The Puerto Rico Review: IWA’s Victor’s Memorial Cup Review

Welcome to my review of IWA’s Victor’s Memorial Cup DVD. This is more Puerto Rico goodness which you can get from Highspots. I got it for $5.00 after adding it to my purchase of the IWA Histeria Boricua 2004 show. That show will also get a review soon. It is important to note that this is not the Victor’s Memorial Cup event, but a DVD created by IWA to honor Victor. It was given for free to the first 500 fans that attended the Victor’s Memorial Cup event and then sold trough the internet. According to the description on the back of the case, this is a documentary with interviews and wrestlers opinions on Victor, as well as some of his IWA matches. Also all the funds collected from the sales of this DVD went to Victor’s family. Also the documentary is entirely on Spanish, so be warned. Finally, I will inject my thoughts on some things in parenthesis. On with the show.

We start off with the typical IWA intro videos and then some clips of Victor, including him and Chicky Starr sharing blood as part of a IWA angle some time ago. Basically Victor was bloodied and Chicky saved him, then smeared Victor’s blood in his face and yelled “Your blood is my blood” which led to Victor doing the same some time later and them reuniting. I bothered to explain the whole angle so that you get an idea of why those guys where playing with their blood.

Now we are welcomed by Angel Rodriguez, Victor’s brother and recognized manager/personality in the local wrestling. He starts by giving us the official welcome and thanking IWA for the opportunity. He talks about how much Victor meant to him in his life, since his father passed away, Victor cared for him and helped him with everything he did. It was Victor who got him into the security business(Victor was a real life security officer/bodyguard) and also that it was Victor who got him into the wrestling business. He jokes about how much he bugged Victor until Victor said “Fine, you can be our manager”. He also recalls how they jumped from WWC to IWA. They where tired of the same old, same old and wanted a change and that is how Victor, Chicky and him took an offer from IWA and showed up at one of their TV tapings, jumping a barrier and taking control of the show. It was the beginning of the Starr Corporation and how that started IWA’s boom(I agree with that statement. It was a landmark moment and this three guys where in the spotlight during those initial hard times. It also coincided with one of IWA’s greatest creative times, the angles and all where fresh and hot.) He ends his segment by thanking all the fans for their support during their hard times and all the wrestlers from all the companies who showed up at his funeral.

IWA World Tag Team Titles:
Savio Vega, Miguel Perez and Huracan Castillo vs Ricky Santana, Fidel Sierra and Sean Hill

For some reason the tag titles where on the line. If the faces won, Perez and Castillo got the titles, if the heels won, Santana and Sierra would get them. I don’t remember what the story was here and I did not find any info, so bare with me. We are JIP as Perez gets a cutter like move to break a hold from Fidel Sierra. Both men are knocked out and they crawl to their corners, with Perez tagging Savio and Sierra getting over to Santana. Savio comes in like a house on fire pushing Santana into a corner, then gets a dropkick to knock out Hill and another one for Sierra. He gets the old noggin’ knocker on Hill and Santana as Castillo comes in to help. It turns into a big brawl as Savio is left alone with Santana. Habana comes in and tries to use her ass to distract Savio, but ends up distracting the returning Sean Hill instead. Savio uses this chance to spit the Green Mist at Hill and then gets a DDT for the pin at 1:23 shown. Per the stipulations of the match, Perez and Castillo win the Tag Team Titles. The faces celebrate as Savio sits on a chair and invites the heels back in. This leads to Perez blasting him from behind with a title belt! Castillo comes in with the ringbell and pushes Miguel away. They argue and then Castillo blasts Savio with the bell! The heels return to the ring and we get a huge 5 on 1 beatdown of Savio until Chicky, Victor and Angel make the save with chairs. One of the hottest angles at the time that led to the creation of the Untouchables stable. It’s nice to see some of this guys back when they still had some skill left. Also Habana was just wonderful here, now she is a little chunky. Not much of a match, but hot angle.
Winners: Savio, Miguel and Castillo- No Rating

Now we get a few words from Invader #1. Invader remembers that Victor’s first break into the business was as the on-screen bodyguard of Chicky Starr back in the 80’s. He also remembers how it was him who gave Victor his first opportunity to wrestle, as they faced each other. Invader was surprised by how strong Victor was and how much heart he showed. He also remembers that once Invader came to IWA, Victor and him clashed a lot since they both have similar personalities and a hot temper, but always did their best to get along(at least Victor never stabbed someone in the shower). He mentions that Victor was a great locker room leader, keeping the youngsters in check and also giving them advice and trying to help out whenever he could. Good segment here, but Invader tried to stay in kayfabe too much.

Next is the last comedy skit Victor did for the “Dame un Break” TV show. He used to play a bodyguard(what else) for Tony Mayimbe, the show’s lead. It is pretty funny, but you need to know Spanish to get some of the puns. After the skit ends, it transitions into a small video tribute the show did after Victor’s death. Pretty cool to see some of Victor’s activities out of the ring.

Next we get Savio Vega’s comments. Savio knew Victor like a brother and he misses him a lot. He talks some road stories, like both of them getting chased by fans when they where heels and laughing hard all the way, Victor even tripped and fell, but got up and continued running. He says Victor and him go way back, since Savio also did some security work back in the day, when he started in WWC in the late 80’s. He relates the birth of Victor’s trademark catchphrase “El que manda y va” and how that one came from their old boss in the security business who used to say that a lot. Savio says that Victor not only took the catchphrase and worked it into wrestling, but also adopted it’s meaning as a lifestyle(The phrase basically translates to “I give orders and I carry them out” which means that he not only gives orders, but also leads by example). He says he is still very close to Victor’s kids, he sees them every week at the shows and always hugs them and tries his best to be there for them. They lost their father, but they have a dozen other fathers in the wrestling business who care about them and are ready to help them in anything they need. He comes up with the concept of the Memorial Cup show, he came up with it the very next day after Victor’s death and he wanted to wait exactly one year after his death to hold it. He says this is about remembering Victor and helping out his family since all sales of this DVD are going to his family and so will 50% of the money from the ticket sales for the event. He mentions that one of Victor’s last duties off camera in the company was as the Security Chief and how he kept everyone under control. He was such a natural leader that it has been impossible to replace him. He goes back to the stories about how Victor was really being paid to be Chicky Starr’s bodyguard in the 80’s when he was the hottest heel in WWC. Victor moved to a new house right across the street from Chicky and kept watch of him at all times. That is how they all became such good friends. He then thanks the fans for all their support, for him and for Victor. He encourages every fan to enjoy every single moment from every single wrestler, whether it is from WWC, from the NWS or from IWA because once they are gone, they are gone and they will miss them the same way they all miss Victor. He thanks the fans for every cheer and every boo they gave Victor, because whether he got cheers or he got booed, it meant that he was doing his job right and that always meant a lot to him. Great teary eyed interview from Savio that shows a lot of genuine emotion.

We are taken to an old promo following the match/angle above. Chicky and Victor cut a promo on Perez and Castillo for turning on Savio and issue a challenge for the titles. We then get cut to Perez and Castillo accepting the challenge and then back to Victor and Chicky for the final words. Decent promo made funny by all four guys clearly being influenced by alcohol. This interviews where taped right after the live tapings back then and usually all wrestlers where or had been celebrating prior to them. They are not wasted by any means, but you can notice some influence in their voices. Also it was fun to see current WWE Spanish announcer Hugo Savinovich working as a interviewer for IWA back then. He was doing double duty around this time, working both, WWE and IWA.

Now we go to Diabolico’s comments. Diabolico basically mentions how he and Victor spend a lot of time at the beach with their families and how Victor was a big influence for him when he was breaking into the business. He also says that he still uses Victor’s famous three finger salute during his matches as a tribute to the man. Not much was said, but once again, it was very emotional.

The Brothers in Pain(Shane the Glamour Boy and Ricky Banderas vs Chicky Starr and Victor the Bodyguard/with Savio Vega

This is from Histeria Boricua 2002. Savio had turned on Shane to join forces with the recently heel turned Starr Corp. of Chicky and Victor. The Starr Corp. had turned on Ricky Banderas(effectively turning him face) as well. This led to both betrayed men to join forces and we have this. Shane and Ricky put their fists together in a sign of trust and then charge the ring to start a big brawl. They clear the ring and Shane hammers Chicky outside. They go for the typical IWA brawl around ringside as Shane grabs one of the tag title belts and nails both heels with it. He tosses the belt to Ricky, who does the same to Victor. Both heels are busted open big time already. Ricky brawls around with Victor as Shane chases Savio Vega around ringside. This gives Chicky the opening he needed to attack Shane from behind. They continue to brawl around the arena as Chicky sends Shane face first into the table and Victor lays Ricky out with a chair shot. The brawl continues as Chicky attacks Shane with a chair and Victor gets one of those wooden things they wrap cables on to attack Ricky. Both faces are bleeding as well. Savio takes some shots at them too. Shane reverses a whip and sends Chicky into the steel railing. He goes all psycho with the punches on Chicky’s forehead until Victor breaks it up from behind. Ricky now comes in to break it up and attack Victor, until Chicky gets up and clotheslines him down.

The brawl finally hits the ring as the heels prepare to whip the faces against each other, but they reverse and take control. It is short lived as they try the same thing(whip the heels into each other) and the heels reverse to knock them both out. The heels send the faces into the ropes for stereo back bodydrops. They try stereo DDT’s, but the faces break it up and get stereo Russian Legsweeps. All four men down. They all get up at roughly the same time and try to whip the heels, but they reverse. Victor knocks Shane down with a dropkick as Savio pulls Ricky out of the ring and stomps on him. They work a heat segment as the heels double team Shane in the ring, while Savio keeps Ricky grounded outside. Shane finally ducks under a double clothesline attempt and knocks both men down with a double clothesline of his own. We are cut off for commercials at 7:40(This match is taken from the TV broadcast). The match resumes with Shane getting a bodyslam and heading up top: Elbow from Heaven! He goes for the pin, but Savio yells at and intimidates the ref long enough for Chicky to break that up. Victor gets a bodyslam of his own, but Ricky finally makes it back to the ring and attacks the heels. Savio was bringing a chair to the ring area, but Shane attacks him and takes it away, tossing it to Ricky! He works the crowd up and goes for the chair shot, but the ref holds on to it. Ricky clotheslines Victor down anyway and picks a fight with the ref! He punches the ref in the face and takes the chair. He fights Victor off…and chair shots the ref to a loud pop! This allows Victor to low blow him and take him down. Victor gets the chair and goes for Ricky, but Ricky dropkicks him off and gets the chair! Chair shot to Victor! He goes for Chicky, but Savio comes in and holds on to the chair, which allows Chicky to attack him. Chicky holds Ricky for Savio to nail him with the chair, but he moves and Savio takes out Chicky. Ricky now brawls with Savio and pushes him into a corner. He gets the chair, but Savio spits the green mist at him! Huge beatdown follows on both faces. I don’t know, but I think the match was already thrown out or something. Security comes in to break this up at 16:20. Apolo was pissed because he could not make the save for the faces, because Savio was the GM at this point and he had said that whoever interfered in that match would have been fired. Solid little brawl here!
Result: No Contest at 16:20- **1/2

Next up is Chicky Starr. He knew Victor since he was 17 years old and was a security guard for wrestling events. He was in charge of watching Chicky’s back at all times and that is how they became such good friends. Chicky was one of the men responsible for training him and he remembers how much heart Victor put into his training. He also remembers that Victor cried right after their first match as a tag team. He and Victor used to spend so much time together that they became family. They sometimes spent more time with each other that with their own families. Victor was a family man, very emotional and with a good heart. Everything he had he shared with his friends. The last time they talked was precisely on father’s day, the same day he passed away. Chicky said that he called Victor to congratulate him and to see if they where going to see Victor’s father at the cemetery. Victor’s idol was always his father and that is why father’s day was so important to him. Every year he and Chicky went to the cemetery to visit his dad and remember and honor him. Victor was always a proud father and always told Chicky that his greatest achievement was being a father. Chicky proceeds to thank the fans and encourage them to continue supporting the wrestling business because as Victor always said, there is no show without the fans.

Up next is Miguel Torres from El Gran Combo, a musician who was Victor’s friend. He met Victor after the group went to dinner at a local hot spot and Victor was there. He introduced himself and they spent the rest of the night talking about music. From then on they became good friends and started to hang out together. It was Victor who introduced him to a lot of the wrestlers. Victor even threw a surprise birthday party for him and that is something he will never forget.

Cage of Death: Miguel Perez and Slash Venom vs Victor the Bodyguard and Chet Jablonski

Cage of Death is basically a steel cage with weapons inside. Perez and Venom where the “Singapore Cane Freaks” at this point and a very over tag team. Chet was working the gimmick of Victor’s protégé. And yes, this is the same Chet who is the OVW Champion right now. We are JIP with Chet dropping Perez on top of a bunch of plunder while Slash and Victor fight in the top rope. Victor drops and Slash then dives on top of Chet. He sends Chet hard into the cage as Victor brawls with Perez. Slash smacks Chet with a street sign as Perez manages to boot Victor off. They take turns smacking the heels with street signs and sending them into the cage. Then they take turns grinding Chet’s forehead into the cage. Oh yeah, all four men are busted open. Slash now gets a springboard dropkick to send Chet into the cage and Miguel drops Victor with a rolling wheel kick or abisgeri as it is known in Japan. Now we head for commercials at 2:40. The match resumes with Chet and Perez trading punches as Slash tries to leave the cage and he and Victor fight up top. Perez reverses a whip and drops Chet with a backdrop suplex. Victor and Slash fight down into the top rope and Slash wins that exchange and takes Victor down with a Superplex. Miguel tries to leave trough the door, but Chet cuts him off and drags him back into the ring. Miguel breaks that up with an enziguiri and dives trough the door for the win at 4:11 shown. Thunder and Lightning hit the ring and drag Miguel back in. They put him down with a Double Chokeslam and then get the Doomsday Device on Slash. Chicano runs in to make the save, but Chet and Victor attack him. Victor and Chet with Demolition Decapitation on Chicano! Apolo runs out and attacks the heels. He drops Victor with a superkick, but Tigresa comes out and tosses power in his eyes! Victor drops Apolo with a baseball bat and the beatdown continues. Finally, Shane and KC James(who is on Smackdown now) run out with chairs to make the save. Good beatdown and the match looked quite good for what was shown.
Winners: Miguel and Slash- *1/2

Up next it’s former IWA announcer Willie Urbina. He mentions how hard is the wrestler’s lifestyle and how every match could be their last. He says that he talked to Victor the night before he died at the IWA event of the day and that Victor asked him if he was going to the event the next day. Willie told him he would not go because he was staying with his daughters and Victor told him that was the best thing he could do. The next night he got a call about what happened and could not believe his ears. He called Savio and when he finally got trough to him, Savio was a mess. The only thing Savio kept repeating was “Our brother is gone”. Willie left his daughters with their mom and rushed to the place. He describes the atmosphere at the hospital, with all this grown men who are wrestlers and who everyone makes out to be strong and untouchable crying and in pain.

Next is Fernando Tonos, who worked as Victor’s manager for much of his last heel run. He met Victor long before both of them where on the wrestling business. Fernando was a senator in the Puerto Rican Government and Victor once visited his office asking for some help. But the help was not for him, it was for some kids he wanted to help. This is how they first met as they worked together to help this kids. Then after Fernando got involved in the business thanks to Savio, he and Victor became closer, specially after he was made Victor’s manager. He remembers that Victor told him before he died, two or three days before, that he was feeling burned out, but the show had to go on. He said that Victor always pushed himself to the limits and never gave up on anything.

Chicano and Stefano vs Victor the Bodyguard and Chet Jablonski/with Habana

This was Victor’s last televised match. Stefano and Victor start and play the cat and mouse game, until Victor just kicks Stefano and grabs a headlock. To the ropes and Victor gets a shoulder tackle, before getting hip tossed. Victor with a big clothesline that grounds Stefano. Tag to Chet who comes in and tosses Stefano to the corner. He wants Chicano! Chicano comes in and they brawl. Very good brawl here with both men trading shots and countering each other for a while. Chicano blocks a hip toss and tries a neck breaker, countered by Chet into a backdrop suplex, but Chicano lands on his feet and dropkicks Chet, followed by a pump kick to ground him. Cover gets two. Tag to Stefano and he comes in and grabs a headlock. To the ropes and Victor trips him up, allowing Chet to get a big clothesline. Tag to Victor and he works Stefano with his punch and kick offense, then tags Chet back in. Chet with a delayed Michinoku Driver and a cover for two. Tag back to Victor and they continue to work Stefano over, with all the illegal tactics of a good heat segment. Victor actually makes my day with a picture perfect dropkick! Wow, I think that is the best dropkick he has ever done! You just don’t see that every day. Then he mocks Stefano’s poses! Ha Ha.

Now he tags in Chet who locks a reverse chinlock. Stefano fights out with the usual and hits the ropes, but Chet catches him coming and gives him a nice fallaway slam. Now Victor holds Stefano in the corner and Chet charges…but Stefano moves and Chet takes out Victor. Diamond Cutter from Stefano and we get a double KO. Victor runs in and attacks Stefano to prevent the tag. Victor holds Stefano once again, but once again he moves and Victor eats Chet’s pump kick. Face buster from Stefano and he makes the hot tag to Chicano! He is a house on fire! Huge back bodydrop for Victor! Superkick knocks out Chet! Victor picks a fight with the ref and tries to punch him, but the ref ducks and springs off Chicano’s shoulders with a moonsault press! Yep, the ref! Victor goes after the ref again, but he ducks and Victor eats a superkick from Chicano! Cover, but the ref is distracted by Chet and Stefano brawling.

They send the heels into each other and Victor ends up outside with Chicano. Stefano removes his shirt and gets a botched Rocker Dropper! It only gets two as Victor makes the save. Victor with a kick to the gut and the swinging neckbreaker! That gets two as Chicano saves! Victor charges at Chicano and eats boot. Swanton Bomb! But the ref is distracted again! Chicano goes over to him, but Habana runs in and tries to low blow him. He blocks and gets ready to powerbomb her, but Chet gets on the apron and distracts him. Victor with a baseball bat shot to the gut and the facebuster DDT for the win at 11:53. Solid little match.
Winners: Victor and Chet- **1/2

A video tribute follows to close the DVD.

The 411: It is hard to rate this type of DVD. The wrestling action was pretty solid and you get some good footage of IWA’s earlier days in the initial segments. The matches also take place at some of IWA’s key moments and they let you know just how important Victor was for the promotion. Also the interviews are very emotional and sincere and I applaud IWA for that. Thumbs up for this DVD. I suggest you add it to your purchase of another IWA show since it only costs $5. It is $9.99 if you purchase it alone.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]