Savio Vega Running For Mayor In Puerto Rico In 2024

Former IWA Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship Savio Vega was on today's episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. He revealed to Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman that he will be running for mayor in his hometown of Vega Alta.

"Well, I was born in Puerto Rico in the town of Vega Alta. That's my hometown Vega Alta, and today, at 12:30 Eastern Time, I told myself to run as mayor of Vega Alta for 2024," Vega announced on the podcast. "It's something that came up to the top of my head a long time ago. This past election, my boss, who was the mayor, he lost. So I see myself in 2024 sitting down in that chair and taking care of my people in Vega Alta."

Vega explained that his past job was as special security for the mayor. He noted that it would be short-sighted to announce a full plan four years before the election, but he talked about the many people in need in Puerto Rico and his desire to help out those people.

"When I started working in the house, the big house there, they put me as special security in the front. So the first face that people coming through the door would see was me," Vega noted. "What I did was before they got to the mayor, [I helped them] before [they met him]. He has a lot of work. You have a lot of weight on your shoulders to take care of. This is just a town. Imagine Puerto Rico. Imagine a whole nation, and I see a lot of people with necessities, people that I saw when I was a kid, now, they're older, so they need some help.

"Before I tell you or anybody what's I'm going to do, we still have four years. Everything's going to change. Everything changes by the second. So for me to tell you, 'I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do that.' That would be crazy. So I have to wait until the time passes to see what happens. In 2024, Savio Vega, not Savio Vega, Juan Rivera, my real name not my wrestling name, will be the mayor of Vega Alta."

Vega talked about the prospects of potential challengers as well. He said that he would be comfortable in that environment because of the conviction that he can show.

"In politics, I already have the big, tough opponents where I face them in different matches," Vega said. "So I believe these matches in politics are going to be more easy because I have one thing in my head is to look you in the eyes and work the way it is, which is straight [and] to do the right thing at the right time."

The question of Puerto Rico statehood as long been discussed with this past election seeing a referendum on U.S. statehood passing. The referendum is non-binding, but as of last year, a bill was introduced in Congress to officially make Puerto Rico a state. However, the bill did not gain much traction.

Vega gave his thoughts on whether the U.S. territory should become a state noting as this point it would be the 52nd state since Washington D.C. has also long sought to become a state as well. He also talked about the idea of Puerto Rico going out on it's own using other examples of countries that broke free from imperialism like Singapore.

"Well, Puerto Rico has been part of the United States for many, many, many years, and of course, the United States, maybe wants Puerto Rico, maybe doesn't want Puerto Rico, but for a long time, Puerto Rico has been trying to be the 51st state," Vega pointed out. Now it might be the 52nd state, but it's crazy because if United States wants us, why didn't you do that from the beginning? That's the question right there. Why? Why don't you take care of us from the beginning? Now you take care of us with money or whatever we need.

"I believe that Puerto Rico could do it themselves. South America could do it. Every territory outside of the United States, they do. They survive. They eat every day. They sleep every day. Look at Singapore. Singapore, a lot of corruption, a lot of killings and they come up as a big country. So why can't Puerto Rico do that? The question is why can't we do that because there's a lot of people that have a different agenda. Agendas that are there for them where they want to take care of themselves, and the rest of the people, forget about it. We need to do it differently.

"I'm not a politician. Forget about politics. I'm a human being that knows what's right. Wrestling has taught me to do a lot of things, to be a businessman, to be a human being and I can do be a difference in the big chair in my hometown. So let's try it. Let's see."

"MLW: The Restart" begins on Wednesday November 18th. For you information visit www.MLW.com. You can follow Savio on Twitter @SavioVega.

Savio's full interview aired as part of today's episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.