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LOOKING AT PUERTO RICO'S NEW PROMOTION, WORLD WRESTLING LEAGUE - A CONVERSATION WITH HUGO SAVINOVICH

Think about this for a second… You are a young kid back in the mid 1960’s, living i New York, and one day while watching TV you see this great superhero wrestler that wears a silver mask and always defeats all the “bad guys”. This superhero, El Santo, captivates you in such a way that you make up your mind right at that moment and you set your sights on entering the world of professional wrestling at an early age of 14. You have to earn your stripes and set yourself apart from the rest in order to get noticed and after years of effort, blood, sweat and tears you are recognized as one of the most successful personalities in the wrestling business, not only in Latin America, but everywhere you travel around the globe.

That is the story that “El Hijo de Do ña Melida” Hugo Savinovich can tell about his life and his 35 year plus career in the wrestling business. After being associated with the WWE for over 15 years, Savinovich took some time off from one his passions in life, wrestling, and dedicated to his other passion in life, Jesus Christ. He has traveled all over Latin America, Puerto Rico and United States talking to the masses with his ministry. He has taken all the experiences in his life, “the good, the bad and the ugly”, and transformed it into an inspiring story of success. Success that he attributes to having the love and support of his family, fans, and God.

Fast forward a year and a half later to the present. Hugo is back in the fold, working on a new wrestling project that is developing in Puerto Rico, but with more of a global vision.

“I received a call a little while ago from Metal (Victor Siebens) and he told me about this businessman from Puerto Rico that was interested in starting a new wrestling company. 24 hours later, I received airline tickets to travel to the island and met with him and Richard [Negrin] (WWL President/Owner) for 10 long hours”, Savinovich stated regarding to how the WWL concept came about.

“Things started to take form and now we are immersed in the production stages, taking care of all the details, because we want to make sure that when the fans see the TV show and attend the live events, they come out excited and wanting more”, Savinovich continued.

Without trying to hide his excitement about this new venture, Savinovich explained that the idea behind this project is to make it into an international sensation. “We have been working hard to create alliances with different promotions in Latin America and so far have announced partnerships with companies in Peru, Panama and Ecuador. There are bigger things happening also, as we are working to finalize deals with Mexico and Brasil, and there is a possibility of also taking this project to Japan at some point. There are high expectations for the concept we are bringing; and you know me, I will give my best effort to insure that we are presenting a quality product that the entire family will enjoy.”

“World Wrestling League” or WWL is the name of this new promotion that has its sights set to begin this journey with their first live event taking place on March 17th. However, before their live event, the company will be presenting a TV program that will help build the excitement and anticipation for the live show. “We want the people to get to know our characters, who they are; and at the same time build the stories that will lead to the great wrestling matches on the live shows. After all, this is professional wrestling. If you set up a story and only focus on that, you are missing the main purpose of the story itself, which is to develop and culminate in a confrontation inside the wrestling ring. That’s the whole point of the show”, Savinovich stated.

Last week, WWL announced a new partnership with Digital Memories, a production company owned by Hector “Bebo” Moyano and Armando Navarro. The company will be involved in the production of the weekly TV show, as well as future DVD & Blu- Ray projects: “The Best of WWL” and “WWL: The World Tour”.

Moyano has a history of working with other local wrestling companies in the past and having been very successful. About the announcement, Savinovich said, "When good people get together and focus on presenting a really good product, great things happen. The fac that ‘Bebo’ has joined our team is a great plus.”

On a final message to the fans, Savinovich wanted to let everyone know that he is very happy to be back working in a project that has its base in Puerto Rico, as this is a second home for him. “I have been out in the different towns already doing vignettes and recording in exteriors for our TV shows and the people are still as amazing as when I lived here full time. There is excitement about the new product. People are already taking an interest and talking about it. It is just great and I cannot to show the great fans in the island what we have in store”, Savinovich finalized, not before sending us off with his world famous “Atangana!!!”

World Wrestling League can be seen beginning Saturday February 9th at 2:00 PM on TeleIsla – channel 7 in Puerto Rico. Tele Isla can also be seen on the following line-ups:

Dish Network channel 12, One Link channel 7 & 807 (HD), Liberty channel 7, and with a digital decoder on channel 7.1 island wide.

The complete 47 minute interview with Hugo Savinovich can be heard right now in the PWInsider Elite section.

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