10 Things Wrestling Fans Should Know About Savio Vega

Arguably one of least appreciated eras of WWE, the New Generation Era saw the promotion push a variety of younger stars and experiment with an endless parade of gimmick wrestlers after losing Hulk Hogan and experiencing a high-profile trial over steroids. While there were obvious standouts like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels during this period, there were also a slew of underrated guys like Savio Vega.

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Savio Vega spent 1994 to 1999 wrestling for WWE and continues to perform today, but fans likely don’t know much about him, as he was strictly a midcard guy who never won a title in the company. Let’s take a look at what fans should know about him.

10 Started In Puerto Rico

Born Juan Rivera in Puerto Rico and with a background in martial arts, the future Savio Vega’s first taste of the wrestling business working security for Puerto Rico’s top promotion, World Wrestling Council, which had a working relationship with WWE. He tried out for WWE, and got his start wrestling for WWC, debuting in 1985 and performing under the name TNT. During this period, he’d manage to become a huge fan favorite, capturing pretty much every title in the promotion, and even feuded with legendary wrestler and WWC founder Carlos Colon Sr. over the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship.

9 Debuted In WWE As Kwang

Savio Vega’s TNT gimmick in Puerto Rico incorporated his martial arts background, but in WWE his first gimmick was that of Kwang, an Asian foreign heel. Wearing a mask and managed by Harvey Whippleman, Kwang executed archetypical martial arts maneuvers and sprayed opponents with Poison Mist. His official in-ring debut was actually in the 1994 Royal Rumble, where he entered fairly early and was eliminated fairly early. From there, Kwang would struggle to gain traction, losing most of his matches and disappearing from TV after April 1995.

8 Razor Ramon’s Childhood Friend

About two weeks after Kwang’s disappearance came the debut of Savio Vega, who at the first In Your House appeared as a member of the crowd only to make the save for Razor Ramon during a beatdown. It was soon revealed that Vega was Ramon’s kayfabe childhood friend, and the two tagged together in several matches, including bouts against Yokozuna and Owen Hart, and The Smoking Gunns.

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Savio Vega’s biggest accomplishment as a singles performer during this initial period, however, was entering the 1995 King of the Ring tournament and making it to the finals. While it’s considered one of the worst tournaments in KOTR history, the crowds did get behind Savio Vega as an underdog favorite.

7 Part Of The Bone Street Krew

While Savio Vega was affiliated with Razor Ramon on WWE television, backstage he was part of a different clique. Established by Yokozuna, the Bone Street Krew included Savio Vega, The Undertaker, The Godfather, and others, and were known to mostly hang out and play dominoes together. While the BSK were strictly a backstage group, members Savio Vega, Henry O. Godwinn, The Undertaker, and Fatu (a.k.a. Rikishi) did team up as “The Dark Side” for an elimination match at the 1995 Survivor Series.

6 Feuded With Steve Austin

Savio Vega’s biggest feud would come in the spring of 1996 when he got into a feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin, who had debuted in 1995. After a double-countout on Raw, the two clashed in several matches over the following months, with Austin beating Vega at WrestleMania 12, and Vega giving Austin his first singles loss in WWE after donning a mask as The Caribbean Kid. Savio Vega would get a huge win over Austin in a Caribbean Strap Match at In Your House 8 to end the feud.

5 Member Of The Nation Of Domination

Initially a babyface, Savio Vega turned heel in early 1997 and became a member of the recently formed Nation of Domination. In the process of joining, he betrayed Ahmed Johnson during a tag match, intensifying Johnson’s feud with the faction that would lead to Johnson teaming with the Legion of Doom against Svaio Vega, Crush, and Faarooq members at WrestleMania 13. However, tensions would soon begin to mount among the members of the Nation, which soon led to Nation leader Faarooq ousting Savio Vega and several other stablemates.

4 Formed Los Boricuas

In the wake of his dismissal from The Nation of Domination, Savio Vega ended up forming his own faction, Los Boricuas. As implied by the name, Los Boricuas were an all-Puerto Rican stable, but Vega’s recruits were all also second-generation talent: Jesus Castillo, Jr., Jose Estrada Jr., and Miguel Perez Jr., with the latter two’s fathers actually being former champions in WWE.

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While Los Boricuas were primarily preoccupied with one big storyline (see below), they had a couple notable in-ring outings. In addition to splitting into duos to all compete in a tag team battle royal, Vega challenged for the Tag Team Championship as part of the group on two televised occasions: onceagainst Legion of Doom and once against The Headbangers.

3 Gang Wars

Faarooq’s housecleaning of The Nation would lead to a major inter-stable conflict, as Vega went on to form the all-Puerto Rican Los Boricuas and Crush formed the all-white biker gang Disciples of Apocalypse. The angle, referred to as “Gang Wars,” saw all three groups divided on racial grounds and clashing in myriad matches over a series of months. Savio Vega would get the final victory in a triple threat match among the stable leaders at In Your House 17, after which Los Boricuas splintered off, competing on minor shows like Shotgun and Super Astros.

2 Continued To Wrestle In Puerto Rico

Following the Gang Wars, Vega took part in the infamous Brawl 4 All tournament and generally slid down the card, working on minor shows and doing spanish language commentary before his release in September of 1999. From there, Vega returned to Puerto Rico, joining up with the promotion International Wrestling Association, capturing its Hardcore Championship and becoming an on-screen authority figure for the company. He’d also capture some of the biggest titles of his career, becoming World Champion in both WWC and rival International Wrestling Association.

1 Wrestles For MLW

As mentioned earlier, Savio Vega’s wrestling career is not yet over, as he still wrestles today. In addition to IWA, in 2019 Vega debuted in Major League Wrestling, bringing with him the IWA Caribbean Heavyweight Championship, which had been defunct since 2012. During a non-title match with privileged heel Richard Holliday, Holliday stole Vega’s title, proclaiming himself the Caribbean Heavyweight Champion, leading to a rivalry that ended with a Caribbean Strap Match for the belt, which Holliday won. Since then, Vega has continued to wrestle for MLW, including taking part in the signature Royal Rumble style Battle Riot, which he entered not only as Savio Vega, but also under his old Kwang gimmick.