Savinovich moved from Ecuador with his family of Croatian descent to the Bronx, New York in the 1960s. Before becoming a commentator, he wrestled for many years, performing throughout Latin America in Puerto Rico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. He claims that becoming a professional wrestler literally saved his life, as he was originally a gang member in the streets of New York City in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He joined the sport under the guidance of Angel "El Toro" Maldonado.
Professional wrestling career
Savinovich began his wrestling career in working for promoter Angel "El Toro" Maldonado in New York as the masked La Pantera Asesina. He later worked for Mexican wrestling promoter Arturo Mendoza, who took him to Puerto Rico to work in his wrestling company based in the west part of the island. Savinovich then moved on to the World Wrestling Council in 1978 was, where he was originally a "tecnico" (the Spanish wrestling term for a "face", or "good guy"); after breaking up with Mendoza and his original wrestling partner, Little Chief Cherokee, he joined the local World Wrestling Council franchise in Puerto Rico, Capitol Sport Promotions (owned partially by Carlos Colón), where he gained notoriety for being one of the "rudo" 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 (long hair with a mullet and David Letterman-like gaped teeth).
Savinovich went on many occasions to Dominicana de Espectaculos in the Dominican Republic.
Hugo managed some the most notorious heels in professional wrestling such as Abdullah the Butcher, Ox Baker, The Sheik and Buddy Landell until he had a fallout with Barrabas Sr. becoming a face in 1984.
Savinovich eventually became a partner at World Wrestling Council, only to split with Colón a few years after a rather acrimonious business dispute with the company management forced him to leave and joined the rival American Wrestling Federation.
In 1991, Savinovich would come back to in-ring competition after seven years and feud with Billy Joe Travis, which would last a couple years in WWC and AWF.
During his wrestling run, he wrestled names like Bret Hart, Eric Embry and his biggest rival, El Profe.
He had a high profile match when he teamed with Kane to defeat Chicky Starr and Victor The Bodyguard on April, 7 2001 for IWA Puerto Rico.
Savinovich had his retirement match at WWC Summer Madness on July 22, 2023 in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, where he lost the match to El Profe.[2]
Controversies
Savinovich reported in November 2019 that WWE wrestlers were kidnapped in Saudi Arabia. WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt denied Savinovich's version of the events in July 2020.[3]
In August 2020, while promoting an interview with wrestler Karrion Kross, Savinovich claimed in a live broadcast that Kross had allegedly been a hitman for the mob in his youth. Hours later, Savinovich retracted the statement and apologized to Kross, stating that there was a mistranslation of his words into English. However, video of the interview disputed this. Súper Luchas denied that Kross had been a real killer in his youth, stating that Savinovich only wanted to generate money for his YouTube channel Lucha Libre Online by exaggerating stories. Savinovich later claimed that Kross called him quite angrily to ask for an explanation for his words.[4]
During 2020 he started many auctions with the stated goal of trying to raise money for poor communities. However, this has been questioned since less money has been sent to the beneficiaries and also due to the delivery of that money to other evangelical pastors led by Savinovich.[5]
Personal life
Savinovich was once married to former WWF women's champion Wendi Richter until the couple divorced. In 1990 he married Diana Mendéz and has two sons: Jovannie and Genaro. Diana Mendéz died on November 1, 2019, after a long battle with cancer.[citation needed]
On March 22, 1997, Savinovich suffered a severe episode of depression due to drug use and various personal problems that almost led him to commit suicide in a hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, just one day before WrestleMania 13. In April of that year he was arrested in a raid on his apartment in New York City. He returned to WWE in 1998, after being sentenced to eight years in jail for which he paid on probation.[citation needed]
He is a born-again Christian and travels most of South and Central America sharing his Christian testimony. Hugo is the author of his own autobiography book, Atángana Ring de Tentaciones. He has announced that will be publishing a second book in 2024.[citation needed]
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