Jamaica will host its first live professional wrestling show by an overseas promotion in over 25 years later this month.

Regional wrestling promotion All Caribbean Wrestling (ACW) will stage Welcome to JAMROCK at the Alfred Sangster Auditorium at the University of Technology, Jamaica, on Saturday, July 22.

ACW says a number of its top talent, including wrestlers who previously gained popularity with mainstream promotions World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Total Nonstop Action (TNA), now known as IMPACT Wrestling, and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) will have matches on the card. There will also be a number of talents from ACW’s Florida-based partner promotion Fighting Evolution Wrestling (FEW) competing. This partnership also comes with the backing of former WWE Superstar “The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry, who is now contracted to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), WWE’s main rivals.

Seven matches, two for women, have so far been booked for the show, but ACW says that the card is subject to change.

Some of these names include reigning ACW Heavyweight Champion “Pope” Elijah Burke, formerly of WWE and TNA; Lince Dorado, formerly of the Lucha House Party in WWE; FEW tag champions The Bollywood Boyz, formerly known as the Singh Brothers, who then managed former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal; “Darewolf” P J Black, formerly known as Justin Gabriel during his run in WWE’s Nexus faction; and NWA’s Jamie Stanley.

Other ACW talent confirmed for attendance are FEW Flares Women Champion Mazzerati, also of AEW fame, Nu Nation, The WOAD, Malik Bosede, Renee Michelle, Jay Rios, Joseline Navarro, Jamie Stanley, Vanessa Kraven, Iseah Bronson, Rachelle Riveter, Cassandra Golden, and “The Shogun of Opa-Locka” Bruce Cross.

Whether Jamaica has enough of an appetite for live professional wrestling remains to be seen, especially after the last one staged in the late 1990s.

Then, an independent promotion staged a show, but there was public misconception that the show was being staged by WWE. Many fans turned up at the event expecting to see a number of high-profile wrestlers but were disappointed to find that the performers were only really known on the independent circuit. It was reported that spectators booed the matches and some demanded a refund on tickets.

Some fans were also shocked to find that the in-ring action was in kayfabe (staged moves with planned outcomes based on a scripted storyline). This took them by surprise as viewing as a live spectator takes on a different nature from watching pre-recorded and heavily edited shows, with numerous camera angles to improve the visual effects of moves on television.

However, with social media, many local fans of professional wrestling became more enlightened about the inner workings of the industry as dirt sheets (wrestling magazines, newsletters, or websites that give coverage of events from a real-life perspective as opposed to treating the storylines as real) became more readily available.

This is why ACW promoter and in-ring talent JB Cool says Welcome to JAMROCK will fare better than that event many years ago.

“We’re promoting the brand All Caribbean Wrestling and that’s why in the advertisement it says, ‘You’ll see stars such as…’,” Cool told the Jamaica Observer recently. “It lists the names, so there’s no expectation of a Randy Orton or a Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, et cetera.

“These are people that, unless you fly to the United States or India, you will never see.”

Cool says local fans should not get carried away by the expectation that the biggest names in the industry will ever do shows in the Caribbean. But he says ACW has enough experienced talent to put on an equally entertaining show, especially as a number of these wrestlers have worked in mainstream promotions in the past.

“I’ve been doing this since 1998, and the one thing I do know about wrestling is, as far as the entertainment part of it, the business part of it — Vince McMahon [WWE’s executive chairman], Tony Khan [AEW’s co-owner] will never cross the water to go to Jamaica,” Cool said. “They would never go to any island in the Caribbean except for one.”

That island is Puerto Rico, which hosted WWE’s premium live event Backlash on May 6.

Cool has a point as these mainstream promotions stage international live events when paid by the host countries to do so, and not only would it likely be far too expensive for Jamaica to do the same, but it may not be seen as a good investment as many here see professional wrestling as just pretending to be a sport.

Puerto Rico spent US$1.5 million ($231 million) to host Backlash while Saudi Arabia spent US$50 million ($7.7 billion) to bring WWE’s Night of Champions to Jeddah on May 27.

However, the NWA has hosted previous events in the Caribbean.

Although the Alfred Sangster Auditorium has a capacity of 1,000, Cool is expecting a packed audience and says that since the venue is booked for the entire weekend, the possibility exists for a second show to be staged on the 23rd, based on the reception to Welcome to JAMROCK.

Tickets for the event have already been on sale at eventbrite.com. The VIP package includes a gift, a ringside seat, and an in-ring single or group photo with the talent and costs $3,000. Floor seats cost $1,500 each and that package presents spectators with a meet and greet opportunity plus the chance for a selfie with wrestlers. General admission tickets cost $300, while a family four-pack (four tickets) of floor tickets cost $4,500, and the family four-pack (also four tickets) of general admission tickets cost $900.

The meet and greet starts at 6:00 pm, while the general doors open at 7:00 pm, with the bell time set for 8:00 pm.