Hugo Savinovich Recalls Memorable Moments Involving Top WWE Stars At The Spanish Announce Table
When fans think of the biggest moments in WWE history during the 1990's into the 2000's, they recall Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler providing the soundtrack more times than not. However, right there alongside this iconic duo was Carlos Cabrera and Hugo Savinovich broadcasting en Español. The two had a longtime run together from 1994 up until Savinovich's exit in 2011. And even though he moved on to commentating for other promotions like AAA over the years, Savinovich still considers Cabrera a brother.
"I love the guy. It wasn't a wrestling friendship. We don't get to see each other very often since I do travel a lot with AAA, but I'm also a pastor and an evangelist," he said in an interview with help promote the ticket on-sale for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide's debut in Madison Square Garden on September 15. "We have orphanages we work on. I'm on the road most of the time. We talk all the time, but when we see each other, we hug each other and kiss each other. My wife and his wife say it's like a male romance. We love each other, respect each other.
"He is such a talented guy. Jim Ross said one time to me that if he had his pipes, talking about the precious voice Carlos has, he would be the king of the wrestling world. And that's coming from a legend like JR. That's how much he respects Carlos. He is a professional. He was an anchor in the news for Univision. He was a on a Top 10 show on the radio in New York. He is a voice in the commercial world. He has done stuff from Sears to the voice in Spanish for United Airlines and many car commercials. This guy is an awesome guy. I just love him."
They broadcast for different companies these days. However, Savinovich hopes before he retires they get to call one more event together.
"It doesn't have to be WWE or any official promotion like All Elite Wresting (AEW) or AAA," he said. "I'm a pastor and do things for Haiti and orphanages. So, we can do a benefit event with us doing play-by-play and raise money for a fund.
"We don't know where this is going to take us or if there will be an opportunity to do something big with a wrestling company with Carlos. Regardless, I'd love before I retire to have one show with him doing the play-by-play and me doing color. That would be a dream come true. That would be my way of saying bye to the wrestling world."
Just talking about Cabrera elicits memories of his time in WWE and being right in the middle of the action. The Spanish announce table remains more than a piece of furniture. It's a regular tool of destruction fans look forward to seeing broken. Then there were also times Savinovich found himself in the line of fire regardless if the table stayed in one piece.
"Crazy stuff we were never aware would happen. It was in San Antonio," he said, recalling one occasion. "I don't know if there were 70,000 fans, but it was in the Alamodome. I know that Shawn Michaels came to our table. It was winter. It had just been snowing in San Antonio. And he took my cowboy boot. We were wearing jeans, this shirt and boots for the motif show.
"Shawn took one of my boots and hit his opponent and threw my boot in the crowd. I never got my boot back. Now Vince wants to go to his plane because we have a press conference the next day, and it's snowing. I'm in socks with one boot going to the owner of the company's private plane. It was cold. I never got my boot back. Shawn thought it was fantastic.
"One time, Chyna was thrown on our table and Carlos' finger was turned completely back. We didn't know if it was broken or not. After the last match I said to Carlos, Go to George 'The Animal Steele. He is the expert on that as a football coach, veteran of the business. He is the guy.' I ask George if he can fix it. He said, 'Sure, come over here.' Then he goes, 'When I say three, I'm going to put it right back in it's socket.' He said one and turned it. Carlos screamed and said, 'What happened to the three?' He said, 'Well, if I told you two and three you would be screaming at three.'
"We've had Undertaker falling on top of us. We've seen punches, broken noses. That table was a war zone most of the time. At that time no matter how great the Pay-Per-View was, if they sense the show was coming to a close and they weren't getting the Spanish table involved, the fans would be screaming for it. They loved it. I think at the time we were like Kenny from South Park."
The full audio for Hugo's interview with Wrestling Inc was included in a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded player at the bottom of this post.
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