Los Boricuas

Los Boricuas were a professional wrestling stable that originated in the World Wrestling Federation in the late 1990s. The name was derived from a popular nickname for Puerto Rican people, since all the stable's members were from Puerto Rico. Different variants of the team have since performed in the International Wrestling Association, Dominican Wrestling Entertainment, World Wrestling League and the World Wrestling Council.

Los Boricuas
Savio Vega hoisting the version of the flag of Puerto Rico used by Los Boricuas.
Stable
MembersSavio Vega (Leader)
Miguel Pérez
José Estrada Jr.
Jesús Castillo
Name(s)Los Boricuas
The Caribbean Express
La Revolución
Billed fromPuerto Rico
DebutJune 30, 1997
DisbandedSeptember 5, 1999[1]
Years active1997–1999
2001
2013-2015

History

World Wrestling Federation (1997–1999)

The stable was led by Juan Rivera under his Savio Vega gimmick. The character formed the stable after he was expelled from the Nation of Domination. The group made its television debut in June 1997. The group featured two second-generation WWF wrestlers. The son of José Miguel Pérez, one half of WWF's first recognized tag team champions, Miguel Perez, Jr. joined after participating in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling. José Estrada, Jr. was the son of another former titlist, former WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion José Estrada. Jesús "Huracán" Castillo was a second-generation wrestler himself. They were mainly involved in angles with other stables including the Nation of Domination and the Disciples of Apocalypse. During WrestleMania XIV's tag team Battle Royal, Los Boricuas engaged two teams (Savio and Miguel, and José and Jesús), fighting on Raw is War. Vega left the group in July and would return to a singles career before being released later that summer after suffering an arm injury during the Brawl for All tournament. Castillo still a team member, became a jobber on Shotgun. Perez, Castillo and Estrada would still fight as a tag team on Raw is War and Shotgun until October 1998 and competed on Super Astros until the show ended in September 1999 and all three of them left the company. Their final match as a group took place on the August 29 episode of Super Astros, where Savio Vega returned to WWF as their manager and managed them to a win against Papi Chulo, Pantera and Apolo Dantes. On September 5, 1999, Los Boricuas made their final appearance in a backstage segment, which was the last episode of Super Astros.[2]

International Wrestling Association (2001)

All of members of The Boricuas including Vega reformed in 2001 in Puerto Rico's IWA. For the IWA's Tenth Anniversary show, the promotion contracted Jesús Castillo and staged a one-night reunion.[3] At the event, Los Boricuas defeated a stable known as "La Revolución Dominicana" in a flag-in-a-pole match.[4]

Reunions (2013–2015)

On July 1, 2013, Alejandro Franqui, the president of a promotion named Perfect Stars Wrestling (PSW) announced that its first show would serve as a homage to Los Boricuas.[5] The event was scheluded for August 24, 2013, and would also support SER de Puerto Rico, a non-profit organization. This was followed by a series of skits where Savio Vega started recruiting the members of Los Boricuas. On the first, released on July 6, 2013, where he visited a surprised Castillo at a gym, remembering some of their time at WWF.[5] The second aired two days later, depicting him confirming Castillo to Franqui and contacting a similarly surprised Estrada through Skype, who also confirmed his presence.[5] This marked Estrada's first wrestling-related appearance in years. The final segment was published on July 9, 2013, instead featuring Pérez randomly entering Vega's office and confirming that he was going to join his fellow Boricuas.[5] Like with Estrada, Pérez was abandoning a prolonged period of inactivity, making his first appearance in over a year since performing as president of the IWA. However, when the promotion's debut was postponed, this homage was cancelled.[5] On July 19, 2013, Los Boricuas joined the World Wrestling League (WWL), with all but Estrada joining the promotion's roster.[6] In storyline, they were recruited to feud with the AAA World Trios Champions, Los Psycho Circus. The first encounter between both teams concluded without a clear winner, being ruled a double countout.[7] On September 8, 2013, Los Boricuas defeated Los Psycho Circus.

On June 15, 2014, Castillo reappeared in the World Wrestling Council, where he joined Pérez. This variant was recognized as another reunion of Los Boricuas and was alternatively called "The Caribbean Express". At Summer Madness, Pérez and Castillo defeated a team known as Los Templarios to win the WWC World Tag Team Championship.[8] The following week, Castillo lost a singles match that enabled a rematch for the titles. On July 11, 2015, independent promotion New Wrestling Revolution announced that another incarnation of Los Boricuas formed by Vega and Pérez would be appearing in an event named Summer Revolution held weeks later. Performing as heels, the tag team was brought in to work a feud with a stable known as La Revolución.

Championships and accomplishments

See also

References
  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mME9vRevF8Y
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mME9vRevF8Y
  3. Francisco "McGyver" Gaztambide (2009-07-11). "CASTILLO EN ANIVERSARIO IWA" (in Spanish). Puerto Rico Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 2013-08-10.
  4. "IWA:RESULTADOS DE SU ANIVERSARIO" (in Spanish). Puerto Rico Wrestling. 2009-07-19. Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 2013-09-10.
  5. Juan Rosario (2013-07-19). Regresan Los Boricuas a la lucha libre (in Spanish). Primera Hora.
  6. "Vuelven a la lucha libre Los Boricuas" (in Spanish). NotiCel.com. 2013-07-19. Retrieved 2014-03-10.
  7. "Los Boricuas se reunen en México" (in Spanish). Puerto Rico Wrestling. 2013-09-07. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
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