This past Saturday I was able to attend a CWA Batalla Poe El Oro. CWA is tied for third in the pecking order of wrestling companies based on the island of Puerto Rico. WWC is the most-watched but it’s doing very bad business due to poor product quality while WWL has just recently debuted on TV with a smaller deal but presents a much more modern product.
Meantime the recently revived IWA has no form of exposure being strictly live events, yet it’s capable of drawing large crowds. CWA would be the company to hold the most events in 2017 and 2018 with 2018 seeing them produce a weekly Facebook show but recently lost it due to internal conflicts. This is the first time CWA runs an event on the west side of the island which tends to be neglected by larger promotions due to it being on the opposite end of the island’s metropolitan area.
I was also told the promotion’s truck a was very small making transportation of the company’s six-sided ring (made by the same people that made TNA’s version) very difficult. On top of that, one of the showrunners had to make many a 2+ hour road trips to secure the building and scouting talent as they would need some from the local smaller promotions. Here CWA Presents Batalla Por El Oro Live.
20 ringside seats were offered at $20. I took one sitting literally 5 feet from the ring resulting in some hilarious instances where I just happened to be in the middle of the way. The crowd was an approximate 135 people which was more than expected from the company.
Brandom Mullen vs Beutifull RV
Those aren’t typos. That’s how they chose to write their names. This match was streamed live on the company’s Twitch channel which was it’s first broadcast. RV comes out to “Party Rock Anthem” playing a party boy/stripper gimmick. Mullen didn’t really have much of a gimmick in what was a very short 6-minute match that saw two very young wrestlers being a bit too ambitious. They did many big spots, but a good half ended up botched somehow. Mullen would try a Springboard but ended up stopping cold on the ropes resulting in an awkward spot where he just held on. RV does hit a gorgeous Springboard Spanish Fly though and wins the match with a Headscissor countered into a Canadian Destroyer that was botched resulting in the crowd not realizing what the move was or that it was the finish.
After what was technically the dark match (but also the only one with any kind of broadcast?) authority figure Bambino (an absolute sweetheart who went out of his way to thank every fan after the show) comes out to introduce a masked investor for the promotion and one of the locals who helped produce the event. She got the biggest reaction of the night just for being such a help bringing the show over.
CWA Tag Team Championship:
The Fugitives (c) vs Black Money Services vs The Melendez Cousins vs D.O.I.T.
DOIT and the Melendez are from WWL though sadly, they ended up being a total afterthought as the main story here was The Fugitives antagonizing BMS. Before the match, Fugitive member/CWA booker Lynx orders me to keep an eye on the titles and their hoodies. Which he promptly abandoned. I did eventually give it back to him. BMS member Joe Colon suffered a real-life ankle sprain a few months back and is playing it up here. The Fugitives spend the entire match attacking Colon’s leg. Despite the very recent Melendez/Fugitives/LAX feud in WWL with all teams being incredible, this was squarely a story match that saw very little of half of the wrestler’s signature high flying. The Fugitives would end up winning by pinning Colon as his partner Jack Xavier greatly worries about his partner and fireman carries him to the back.
The Fugitives were highly interactive with the crowd. Niche of the Fugitives would work-trip leading the crowd to a “Botchamania” chant. He asked what that meant even though he clearly knows while Lynx antagonized the crowd. Plus asking me to watch his stuff.
CWA Intercontinental Championship: Leinord White (c) vs Star Roger vs Hiram Tua
Leinord is a two time Champion and he’s performing for his home town here. But he’s caught in an awkward spot as he’s facing Star Roger, who just held the World title for 2 straight years while Hiram Tua is also a former Champion as well as Roger’s former partner and equal meaning the mid-card Champion is dealing with two main eventers with one of them being the company’s Ace. They’re also starting a feud making the Champion a third wheel here. To his credit though, because he’s the home town guy, Leinord is without a doubt the hottest of the three in this match. He’s also got an awesome look very much resembling a bald Aleister Black.
This would wind up being the match of the night as the three gel fantastically well and Leinord shows he’s every bit as talented, agile and creative as the two veterans in the ring with him. He hits a gorgeous Huracanrana that would make Ricochet proud to Tua and also lands on his feet from it. The story of the match would play out from there as the two former teammates worked together against the local hero to shut him down. However, Star Roger got a little too confident and tried to surprise Hiram Tua. He hits him with a Super Back Suplex but when he does, Leinord White surprises him with a Schoolboy to retain in a great match.
CWA Accion Vibrante Championship: Mike Nice (c) vs Bullying Crew
This was a VERY weird match. The Championship, named after their former weekly show, was just commissioned and Mike Nice is the inaugural Champion. The Bullying Crew is a long-standing heel stable that has had quite the string of line-up and leader changes. John Slayer is our leader here. The rules were never really explained as the two other Crew members (audio issues made it very hard to hear out the names) worked to protect Slayer from the rather charismatic Champion. Mike Nice would have to work his way to get to the group leader. However as the match progressed, the two Crew members became more and more frustrated with Slayer mistreating them. They started to try winning the match meaning the person winning the fall would win the title rather than group leader John Slayer. Mike Nice sits back for about 4 minutes as the internal conflict plays out but he returns and the group bands together for the finish, holding up Mike Nice for a shot with John Slayers’ Battle Royal Cup which he won months earlier. Nice ducks and is taken out of the ring by one of the Crew members as Slayer has the Cup broken over his head. He falls on top of his teammate and the ref literally shrugs before counting the pinfall and giving the KO-ed John Slayer the title. An extreme confusing match.
Female wrestler Roxxy marched to the ring asking where CWA’s Women’s Champion Zeuxis was. Zeuxis is primarily a Mexico-based wrestler, winning the inaugural title last December. Roxxy wants a title shot but management claims she’s unworthy in your typical “hold the babyface down” story. She chose to insert herself in the Royal Rumble-style Battle For The Gold match as the #1 entrant to prove she deserves the shot and Bambino returns claiming she’s not ready.
Battle For The Gold
It’s a Royal Rumble. Despite promotions claiming it would be 30-person, they only got to 21 as wrestlers left while others were not double-booked for it.
Roxxy was the main story of this as she started it and reached the final 5 before being eliminated as two women came out to mock her. Another standout was Nexen who entered #2. A comedy heel with a bit of an effeminate edge who would cower and scream “I’M SORRY!” any chance he could. He also stole my Coke! #13, Hijo Del Satanico who is brother of CWA World Champion Noel Rodriguez and son of the late Victor The Bodyguard was another standout being given the Kane spot. He eliminated 6, by far the most of any and had to be eliminated by a pile on. A funny bit took place as Jack Xavier of Black Money Services took a massive pratfall for his elimination, resulting in him sliding about six feet across the floor. The ref would go to check on him and suddenly there’s clear laugh coming from him and he tries his best to hide it. Eventually, he gets up slapping the ref for making him laugh. Speaking of Botchamania, probably should’ve Sent for the Man here.
There were not many notable entrants with a large portion being local area guys. besides Xavier, John Slayer, Hiram Tua, Star Roger, and match-winner Mike Nice would be the ones to return after wrestling earlier. Roger and Tua continued their feud but not before Roger would cheer on Roxxy only to eliminate her the second he found an opening. Tua wasn’t pleased to eliminate Roger but also getting distracted by him letting Nice win and earn a future World title shot. It was pretty uneventful. But it’s not a match type you get to see every day.
CWA Puertorican Championship: Kenolly (c) vs El Cazador
If the previous title match didn’t highlight the fact that there’s too many belts, this one really nailed that point. This was not a good match at all. Fans were already restless, wanting to go straight to the main event. This match did not help matters as it was basically a couple of spots before heel Champion Kenolly faked a bad ankle. After nearly 10 minutos of trying to check on him and stalling, he takes his boot off and hits Cazador with it to retain. A total dud of a match here that did not need to exist.
CWA World Championship: Mecha Wolf vs Noel Rodriguez (c)
Mecha Wolf once appeared in 205 Live against Mustafa Ali in Chicago where he blew out his knee. He’s much more famous as a member of “La Rebellion Amarilla” in The Crash and PCW Ultra alongside Garza Jr & Bestia 666. He with without any doubt the biggest attraction in Puerto Rico and this is his home town. More specifically, it’s his home borough. He alongside the team of the West Side Mafia grew up here and started to wrestle here in El Mani, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The beach is quite literally outside this building across the street.
The match is of two stories. For Mecha Wolf, it’s to show him off. Plain and simple. He hits all his big moves. For the Champion, he struggles between cheating or giving a fair fight as he’s known for his hardcore style. He contemplated using his kendo stick but it was taken away by the ref. When it became very clear he was completely outclassed by the challenger, he pulled out brass knuckles to hit Mecha Wolf and retain. Noel was quite limited in what he could do but was also a great base for Mecha Wolf to hit all of his big moves flawlessly which is exactly what this crowd paid for. So it was a fine enough match.
Image: CWA
While the action wasn’t too good, it was a fun night overall as the company was taking it’s first step on to a new market. Hopefully more and more come by as it’s a very comfortable building for seating and atmosphere.
Thank you for reading this review. If you wish to follow me on social media and see my various escapades, do so here on my Facebook Blog. See You Next Article.
Originally posted by AB Morales
