Lucha Libre Online released an interview that Dennis Rivera would have done to the legendary couple, Thunder & Lightning, recently. The conversation is quite short, 33 minutes long, and full of some cliches, such as Lightning not being able to speak due to his “dumb” condition. Anyway, you should turn around towards LLO and see it, given that it is full of anecdotes about the origins of the couple and their relationship with IWA PR and WWC.
Something that was not mentioned in that interview and that would have been interesting was the moment when the couple made an appearance for WWC in the summer of 2000. Back then, Thunder & Lightning’s outfits were too similar to that of “The Red Machine” Kane, causing bizarre reports and rumors about a legal dispute.
Legend has it and some portals, that when the young Thunder & Lightning couple debuted in an outfit identical to Kane’s, but with only a color change to blue, WWF / E was enraged by the notable image plagiarism and threatened to legal measures to WWC. According to Dave Meltzer in his Wrestling Observer at the time:
There is also a great controversy in Puerto Rico. The WWC brought in a rookie team with a big push, Thunder & Lightning, and dressed them in costumes similar to Kane. Word spread and WWF Gerald Brisco contacted the office. The new ones have changed their costumes.
According to an IGN at the time, the reason for this was because of the relationship that Víctor Quiñónez’s IWA PR had with WWF / E. This was the time for IWA to be a hothouse for working young or promising stars for IWA PR. A living example of this was Quiñónez’s prospect and protégé, Taka Michinoku who wrestled alongside Club WWF. In fact, shortly before this report, there was a dispute between WWC and IWA PR, due to the rights to the name T.N.T. (Savio Vega). WWC threatened legal retaliation, getting Savio Vega to be called “the formerly known as The Dynamite Man.”
Many claimed that Thunder & Lightning had to make deep changes to the locker room, but according to WWC in a leaked statement on the internet, no letter from IWA PR or WWF reached them. The statement states: “these rumors have been greatly exaggerated and have been taken out of context. There has been no document from an official WWF official source sent to WWC. ”
After these reports, it is not clear what happened. But the reality is that one would doubt that this was officially done in writing. Rather, Gerald Brisco may have called WWC or its owners (e.g. Jovica or Carlos Colón) and directly advised them of the inappropriate and likely illegal nature of their actions. WWF / E had that type of communication with the company.
Eventually, the modification brought some clarification, but the carbon copy to Kane’s outfit was always there. One is left to his imagination the “run and run” that had to be within the WWC to make this maroma at the beginning of the century. Thunder & Lightning proved to be more than just a copy of Kane’s image and achieved unmatched success by another couple in this country.
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