Video link to the match over at Youtube : https://youtu.be/FgbU9QmpM0Q



Cagematch page for this match/event.

Who’s Who?

Jake Roberts



Making his debut in 1975 when he worked with NWA and Championship Wrestling from Florida where he would work in the early 80′s. while also branching out to work in UWF(Universal Wrestling Federation) as well. The in 1986 Jake Roberts would make his jump to WWF where he would become a staple for the rest of the decade before leaving in 1992. Working briefly in WCW before going south of the border to Mexico! Where the hot new company wanted a big star they could use for shock and awe in their first annual super card Triplemania! The first Triplemania’s main event being a Cien Caras vs Konnan 2/3 falls retirement match. What American hot shot cost Konnan the match? None other than Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts. This lead to a year long program leading to Triplemania II where Konnan and Jake the Snake would meet one on one. Jake’s first match after Triplemania was vs Cien Caras vs Konnan where Konnan had to win to be reinstated. Thus getting around the whole retirement angle as far as I know, unless a different explanation was given on TV.

It’s pretty interesting to see Diamond Dallas Page here as his manager. Looking as you’d imagine a 1992 sleezy manager DDP would look. So that’s the story for Jake the Snake at this point. After 1994 he would head back to WWF where of course he had his last major run infamously losing to Stone Cold Steve Austin in the King of the Ring tournament. From 1998 to 2016 Jake Roberts worked for dozens of independent companies.

Eddie Guerrero

I could probably assume that you know who Eddie Guerrero is, but lets act like you don’t. Eddie Guerrero got his start in EMLL, which is the same promotion his father Gory Guerrero had been a major star for in the middle of the century. Debuting in 1986, WWA World Trios Champion would be his first belt in 1989, which he captured with his brothers Chavo & Mando and was the only belt he had won by 1993. Though this was right before he found lots of success in NJPW and before he and Art Barr would win the AAA tag Titles in 1994.

In 1992 Eddie would do a tour of BOSJ III at the time called Top of the Super Juniors. This went so well he was invited back and worked heavily in 1993 before working there full time in 1994 and 1995 leaving CMLL behind while also being a hot ticket in AAA. Before working with ECW/WCW and then eventually WWE. Where he worked until he passed away in 2005 at the age of 38.

One of the most well known talents of Mexican descent. Eclipsing his brothers and standing shoulder to shoulder with his father Gory Guerrero who also was a household name in his time. Not to say his brother Mando/Hector/Chavo didn’t have good careers. As Chavo had a pretty great run too and feuded with Roddy Piper in California’s NWA Hollywood promotion before Eddie had even debut in 1986. They all had careers to be proud of even if Eddie had the most widely known and beloved career of the 4 brothers.

Love Machine

Art Barr made his debut in 1987 in regional promotion Pacific Northeast Wrestling where at the suggestion of Roddy Piper, he took on a Beetlejuice like gimmick. Which was even picked up briefly by WCW. But his previous trouble with the law(rape/possession of cocaine charges) coupled with his small size made his time in WCW short lived.

After which he made his debut in CMLL which had just changed its name to signify it splitting from NWA from EMLL to CMLL. Mexican Wrestling Company to World Wrestling Council. Art Barr’s time in CMLL was less than a year with his mask match vs Blue Panther being the big moment/match from that run.

At this point Art Barr had won the NWA Pacific Northwest Television Champion and the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Champs 3 times with his brother Jesse once and twice with Big Juice Jeff Warner. He had also lost his ‘Love Machine’ mask, but still used the name/moniker. Art Barr worked a few dates with NJPW in 1994, the year he would sadly pass away at the young age of 28. Shortly after his fantastic match with Eddie Guerrero vs El Hijo del Santo & Octagon at a co-branded event with WCW/AAA When World’s Collide!

Blue Panther

Blue Panther made his debut in 1978, but wouldn’t get to a bigger company until the 1980′s where he would be called in by UWA and start working there where he got his start. Winning both the UWA World Welterweight Champion and UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Champion in the mid to late 80′s before coming to CMLL more full time in the early 90′s where he won the CMLL World Middleweight Champion from Satanico.

Blue Panther is on the short list of greatest modern luchadores. His feud with Atlantis in 1991 established him as a top rudo from UWA.

Blue Panther had some mask vs mask matches under his belt by this time. Having a 13-0-0 record with two of those wins being tag team matches where he teamed with Mathematica(in Panthers first ever mask vs mask) and Black Man(who he’d unmask in ‘86). 2 of those were Love Machine first his mask in CMLL then his hair in AAA in July. So, Blue Panther and Love Machine have an established feud and rivalry coming into this.

Konnan

Making his debut in 1987 his first major success would be found in EMLL where in 1991 he captured the EMLL World Heavyweight Championship as Konnan El Barbaro he was a hot babyface for them and like many people when AAA launched he made his way over there where he was put over in the main event by getting cheated out of his match by Jake The Snake Roberts. Which kicks off this year long program to Triplemania 2 where he would get a one on one match with Robert. A build that included a TV cage match between the two of them.

Konnan would make his way stateside to work in WCW from 1996-2001, Impact/TNA 2003-2006 before finally making his way back to AAA from 2006-2010. He most recently has worked with Impact lately since returning to that promotion in 2017. In AAA Konnan was treated as a big star, a fixture of their early programming before the peso crashed in 1997.

Perro Aguayo

Making his debut in 1968 Perro Aguayo got his start in CMLL(at the time called EMLL) worked with both CMLL/UWA throughout the 1980′s.

Before this match in the 70′s and 80′s Perro Aguayo had captured various belts the NWA World Middleweight Championship(3x), Mexican National Middleweight Championship, UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Champion(x2), UWA World Light Heavyweight Champion, WWF Light Heavyweight Champion(x7), UWA World Heavyweight Champion, and UWA World Tag Team Champion (with Gran Hamada).

He also had his fair share of betting matches his record being good : 38-12-0

His record at this time was 32-11-0 Though the people he lost to are a literally who’s who of Lucha Legends. Having loss to El Santo(the original) at EMLL 42nd Anniversary, El Faraón at 43rd and El Solitario. So he was losing, but in high profile matches and hair grows back. At EMLL 49th Anniversary(September 1982) Perro won a big one at Anniversary shaving Tony Salazar in the main event. Over the spring/summer of 1983 Perro would win 2 more hair vs hair matches vs El Texano & Negro Navarro before losing in the fall to Villano III. He would then lose to both El Faraón and Sangre Chicana in 1986. Then he would go on a streak of 22 wins before finally losing to Konnan in CMLL in 1991. The first giant win of Konnan’s career.

So, it should be noted that literally all the guys in the match other than Jake The Snake Roberts were EMLL or CMLL talents at some point. To highlight how many talents went to AAA once they opened their doors at a different type of Mexican Wrestling Company that wasn’t so cemented in 50+ years of tradition.

How is the match?



Great, this is a nice look into the phenomenon AAA stumbled upon with Los Crazy Gringos. Eddie Guerrero and Art Bar were on fire for these two years with the big climax being 1994′s Hairs vs Masks match at When Worlds Collide. If you haven’t seen that match I’d recommend it. I’m not covering it in this series, cause I’ve covered it in the past when I did a highlight on El Hijo del Santo last year. It’s also well covered ground that is very much Lucha 101. If you haven’t seen it though it is linked up there.

While Lucha Libre is very different from the Territorial style and WWF style that Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts worked in for most of his career up to this point, some things just translate well or are fairly universal. One of those things is being an asshole heel. Jake Roberts here got to flex his heel work which is probably one of the most notable things about Jake outside of Mexico as well. DDP as his manager and heater is also pretty fun in this match. Nothing like an early 90′s DDP mean mugging for the camera looking like a GTA Vice City NPC with a big Cigar hanging out the side of his mouth.

Eddie G and Love Machine in America pants is also great and both of those guys do the more sequenced based parts of this match. With Jake Roberts for the most part having dominate strokes where he was in full control and got to taunt the AAA audience between beating down Konnan.

Konnan of course being the big babyface in this match. It’s pretty obvious he was the guy being positioned as the posterboy. While Blue Panther was arguably at the peak of his career in this period from 1990-1995 though he was honestly really great long before and long past that period. Perro Aguayo at this point was already a legend and was more on the down swing of his career. He is the oldest in this trios match being about a decade older than Jake who was in his late 30′s here. At one point Perro Aguayo goes in to fight Jake who wanted Perro instead of the superhot Konnan.

Some people may not like the ending. It’s a little strange as Cien Caras a guy normally a rudo helps Blue Panther, who just ends up imploding his team in the 3rd by accidently attacking Perro, which leads to a fight and The American’s closing the show by beating Perro/Konnan in the 3rd. Which added fuel to the flame of Konnan/Jake feud they ran with until Triplemania 2 where Konnan and Jake Roberts would have a blowoff match where Konnan would get his revenge for Jake ruining his Triplemania I Main Event vs Cien Caras. This is a fun trios match I’d recommend for sure and I think if you are a fan of Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts and have skipped this year or two run he had with AAA you should take a look at it. As it is almost like a bizarro thing to see the 80′s Icon as a player in the AAA/Lucha Libre ecosystem even if it was a short term deal.