Savio Vega discusses his role in TNA, IWA, Wrestling in Puerto Rico and More!

RA: How did you enter TNA and what is your role in the company?

SV: I entered TNA after Dutch Mantell approached me with the offer of becoming an agent during the shows. We are also both in charge of the Knockouts Division and training the girls. I work at the TV Tapings every two weeks, a the Pay-Per-Views and sometimes I am left in charge of Xplosion, which is a small show that they distribute through the internet and to international markets.

RA: What’s your opinion on the female talents that you have at your disposition?

SV: I think that there is no wrestling promotion out there that has such talented ladies. They have nothing to envy the WWE in that respect. This girls are really talented, not just pretty faces. Gail Kim is extraordinary and so is the champion, Taylor Wilde. As a matter of fact, there are some girls that are really talented and don’t fall under the category of diva, like Awesome Kong and ODB. It has been a really long time since the world has seen a wrestler as dominant as Awesome Kong, someone who is not only a big wrestler, but can also move well around the ring, she knows how to execute and her skills are well polished. Before coming to TNA she was a sensation in Japan and she is as well in TNA.

RA: How to you help them?

SV: I try to help them in their execution in the ring and their use of psychology during their matches. Some of them had the false notion of never looking at the crowd and just concentrating on their match. Nothing father from the truth. As a wrestler you need to notice the reaction of the crowd and if they are responding, you can improvise in your match as a direct reaction of what the fan wants. Right now the ladies have been using more psychology in their matches than most of the roster and according to what Dutch Mantell has been telling me, it is the ladies that are carrying the ratings of Impact.

RA: Have you been sharing your knowledge with the male wrestlers as well?

SV: Sometimes I talk to some of them, because I know most of them, but I don’t interfere in terms of ideas and creative. Vince Russo is in charge of that and he has his own things running.

RA: Is it possible that some of IWA’s wrestlers appear for TNA in the future?

SV: I think we have several talents that are ready to take the leap if given the chance. Blitz definitively has the tools. Chicano is ready, but he would need to adjust himself to the speed of execution over here. Dennis Rivera and Noel Rodriguez have the talent, but I think we need to work on Noel a bit more. If it where up to me, I would have them working away from television for two or three weeks so they can adjust to the speed and the style of TNA. But I think they all have the tools, the maturity and the psychology to work here.

RA: Going full into IWA, how do you see the current situation of your company and of wrestling in Puerto Rico?

SV: It’s no secret that the country itself is in recession and that the fans are saving their money for the big events. But we are still solid, in spite of not having TV during this entire month due to Telemundo’s coverage of the Olympic Games and we have had to make separate deals with Liberty and Choice (lead cable TV providers) to air our Impacto Total show during this period of time. In our case, we have had no support from Telemundo either, especially after NBC purchased the network. They have removed the promotional ads they used to air for our shows and that doesn’t help us at all. And on top of all that, we are still recuperating from the death blow that Mario Savoldi tried to give us around a year ago.

RA: What happened with Savoldi?

SV: We had agreed on a joint investment. But it was all a trick he did to try to steal our company and steal our business. It all started with his idea of moving our central offices from a building that we owned and thus, we did not need to pay for it, to another building that he was going to pay for. One day when I came back from vacation, he had stolen everything, the ring, the video library, our trucks and equipment, computers, everything. Thank God we managed to recover at least three quarters of everything that was stolen and a that the judge’s verdict went out way.

During that time several wrestlers left the company as well like Carlitos and Hiram Tua. What happened?

SV: Carlitos and Hiram Tua did a great job with us, they are very talented and are excellent workers. But they used the whole situation with Savoldi to start making demands. Savoldi promised to take them to Las Vegas to work with the NWA and they believed him. I told them not to, I warned them against it, but they didn’t listen. They went nowhere. They bit the hand that feeds and now they are trying to make a comeback with a new upstart promotion, but if we, the established promotions, are suffering from some really bad times, imagine what’s it going to be for a new company?

RA: What about Ricky Vega?

SV: He came back for a couple of matches, but his wife was pregnant and he decided to take some time off. His wife has already given birth, so we expect to see him back in IWA soon.

RA: What is your assessment on the current IWA roster?

SV: I think we have a great nucleus of young talents that we are getting that extra mile from. Some of them came in thinking that they knew everything once they where inside the ring, but realized that they still have a lot to learn. Some others are almost ready. Richard Rondon is on the right track and so are The Arabians. Blitz is an amazing talent, but unfortunately some things out of his control took away some of the momentum he had built up last year. Still, he is one of the best in the entire island. Dennis (Rivera) and Noel (Rodriguez) have improved by leaps and bounds, we have worked them in slowly and I can tell they are going to go really far.

RA: How can we get wrestling out of the hole it is in?

SV: We just have to keep trying, coming up with innovative angles that drive the fans back to the shows. But wrestling is like that, a cycle. At the beginning of the decade we came up with some really innovative and unique angles, stuff never before seen here and we also came up with feuds that the fans had never seen before, like when we brought in Rey Gonzales for the first time. During that time we sold out show after show. We just have to come up with stuff that surprises the fans.

RA: What do you think of WWC and their signings of Rey Gonzales and Shane?

SV: Right now business is falling for both of us and we need to find ways to make it rise. They are doing their thing and that’s important to everyone. Competition is good and whoever thinks otherwise doesn’t like the Olympic Games, or racing cars, or horse races. Competition is needed and it forces you to improve and always give the best show possible.

RA: Is there a dream that you have yet to realize in this business?

SV: I would like, in the future, to have the funds to build the “IWA Arena”. A complex in the metropolitan area that would be our official arena with a capacity between 3,000 and 5,000 fans and enough space for the offices and a gym. That’s a concept that was once discussed with the deceased Victor Quinones, rest in peace, when IWA was making a lot of money. If we make it sometime, it would be named after him. I think that in the future, such a construction could be viable. Plus, it would not be for wrestling shows only, we could rent it out for other sports events and shows as well. But we’ll see about that.