True Story Of WWE New Year's Revolution 2005

It was supposed to be WWE's grand return to a territory that was chomping at the bit for their unique brand of sports entertainment. A country with a rich and at times controversial wrestling history, Puerto Rico was the home of WWE’s first pay-per-view of 2005 – New Year’s Revolution. It was a new concept not without its risks, from both a logistical and creative standpoint and it's fair to say that not everything came off smoothly from WWE’s perspective. Far from it.

From pre-show jitters to major injuries and backstage incidents, New Year's Revolution may have the appearance of a glorified 'B' show that was essentially saved by one really, really good match, but there was plenty of backstory - and fallout - from WWE's excursion to San Juan in the mid-2000s.

It may have been the first WWE pay-per-view to emanate from Puerto Rico (and Latin America in general, for that fact), but WWE had history with the island that pre-dated the inaugural New Year’s Revolution. The first house show they ran in the country was on October 19, 1985 – almost two decades before New Year's Revolution.

While the card was suitably stacked for the era, featuring major stars like Ricky Steamboat, Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan, as well as a special appearance from Cyndi Lauper (as the manager of Women's Champion Wendi Richter), the show was not a big success at the box-office. Headlined by national hero Pedro Morales, who scored a 75-second victory over The Spoiler, it only attracted around 2,000 fans to San Juan’s Estadio Hiram Bithorn, a baseball stadium with a capacity closer to 20,000. The event taking place in an outdoor arena during a rainstorm likely didn’t help things and WWE duly abandoned the market.

Not only that, but an unsavoury scene allegedly unfolded that might have scared WWE off doing business there. According to reports, a major company executive who handled international shows at the time was apparently kidnapped, had a gun pointed at his head and was told that the next time he came back the gun would be loaded.

During the inconsistent 1990s, WWE established ties with a Puerto Rican promotion run by Victor Quinones, a former WWE referee (who worked with Vince McMahon Sr.) and the godson of Hall of Famer Gorilla Monsoon.

Founded in 1999, the International Wrestling Association both provided competition for Carlos Colon's World Wrestling Council and acted as an official WWE development territory.

Vince McMahon not only sent prospective talents there to gain experience, but some of his biggest stars to help draw houses for Quinones, too. The Rock, Undertaker, Kane, Big Show, Kurt Angle, the Legion of Doom and others were all loaned out to the IWA for special occasions between 1999 and 2001.

In that same year, however, WWE dropped IWA as a feeder league following an incident involving Tiger Ali Singh. At IWA's November 24, 2001 show, Singh suffered a concussion during the main event. During which, incidentally, he became one of the promotion's tag team champions.

Claiming that he had been forced to wrestle in the rain and then book his own flight back home to Canada (after not receiving sufficient medical attention on the island), Singh was terminated by WWE three months later and subsequently sued the company for $7 million over the career-ending injury (since he had been sent to IWA by WWE), along with claims that he had been racially discriminated during his tenure on the main WWE roster.

WWE’s purchase of WCW and their ties with other US-based developmental territories (like OVW & HWA) had meant that the IWA relationship was on the ropes anyway.

Having stayed away for several years, WWE announced in the summer of 2004 that they would be returning to Puerto Rico on January 6th, 2005, for a rare overseas pay-per-view.

Booked to go down at the newly built 18,500-seat Coliseo de Puerto Rico, ticket prices ranged from $40 to $200 in a market where the price for wrestling typically hovered between $6 and $12. WWE must have been encouraged by their success earlier that year in Monterrey, Mexico, where they ran a non-televised house show with much higher ticket prices than the local promotions charged and ended up doing great business, defying the expectations of some industry insiders.

There were some initial nerves after New Year's Revolution tickets went on sale because Puerto Rico (like Mexico) usually relied heavily on walk-up business and promotions didn't tend to shift a lot of tickets in advance.

Those fears turned out to be unfounded, as the promise of the first-ever WWE pay-per-view in the country convinced punters to open their wallets and secure their seats months beforehand. Lines began forming 4:30 am the morning that tickets went on sale, with approximately 10,000 sold on day one. According to reports at the time, it was the people who physically went to the box office that got lucky, as those attempting to snag tickets via the telephone and internet were let down by dodgy technology.

In any event, those numbers laughed in the face of the sceptics who believed that the high prices – combined with their relatively limited television presence in the country – would result in lower demand.

It was said at the time that only about 20% of the island had cable and thus got to see Raw. However, in early November, SmackDown began airing on WAPA-TV (at 10.30 pm on Sundays) in what was said to be an initial two-month deal to help promote the pay-per-view.

SmackDown was a natural choice, since Carlito was getting a big push there following his US Title-winning debut. Then again, the pay-per-view would be Raw-branded, meaning Carlito wouldn’t be there. Regardless, the blue brand did great numbers including a 10.7 rating and 32 percent share for the show that aired on November 7th.

Clearly, the Puerto Rican fans were ready for WWE and New Year’s Revolution sold out many weeks in advance, destroying Puerto Rican records. All told, 15,746 fans paid $825,000, though a couple of thousand comps were also distributed.

Just what exactly were they paying for, though? The big hook leading into the show was who would emerge as World Heavyweight Champion after the title had been declared vacant on the December 6, 2004 episode of Raw.

The title was held up after a double fall occurred in Triple H’s triple-threat title defence against Edge and Chris Benoit the week prior. In a novel finish, the Rated-R Superstar pinned The Rabid Wolverine at the exact moment he tapped out to the Crippler Crossface.

Rather than book Edge versus Benoit to determine the new champ, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff instead declared that they, Triple H, Randy Orton, Batista and Chris Jericho would fight for the honour inside the Elimination Chamber.

In an added twist, Shawn Michaels (who at the time was recovering from knee surgery) would act as the special guest referee. And on the December 27 Raw, Easy E set up the Beat the Clock Challenge, with all six combatants attempting to win their match in the fastest time so that they could enter the match last (with the threat of being replaced by their opponent, should they lose). Batista won the right to enter the match last after beating Rhyno in three minutes and two seconds.

Top-heavy doesn’t even really begin to describe things, because the advertised New Year’s Revolution undercard had the appearance of a glorified house show. With the biggest stars stuffed into the Chamber, Raw’s shallow roster was exposed.

William Regal and Eugene defending their World Tag Team Titles against La Resistance, a Women’s Title rematch between Lita and Trish Stratus, Maven challenging Shelton Benjamin for the Intercontinental Title and grudge matches between Muhammad Hassan & Jerry Lawler and Kane & Gene Snitsky rounded out the seven-match card.

Before the opening bell even rang, there were hints that this would not be a typical WWE show when a memo was circulated to the roster informing them that, no matter what, they were not to leave their hotel area. The memo stressed that Puerto Rico could be a dangerous place and that everything they could want or need would be available at the hotel. Whether the memo was sent because they feared for the talent and staff’s safety or they didn’t want them getting into trouble by venturing downtown, is unknown.

Backstage visiting at the show were both IWA figurehead Victor Quinones and WWC’s Carlos Colon and Victor Jovica. Each were there to visit with Vince McMahon, who told both sides that he wouldn’t be taking sides in their promotional war.

He also told the promoters that he expected to run two shows per year in Puerto Rico going forward and was planning WWE’s return for that August.

Vince McMahon wasn’t the only person Quinones had a backstage ‘meeting’ with on the night. He also ran into Ric Flair and, well, their exchange was less than pleasant. According to reports, The Nature Boy was still mad at Quinones for the treatment his son David received while wrestling for the IWA years before. Slick Ric maintained that Quinones owed David $530. That figure was because – the week before he quit the IWA in late 2003 – David took a bad chair shot to the head and needed to go to the hospital, where he received 14 stitches. The promotion supposedly told David they’d pay for his treatment, but never did.

David had also complained about the general living and working conditions while he was stationed in Puerto Rico, with IWA countering that he was just spoiled after growing up the rich kid son of the Dirtiest Player in the Game. They were also peeved because there had been talk of Ric coming in to team with his son for the IWA’s Three Kings Day show (in exchange for hiring David full-time), but the deal fell apart when the former WCW United States Champion up and quit.

Backstage at New Year’s Revolution, Quinones maintained that his promotion owed David nothing, while accusing David of trashing his hotel room (which they had to pay for). The confrontation was reportedly tense, but didn’t escalate to violence. Still, it left both men with bitter feelings afterwards and Quinones went to WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis, claiming that Flair had threatened to punch him. Not only that, but if Flair did punch him, Quinones intimated that he would have a hard time getting off the island, due to his connections. Laurinaitis apologised for the incident and smoothed things over, with Quinones griping that he had been invited to the show personally by Vince McMahon and that he’d had a pleasant experience, bar his run-in with the 16-time World champion.

After all of that, the show itself actually took place. It kicked off with the World Tag Team Title match and the night’s first serious injury when, during the closing stretch, Eugene threw a dropkick and landed awkwardly on his knee.

They hastily finished the match with the champs retaining, but it was obvious that poor Nick Dinsmore was in a bad way. He’d ruptured his patella tendon and would be out for several months. WWE opted to have Regal – teaming with Jonathan ‘The Coach’ Coachman, of all people – drop the straps to La Resistance on a house show, before the battling Brit and Tajiri snatched them back when Raw was taped from Japan about a month later.

The bad luck lightning struck twice in the second contest of the evening, as Lita defended her Women’s Title against perennial rival Trish Stratus. The two had been feuding for the past couple of months and famously had a cracker in the first all-women’s main event of Raw the month before.

They were no doubt hoping to emulate this here, when Lita injured herself performing a Thesz Press from the ring apron just a couple of minutes in. The champ gamely tried to carry on, to no avail, and Trish finished her off with the Chick Kick in 3:46.

Tearing her left ACL, Lita would be on the shelf for many months. It’s never a good time to get injured, but being struck down so close to WrestleMania must have been a sickener for the flame-haired daredevil. Of course, Lita’s career would soon take a drastic turn when her affair with Edge was made public.

Match number three wasn’t really a match at all and it’s fair to say that maybe somebody should have called an audible and had Shelton Benjamin and Maven actually wrestle instead of doing... whatever this charade was. Apparently, due to bad house show matches between the two in the run-up to the pay-per-view, WWE opted instead to have Maven cut a long promo, do the old Larry Zbyszko Stall for six minutes and then get beaten instantly with a roll-up.

Not content with losing once in lightning-quick fashion, he challenged Benjamin again immediately after and was pinned straight away following a T-Bone suplex. The whole thing was just awful and the sort of thing you’d be annoyed about getting on a house show, let alone a show you had shelled out your hard-earned money for.

New Year’s Revolution continued to circle the drain in match number four, as Jerry Lawler exited the commentary booth to take on the nefarious Muhammad Hassan in his televised in-ring debut.

Also vacating his seat was Jim Ross, who made his way to ringside to support his colleague and friend (and keep an eye on Daivari), meaning the match played out with no soundtrack (besides the crowd’s occasional chants of ‘boring’).

The idea going in was that The King would be able to lead the rookie in a simple, 1985-style match that fans would respond to based on the heated storyline going on.

What creative didn’t take into account, however, was the fact that a large section of Puerto Ricans hold a general disdain for those in mainland USA, so the old ‘love it or leave it’ rabble didn’t translate. To give credit to those in the arena, they did react to Jerry’s comeback. Even with the rubbish they’d been served up, they had managed to remain enthusiastic throughout.

The match itself was an 11-minute slog that badly exposed Hassan from the off. Lawler hit the showers after and was replaced by Jonathan ‘The Coach’ Coachman on commentary.

Kane and Snitsky – positioned in the semi-main event slot – did what they could, but their brawl wasn't exactly rousing stuff. The Big Red Machine scored the pin after a Tombstone, during which he almost lost his grip on the baby-punting madman in a scary moment.

It was then almost time for the main event but WWE had to wrap up a show-long storyline between the Divas and undercard wrestlers that culminated in a chicken fight at the pool in what was a barely veiled excuse to get some bikini-clad women on screen.

Mercifully, it was then time for the main event and what a main event it was, as Triple H, Batista, Randy Orton, Edge, and Chrises Benoit and Jericho pulled out all the stops and put on a collective show-saving performance inside the Elimination Chamber.

As well as the vacant World Heavyweight Title being on the line, it also helped progress the feud between Edge and guest referee Michaels, while teasing tension between The Game and The Animal.

The one criticism people levelled against the match was that the Cerebral Assassin once again left with the gold, begging the question of ‘why was it made vacant in the first place, if it was going back to him anyway?’, but the action, drama and storyline progression were all top-drawer and – knowing how things shook out at WrestleMania 21 – you can forgive the little bit of stat-padding.

So that was New Year’s Revolution 2005, a seemingly cursed show that started badly, got worse and managed to end on a high note that almost – almost – made you forget the 90 minutes of dross you sat through getting to it.

It took a lot of effort to even put the show on, as it was a hell of an undertaking from a practical standpoint, with WWE having to fly in and put everyone up, as well as transporting the Chamber and paying some higher-than-expected bills, including a monstrous catering bill.

Getting back was also an ordeal, due to delays getting through airport security (thanks to a sole entrance and several flights leaving at the same time). WWE’s chartered flight of 170 people didn’t get fully boarded until 3 am and didn’t land in Florida until 6 am Monday morning.

The show was an overwhelming success from a financial and PR standpoint, however, with fans turned away at the door, a couple of major newspapers running stories on the event, and a not-too-shabby 270,000 buyrate, the best for a non-big four pay-per-view since Backlash nine months previous. Airing free on Sky Sports in the UK, the show attracted 250,000 viewers, not bad at all given the 1 am start time.

Buoyed by the success of the show, WWE returned to San Juan for a non-televised house show on August 26. They’ve been back many, many times since, as well as running Ponce and Arecibo. While Puerto Rico may no longer be the pro-wrestling hotbed it once was, WWE can still get them in.

The company, of course, returned to pay-per-view on the island in 2023 with Backlash, a show that was one of the promotion’s best of the year.