| Championshipname: | Caribbean Heavyweight Championship |
| Pastnames: |
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| Currentholder: | Miguel Pérez Jr. |
| Won: | April 15, 2023 |
| Promotion: | International Wrestling Association of Puerto Rico Major League Wrestling Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide |
| Created: | October 13, 2008 |
| Longestreign: | Savio Vega (592 days) |
| Shortestreign: | Ash Rubynski (7 days) |
| Oldest: | Miguel Pérez Jr. |
| Youngest: | GQ The Ravishing (Richard Rondón) |
The IWA Puerto Rico/Caribbean Heavyweight Championship (Campeonato Peso Pesado del Caribe/Caribeño de la IWA in Spanish) is a regional championship originally defended in the International Wrestling Association of Puerto Rico (IWA-PR), where it was a mid-tier title. For some time it was unified with another secondary accolade, the IWA Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship. It was later reintroduced as a stand-alone title and deactivated when the promotion entered seven years of inactivity, but was not among the lineup when IWA-PR resumed its shows.
In 2019, the belt was revived and introduced to Major League Wrestling (MLW), as Savio Vega was announced as the “Caribbean Heavyweight Champion” upon making his debut. In 2020, Richard Holliday began a streak of unofficial defenses after taking possession of the belt following a non-title match. Story wise, the Caribbean Heavyweight Championship was not initially sanctioned by MLW, only acquiring affiliation as it became the centerpiece of the promotion's island event market expansion.[1] The current champion is Miguel Pérez Jr. who is in his first reign.
Championship was announced on October 13, 2008 via IWA's website[2] but it was not until February 14, 2009 at "Noche de Campeones" in Bayamón, Puerto Rico that it was determined a champion.[3] The Inaugural champion was GQ The Ravishing (Richard Rondón), he won a 15 Man Tornado Rumble Match by last eliminating Cruzz.
The championship would be unified with the IWA Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship on February 26, 2011. On that match Xix Xavant defeated Romeo to unify the titles.[4]
The Caribbean Heavyweight Championship was brought back in 2012 for the IWA/EWO Clash of the Titans show, a co-promoted one with another Puerto Rican Wrestling promotion called EWO. On this show, the winner of the match was Cyrus who won a 8 Man "Lucha X" Match where he defeated 8 participants who were.
Reintroduced as a regional third-party title (simply known as the “Caribbean Heavyweight Championship”) at Major League Wrestling in 2019, with Savio Vega billed as the current champion, the accolade was used to promote his arrival as part of Salina de la Renta’s Promociones Dorado (which he later left by ripping his contract).[5] The incumbent was immediately given an opportunity for the MLW National Openweight Championship against Alexander Hammerstone of The Dynasty in what was branded an opportunity to become a double titlist, but ultimately saw the latter retain by cheating.[6] Vega was given epithets such as “legendary” and “ the king of the Caribbean”, being matched against young performers including the members of latter group and Promociones Dorado.[7] [8] [9] On January 11, 2020, Richard Holliday took possession of the belt after winning a non-title match, self-proclaiming himself champion.[10]
As the disputed Caribbean Heavyweight Champion, Holliday was portrayed as a cowardly villain, who refused to participate in a titular match at Puerto Rico but was willing to make “defenses” in places such as “St. Barth's or Bermuda”. One such instance had him purportedly retain by defeating one Edwin González at Necker Island, a private island that is part of the British Virgin Islands.[11] An unofficial defense took place at the MLW vs. AAA Super Series at Tijuana (Mexico being part of the larger Caribbean Basin), where Holliday defeated Chessman to give his team an early advantage.[12] The belt played a role in selling the high-end lifestyle of The Dynasty, being taken to places with nudist beaches, “gorgeous women [or] luxurious beachside cabanas“ and having stable members debate whether it was “the more relevant title” in MLW opposite the National Openweight Championship.[13] The group would also visit the Caribbean for less scrupulous reasons, such as purchasing Vega's childhood house at Puerto Rico to turn it into a bed and breakfast.[14]
The storyline evolved to feature Holliday demanding that the Caribbean Heavyweight Championship was incorporated, or “naturalized”, as an official title within MLW and have him recognized as incumbent.[15] In response, “MLW's CEO [Court Bauer] met with Puerto Rican government officials about hosting a Caribbean Heavyweight Championship title fight“ to be held in 2021 (tentatively at the Roberto Clemente Stadium in Carolina).[1] [16] During the final week of October 2020, the association between IWA-PR and MLW became a formal alliance.[17] In the lead up to the announcement, Holliday complained twice about not being officially listed in the champions gallery, calling it “misrepresentation” and expressing his desire to “win over” and become “the face” of the region, ultimately threatening to melt the belt.[18] Vega responded by issuing a challenge to a Caribbean Strap Match (a type of contest that he made famous by defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin at) for the belt in Puerto Rico.[19]
Following another challenge, the self-proclaimed champion accepted to compete in the specialty match.[20] On January 27, 2021, Holliday defeated Vega due to the intervention of referee Tim Donaghy, beginning his first official reign after 382 days of illegal possession.[21] [22] He then migrated to a feud with Gino Medina, a former member of The Dynasty, retaining the belt in April. Since Fall 2020, several talents formally associated with Lucha Underground were brought into MLW as part of the Azteca Underground stable, including César Durán (previously known as Dario Cueto), who became the on-screen owner of IWA-PR.[23] King Muertes (formerly Mil Muertes in Lucha Underground, and known in Puerto Rico as Ricky Banderas) defeated Holliday to win the title in a match with “Caribbean Rules” at Battle Riot III.[23]
At Fightland, he won his first defense by besting former MLW World Heavyweight Champion Tom Lawlor in a casket match. Muertes retained over Holliday in a rematch. On March 31, 2022, he defended the title in a four-way match against eventual winner Octagón Jr., El Dragón and El Hijo de L.A. Park. In his first defense, he retained over Matt Cross at Rise of the Renegades.
The Caribbean Heavyweight Championship became a storyline element again in IWA-PR in November 2022, when Khriz Díaz won an opportunity and criticized that a title that represented Puerto Rico was being contested between foreigners. Vignettes were shown where the challenger traveled to Mexico pursuing Octagón Jr., following provocations in Impacto Total and social media. Sneaking backstage at a AAA card, Díaz ambushed the champion in the lockers and took both the belt and his mask. After Octagón Jr. no-showed a scheduled defense at Histeria Boricua 2023, Savio Vega stripped him of the title and announced that the vacancy would be filled in the event. In a match of impromptu contenders, Díaz defeated Alejandro Marrero to win the revamped belt.
The original design introduced in 2008 was based on the IWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, which was designed and crafted by Reggie Parks in 1999, and in itself used the same basic template that this craftsman has used in the 1986 WWE Intercontinental Championship belt and other titles in his line. Like those belts, the Caribbean Heavyweight Championship had a main plate composed by three silver-colored rectangles of receding size. The central area of the design features a geographical map of the Caribbean inside a gilded circle, flanked by the same design of six five-pointed stars grouped together. Above and under are three red-colored ribbons, with the upper one prominently reading “CARIBBEAN” and the inferior pair “HEAVYWEIGHT WRESTLING CHAMPION”. The lower part features two eight-pointed stars, an element that is also present in the Parks belts. The crown of the belt has the company acronym, “IWA”, inside a red oval that is surrounded by leaf motifs. There are two side square silver-colored side plates that depict wrestlers grappling.
In April 2022, a new belt was commissioned as part of an initiative where IWA-PR revamped the design of all its titles.[24] The new design was officially introduced on January 6, 2023, as part of Histeria Boricua.
IWA-PR currently recognizes 12 individual Caribbean Heavyweight Championship reigns. King Muertes is the current champion in his first reign. He defeated Richard Holliday to win the title on July 10, 2021.
The inaugural champion was CQ the Ravishing. The longest reigning champion is Savio Vega, who held the title from June 15, 2019 to January 27, 2021 for a reign of 593 days; he is also the oldest titlist, earning the accolade at the age of 54 years and 309 days. So far, no wrestler has won the title more than once. Ash Rubynski is the shortest reigning champion with a reign that lasted a week. For a period of 162 days in 2011, the title was held concurrently along the Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship.
In MLW, several fictional aspects were added to the background of the title. Despite using the belt and the acronym “IWA” being visible on camera, MLW confabulated it with the longevous WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship by claiming that it had “been won by the likes of Pedro Morales, Gilberto “Gypsy Joe” Meléndez, Abdullah the Butcher, [and] Gorilla Monsoon” (though of these, only the third actually held that title, with the others holding different accolades within the World Wrestling Council). The promotion claimed that “the San Juan Star, El Vocero and Claridad island newspapers have all chastised Holliday's actions”, this despite the first being defunct, the second no longer covering professional wrestling and the third never having done so. The claim that it was sanctioned by the “Sports Ministry of Puerto Rico” is equally fictional, since no such executive department exists and the Puerto Rico Department of Sports and Recreation only oversees promotions as a form of entertainment business.