Who the hell saw Savio Vega and thought 'this guy is money'?

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

I mean I know you don't hire on every guy expecting him to be world champion material, but... I just do not see anything marketable in Vega, and then they gave him this huge stable of anonymous motherf***ers during the Stable Warz era... has he had any great matches that I've just missed out on?

[Todd Pettengill]

Savio was never given mic time. Although, he was pretty charismatic as a face. He was a really good upper midcard hand for most of his career in WWF. Savio was an ethnic wrestler & over with the latinos. I don't think anyone ever saw him as being a top champion (hence him never winning any titles). His series of matches with Steve Austin were always great.

[JTG Fan]

It's always amused me because I swear you watch 1995-1996 WWF PPVs and almost always literally the only person in the building marking out for Savio is Vince. He seemed to f***in love the guy.

"THE CARIBBEAN SENSATION! SAVIO! VEGA!"

[Blindkarevik]

As a kid, I always figured "Caribbean Sensation" meant the same as "Legend".... so I was like, "Wow, this guy's gotta be good! He's legendary where he comes from!" then I watched him.... and he quickly became the guy I got annoyed with when he'd be on my screen because it meant at least 10 minutes before there was a chance I could see something I was interested in.

[Phil Parent]

He was money, in Puerto Rico. Vince tried the guy on a national stage and it didn't work. That's pretty much what happened.

Regional draws don't always pan out nationally because it's a very specific element that gets them over at home and that element isn't there on the national stage.

[cabbageboy]

Savio was okay. He was just...a guy. Ironically enough I think Los Baricuas was a decent idea for all the guys in it since they were almost totally unmarketable and unwanted without such a stable gimmick. Savio's moment of greatness I suppose was beating Austin in 1996 and sending Dibiase packing, though Austin later said on TV that he basically threw the match to be rid of Dibiase.

[Talent Name]

I honestly was a fan both as Kwang and Savio and even liked his stint in Ring Ka King

[Deleted]

Carlos Colon?

[4real]

I was a big Savio fan as a kid. My interest in wrestling slightly waned after I got into football around Euro 96 so was surprised to see him turn heel and join with the NOD which really put the death knell into his career. Literally the last thing I remember him doing as a face was beating Austin & sending Dibiase packing. Austin's 3:16 push then passed me by and the next time I watched wrestling he was a big deal.

Ive also never seen KOTR 95. Maybe that might have put me off Savio.

[johnnytightlips]

I heard he was brought in when Scott Hall suggested management to bring him in as both were buddies in Puerto Rico, but can't find any record of Razor Ramon ever wrestling there prior to or during his WWF run.

They probably didn't think of him as top card material, just a solid mid carder who could work with any talent.

[Aceorton]

He grew on me a lot up until he joined the Nation, which was a waste of the charisma mentioned earlier. Solid in the ring, and he could get the fans worked up when he really started taking it to a heel.

[thegame415]

WWF was still very New York oriented at the time (although they were obviously national). Savio was marketed heavily to the large Puerto Rican crowd in the New York area. Not saying he wasn't over elsewhere, but I think this may have been the original logic.

Because in Vince theory, Puerto Ricans can only be over with Puerto Ricans.

[I'm Team Bayley and Indi]

I remember being very disappointed when he was the mystery partner replacing Shawn Michaels at No Way Out 1998, though I guess in a storyline sense it made some sense since he had history with Austin.

[cherry coloured funk]

Whenever I think of Savio, I think of King of the Ring 1995, and Dok Hendrix. I can't find a video (but I also didn't look very hard):


[After defeating the Roadie, Savio Vega is interviewed by Carlos Cabrera in Spanish.]
Dok Hendrix: [Translating] "I don't know how I got here. There's no way I'm going to beat Mabel, there's no way. I feel so fortunate that Mabel's going to wipe the ring with me. I'm gonna quit stealing hubcaps." Carlos told me "He might as well quit and give it up now." He says he's contemplating that.
Vince: I think we've had enough of this. At least enough of that translation from Dok.

[TGM]

As a kid, in a similar way people think there were more than one Undertaker/Warrior, I was 100% convinced Savio Vega and D'Lo Brown were the same person.

[salsashark]

Savio had weird charisma. He always looked like he was having a blast in his face days. As a kid, I was a HUGE Razor Ramon mark, so I automatically became a fan of him, Marty Jannetty, and most importantly 123 Kid because they all tagged with Razor.

Yeah, Savio kind of sucked. But at least he had a relatively unusual look, which I liked a lot.

[rnrk supports BLM]

Savio Vega is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time.

[Lardlad]

I had my Mom buy me a pair of black jeans once because I saw Savio wearing them and thought he was cool.

Vince, on commentary at least, sure did love him.

[Deleted]

Nov 12, 2013 13:48:29 GMT -5 JTG Fan said:

It's always amused me because I swear you watch 1995-1996 WWF PPVs and almost always literally the only person in the building marking out for Savio is Vince. He seemed to f***in love the guy.

"THE CARIBBEAN SENSATION! SAVIO! VEGA!"

He sure as shit sold me on him. 10 year old me was a HUGE Savio mark. He was Puerto Rican and did spin kicks, that's all I needed.

[Juice]

Savio Vega was a favorite of mine when I was a kid.