Savio Vega Recalls Being "Mystery" Replacement For Shawn Michaels In Bloody 1999 WWE PPV Main Event
Savio Vega was a major fixture of WWE's Attitude Era and was part of Los Boricuas during the Gang Wars era. Some 20 years later many are comparing this current period in wrestling to that one as wrestling is as hot as it's ever been.
Vega was asked how much of this era reminds him of the Attitude Era when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.
"That era was a big time. Everybody that was working at that time say it was a great era. The houses were packed all the time. What's happening right now, to be honest, I don't follow too much what's going on in WWE because of my work. I see bits and pieces here and there," Vega admitted.
With that said, Vega then talked about all the new faces he is seeing in WWE. He also noted the talent they lost to AEW and how the "water is no longer clear."
"The water got dirty and you have to get it clean again because the story changes from one second to another," stated Vega. "I know WWE takes care of themselves in terms that they know how to finish a story ahead of losing a guy, so it doesn't hurt them?
"If you don't have the right players to get that story across, you lose. Here in MLW, they have great talent to do a lot of things. On November 2 on the PPV, there's gonna be surprises and great matches. All of the fans listening to me right now, don't move and look out for MLW."
While with WWE in early 1998, Vega was called on as a last minute replacement for Shawn Michaels in an eight-man tag match at an In Your House pay-per-view. Vega talked about why the change was made from HBK to him.
"What happened was that Shawn Michaels got hurt, his lower back was out of place and the doctor said he could not wrestle," Vega revealed. "So they replaced him with me and I enjoyed the match. I wrapped Mick Foley with barbed wire and it was kinda a crazy match.
"I saw that match a couple of months ago and I was laughing at what was going on. Some guys send me matches sometimes that I don't even remember happening and I show them to my kids. But I replaced Shawn because he was hurt."
Vega is now with MLW in a backstage role similar to the one he had with TNA. He talked more about what he is doing with MLW.
"I'm an agent to work with them in the matches. They know what they're doing but I'm just giving the tips to help with the matches. Sometimes I just have to tell them less is more and they don't have to do a lot of things to get the point across," Vega said before adding that sometimes he can't keep his mouth shut when he sees something that could be improved.
"I tell them, 'Just try it.' If it doesn't work, then don't do it. But just try it and you can see a difference. When I say that, I know it's that way because I've been around a couple of years."
Many wrestlers are transitioning out of the business when they reach Vega's age, but it seems he has no such aspirations.
"A lot of people are asking me when I'm gonna retire. Well, I'm gonna retire when I die," stated Vega. "I love what I'm doing and even when I have a hurt back or neck, when I go through those curtains then I forget the pain. I'm there to do a job. We have IWA in Puerto Rico and every Saturday at 1 o'clock we have a show on television?
"I love what I'm doing in MLW. I love the production and I love to work with the talent. If God gives me the power to continue, I will do my job teaching whoever I meet."
Savio Vega can be seen every Saturday night, 8/7c, as part of MLW Fusion on BeIN Sports. Vega's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of last Friday's episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.