Hugo Savinovich Says WWE Did The Wrong Thing Going Back To Saudi Arabia
Former WWE commentator Hugo Savinovich has been at odds with WWE's recollection of events ever since the flight situation following last year's Crown Jewel. Savinovich recenty spoke out as to why WWE's return flight was delayed as well as WWE's lawyer claiming that Savinovich is just trying to get clickbait.
Savinovich went further and discussed why he thinks WWE is acting the way it is towards him when he joined our The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast.
"The fact that I am a person, when I speak, my record speaks for itself. I don't go out there hurting people or lying. I am a pastor and evangelist and my kids for the orphanages I support? that's another thing too. 20 percent of my money goes to all of these beautiful projects that I have. The book that I have out there ? 100 percent of my book is to help these causes. I don't make money out of Lucha Libre Online?," said Savinovich.
"I think the fact that my credibility ? even if they try to hurt me or insult me or maybe threaten me with this, they cannot. Even if they tried, when it comes to the solid information a lot of people still believe that something crazy went down. Now with a wrestler ? without mentioning his name ? he was one of the witnesses in this case and now we have someone who was actually there on the plane. So, I believe everything has to do with strategy."
He added that WWE's lawyer is trying to kill the story by killing his credibility. But until there is change in Saudi Arabia, Savinovich says they are not going to be believed.
"Unfortunately, I think that WWE did not do the right thing by going back. What they wanna do, I believe, is that they wanna keep their stock from falling and they're in a pretty good price range right now," said Savinovich. "So, if they destroy my credibility, that's one less thing. Then sometimes you hear the case has been dropped or whatever, but always read the small print. They do certain deals where you settle and you cannot talk about it. With me, they cannot do anything because of the fact that I'm not under contract with them. Nobody owns me. I don't have to answer not even to my own company Triple A and I haven't heard one word from Triple A saying, 'You know Hugo, maybe you should not talk about it.' Nobody has tried to sanction me. Everybody says, 'Hugo, whatever he said is the truth.'"
He then pointed out that he was the one to break the news about Rey Mysterio retuning to WWE even though WWE tried to discredit him.
"My percentage ? from 100 percent I think I've been very close to at least 93-94 percent on what I've reported. And Nick [Hausman], when there is something wrong, I'm the first one to say this was incorrect and what's really happened and I apologize. I'm not afraid to say when I'm wrong, I'm wrong," stated Savinovich.
Hugo made a comment earlier in the interview that WWE may have tried to threaten him. When asked if WWE had reached out in attempts to get him to change his story he played down the comment.
"No. I do remember that there was one business deal that we did for a show in Puerto Rico and one for Mexico. At that time, the person that was handling things suggested that it would probably be better if my reporter did everything and not me because of the situation happening with Hugo and the Saudi Arabia thing. So, they have not," said Savinovich.
"But when you have the top lawyer of the company coming out and saying this about you, the writing is on the table. It's sad because I'm not involved in any court case. I wish they would have really checked the fact that he's portraying me like I need to put this news out so I can get hits on my pages. If he would have checked my pages, he would have realized that we do not make money?
"Whoever talks to me, like in your case, I have never said to them, 'Listen, I cannot talk about this or you're limited to asking this.' I am a person of my word and to me, if you know me, you know a person that is not perfect but I love God. I am a pastor and preacher and I have my kids around the world and for 24 years I told my wife this."
Savinovich said he is not perfect but he is 100 percent truthful. He's spent his life working with kids and getting them out of prostitution and gangs.
"What would you do Nick if more than one person calls you from the TV studio and headquarters and then you also have a friend that is there in Saudi Arabia and you've known for many years and he tells you what's going on? People, if they were to find out that that person talked to me, he will be dead over there. It is a whole different world," stated Savinovich. "So, I have more than just one source. I am not saying anything that was not told to me. From the moment it happened to the next day, all the information changed and everything was in one page ? mechanical malfunction. That was it. From one day to the other, everything changed."
This story is still in the news eight months after the incident happened and Savinovich was asked what he thinks should happen next regarding it.
"I want the truth to come out. Saudi Arabia is so powerful and I don't know if they sold, but they were one of the top partners of an Uber company. They are involved in so many companies around the world that people would freak out to know how much their power and money is. It seems that nobody really wants to mess with them with the way they bombed places and people died? I believe that Saudi Arabia is so strong that not too many people will dare to mess with them ? only the guy from Turkey," Savinovich said of Jamal Khashoggi.
Savinovich said that before the end of July, we're going to hear from more people about what really happened.
"I would love to see somebody from Saudi Arabia ? obviously they would have to run for their life ? come out so we can actually hear what happened between the moment the PPV was on and the final moment when the wrestlers left Saudi Arabia," said Savinovich. "Whenever I did speak, I never spoke while they were still there. It seems like people have not even talked about it. Whenever I said that, I knew that they were away from that place because you should never do something even if you have information that could compromise whatever they're going through."
He added that he doesn't want to talk about this situation anymore, but WWE's lawyer dragged his name back into it.
"There's no reason why WWE went back when they knew it was blood money. There's no way you can talk me into believing otherwise. I know that some talent in WWE ? they don't wanna go back there and that's the truth," stated Savinovich.
Hugo's full interview aired as part of a recent 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.