World Wrestling Council

Death of Bruiser Brody (1988)

On July 16, 1988, American star Bruiser Brody was stabbed at the locker room of the Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium in Bayamón, prior to a show. Brody died from the stab wounds later on that night. The man who stabbed him was fellow wrestler and booker José Huertas-González, known as Invader I. The two men had a real-life feud that led to a confrontation in the locker room that concluded with Brody receiving stab wounds to his chest and stomach. The only one to witness the series of events that ended in the death was WWC wrestler Tony Atlas. Atlas said he saw both men enter the shower area of the locker room (nobody actually heard or saw what went on in the shower). Atlas claims he looked over to Carlos Colón, and then heard sounds and saw Brody hunched over with González brandishing a bloody knife about to finish Brody off. Atlas and Colón rushed to keep them apart along with several angry wrestlers.

After Brody's death, and the negative publicity that followed, WWC went through some difficult years. Mr. Jose Huertas-Gonzalez was acquitted by a jury after he testified in his own defense, and claimed self-defense. The witnesses who were supposed to testify about the murder claimed that they did not get their summons until after the trial was over.

Rebrand (1990s)

By the mid-1990s, with the NWA territorial system largely dismantled, the organization changed its official name to World Wrestling Council in order to proclaim its regional titles as world titles. Women also began to have an ever-increasing presence in the organization during that decade. WWC also experienced other problems, issues with immigration concerning the visas of Mexican wrestlers Villano III, Pierroth Jr., El Texano and Jerry Estrada while working an invasion angle with Asistencia Asesoría y Administración. On March 9, 1999, Jovica and Colón registered World Wrestling Council, Inc. at the Puerto Rico Department of State as president/agent and vice-president respectively.

WWC vs. IWA-PR

With the turn of the century came some changes that troubled the franchise. A promotion called International Wrestling Association (IWA-PR), promoted by Víctor Quiñones, became WWC's biggest competitor when it made an alliance with wrestling giant the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) which in turn brought American superstars to IWA-PR.

WWC adopted a strict protocol of expelling problematic fans, such as those that threw objects to the ring, mimicking rival IWA. The promotion also used strategies outside the ring to undermine its competition, including tipping the Treasury Department when other promotions held events.

In 2001, WWC began a collaboration with the XWF, which saw Ray González and Carly Colón wrestle for the nascent promotion. Backstage footage of the tapings Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida were intermingled with an angle involving Barrabás and La Familia del Milenio. The angle would have led to a match between González and Hulk Hogan, with interactions between both being aired on Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre. Carlos Colón negotiated this participation, but it ultimately failed to materialize, the XWF stagnated as it failed to sell television rights for its content. Hogan himself left and returned to WWE.

On July 12, 2002, Colón, Sr. was involved in a discussion with Kobbo Santarrosa, host of Televicentro's SuperXclusivo show. Five days later, there were reports that the incident had been adapted into an angle.

Parallel to this, the promotion faced issues with the regularity of payment of several wrestlers, who failed to attend a card held on July 17, 2002. After three weeks of no-showing his scheduled dates, maineventer Ray González left the company and began negotiations with the IWA. On July 25, 2002, it was reported that WWC responded to González leaving by bringing in wrestlers from abroad, in particular from Florida, and had completed the arrangements to begin the airing of the XWF tapings as a tandem to WWC at Televicentro.

On October 13, 2002, both promotions announced a card to be held on the same date and venue in Cayey venue for October 18. Ultimately, IWA presented its event, while WWC did not hold one on that day. On October 20, 2002, Televicentro aired Invasion 2002: El Especial en Vivo, a special show broadcast live as part of the interpromotional angle between WWC and XWF. WWC Continued promoting its product in Televicentro's programming, this time as part of a multi-program collaboration that began with segments in a show named Zúmbate where a hidden camera prank was played on Laureano. The angle was continued at SuperXclusivo, where Colón and Santarosa reached a truce of sorts, but Laureano interrupted and argued with both. A wrestling special was then aired in Zúmbate, where several members of the roster performed. In the same program, three masked wrestlers that were supposedly randomly recruited were revealed to be Santarrosa, Carly and Eddie Colón, which led to Laureano attacking all three.

On November 14, 2002, Laureano participated in another Televicentro show, this time Club Sunshine where he confronted Sunshine Logrono while the latter was performing under the wrestling-related character of Vitin Alicea. On November 18, 2002, the reintroduction of the Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship was announced. Entering into December, WWC led IWA in rating after the latter experienced a drop. Further expanding into the mainstream programming, Carly and Eddie Colón were also featured in a commercial for the ACE brand.

In April 2003, a lawsuit against González led to the wrestler receiving a subpoena from a Marshall in an IWA show. On April 21, 2003, it was made public that El Nene left the promotion with the Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship in his possession. In May 2003, Santarosa was involved in another angle with WWC, this time with Alvarez. WWC announced this month that as part of an agreement with Memphis Wrestling, a tournament to crown the tag team champions of that promotion would be held in Puerto Rico, though no more details where unveiled.

In May 2003, Juan Rivera and Eddie Colón encountered each other in a restaurant, entering into an argument about the practices and product of their respective promotions. The IWA turned this into an angle, where they belittled Colón as a "fan" of Armando Gorbea. On May 29, 2003, a copy of a letter that WWC sent to Telemundo in response for its use of the name "TNT" was made public. On June 1, 2003, it was revealed that the tournament for the titles announced weeks before was a plot device so that a new set of XWF World Tag Team Champions could be crowned in a phantom change.

During the summer of 2003, the weekly edition of Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre suffered a modification, after Joe Don Smith left due to economic differences and the section that he hosted, Ringside con Joe Don Smith, was removed. A new section with Pantojas, titled Cara a cara con El Profe was soon introduced. On July 17, 2003, Thunder and Lightning appeared in Club Sunshine in order to promote Aniversario 2003. When Jose Huertas González joined the IWA, WWC retaliated by airing matches involving Bruiser Brody. The promotion escalated their attack by airing a match between both.

WWC continued trying to make crossovers by making moves to book Gino "The Punisher" Rochell, who was scheduled to an MMA event titled Tatami Tournament Championship 4 which was ultimately postponed and rescheduled to March 6, 2004. On September 6, 2003, the promotion brought Logrono as a special manager for an event, continuing its long-running collaboration with the WAPA-TV producer.

Colón as promoter of WWE

In early 2004, it was reported that WWC was interested in selling a fraction of its stocks to an investor, with Panda Energy and Jimmy Hart emerging as potential buyers. Despite the latter's involvement, any future plans to relaunch XWF and work another joint angle were placed on hold. The continuation of the working relationship was teased in a backstage segment aired weeks later. As part of these conversations, Hart attended a WWC card held on February 21, 2004, bringing a group of potential investors with him.

On March 23, 2004, WWC contracted Dutch Mantell as its new head booker. He was also stated to be involved in the ongoing conversations between Panda Energy and WWC. Soon afterwards it was reported that Eddie Colón had been chosen as Puerto Rico's representative in NWA-TNA's Americas X Cup tournament. However, his participation was postponed. The agreement brought further advantages, such as the move of NWA-TNA wrestler Abyss from IWA to WWC, and the arrival of Ron Killings. The IWA responded by contacting NWA-TNA and prohibiting the use of contracted wrestler Apolo, while they had a working relationship with WWC.

On April 1, 2004, the promotion debuted a new segment in its programming named El Sandungueo Club hosted by Jose Rivera, Jr., which included invitees from other fields such as urban artists. However, the initiative was short-lived, as Rivera, Jr. was forced to leave Puerto Rico to attend personal matters. Soon afterwards, El Wizard Analiza with narrator Antonio Montesinos (better known by his ringname El Wizard), took prominence. The promotion made other changes to their programming, such as airing an hour long special dedicated to classic matches. The promotion's association with NWA-TNA suffered a setback when WWE did not allow Carly Colón to wrestle Abyss, citing that it could be seen as an interpromotional match. During this timeframe, the promotion also held a card in the establishment of one of its long-time sponsors, Playa 79. The rivalry between promotions also resulted in occasional confrontations to ensure the availability of a venue.

In May 2004, the schedule of a local AAA baseball league and rain, the promotion decided to enter a brief hiatus until June. During this timeframe, there was speculation that the promotion could close, with contracted wrestlers reporting internal instability. These concerns were exacerbated when Mantell left his post as head booker and returned to work full time with NWA-TNA in anticipation of the first editions of TNA Impact!, only collaborating with WWC in the booking of Abyss. Several talents decided to leave. The promotion responded by revamping its image, debuting a new logo on June 1, 2004. However, the assistance diminished and, combined with other unforeseen problems, this led to a series of cancelled cards. The promotion resumed operations and returned to Trinidad & Tobago, eventually recovering some ground by having a now-heel Carly wrestle his brother at Aniversario. The passing of tropical storm Jeanne over Puerto Rico in September 2004 affected the organization of cards during this month due to a week-long blackout. Another cancellation was forced by the low turnout of a card that was scheduled the night of the return to action of boxing world champion Felix Trinidad against Ricardo Mayorga.

During the offseason, the promotion modified the horary of their shows to accommodate special programming in the channel. In January 2005, WWC was forced to replace Abyss in his cards after the wrestler requested a release from TNA.

In June 2005, it was announced that WWC would be involved in the production of a CD and DVD. That same week, it was announced that WWC would pay homage to Bruiser Brody in an eponymous cup. On July 7, 2005, WWC announced that they had reached an exclusivity contract with WWE and would collaborate in the staging of their Raw Live presentations. In August 2005, it was reported that WWE had further plans for both IWA and WWC.

NWS partnership (2005–2006)

During the final quarter of 2005, WWC entered into an alliance with emergent promotion New Wrestling Stars (NWS), which had just broken a working relationship with the IWA, and scheduled February 5, 2006 as tentative end of the alliance. Both promotions would collaborate in an angle where José Luis Rivera, José Chaparro and Cesar Vargas wanted to buy WWC, but were declined, beginning an inter-promotional war. Aniversario 2005 was a collaborative effort and featured a series between wrestlers of both promotions that was tied until the last match, where Carlito was booked to take the win for WWC by defeating Shane Sewell. In March it was announced that more wrestlers from NWA-TNA would be arriving.

In April, a fraction of NWS' directives split to form World Wrestling Stars (WWS). The promotion also lost its television spot to this new splinter. On April 19, 2006, the remaining representatives of NWS held a reunion to attend the crisis and decided to continue operating under a new agreement with WWC, which allowed them to replace the lost show with a half-hour segment in Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre titled NWS Report. The promotion also allowed some of its talent to participate in a charity show organized by New Wrestling Generation (NWG).

During the last week of June, German Figueroa left the IWA for NWS despite remaining under contract, making an appearance in one of its cards. Victor Jovica decided not to air the segment in the NWS Report in order to avoid legal repercussions. The following week, NWS was forced to cancel a show due to a problem with WWC' s promoter, beginning an internal conflict between both promotions. On July 8, 2006, it was reported that NWS and WWC had finished their agreement, cancelling the airing of the NWS Report in Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre.

Collaborations

On July 9, 2006, it was reported that the IWA-PR and WWC administrations had discussed the possibility of cooperating with each other, even discussing a potential inter-promotional angle. Universal champion Black Pain made several appearances for NWG while the independent promotion responded in kind by dedicating a cup to Carlos Colón.

WWC also organized a softball team, which participated in games in communities. In late October, Colón was involved in a legitimate confrontation with Huertas at Super Xclusivo, which WWC repurposed for promotion. In November the promotion participated in activities to celebrate Children's Day.

That same month, WWC was involved in a dispute with independent promotion PRWA, which claimed that Colón, Sr. and Jovica prevented the participation of Eddie Colón in one of its cards. On November 24, 2006, it was reported that WWC was expanding its programming to Supercanal 33 in the Dominican Republic, giving it more exposition in the United States since the channel retransmits there. In December 2006, the promotion negotiated the acquisition of several talents, including foreigners Scott Hall and Vampiro. This last return was coordinated by Mario Savoldi. However, the first was preemptively removed from promotional material after suddenly cutting communications.

La Rabia, heist of the Universal Heavyweight Championship (2007–2008)

In February 2007, WWC aired a special three hour edition of Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre. During this month, the promotion also lost one of its foreign wrestlers in Tim Arson, but evaluated Psychosis and Lita. For Honor vs. Traicion, the promotion brought back Dutch Mantell. Jovica was also involved in the promotion of a Monster Truck show where Jerry Lawler was involved. In March, WWC began working parallel angles in Dominican television to promote a series of shows to be held there. In March, Savoldi and WWC's administration were involved in a conflict and Billy Kidman and Psychosis, who had been announced to appear in cards during this month, jumped to IWA when the agent joined that promotion. In May, WWC announced that they would host their Aniversario event at the Jose Miguel Agrelot Coliseum. In June, the promotion was involved in negotiations with several wrestlers, including Ray González and the tag team Thunder and Lightning. These would include the negotiations surrounding an ongoing lawsuit that Jovica filed against González when he first left to the IWA. During this time, Carmen Calixto served a promoter for WWC. Besides securing the appearance of Scott Hall, WWC also negotiated with TNA talents, leading to a match between WWE signee and TNA wrestler Christian Cage. In July 2007, WWC acquired Hector Melendez then-Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion's booker and a former IWA and TNA writer. Besides holding an open press conference, the promotion expanded their promotions to several stations beside WAPA-TV, including Univision and radio stations WKAQ AM and Salsoul. That same month, WWC announced a partnership with All Japan Pro Wrestling that resulted in The Great Muta and Nosawa appearing in their cards. The entrance of Melendez resulted in several IWA wrestlers with ties to him appearing in WWC programming with their identities concealed. In September it was announced that Carlos Colón had held reunions with WWE to evaluate the possibility of WWC becoming a developmental territory and other business aspects.