When did Juan Rivera win the WWC Universal Heavyweight title?
4518446#4
Following this Burke would go on to feud with Juan Rivera who at the time was referred to as "TNT". Both wrestlers had been involved in a mid-card feud prior to this. Rivera won the championship on February 9, 1990, eventually losing it to Abdullah the Butcher, who lost it to Colón. The title was held up numerous times in 1991, as part of feuds between Colón, Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo.
WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship
40606037#25
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.
Professional wrestling in Puerto Rico
1182305#0
Juan Rivera (born August 10, 1964) is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler. He is known for his work in the World Wrestling Council, where he won the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship three times and the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship three times. During the 1990s, he worked for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), initially under a mask as Kwang. He later portrayed Savio Vega, the eventual leader of a Puerto Rican stable, Los Boricuas.
Savio Vega
8068513#3
Sewell wrestled part-time in then-new Puerto Rican federation New Wrestling Stars. During his time in the company, as part of a talent exchange with the WWC, he won the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship title from "La Amenaza" Bryan in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico on November 5, 2005, which made Sewell the first wrestler to win both the top titles in both IWA and WWC in a calendar year. He lost the Universal title to Bryan on February 12, 2006 and split his time with both companies. Sewell later feuded with Tim Arson over the NWS Heavyweight title until June 3, 2006 when he lost a Title vs. Leave The Company match.
Shane Sewell
10410156#3
After returning to Puerto Rico, he began working for the Capital Sports Promotion (later renamed to World Wrestling Council). He feuded with Killer Tim Brooks, Kevin Sullivan and Hercules Hernandez. In March 1985, he defeated Randy Savage to win the WWC North American Heavyweight Championship. Wrestled Ric Flair for the NWA title. In the summer of 1987 Ayala suggested WWC office to turn heel after years working as a babyface, he feuded with Carlos Colon over the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title and hired Chicky Starr as his manager. His feud with Carlos Colon reach its peak when Ayala attacked Nancy Coates, Carlos Colon's wife, in a WWC banquet award ceremony. On January 6, 1989 lost a loser leaves town match to Colon and disappeared from WWC.
Hercules Ayala
33047602#6
On January 16, 2010, Black Pain returned to the WWC defeating El Bronco in a singles match at WWC Euphoria. On February 13, 2010, he competed in a match against Orlando Colón for the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort. In November 2011, Torres joined New Pro Wrestling and was immediately pushed to the main event. The following month, he defeated Michael Rivera to win the NPW World Heavyweight Championship at Cierre de Temporada. Shane Sewell was scheduled as the first contender for the title, with a match being scheduled for January 28, 2012. However, Torres left the promotion under unknown circumstances, being stripped of the championship in the process.
Monster Pain
40606037#16
In the first half of 1996, the World Wrestling Association emerged in Puerto Rico, becoming the direct competition to WWC. The booking for the promotion was done by Félix López and Juan Rivera, who became the first WWA World Heavyweight Champion by defeating Goldust on August 31, 1996. Besides Rivera and Dustin Rhodes, the promotion featured the participation of other WWF talents including Jake Roberts, Fred Ottman, The Undertaker, Triple H, Bam Bam Bigelow, Charles Wright and Yokozuna. Its roster was completed by other talents from the independent circuits of Puerto Rico and Florida. In December 1996, the WWA held a match between Rico Casanova and Sid Vicious for the WWF Championship in a show held at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. 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. Despite this, he was later used to enhance the career of Ray González. A storyline was created where Colón would train González and help him win the Universal Championship a second time. He dropped the championship to Milton Adomo by accepting a challenge that Colón opposed. This marked the beginning of Ray González's first heel turn. After blaming Colón for losing the championship, he defeated all of the midcard face (fan favorite) wrestlers. Eventually Colón and González entered a feud and exchanged the title twice. González migrated to a rivalry with Pierroth, during which he defeated the Mexican luchador in hair vs. mask and loser leaves town matches. The Colón-González feud was immediately resumed and continued throughout 1999, with both once again exchanging reigns. Concurrently, Carly Colón was introduced to the public as a camera man. An angle to integrate him to the roster soon followed, with González slapping him after learning of his identity, leading to a series of confrontations.
Professional wrestling in Puerto Rico
1182305#39
Concurrently, Pérez had launched a second interpromotional angle, this time involving the third largest company in Puerto Rico, the Extreme Wrestling Organization. Rivera himself remained uninvolved with this, holding a reunion with La Academia Gerencial. However, Angel and Davian left the promotion in February while he was working outside of Puerto Rico, disbanding the stable. Consequently, Rivera sided with the IWA upon returning, assaulting EWO employees at Clash of the Titans 2012. During this visit, he also participated in an event of a smaller independent company, New Revolution Wrestling, winning its heavyweight championship. On May 26, 2012, Rivera reappeared in the IWA and issued a challenge to EWO CEO Richard Rondón to a winner-takes-all match at Juicio Final. However, the event was postponed due to unspecified circumstances and the IWA's partnership with EWO was subsequently dissolved. In July 2012, Rivera began an independent tour, making appearances in International Gladiators Wrestling Alliance and the Puerto Rico Wrestling Association. He had previously wrestled in some shows of IGWA's predecessor, Lucha Libre Extrema Internacional. On October 7, 2012, Rivera reappeared in Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre, issuing yet another challenge. However, this time Colón backfired with a challenge of his own, inviting him to a special edition of Carlito's Cabana. The edition of the talk show that featured Rivera took place on October 14, 2012. In the segment, both traded insults and it finished with the security removing him when he tried to assault Colón after the former spat an apple in his face. At Halloween Wrestling Xtravaganza, Rivera reappeared and once again addressed the crowd before being removed from the facilities by Victor Jovica. At Honor vs Traición Rivera was summoned to a face to face by Jovica. At Lockout 2012 Vega served as special referee in the hair vs hair match between Ray Gonzalez and Carlito. On the November 9, 2013 episode of Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre, the return of Rivera as T.N.T. was announced. At Crossfire, on November 16, 2013, Vega defeated Chris Angel to win the WWC Universal Championship. However, they lost the title to Mighty Ursus at Lockout. TNT won the title back on January 19, 2014. On March 30, 2014 at Hora de la Verdad, TNT defeated Apolo to win the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship. On July 19, 2014, TNT lost the title against Carlito Caribbean Cool. In October 2014, Vega left WWC.
Savio Vega
4913016#33
On July 11, 2010, Colón was booked in a match called "The Three Faces of Fear" at WWC's Aniversario 2010 which also involved Booker T. The concept of this contest was that he would face three unknown adversaries successively. Colón also performed on a second date of this event, working under a "tweener" concept, representing a morally ambiguous team without clear allegiance. He returned to WWC on September 25, 2010 at the "Septiembre Negro" event, where he defeated "El Triple Mega Campeón" Ricky Banderas. On November 27, 2010, Colón defeated Shelton Benjamin to win the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship at the Crossfire event. He made his first title defense against Banderas at WWC's last show of the year—Lockout. On January 8, 2011, Colón lost the Universal Heavyweight Championship to Banderas, following interference from Shane Sewell. On June 4, 2011, Carlito returned to WWC and defeated Steve Corino to win the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship for the thirteenth time. On July 17, 2011 at Aniversario 2011 Carlito made his first defense of the title against Abyss. In this event, Savio Vega cut a promo pursuing a feud as part of the first interpromotional angle between WWC and the International Wrestling Association. However, this cooperation was stalled due to differences between the administration of both promotions, remaining fruitless for the rest of the year.
Carly Colón
40606037#24
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.
Professional wrestling in Puerto Rico