Hugo Savinovich
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| Hugo Savinovich | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Hugo Savinovich El Muñecazo La Pantera Asesina El Hijo de Doña Mélida El Deforme |
| Born | Guayaquil, Ecuador |
| Debut | 1993 |
Hugo Savinovich (born February 15, 1959 in Guayaquil, Ecuador) is a former Ecuadorian professional wrestler and currently one half of the WWE Spanish announce team; he is a color commentator and the partner of Carlos Cabrera and occasionally Marcelo Rodríguez. When he works with Rodriguez, he is the play-by-play announcer.
He was married to the famous former female wrestler Wendi Richter. He is currently married to a woman named Diana and has two sons: Giovanni and Genaro.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Wrestling
Before his current stint as a commentator, Savinovich had been a wrestler for many years, performing in many Caribbean countries like Puerto Rico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. He claims that becoming a professional wrestler literally saved his life, as he was originally a punk Latino gang member in the streets of New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He joined the sport under the guidance of Johnny "El Toro" Maldonado. Mexican wrestling promoter Arturo Mendoza took him to Puerto Rico, where he lived for close to 14 years. He was originally a "technician" (the Puerto Rican wrestling term for a "face", or "good guy"); after breaking up with his original wrestling partner, Little Chief Cherokee (and with Mendoza) he joined the local World Wrestling Council franchise in Puerto Rico, Capitol Sport Promotions (owned partially by Carlos Colon), where he gained notoriety for being one of the "rude" wrestlers (i.e., "heels", or wrestling villains), with a penchant for flamboyancy and self-promotion that gained him his most famous ring name, "El Muñecazo" ("The Big Baby Doll"). Savinovich is on record as stating that he modeled his role after Gorgeous George, although his looks were particular to him and him alone (long hair with a mullet and David Letterman-like gapped teeth). He did promote his wrestlers using a high-pitched voice and fast delivery resembling that of drag racing radio advertisements in the United States. This also gave him the chance to develop his skills as a color commenter for wrestling matches, using a loud and fast narrative style -which he pioneered, since called "estilo lucha libre" ("wrestling style") in Puerto Rico.
Hugo then moved to the United States and spent five years as manager of some of the rudest WWF performers before the league attained its current popularity. Most notoriously, he managed Abdullah the Butcher. He eventually became a partner at Capitol, only to split with Colón a few years after in a rather acrimonious business dispute. Personal disputes with the league's management forced his return to Puerto Rico, where he spent close to five years at Capitol's rival company, All-Star Sports. His colorful personality and success promoting All-Star led the WWF to reconsider bringing him back, to which Hugo consented.
[edit] Commentating
Savinovich and Cabrera have a show at WWE.com called WWE En Español (WWE in Spanish), which lasts about 30 minutes; it is a recap of RAW and SmackDown! shows, along with coverage of Pay Per Views. The show celebrated its 100th episode in April 2006. Currently, WWE launched a mini show starring Hugo and Carlos called 28 Segundos which consists of the announcers making fun of life. The show is in Spanish and can be found on WWE.com.
In recent years, while working for WWE on their pay per views, the area in which he works with Cabrera, commonly known as the Spanish announcers' table, has become a staple in professional wrestling. It is a convenient device for wrestlers to execute dramatic moves on, such as the Piledriver or the Pedigree. The moves almost always result in the destruction of the table, as it is designed to collapse on impact.
One of the most famous on-air incidents that Savinovich was involved in with WWE was at WrestleMania XIX, when he "accidentally" received a chair shot to the head from Hulk Hogan in the match between Hogan and Vince McMahon after McMahon ducked a chair shot. He was unable to continue with the Spanish broadcast and Cabrera had to finish the show by himself.
Hugo & Carlos will travel to the PPV site to provide live broadcast commentary in Spanish, however they perform their live Raw and SmackDown! commentary from the WWE Television Studios in Stamford, Connecticut. Since the start of 2007, the Spanish announce team is no longer at ringside at PPV events. This is due to all PPV's using all three WWE brands, so all three WWE announce teams (Lawler & Ross, Cole [whose previous partners were JBL & Coach] & Foley, and Tazz [whose previous partner was Joey Styles] & Adamle) have been present at ringside.
He is a born-again Christian and attends a Christian Church in Long Island. Hugo gives conferences to people all over the world; he's known to relate Bible passages and relate them with WWE Superstars.
