| Los Conquistadors | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Members | Numerous wrestlers have portrayed |
| Name(s) | The Conquistadors Conquistador No. 1 & No. 2 Los Conquistadores Uno & Dos |
| Debut | 1987–1990, 2000, 2003, 2018 |
Los Conquistadores were avillainousjobberprofessional wrestlingtag team in theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF), consisting of two masked wrestlers known asOne (or SpanishUno for "one") andTwo (or SpanishDos for "two"). The original team consisted ofJosé Estrada Sr. andJose Luis Rivera.
Several other wrestlers made use of thegimmick in 2000 and 2003.Edge and Christian and theHardy Boyz both won theWWF World Tag Team Championship as Los Conquistadores, although their reigns were later credited under their actual team names.
The Shadows was the name of a maskedheeljobberprofessional wrestlingtag team in the WWF in 1987. The team consisted of two masked wrestlers known asLight andDark or simply"Shadow No. 1" and"Shadow No. 2".Randy Colley was "Shadow No. 1",[1] andJose Luis Rivera who was "Shadow No. 2".[2] Colley was previously part of the tag teamDemolition as the original Smash, and before that a tag team calledThe Moondogs as Moondog Rex and was a one-timeWWF Tag Team Champion withMoondog King and then laterMoondog Spot.
The Moondogs were very successful since they had held the WWF tag team title once as well having won many tag team titles in theWorld Wrestling Council (WWC). Rivera had wrestled in the WWF before as The Red Demon, and under his real name, and under both identities wrestled against bothbabyfaces andheels.[3] Shortly after Colley left Demolition and was replaced byBarry Darsow, Colley and Rivera would form the masked Shadows tag-team, and they would make their debut as a team inWorcester, Massachusetts, on March 17, 1987, at ahouse show defeating the team ofLanny Poffo andNick Kiniski,[4] and The Shadows would have their first TV match also in Worcester, Massachusetts, on April 23, 1987, when they teamed with fellow jobber"Iron" Mike Sharp and lost toBlackjack Mulligan,Billy Jack Haynes andTito Santana.[5]
The Shadows also had a few matches againstThe Rockers (Shawn Michaels andMarty Jannetty) during the Rockers first stint in the WWF (which only lasted two weeks, and which after they were fired) in 1987.[6] Since the Shadows wore matching outfits of either black or white or black or grey and had nearly identical builds, the referees could not tell them apart, which allowed the team to make a lot of illegal switches during matches. The Shadows would also have a minor feud withThe Killer Bees (a team composed of"Jumpin'" Jim Brunzell andB. Brian Blair) and would lose every match they had with the Bees.[4] The Shadows scored a rare victory in Detroit, Michigan when the defeated they team ofS. D. Jones andLanny Poffo.[7]
The Shadows faced many top tag-teams likeThe Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques andRaymond),The Can-Am Connection, (Rick Martel andTom Zenk), andStrike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana), and gave those teams many hard matches, though the Shadows always lost. The Shadows had very little success and never appeared on apay-per-view card, though they did appear on a Coliseum WWF home videoVHS cassette calledWWF High Flyers in which they had a match against the team ofPaul Roma andJim Powers, (known asThe Young Stallions), and it was a match that which the Shadows had with the Stallions whereVince McMahon called Roma and Powers "two young stallions" thus naming the team.[8]
The Shadows would lose every match they had with the Stallions through early to mid 1987, and although Rivera was able to beat Jim Powers in some house show matches, but he did not keep his winning streak as Powers would avenge his loss with a victory over Rivera in a house show match in October 1987.[4][9] Rivera's partner Colley would also lose a match to Powers' partner Roma at aBoston Gardens house show.[10] Colley and Rivera would continue to wrestle exclusively at house shows and wouldn't reappear on TV until November 17. Shortly after the Shadows then quietly disbanded. After the Shadows disbanded, Colley then left the WWF and joinedContinental Wrestling where he wrestled as Detroit Demolition, based on his version of Smash, while Rivera stayed with the WWF and formed Los Conquistadores withJosé Estrada Sr.
The original Conquistadors were a maskedforeign heel team consisting ofPuerto Rican wrestlers José Estrada Sr. and José Luis Rivera, billed as being "from somewhere in Latin America", who were used mainly asenhancement talent.
They had onepay-per-view appearance, as part of the 10-team elimination match at theSurvivor Series 1988, where The Conquistadors andThe Powers of Pain were the last two teams left in the ring. After shocking the wrestling world by outlasting several formidable tandems, The Conquistadors eventually lost whenMr. Fuji tripped up Uno andThe Barbarian hit him with a headbutt to win the match for The Powers of Pain. The Conquistadors spent the rest of 1988 and 1989 jobbing to established teams, except some rare victories including a win over the Young Stallions, two wins overThe Rockers, a win overThe Killer Bees, wins over the teams ofTerry Taylor andSam Houston, jobber tag teamsBrady Boone andOmar Atlas, and John Latu and Bob Emory, and a victory overThe Fabulous Rougeaus in Canada in a heel vs heel match.[11]
In 1989, Estrada started to appear on his own as "The Conquistador" while Rivera appeared only sporadically before both men left the WWF in 1990. In April 1991, The Conquistadors wrestled inAll Star Championship Wrestling in a match defeating The Power Twins by DQ.[12]
In the year 2000,Edge and Christian engaged in a lengthy feud with The Hardy Boyz, capturing theWWF Tag Team Championship from Edge and Christian in asteel cage match atUnforgiven. The following day the Hardys won aladder match that included a stipulation barring Edge and Christian from receiving another title shot for the duration of the Hardy Boyz' championship reign.
Weeks later, Los Conquistadors made their return, though they did not physically resemble Rivera and Estrada; rather, the team looked and acted more like Edge and Christian, a suspicion that was boosted by Los Conquistadors immediately targeting the Hardy Boyz in the hopes of getting a shot at the titles. They later won a tag-teambattle royal onSmackDown! to earn a title shot. After the match, a vignette showed Los Conquistadors being congratulated backstage by Edge and Christian. Since they were seen with Los Conquistadors, Edge and Christian claimed there was no way they could be Los Conquistadors. Their title shot came atNo Mercy, where they defeated the Hardys using tactics similar to those employed by Edge and Christian, including Conquistador Dos using Christian's finisher theUnprettier to win the match.[13] Backstage, Edge and Christian, looking like they had just come out of the showers, politely challenged Los Conquistadors for a title shot the next night. OnRaw the following night,Edge looked confident as he made his way through the backstage area toward the ring, until he foundChristian seemingly put through a table. Edge was left to fight Los Conquistadors by himself,[13] and was shocked when they quickly defeated him. When Christian showed up at ringside, Los Conquistadors unmasked themselves, revealing themselves to beMatt Hardy andJeff Hardy. They explained that they had attacked Edge and Christian's hired goons (Christopher Daniels andAaron Aguilera, who had doubled for Los Conquistadors in backstage segments) backstage and stole the costumes.[13]
As Edge and Christian complained, it was declared that Edge and Christian's title victory the previous night was official.[13] At the same time, because the Hardy Boyz had just defeated the champions, commissionerMick Foley ruled they were now the tag team champions.[13] After being outsmarted by the Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian gave up the golden costumes of Los Conquistadors. In line with the stipulations of the prior ladder match, the ban on Edge and Christian challenging for the championships had ended when "Los Conquistadors" defeated the Hardy Boyz for the titles, so Edge and Christian could wrestle for the titles again without disguises.
On the July 17, 2003, edition ofSmackDown!,Rob Conway andNick Dinsmore, who were both working inOhio Valley Wrestling at the time, assumed the roles of Los Conquistadors in a match in which they were defeated byRey Mysterio andBilly Kidman. Unlike previous versions of Los Conquistadors, Conway and Dinsmore wore black and gold masks with exposed mouths along with blue shoulder pads.
On July 27, 2003, another set of Conquistadors participated in theAPA Invitational Barroom Brawl Match atVengeance, where they were beaten up by the APA. In this case, the OVW wrestlers working under the masks were Rob Conway andJohnny Jeter.
On the October 8, 2018, episode ofRaw, a man dressed in a Conquistador outfit, later revealed to beKurt Angle, won aWWE World Cup Qualifying Battle Royal by last eliminatingBaron Corbin. The next week onRaw,jobber Billy Bain dressed as a Conquistador (assumed to be Angle) to take onThe Authors of Pain in a losing effort.
The Los Conquistadors costumes of Edge and Christian from 2000 were made available as alternative outfits in the video gameWWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011.