Savio Vega Recalls Infamous WWE 'Lights Out' Match With Steve Austin

Throughout his career, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was involved in many memorable matches against some of WWE's biggest stars. One of his rivals that many younger fans may not remember as well, however, is Savio Vega. Vega served as Austin's opponent in the first match he ever wrestled as "Stone Cold," taking place during their 1996 feud. Just before adopting his legendary nickname, Austin faced Vega in a Caribbean Strap match at the company's In Your House: Beware Of Dog pay-per-view. While speaking on "Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw," Vega discussed the infamous blackout that greatly affected the WWE PPV.

"I remember Steve [was] in the ring," Vega said. "Here I come. Soon Kevin Dunn put the camera on me — boom. Just [for] a fraction of a second, you see my face, and then the lights went off."

Once that happened, he and Austin started fighting to kill time until the lights came back on, including Austin whipping Vega with the strap. After a few minutes, producer Bruce Prichard relayed to them that they had to start the match despite the absence of lighting. The two ended up wrestling the entire bout in the dark. When they got to the back, Vega and Austin were informed that the pay-per-view feed cut out as well, and they'd be wrestling again two days later at a make-up event.

"To be honest, I liked the first match," Vega continued. "That was the real Lights Out match."

According to Vega, the incident is what made WWE realize that they needed to have generators on hand in case something like that ever happened again. WWE would later experience another power outage in 2006, this time during a taping of "WWE Raw." Thankfully, having learned from their experience, the TV feed persisted while the lights went out.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.