by Rivera that they should avoid "acting like morons". After Huertas-González joined the IWA, WWC referenced the death of Goodish by airing a match between both in Superestrellas. Shortly afterwards, Rivera re-adopted the "T.N.T." character, now under the name (lit. "The man that they call T.N.T.") as a direct reference to WWC. By 2004, the IWA had gained an upper hand in the rivalry between both promotions, with WWC considering to sell stocks to outside investors such as Panda Energy and Jimmy Hart. However, it was Quiñones himself that ultimately lent the money so that it could continue in operation. When IWA decided to suspend its programming due to the 2004 Summer Olympics, WWC ran an old promotional video featuring Ray González encouraging them to attend its show. Parallel to this, he was involved in an angle in which he won 49% of IWA's stocks, entering into a feud with the owner of the remaining 51%, Quiñones himself. In 2004, the IWA held a brief talent exchange with Ring of Honor (ROH). As part of this, the promotion held an invasion angle where several talents joined their roster, including B. J. Whitmer and Dan Maff. During this angle, the IWA bested ROH in both tag team and singles competition. In exchange, Carlos Cotto represented the IWA in a match at Glory By Honor III. On August 28, 2004, at Bad Blood, González announced that from that point onwards, IWA would be known as "Capitol Sports", claiming that Quiñones had already received documentation legally confirming this move. The move was explained by citing that he was a double agent all along and still owned 16% of WWC's shares (in reference to a storyline ran when he still wrestled there), actually working along his "business partners" (in reference to Carlos Colón Sr. and Victor Jovica) to take over the IWA. The change was expanded to the website and promotional videos to include a modified darker and duller version of Capitol's actual logo, while playing a music score associated with that promotion, Apollo 100's Joy. Capitol's influence was portrayed by González, who changed the announced cards in order to benefit their interests. The group then began recruiting Huertas-González to join them, claiming that their origin in "Capitol binds them". In September 2004, somebody assaulted Huertas-González backstage, leaving behind Juan Rivera's trademark bat. It was subsequently revealed that the culprit was Alex "Lighting" Cruz acting on González behalf to speed un the process, just when Huertas-González was about to sign a contract and join the "Capitol" faction. On October 9, 2004, González announced that Capitol had formed an alliance with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling-NWA for Golpe de Estado and that this move would bring in NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett, Robert Roode, Konnan and Shawn Hernandez to compete on its behalf. This portrayed the group as a strong foreign faction, while the IWA was mostly defended by native talent. Immediately after completing this announcement, Juan Rivera proposed that they bet the stocks in a match with the winner taking full control of both halves of the promotion, which was accepted. On October 14, 2004, at Golpe de Estado, González lost to Figueroa with the score tied between Capitol and IWA, ending the name change angle. WWC retaliated with a video emphasizing its history aired during their weekly show, Súperestrellas de la Lucha Libre. During the final months of 2004, Germán Figueroa and the IWA experienced creative disagreements and WWC pursued the opportunity to contract him. The IWA then approached Abdullah the Butcher and offered him a role in Histeria Boricua 2005, but he declined the invitation. Both Figueroa and his wife Verónica Polera were expected to appear in Euphoria 2005, with the promotion booking her as special referee and referencing him in their final promotional videos, but they made an appearance in Histeria Boricua instead. At Euphoria, WWC responded by placing Ramón Álvarez in a segment where he insulted their family and children. Afterwards, the IWA aired an out of character interview with Figueroa, who claimed that WWC advertised him, but was actually planning to have a masked Eric Pérez portraying him until his contract expired. The promotion also ran a scripted attack issued by Huertas-González, during a backstage segment. WWC launched a double offensive in Súperestrellas de la Lucha Libre, first criticizing Quiñones and then placing Pérez in a segment where he made a veiled attack towards Figueroa. The promotion also circled a press release stating their version of the events. That same year, IWA recruited Roger Díaz and gave him the gimmick of "Carlitos", which mocked the Colón family by portraying an uneducated servant working for Kasey James. In April 2007, Mario Savoldi became involved with the IWA bringing two wrestlers that he represented and were originally scheduled to perform for WWC the month before. In July 2007, Carlos Cotto and Jeff Jeffrey left the IWA and appeared in a WWC show hooded. Their identities were confirmed when the IWA Intercontinental Championship was declared vacant. The IWA immediately began negotiating with them, with both making an appearance as the hooded figures seen in WWC. Despite the initial return, Jeffrey returned to WWC afterwards, while Cotto remained in the IWA leading its own hooded faction known as Los Encapuchados de la Calle (lit. "The Hooded Ones from the Streets"). In WWC, Jeffrey was joined by more IWA talent when Miguel "Biggie Size" Maldonado, a former IWA World Tag Team Champion, appeared masked in another show. The faction was later completed by two independent wrestlers and named "La Rabia", being booked in WWC's main angles along a newly arrived Figueroa. Both companies portrayed the hooded figures as invaders, with the IWA exploiting the attention that the initial jump generated creating a second faction that was purportedly linked to La Rabia, Los Encapuchados del Consejo (lit. "The Hooded ones from the Council") that served as antagonists to Los Encapuchados de la Calle. In September 2007, the IWA recovered Germán Figueroa, disrupting the storyline that WWC was running around him. The conflict between IWA and WWC was reignited after Scott Hall failed to attend a title defense of the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship, which in turn was vacated and awarded to the number one contender, Miguel Maldonado. On December 29, 2007, the title was announced as "held up" following the events where he was declared the champion following Hall's absence to Lockout. The commission's decision was announced during the company's holiday recess and Maldonado still retained physical possession of the championship belt. On January 6, 2008, Jack Meléndez, who had been managing "La Rabia", abandoned the company citing differences with the company's personnel. Following Meléndez's exit from the company, La Rabia abandoned the company as well, no-showing the special event scheduled for January 6, 2008. That same night, Maldonado appeared at the International Wrestling Association's Histeria Boricua event, with the championship belt still in his possession and challenged Freddie "Blitz" Lozada, the current IWA World Heavyweight Champion to a unification match. The match took place later in the event with Lozada winning both belts. Following this match WWC's merchandise manager, José Roberto Rodríguez, who had been allowed entry into the building, demanded that the belt was returned to him. However, by this time, the IWA's personnel had replaced the belt with Revolution X-Treme Wrestling's championship belt (which was in Rivera's possession) and had transferred the Universal Championship to a secure location. This led to a discussion between personnel from both companies and Rodríguez's expulsion from the event. The IWA Photoshoped the images of the plate by adding "Capitol" over the usual location of "Universal" and by modifying its silver hub to a bronze coloration, promoting the event by playing Joy in the background of their advertisement. The belt was returned to WWC personnel following an ultimatum, which claimed that the company would take legal action if it was not returned within forty-eight hours. However, both the International Wrestling Association and the National Wrestling Alliance recognized the unification match, considering Lozada the first Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion in Puerto Rico. With the absence of the stable, WWC brought Ron Killings and booked Orlando Colón to defeat him in an attempt to re-establish the performer, who had been neglected during the La Rabia angle. However, the IWA was unable to capitalize on the impact of this angle due to Mario Savoldi abandoning the company while still in possession of part of the promotion's property. This resulted in the roster splintering in two factions, with the wrestlers that sided with Savoldi leaving for a company that was supposed to debut named "International Wrestling Entertainment". The following month, Rivera and Pérez recovered control of the IWA with Ricky Vega, one of Savoldi's main supporters, eventually making a surprising return. Ray González avoided siding with either faction, instead returning to WWC under the guise of "El Cóndor". He was immediately involved in WWC's main angle, a tournament to crown a new Universal Heavyweight Champion. On August 8, 2008, the IWA responded with another parody character, Raymond Zales, which was deliberately pronounced ray-mon-SAH-les to mimic the phonetic pronunciation of Ray González's name (ray-gon-SAH-les). On August 25, 2008, Daniel "Noriega" Torres left WWC shortly after winning the tournament to crown a new Universal Heavyweight Champion. He signed with EWO and took the new belt with him, forcing WWC to revert to the previous version. Torres eventually joined the IWA, carrying the Universal Heavyweight Championship in a black bag, claiming that it was an illegitimate title due to the unification angle, choosing to pursue the IWA Undisputed Heavyweight Championship instead of defending it. That same year, a faction led by Juan Rivera and Miguel Pérez Jr. known "Los Autenticos" began "La Lotería del Terror", an angle in which members selected from a list of current and former employees of WWC would be attacked. As part of this angle, stable members Dennis Rivera and Noel Rodríguez visited one of WWC's events, but only stalked the outside of the venue. One of the chosen was an actual WWC wrestler, who made a single appearance in the IWA as part of this angle following a payment dispute. When this was resolved, WWC uncharacteristically gave continuation to the angle by staging a "rescue" scene. In September 2009, Torres returned to WWC, still carrying the new Universal Heavyweight Championship belt in a black bag, challenging the incumbent champion, Ángel "BJ" Rosado, to an unification of the two titles. He won and was briefly referred to as the "Undisputed Universal Heavyweight Champion". On December 12, 2009, WWC announced that Shane Sewell was leaving to sign with the "sister enterprise", spoiling a surprise appearance scheduled for the IWA's Christmas in PR. Weeks later, when WWC contracted Gilbert Cosme for Euphoria 2010, the IWA countered by filing a copyright claim to prevent the use of the "Ricky Banderas" character. WWC instead used the ring name "El Triple Mega Campeón". The inconsistent use of the women's division extended throughout the late 2000s, with the IWA even recurring to transsexual characters to keep the belt involved in the booking. In 2010, both promotions dropped their respective championships from the events. That year, IWA directly parodied José Roberto Rodríguez by giving a gimmick named "El Mostro" to David Muñiz, who adopted the former's likeness and was depicted in odd or otherwise humiliating storylines. The Extreme Wrestling Organization, by now the largest independent company in Puerto Rico and de facto third main company, entered in conflict with both the IWA, for not allowing its wrestlers participation in one of its events and WWC, for contracting the EWO World Heavyweight Champion without forcing him to drop the title. El Bombazo and Tiempos de Guerra In June 2010, Juan Rivera was contacted by Hugo Savinovich in order to become involved in an angle with WWC. For three years, Savinovich served as the producer of Aniversario, the WWC's main annual event. While still in negotiation, Rivera appeared in a talk show along Carlos Colón. Promotion of the angle began there by staging a spot where he criticized Carly Colón's supposed addiction to painkillers, prompting Colón to leave the stage. This marked the first time that both performed together in almost two decades, following the lawsuit filled by WWC over the "T.N.T." character. During the following weeks Rivera continued this line by issuing two challenges in IWA events, as well as changing the name of his finisher to "La Painkiller". On the final edition of WWC's Súperestrellas de la Lucha Libre show before Aniversario 2011, he interrupted the programming by stepping into the camera while wearing an IWA shirt. At the actual event, Rivera led a large group of IWA wrestlers, including incumbent Undisputed World Champion Hiram Tua, who promptly invaded the WWC ring, beating down the WWC Tag Team Champions, Wilfredo "Lynx" Rivera and Alejandro "Niche" Marrero. This event became known as "El Bombazo", referencing the "T.N.T" gimmick and the explosive nature of actual TNT. Upon gaining control over the ring, Rivera addressed the crowd and issued another challenge to Colón who responded in a subsequent interview issuing a challenge of his own. The possibility of an invasion angle had been negotiated and stalled during the course of the month. Miguel Pérez Jr. was not involved in the negotiations, discovering about the angle when it became official. The WWC responded by entering the IWA's next event, Summer Attitude and vandalizing Quiñones' Hall of Fame induction. Despite this, the negotiations between the promotions were halted. A brief continuation took place at Septiembre Negro 2011, with Dennis Rivera and Noel Rodríguez defeating "Lynx" Rivera and "Niche" Marrero for the WWC World Tag Team Championship to unify it with the IWA World Tag Team Championship. They became the first unified tag team champions recognized by at least two of the three major promotions, but the reign was short-lived when WWC stripped them and Rivera and Rodríguez responded by legitimately taking them. Following a tour in which they defended the Unified Puerto Rico Tag Team Championship concluding in the EWO against a tag team known as "La Milicia", Rodríguez was legitimately ambushed by Alejandro "Niche" Marerro and Wilfredo "Lynx" Rivera, who took one belt of each pair. With no use to a pair of non-matching belts, the issue was resolved backstage and each promotion received their respective titles back. Prior to the WWC's Euphoria 2012 event, Rivera reappeared in Súperestrellas de la Lucha Libre, supporting Cosme (who was then allowed to use the "Ricky Banderas" character) in his contest against Colón. He eventually costed Colón the match, playing a video stating that the "hunt had begun" that lasted for the remainer the scheduled time. and Noel Rodríguez; the WWC World Tag Team Championship belts (left) and IWA World Tag Team Championship belts (right) At Summer Attitude 2011, Chris Angel defeated Hiram Tua to become the first undefeated Undisputed World Champion, a feat in local wrestling history. This event launched a storyline between the IWA and the Extreme Wrestling Organization, the largest independent company and de facto third main promotion in Puerto Rico. On December 17, 2011, Cotto won the EWO World Heavyweight Championship, only to be interrupted by Pérez. This was in response to a previous confrontation between both, that occurred following an unrelated charity card. After defending the title at Tierra de Nadie 2012, Pérez once again reclaimed his contract. In this event, Dennis Rivera and Noel Rodríguez participated in a scripted version of the incident at WWC, taking the EWO Tag Team Championship belts with them. At Histeria Boricua, Angel was absent for a scheduled defense due to a storyline injury, which resulted in the title being stripped from him. The interim General Manager went on to proclaim himself champion, issuing an open challenge which was accepted by EWO's first contender, a masked wrestler known only as "Bonecrusher", who won it in a squash match. Earlier in the event, EWO wrestlers recovered their promotion's belts, while La Milicia countered by taking the IWA's, which Dennis Rivera and Noel Rodríguez actually lost to an IWA team known as "The Faces of Fear" following the distraction. The confrontations between Cotto and Pérez continued in two of IWA's events expanding to include EWO's CEO, Richard Rondón, as well. The IWA became the first to win gold officially, when Victor Ortíz teamed with Carlos Cupules to win the EWO Tag Team World Championship. In concurrent fashion, EWO employee Orlando Toledo debuted at the World Wrestling Council as a manager, cutting a promo and issuing and issuing an open challenge. At la Hora de la Verdad, Toledo aided Gilbert in earning a WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship opportunity by distracting Ray González, in the process becoming the main heel manager in WWC. Following this event, EWO released another video, in which he was seen in the locker room during La Hora de la Verdad while speaking with Estilo by phone. On February 25, 2012, following more intervention from the IWA, Cotto issued a challenge to end the conflict, an unification match for the EWO World Heavyweight Championship and IWA Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship. Two days later, Toledo was once again featured in an EWO/WWC video, now talking to an unidentified person. On March 1, 2012, the unification challenge was accepted by Pérez and Rondón in a backstage segment. At Clash of the Titans, Bonecrusher defeated Cotto, becoming the Unified World Champion. In this event, La Milicia won the IWA World Tag Team Championship from The Faces of Fear, who pursued revenge after being left belt-less despite defeating the champions. Clash of the Titans concluded when a group of masked wrestlers, known as "Ejercíto Negativo" and that was hinted to be working for Wilfredo Rivera and Alejandro Marrero, interrupted and began feuding with both promotions. Juan Rivera, who had remained uninvolved in the first events of the angle, sided with the IWA upon returning and assaulted EWO employees in the climax of Clash of the Titans. At Payback, the Ejercíto became more intrusive forcing disqualifications in several titular matches between IWA and EWO, as well as taking briefcases with contracts to challenge for the EWO Puerto Rico and IWA Caribbean titles. This event was marked with yet another confrontation between Pérez and Rondón. However, the storyline was halted due to differences between the parts, leading to a backlash that sent the IWA into a period of inactivity and weakened the EWO, which was replaced by the World Wrestling League among the major promotions. The attempt to pursue the EWO-WWC angle officially came to a conclusion in August 2012, when Richard Rondón publicly criticized WWC by claiming that it was interfering with EWO. WWC vs. WWL (2012–2019) . In the final months of 2012, WWL emerged as an international promotion, forming alliances with more than a dozen organizations, including Total Nonstop Action and the National Wrestling Alliance. It also created a local partnership with WWC, booking Carly Colón for its international tour, who proceeded to defeat two established Mexican performers in Blue Demon Jr. and La Parka II as part of his in-ring debut. WWC also reinforced its roster with the absence of direct competition, including offering a full-time contract to Juan Rivera. WWL imposed its presence by importing the champions of other promotions and placing their own over them. Notable examples include the AAA World Trios Champions, Los Psycho Circus, who first lost to WWL World Heavyweight Champion José Torres, Jeff Jarrett & Matt Morgan and were afterwards defeated by Los Boricuas. WWL World Tag Team Champions Eric Pérez and Roberto Rubio defeated the AAA World Tag Team Champions, The Mexican Powers (Crazy Boy and Joe Líder), to retain their titles. Also reorganizing its roster to adopt most of the free agents released by IWA, the promotion held an event titled "Insurrection" and revived the La Rabia angle led by Dennis Rivera. The promotion closed the season at Navidad Corporativa, this time announcing the acquisition of Gilbert Cruz, who was actively involved in a feud for the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship. After WWC failed to secure an appearance by "El Patrón" Alberto del Rio at Aniversario 2014, WWL capitalized by recruiting him for a new event named Guerra de Reyes held on January 5, 2015. The focus of WWL's booking on the rivalry of corporative heel stable known as "The Gentlemen's Club" and the anti-establishment faction of "La Rabia" led to several comparisons with IWA, which came to a peak when the public chanted its name during an event named International Cup 2015, where Savio Vega stated that his desire was to rename the promotion during a skit. The following day, Negrín decided to halt the continuation of the product, citing his frustration with "parasites" in an unscripted announcement. WWC exploited this to acquire John Yurnet, who had been performing as "Mr. 450" and had been involved in a feud for the WWL Americas Championship. Two weeks later, the promotion resumed operations but the roster suffered several changes, including the departure of the Rivera brothers. WWL resumed its feud with WWC, this time by adopting the same timeslot as Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre when introducing a new program titled High Voltage on the local affiliate of Mega TV. On June 25, 2015, WWL announced the signing of Huertas González, who had been previously involved in WWC's main angle as a trainer for Ray González Jr. and who held a backstage role as booker. A response came weeks later, when the father and son tag team of Germán and Alex Figueroa left the promotion and appeared at Summer Madness 2015. Shortly afterwards, WWL introduced the rivalry between promotions to its script, acquiring Ash Rubinsky from WWC and placing him in a new stable named "El Consejo" (lit. "The Council"). The second member of this group was revealed on August 2, 2015, when David Montes made his WWL debut after months of making sporadic appearances for the former. In anticipation to Noche de Campeones 2015, Joe Bravo made his return to WWC and left the WWL Americas Championship vacant, also adopting the epithet "Gentleman" in reference to his previous involvement with The Gentlemen's Club faction. In August 2015, WWL published a segment implying that El Consejo had leader which featured an unknown wrestler impersonating Ray González and congratulating the stable for what they had done. A rebuttal came in the form of a video where González urged those involved to "abandon [that] rubbish" which was followed by the announcement that he was now the legitimate owner of a fraction of the promotion. At an event titled Sin Piedad, WWL introduced another parody group named La Verdadera Revolución, which wore the same outfit as WWC's masked trio La Revolución. A change in administration led to WWL adopting a different creative approach and dropping the confrontational booking. The promotion ran under this name until a hiatus brought forth by Hurricane Maria, afterwards, it was rebranded as La Liga. Return of IWA-PR, LAWE (2019–present) On October 24, 2018, Savio Vega announced the return of the original incarnation of IWA-PR, with its return show taking place in 2019. After informally working together for more than a year, the promotion began an inter-promotional angle in February 2020. However, the onset of the COVID-19 plunged all promotions into a prolonged inactivity, leading to the end of the storyline and the closure of La Liga. IWA-PR returned to action in early 2021, now allied with Major League Wrestling (MLW). A smaller promotion, CWA, secured a television deal with TeleOnce and held events for its show, Acción Vibrante. As the industry languished, Orlando and Eddie Colón began a promotion known as Latin American Wrestling Entertainment (LAWE) along Mike Chioda in March 2021. The group tried to purchase WWC, but the move ultimately failed when Victor Jovica refused to sell. Orlando Colón was the only member of the family that chose not to return to WWC when it reactivated, choosing to continue the project. LAWE held its first event in October 2021 and by February 2022 had reached a deal to air its show Adrenalina in WKAQ-TV subsidiary Punto 2, with odd appearances in the main channel. ==Independent circuit==

During the 2000s the wrestling industry saw a notable increase of independent promotions, which has led to the establishment of more than forty different companies throughout the years. There is little cooperation between them and there is no established territorial divisions, most of the time these serve a local fan base and often close after few cards. The storyline continuity in these companies is erratic due to the lack of legal contracts, free flow of talent and reliance on guest wrestlers from the major promotions. NWS continued to expand by leasing a segment in WWC's Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre and even staged an inter-promotional angle in which Sewell unsuccessfully represented them against Carly Colón in the main event of WWC's Aniversario 2005. NWS, who had previously worked a brief alliance with IWA, also received a loan of the "T.N.T." character from WWC and convinced Adrian Cortés to perform it. The promotion closed on September 10, 2006, but part of its roster managed to establish themselves as international wrestlers, with José Torres and John Yurnet working in events for WWE and TNA. The Caribbean Wrestling Federation, World Wrestling Revolution, New Wrestling Generation, EWA, WWO, WWG, G.W.W., SCW, Puerto Rico Wrestling Alliance and PW have since continued to stage cards in this region. The company continued this model after being reorganized into the International Gladiators Wrestling Alliance. The east is by far the less populated region, serving as host to the Xtreme Wrestling Alliance, New Faces of Wrestling, World Professional Wrestling and Championship Wrestling Factory. This is one of the few instances in which one of the major promotions has directly referenced and acknowledged the independent circuit besides their brief alliances with the larger ones such as NPW and EWO. Both PRWA and EWO mocked the angle, responding with comedic characters "El Jibarito de Jayuya" Pepe Huertas and "El Inveider", both of which openly mocked WWC's booking and lack of a structure to develop younger talent. ==Impact and influence==

Puerto Rican wrestlers abroad After Miguel Pérez Sr. established himself as one half of the first tag team champions in what is now known as WWE by winning the NWA Capitol Tag Team Championship along Antonino Rocca, several wrestlers have followed in his footsteps. The tag team of Pérez and Rocca never lost a match in NWA Capitol/WWWF and remain the only undefeated champions in the promotion's history, also being the best-selling act in Madison Square Garden between 1957 and 1960. The most successful among Puerto Rican wrestlers performing exclusively in foreign territory was Pedro Morales, who began his career by winning heavyweight and tag team championships in promotions such as Worldwide Wrestling Associates, the American Wrestling Alliance, NWA Mid-Pacific Promotions and NWA San Francisco. Morales' biggest success came in WWE's predecessor, the World Wide Wrestling Federation, where he became the first wrestler to win the Triple Crown Championship by gathering the WWE Championship, WWE Intercontinental Championship and WWE World Tag Team Championship. During the course of his career, he wrestled several of the best performers of his time earning wins over the likes of Blue Demon, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. Morales was the first Latin American to win a recognized world heavyweight championship and to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. As a midcard talent, he gathered wins over the likes of Pancho Valdéz, Mr. Fuji, Joe Turco, Frank Valois, Tito Torres and Lou Albano, also being involved in lasting series against Joseph "El Olympico" Corea, Johnny Rodz and Tony Altimore. After The Invaders became a four-man stable in WWC, they also performed in the United States, capturing the NWA San Francisco Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship twice. The team eventually moved to WWF, where Roberto Soto joined Huertas-González. After this initial run, the team challenged The Wild Samoans for the WWF World Tag Team Championship, winning by disqualification. Victor Rivera also experienced success in this division. A perennial tag team performer, also winning the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship, NWA Los Angeles World Tag Team Championship, WWA Americas Heavyweight Championship and WWA World Tag Team Championship during his career, he first won the WWF International Tag Team Championship along Tony Marino and the WWF World Tag Team Championship with Dominic DeNucci five years later. In the cruiserweight division, José Estrada Sr. also held the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship during this timeframe. He also formed part of the lesser Los Conquistadores tag team. The other half of Los Conquistadores was José Luis Rivera, who was also part of a team known as The Shadows. Six years after Morales retired, Juan Rivera joined the promotion first known as "Kwang" and later as "Savio Vega". Despite not being booked to win a championship during his run, the creative team used him to work with wrestlers that were being pushed, which led to him being credited the first singles losses in the WWE careers of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. During the late 1990s, the involvement in WWE was limited to a stable known as Los Boricuas, which participated in a storyline where it feuded against the Nation of Domination and Disciples of Apocalypse. This marked the WWF debut of Jesús Castillo Jr. and José Estrada. The team feud concluded with Rivera defeating the leaders of the other two factions. Shortly afterwards, the group dissolved into two tag teams and was released. The first member was Carlos Colón Sr., who first worked for the promotion when it was known as WWWF and performed one last time at the 1993 Royal Rumble, being later recognized by his induction into the Hall of Fame. However, the most successful member has been Carly Colón, who debuted by becoming the first wrestler to win the WWE United States Championship in his official SmackDown brand debut. The following year, he became the first wrestler to win a title on two debuts within the promotion, winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship in his first appearance at the Raw brand. On August 18, 2008, Eddie Colón joined his brother in the WWE after becoming one half of the first winning the Florida Championship Wrestling Florida Tag Team Champions along Eric Pérez. The brothers were joined in a team known as The Colóns, became the first team to hold the WWE Tag Team Championship and World Tag Team Championship at the same time, making them the first Unified WWE Tag Team Champions. The following year, Eric Pérez made his SmackDown debut after spending four years in development territories, during which he also won the Deep South Wrestling Tag Team Championship and FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship. In November 2011, Orlando Colón was promoted to SmackDown after winning the Florida Tag Team Championship, eventually joining his cousin Eddie to form a team known as Primo & Epico, which went on to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. Prior to this, Carly Colón and Ray González were undefeated in the short-lived X Wrestling Federation, which had been established with the intention to directly compete with WWE. The promotion also signed José Torres and Germán Figueroa in 2007, but both were released before being making an appearance in the main brands. In 2002, Germán Figueroa joined the National Wrestling Alliance's Total Nonstop Action Wrestling while working for the IWA. He went on to be involved in a main event feud with Jeff Jarrett and subsequently won the NWA World Tag Team Championship with D'Lo Brown. Four years later, the promotion held a show in Puerto Rico, where they announced the signing of Banderas, who appeared in a series of events between 2007 and 2008 as "Judas Mesias". Since this initial incursion into the market, TNA has established several talent exchange programs in an attempt to establish the company locally. Their first associate was the IWA, which received Samoa Joe and Booker T, both of whom went on to lose cleanly to Carlos Cotto in challenges for the IWA Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship. Afterwards, the WWL pursued a similar arrangement, in which Bobby Roode, James Storm, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian were lent for its debut show. Months later, Perfect Stars Wrestling did the same contracting Robbie E. After NWA and TNA concluded their working relationship, Germán Figueroa continued to work with them at NWA On Fire, becoming the NWA North American Champion and holding it along the NWA On Fire Heavyweight Championship. Between 2007 and 2008, the IWA was briefly affiliated to the NWA. As a result, on October 14, 2007, the promotion sanctioned a match to determine the first contenders for the NWA World Tag Team Championship, where Carlos Cotto & Freddy Lozada defeated The Naturals, Ricky Vega & Shane Sewell and Tim Arson & Big Vito. The challenge was announced to be against "The Real American Heroes" Karl Anderson and Joey Ryan and scheduled to take place in Las Vegas, however, the title opportunity was never redeemed. Nicknamed "The King of Death Matches", Meléndez's longevity was recognized in 2007 by WWE Magazine who proclaimed him the oldest active performer in the world, a distinction that he held for four more years until his official retirement. After becoming the International Wrestling Revolution Group 2009 Rey del Ring and winning the IWRG Intercontinental Tag Team Championship in Mexico, Enrique "Ricky" Cruz joined Torres in Gladiadores Aztecas de Lucha Libre Internacional, where the team won the promotion's tag team championship. The Dagger Bros. relocated to Texas after performing for PRWA, IWA, WWC and NWS, establishing themselves as a team in the Texas Wrestling Association (TWA), NWA 360, NWA Branded Outlaw Wrestling among several other promotions. On December 15, 2012, "Los Fugitivos" Rivera and Marrero defeated the Texas Tornados to win the TWA World Tag Team Championship at EWO's X-Mas Aggression. The following year, The Dagger Bros. won these championships, this time over "The Arab Crimson Dynasty" Al Farat and Akbar Farat, also holding Texas Wrestling Entertainment's titles. Cosme won the WSX Championship in his only match for MTV's Wrestling Society X and became the Lucha Underground Champion in a similar effort by El Rey Network. There are rare instances in which a wrestler born in Puerto Rico was introduced to the business and found success before performing locally. Jonathan Figueroa, known as Amazing Red, became the youngest wrestler to win the TNA X Division Championship when he was 21 years old, a record that has stood for 21 years. Joe "Hercules" Gómez was born in the municipality of Juncos, eventually moving to Pennsylvania and establishing himself in the World Xtreme Wrestling, where his performance earned him the promotion's International and Heavyweight Championships as well as a local "Independent Wrestler of the Year" award. The Independent Wrestling Federation's Wrestling School exports its students to Puerto Rico, Japan and Canada after graduating, while they also recruit some local talents such as Antonio Rivera. Due to the cultural and language similarities of Puerto Rico and the other Latin American countries, several local wrestlers have toured the region. Among the most successful is Cosme, who after joining Lucha Libre AAA World Wide in 2005 has performed under the characters of "Muerte Cibernética", "Asesor Cibernético", "Ricky Banderas" and "El Mesias". During his initial run, he won the IWC World Heavyweight Championship and the GPCW SUPER-X Monster Championship. Subsequently, Cosme won the tournament to crown the first AAA Mega Champion. Since then he has won it a total of four times, more than any other wrestler. Besides this, Cosme won several tournaments during this run, including the 2008 Copa Antonio Peña, the 2010 Lucha Premier and the 2013 Rey de Reyes. Despite this success he was not the first to win a championship in the highly-nationalistic Mexican circuit, Johhny "Invader III" Rivera defeated Aníbal to win the Universal Wrestling Association's World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship in 1984. Juan Rivera has also won titles in several of the region's countries. In Panama, he performed for Revolution X-treme Wrestling and won a battle royal to determine the first RXW World Heavyweight Champion. Parallel to this, Rivera wrestled in Wrestling Alliance Revolution of Ecuador, winning the WAR World Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships. Rivera also held the Dominican Wrestling Entertainment Tag Team Championship along Miguel Pérez. This particular promotion has hosted several Puerto Rican wrestlers, with Rico Casanova and Joe Bravo holding the DWE World Heavyweight Championship and DWE National Dominican Championship. Among the first to establish a career in this country was Edwin Ramos Vargas (also known as Chamaco Vargas and Puño de Hierro) from Maricao, Puerto Rico, who became one of the main performers during the 1980s, feuding with Jack Veneno, Relámpago Hernández, Astroman and most notably Hugo Savinovich (unmasking him), while also winning Dominicana de Espectáculo's Light Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships. In 1990, the Dominican Wrestling Federation was founded and relied on talent from Puerto Rico to promote its cards, among which was Carlos Colón Sr. and Jesús Castillo. Another Puerto Rican wrestler that moved to the Dominican Republic, Carlos "Livewire" Dávila, participated in Campeones del Ring: Hacedores de Proezas, a multi-promotional event held in Bolivia on June 25, 2013, where he won the DWE World Heavyweight Championship. In 2003, Edwin "Cobra" Vázquez held an undefeated streak in the Dominican Wrestling Association. In Peru, Germán Figueroa became the first foreign wrestler to win the Leader Wrestling Association's Maximum Heavyweight Championship. Besides the frequent tours to Japan, some talent has established permanent residence in Japan, which resulted in more success as Gaijin (lit. "non-Japanese") performers. When Quinones left IWA Japan following monetary disagreements, he brought some of the local talent with him in his return to FMW. Along "The Headhunters" Víctor and Manuel Santiago he created a stable known as the Puerto Rican Army which antagonized both FMW and W*ING. The group served as FMW's main heel team during its run. Backstage, Quiñones became FMW's booker and was responsible for contacting foreign wrestlers. In tag team competition, "The Headhunters" won the FMW Six Man Street Fight Tag Team Championship and the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship. The team went on to win the IWA Japan World Tag Team Championship. Rodríguez Moreno also accomplished this feat by winning the titles along Tim Patterson. The team's decline began when it lost the money previously won to FMW in a "yen in a pole match". Known as "Homicide", he is a multiple-time Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Champion and has held over twenty titles, including the NWA and TNA World Tag Team Championships along fellow second-generation performer, Shawn Hernandez, as part of the Latin American X-Change stable. This group was composed in its entirety by wrestlers with ties to the archipelago, with Konnan and Ricky Vega also tracing their lineage to Puerto Rico. The most successful second-generation female performer has been Lisa Marie Varon. Known as "Victoria" and "Tara", she has won a world championship on separate different occasions, being a two-time WWE Women's Champion and five-time TNA Knockouts Champion. AJ Lee followed the same path, first winning the FCW Divas Championship (while working under a developmental contract) and the WWE Divas Championship on June 16, 2013. Thea Trinidad also experienced some success in while working as "Rosita" in TNA, holding the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship once. Like Varon, Reby Sky was brought into professional wrestling after gaining notoriety in another discipline, this time modeling. Others, such as Ivelisse Vélez and Rodríguez where introduced to the business early in their lives, continuing to practice it until gaining recognition. Vélez in particular was signed to a WWE developmental contract and appeared in NXT, also participating in the WWE Tough Enough and TNA's Gut Check challenges. Afterwards, she won Pro Wrestling Revolution's Women's Championship and Shine Wrestling's Championship. Vélez was the second Puerto Rican to compete in Tough Enough, since Nidia Guenard won the first edition in 2001. "Puerto Rican" as a gimmick Ever since Morales proved to be a major draw with the diaspora in New York, promoters have kept the "ethnic champion" character as a mainstay. A marketing strategy that was once bluntly described by Pro Wrestling Ohio's Walter Klasinski, who stated "Are you Latino? That's a gimmick. People will love that. You can come out to Latino music. We'll drape you in a Puerto Rican flag". In the Tri-State area, wrestlers such as "The Boricua Beast" Dan Maff, "The Boricua Badass" Jorge Luis Rivera, Eddie Kingston, "The Boricua Princess" Amber Rodríguez and Astro Boricua adopted "Nuyorican" gimmicks throughout the 2000s, some of the playing a significant role in the popularization of the practice in areas such as The Bronx. From its inception Fighting Spirit Wrestling focused on selling their product to members of the diaspora, featuring performers such as "The Puerto Rican Prodigy" Ángel Ortíz and "The S.A.T." Joel and Jose Maximo, also crowning Gilbert Cruz as their first heavyweight champion. The Independent Wrestling Federation, based in New Jersey, pushed Antonio Rivera by booking him as a Junior Heavyweight and Tag Team Champion. Jamin Olivencia began his career in performing for in this area for Empire State Wrestling, where he won the tag team championship. He eventually moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling, becoming the 11th OVW Triple Crown Champion. Based in one of the states that saw an immigration of workers after Operation Bootstrap, New England Championship Wrestling also created its own set of characters in the form of "Boriqua" and "Puerto Rican Brother". In Florida, the Independent Wrestling Council has pushed the gimmick of "El Borincano", booking it for the IWC Tag Team Championship. World Xtreme Wrestling, with bases in Florida and Pennsylvania, has exploited this practice creating several gimmicks such as "Puerto Rican Chile" and "The Puerto Rican Ground Hog" (collectively known as "The Latin Hit Squad") and placing them in matches for the WXW tag team and hardcore championships in order to appeal to their Hispanic fan base. "The Latin Hit Squad" has also held the tag team championships of The National Wrestling League and NWA Liberty States under similar characters. Frequently, wrestlers with no direct relation have been billed as "Boricuas". MTV's Lucha Libre USA gave the characters of "San Juan Kid" and "PR Flyer" to Damon Kendrick and Louis Lyndon, naming the team "PR Powers". This foreign heel character has become increasingly popular in Mexico, where it is influenced by the notorious Puerto Rico-Mexico boxing rivalry, which has produced dozens of high-profile matches for boxing world championships. However, despite the involvement of several Puerto Ricans in Mexican lucha libre, the gimmick has been usually handed to wrestlers of other nationalities. Among these are the Legión de Puerto Rico, which featured Cuban-born David Sierra, who received a heavy push performing as the masked "El Boricua" and his tag team partner, Miami-based Ricky Santana. The "El Boricua" character was so popular as a rudo, that it was adopted in 2000 by Víctor Manuel Góngora Cisneros, who was entering the final stages of his career and sought a fresher character in order to compensate for his declining physical performance. This move proved successful, granting him a final run as a main event heel before losing the mask. However, the luchador that was responsible for openly adopting the "nationality shift" trend was Norberto Salgado, known as Pierroth Jr. or Comandante Pierroth. Who after wrestling for WWC and performing in a feud with González which resulted in losing his mask a second time, returned to Mexico. In 2000, he entered a period of inactivity that lasted two years due to health concerns. In 2002, Salgado emerged from this forced retirement and unexpectedly adopted the gimmick of a self-proclaimed Puerto Rican known as Pierroth de Puerto Rico. The stable was named El Comando Caribeño and was commonly referred to as "Los Boricuas", despite being formed by Panamian Veneno, Canadian Al Barone and Mexicans El Gran Markus Jr. (Candido Robles Cruz), Violencia (Bias Columba), Killer (Luis Vera Rodríguez) among others. Dominican Rafael Herbert Reyes was introduced to the team as Salgado's supposed son, "Hijo del Pierroth". The only Puerto Rican member that the group had during its run was Julio Estrada, who had previously worked with Salgado in Puerto Rico and defended the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship over Blue Demon Jr. and Poder Mechita. El Comando Caribeño soon established its presence as CMLL's main villainous stable. He also expelled Violencia and Gran Markus Jr. winning luchas de apuestas over them as well. This was followed by the introduction of a group known as El Nuevo Comando Caribeño. Like the first version of the stable, it featured wrestlers that claimed to be Puerto Rican despite being mostly formed by Mexican wrestlers, with masked luchadora Zeuxis being its only member born in Puerto Rico. After Salgado decided to stop supporting other "Pierroths", Reyes dropped the Hijo del Pierroth gimmick while retaining his character, now as "Pierko el Boricua" and winning his first mask afterwards. Despite losing the mask in 2009, Reyes readopted the character the following year while wrestling for MTV's Masked Warriors. In the United States the role of the "rudo Puerto Rican" has also become widespread in cities with large Mexican populations. The trend has also been scarcely used in locations with large Puerto Rican populations, such as Orlando's Pro Wrestling Fit USA. However, Californian promotion Revolution Pro Wrestling deviated from this formula, imbuing the fan favorite character of "Mr. Excitement" to a Puerto Rican and even booking him for the PWR Mexican Lucha Libre Heavyweight Championship. He was billed as a "giant killer" and continued to have success in NWA California, where he won the Patriot Cup. Likewise, Ecuadorian wrestler Pablo Márquez adopted the ring name of El Puerto Riqueño or El Puerto Ricano while performing as a fan favorite in ECW. There he challenged for the ECW Television Championship on several occasions under this gimmick, but was not able to win the belt. The Puerto Rico vs. Mexico rivalry has even been employed by promotions in neutral states, such as North Connecticut's Power Pro Wrestling. Sports and politics Due to its popularity, professional wrestling has made occasional crossovers with other aspects of Puerto Rican culture. During the 1980s, when it rivaled legitimate sports such as boxing, basketball and baseball, it competed with them for some of the large venues. Capitol Sports took advantage of this in 1984, when Colón wrestled former heavyweight boxing world champion Joe Frazier in a match that served as a scripted predecessor to modern mixed martial arts. The event was worked with a round format and featured Frazier scoring two knockdowns in the first before Colón won by pinning him in the fifth. Frazier also served as the referee of a series of matches where Colón wrestled Goodish and Ayala. In 1990, Héctor Camacho worked as a manager in Capitol Sports Promotions. After years without the involvement of a boxer in WWC, Félix "Tito" Trinidad was named the referee in a match between Ray González and Orlando Colón at Aniversario 2009. Carlos Cotto, a member of the prominent Cotto boxing family, made his professional boxing debut in 2013 after concluding his amateur career with a record of 1–0 (1 knockout). On February 23, 2013, Cotto became the first wrestler to fight in a boxing match and then perform in a wrestling event during the same night. Cotto repeated this feat months later and even referenced it by defeating Samsom Walker in a scripted "boxing gloves" match for the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship. Politics as an aspect that involves a large amount of publicity, has also gathered the attention of professional wrestlers. In consecutive elections, Juan Rivera has run as a write-in candidate for the Governorship of Puerto Rico for the unregistered and tongue-in-cheek Partido Luchador Puertorriqueño. On the other hand, Dennis Rivera is a member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, who has served as an activist for free university education. In 2010, Laureano announced that he intended to run as senator at-large for the New Progressive Party. He obtained the approval of the party's leadership and even promoted his candidature in WWC cards. However, after several months he discontinued this campaign. He subsequently stated that he did so after witnessing how the party worked, criticizing that it benefited the higher classes and noted that he had changed his political affiliation to the Popular Democratic Party in 2012. Laureano later actively supported that party's candidate for the mayor of the municipality of Bayamón, Darlene Reyes. Another wrestler that became involved in political campaign was Huertas-González, who supported the PNP's candidate, Jorge Santini, in his unsuccessful bid to retain the San Juan mayorship against Carmen Yulín. Wrestling had been used before as a form of entertainment during political campaigns, with the performance of the Jose and Julio Estrada as "Mr. PPD" and "Mr.PNP" in 1988. Economic impact Professional wrestling is considered the highest source of income in the sports entertainment industry in Puerto Rico; a minor industry within the island's tertiary sector in its overall economy. Historically, the assistance rate of the events has been irregular, reaching high and low-points thought the last four decades. During the peak of CSP's monopoly of the business, the promotion experienced a degree of unparalleled success. In 1984, the company established the assistance record for a single event, performing before a crowd of 34,383 at Hiram Bithorn Stadium. The epitome of this success came at Aniversario 1986, where CSP held events in three different venues at once and sold 43,000 tickets. Derivative products Professional wrestling has been a common target for comedic parody in Puerto Rican television. Sunshine Logroño was the first to introduce a character based on the practice, introducing Vitin Alicea. The character was portrayed as a gym owner, trainer, wrestling manager and Colón's "biggest fan". The segment was heavily used to promote WWC's events, with some of the heel wrestlers assaulting him for comedic purpose. However, it also featured some of Alicea's students, fictional professional wrestlers King Cabra and Culebro Mendoza. Among the performers that visited the segment were Ray González, Dutch Mantell, Victor Rodríguez, Carlos Colón Sr. and Carly Colón, while he also became involved in actual wrestling cards. In the 2000s, comedian Miguel Morales hosted a segment covering fictional promotion, the Estudio69 Wrestling Federation (WW69) as part of his program. The show featured a character named Ito Rolón, named after Colón and Trinidad, who was portrayed as the perennial EWF Intergalactic Champion and who promoted his faux action figure line. A controversial figure as the host of the defunct SuperXclusivo, Santarosa performed as a heel and lost the match by stoppage due to blood loss. Besides television, the practice has influenced other aspects of popular culture, with the notable example being the popularization of the phrase Bregando Chicky Starr (lit. "Dealing like Chicky Starr") when referring to illegal or otherwise immoral acts. In the early 2000s, the University of Puerto Rico held a series of academic congresses that discussed the practice of professional wrestling an its impact in society, which included the participation of Laureano himself. A less common form of influence involves a wrestler creating an unsanctioned championship and borrowing the name of a local promotion to bestow some credibility upon it. Pierroth was responsible for the creation of two fictional WWC titles. The first was the "WWC Intercontinental Championship", which he brought to Puerto Rico and later went on to become the IWRG Championship after being unified in a match against Pirata Morgan in Mexico. ==See also==