Let’s do another “Wrestling Salvage Yard”. This time it’s Savio Vega!
Savio Vega in WWE
You’d think Savio first showed up in WWE as Kwang back in 1994. However, his roots with WWE go back to 1987 and his time in Puerto Rico’s WWC promotion was seen as proto-developmental.
When he finally debuted as full-time talent in WWE it was as the mysterious Kwang—which was really just his TNT gimmick from WWC just with a mask and different gear. As expected, the gimmick didn’t work at all and after losing to Hakushi in April 1995, he was repackaged as Savio Vega the following month.
Wrestling Salvage Yard: Savio Vega
Savio would prove to be his most recognizable gimmick and the one that obviously stuck. For a little under two years, Savio actually looked as if he was superstar that WWE was invested in.
He was involved with Razor Ramon as a childhood buddy and joined him in the fight Double J and The Roadie. Once Scott Hall bounced and joined WCW, Savio was pushed in the Intercontinental title picture with the likes of Goldust, Young Triple H, and Steve Austin.
Creatively, things took a downturn in January 1997 as he joined the Nation of Domination. At first, things were fine and WWE was just trying to find something to do with the future Puerto Rican legend. He was still putting on solid matches and was still a strong utility player in the undercard.
It wasn’t until the gang war storyline during the Attitude Era that it was time to put a button on Savio Vega’s run with the company. The storyline just wasn’t interesting and it wasn’t working.
Savio’s faction Los Boricuas had a good collection of talent and a cool theme but there was no actual direction. Like, none of these guys looked as if they were going to be pushed. Eventually, they were all released from WWE in late 1999.
Salvaging Savio Vega
Honestly, I want to say that Savio was 100-percent salvage. I dig him as a brawler now and his New Generation stuff was pretty damn solid. He was a good hand that could’ve been a draw had WWE been serious about cracking Latin America and the Caribbean in the 90s.
That’s the only way I see Savio Vega being salvaged. WWE would need to be targeting a new market and the former Kwang would be an on-hand talent with a presence in the Caribbean. Outside of that, WWE had no further plans with Savio in mind. You could tell that once be put into the Nation of Domination for no good reason.
It would’ve helped if there was more investment as he had the talent and could connect with the crowd on some level. He didn’t need to be a World champ or even a regular contender but a run or two with IC title or a gatekeeper role between the Intercontinental title ranks and the World title would’ve served his ability well.
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