‘Man whatever happened to Skeletor’ Stone Cold asks Vampiro on the Stone Cold podcast and he gets the bare bones explanation of how he is now LA Park and there’s the other La Parka in AAA. It seems like Steve Austin’s opinion that Parka just disappeared after the WCW stuff is the idea most people have about LA Park. Austin and Vampiro put LA Park over in their own ways and move on. Now I am going to ignore the fact that this video was posted 3 months before the Poker de Aces announcement and assume Vampiro didn’t tell Steve the big secret before going on air. The important thing is to deliver the message that LA Park is quite possibly the greatest luchador of the modern era.
A lot of people have noticed that LA Park is main eventing both the upcoming Triplemania with former IMPACT, Lucha Underground and AAA Latin American campeon Pentagon Jr, as well as Psycho Clown and El Hijo Del Phantasma. On top of that, LA Park is in CMLL again for the first time in three years and is in a heated rivalry with the founder of Los Ingobernables, Rush. LA Park’s La Familia Real and Rush’s Los Ingobernables have been headlining the weekly Saturday shows at Arena Mexico for the past month and the ticket sales have gone through the roof.
LA Park is the Minoru Suzuki of Mexico, he has the reputation that you do not want to mess with him and he will fight anyone, anytime. At the same time he is the Daniel Bryan, the under dog, the one that all the fans want to see but the promoters will not give to the people. And, the CM Punk, the wrestler the boss .least wants to have microphone time. People only remember the WCW La Parka, which is not really fair. It’s hard for people to accept that wrestling outside of the WWE also matters. WCW treated him very badly, in my opinion. It was a weird time in the 90s. Here’s something I bet you didn’t know. While in WCW, La Par-K was able to and did shows in Mexico too.
Adolfo Tapia Ibarra began wrestling when he was 16 years old in Mexico’s version of Pittsburgh, the ‘Steel City’ Monclova, Coahuila. This city boasts having Mexico’s highest labor productivity and one of the lowest poverty rates. This sounds familiar to me, When I sit on my front porch, I see the Ohio River with the abandoned Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel plant on the West Virginia side. Steel towns suck, its basically get a minimum wage job, or do hard manual labor, or get good and get out of town. Lucky for LA Park, he had 3 Uncles who were Luchadors. Johnny Ibarra, Desalmado and Volador. The only important one, kind of, to the story is Volador who is trained first inMonclova by Alberto Mora, the same man who would train the young LA Park a few years later. Volador debuted under his real name Remo Banda at 20 years old in 1976 in Monterrey. Wrestling in Monterrey probably sounded pretty fun to an eleven year old Adolfo.
Adolfo wrestles under several masks and bad gimmicks, but keeps working and finds his way to the newly formed AAA in 1992.This picture is him after losing his Principe Island mask to the bereaving by winning lots of young luchador masks, El Hijo Del Santo. Del Santo becomes a pretty important part of Park’s rise., but it is Santo’s time on the top for now. AAA grows very fast. As soon as he gets there he is given the skeleton costume. AAA was going for an edgier look than CMLL and made a lot of gimmicks quick. Psicosis also was born at the same time. La Par-K becomes a solid wrestler in these years, he goes on tour to NJPW for a Lucha World week in 1994 doing 4 shows. WCW co branded a PPV When Worlds Collide, La Par-K teamed with Blue Panther and Jerry Estrada and lost to 2 Cold Scorpio, Tito Santana and some guy called the Pegasus Kid.
A lot of people have noticed that LA Park is main eventing both the upcoming Triplemania with former IMPACT, Lucha Underground and AAA Latin American campeon Pentagon Jr, as well as Psycho Clown and El Hijo Del Phantasma. On top of that, LA Park is in CMLL again for the first time in three years and is in a heated rivalry with the founder of Los Ingobernables, Rush. LA Park’s La Familia Real and Rush’s Los Ingobernables have been headlining the weekly Saturday shows at Arena Mexico for the past month and the ticket sales have gone through the roof.
LA Park is the Minoru Suzuki of Mexico, he has the reputation that you do not want to mess with him and he will fight anyone, anytime. At the same time he is the Daniel Bryan, the under dog, the one that all the fans want to see but the promoters will not give to the people. And, the CM Punk, the wrestler the boss .least wants to have microphone time. People only remember the WCW La Parka, which is not really fair. It’s hard for people to accept that wrestling outside of the WWE also matters. WCW treated him very badly, in my opinion. It was a weird time in the 90s. Here’s something I bet you didn’t know. While in WCW, La Par-K was able to and did shows in Mexico too.
Adolfo Tapia Ibarra began wrestling when he was 16 years old in Mexico’s version of Pittsburgh, the ‘Steel City’ Monclova, Coahuila. This city boasts having Mexico’s highest labor productivity and one of the lowest poverty rates. This sounds familiar to me, When I sit on my front porch, I see the Ohio River with the abandoned Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel plant on the West Virginia side. Steel towns suck, its basically get a minimum wage job, or do hard manual labor, or get good and get out of town. Lucky for LA Park, he had 3 Uncles who were Luchadors. Johnny Ibarra, Desalmado and Volador. The only important one, kind of, to the story is Volador who is trained first inMonclova by Alberto Mora, the same man who would train the young LA Park a few years later. Volador debuted under his real name Remo Banda at 20 years old in 1976 in Monterrey. Wrestling in Monterrey probably sounded pretty fun to an eleven year old Adolfo.
Adolfo wrestles under several masks and bad gimmicks, but keeps working and finds his way to the newly formed AAA in 1992.This picture is him after losing his Principe Island mask to the bereaving by winning lots of young luchador masks, El Hijo Del Santo. Del Santo becomes a pretty important part of Park’s rise., but it is Santo’s time on the top for now. AAA grows very fast. As soon as he gets there he is given the skeleton costume. AAA was going for an edgier look than CMLL and made a lot of gimmicks quick. Psicosis also was born at the same time. La Par-K becomes a solid wrestler in these years, he goes on tour to NJPW for a Lucha World week in 1994 doing 4 shows. WCW co branded a PPV When Worlds Collide, La Par-K teamed with Blue Panther and Jerry Estrada and lost to 2 Cold Scorpio, Tito Santana and some guy called the Pegasus Kid.
We all know enough of the WCW La Par-K that I don’t have to tell too much of that part of the story. La Par-K debuted on WCW Monday Nitro on the November 18 Nitro beating Juventud. Back in AAA, they debuted their new La Par-K on AAA Sin Limite on the same night. No internet back then either mind you. La Par-K had been gone a month and Antonio found another guy about the same size and put him in the costume. I had said that the luchadores were allowed to go back to Mexico and work matches while they were in WCW. They all did, Konnan was running some Promotion Azteca with a TV show Par-K got bookings on and CMLL brought Par-K in for some matches. Fans perception of wrestlers are different depending on our cultures. La Par-K became a hero to lucha libre fans on May 20, 1998 when he took the mask of PIerroth Jr. in CMLL. The match was brutal, both men left a bloody mess, barely any mask left, it was an epic encounter. Pierroth Jr. is said to have the reputation of this stiff veteran and he said that La Par-K was the toughest opponent he had ever faced, he happens to be a good guy to impress.. La Par-K’s release from WCW isn’t something I can speculate on, but his last few matches are very not cool booking. He left almost a year to the day from the last day of WCW.
I can’t really imagine how much it would upset someone to not be allowed to continue to be who they are. La Par-K was a main eventer in every match in the next 2 years in Mexico, but his amount of matches make it seem to me that he was jaded. Antonia Pena put the legal actions on La Par-K, he could not be on TV, he could not use the name, he could not wear the colors. I do not know any details about the legal things that happened, I am sure Mexico has a great judicial system, but the LA Park copyright trial proceedings would have been way more interesting than the CM Punk trial.
In 2004, he finally just accepts and becomes LA Park fully, going all out for CMLL wrestling as much as he could. In January alongside Shocker he won the CMLL Tag titles from Los Guerreros Infiernos, Ultimo Guerrero and Rey Bucanero. El Terrible of Los Ingobernables was just starting in CMLL at the time as Damian el Terrible. Then he dropped Damien to not offend Damian 666. I just find that funny. At CMLL 71st anniversario in 2004, he battles Ultimo Guerrero for the Light Heavyweight title and loses. In 2005 La Park is not put on Anniversario, I assume because the legal issues.La Park is not shown on TV for CMLL or booked at the pay per views, he still has spots at the top in the Arena Mexico. In Lucha Libre it is mostly trios matches when its not a big show. Kind of like on New Japan, but even more so. La Par-K in the first half of 2006 is teaming wth people like Dos Caras Jr. (Alberto del RIo), Mistico (The first one, the one that became the first sin cara, that is now Caristico, that one) and Dr. Wagner Jr. In May CMLL have a torneo cibernetico and somehow La Park turns on his partners to join up with WCW rejects Mark Jindrak and Johnny Stambolli. Jindrak did ok in Mexico, Stambolli left after one trios. In 2007 La ParK begins feuding with Los Perros Del Mal. At the 75th Anniversario CMLL felt LA Park’s match with Dr. Wagner Jr was too violent so he left, with Dr Wagner Jr, and Los Perros Del Mal.
This band of rebels start promoting their own shows, Los Perros Del Mal Shows, it becomes very popular, apparently people in Mexico are down with violence and revolutionaries. They have worlds of momentum and are all looking pretty into the next decade. LA ParK in 2010 goes to AAA and is still allowed to do as much outside stuff as he wants just not with CMLL seemingly. He has the 4 most critically acclaimed years of his career at this time. First thing is first, everyone wants him to get his name back from the AAA La Parka. That is why they did not expect he would return. La Parka is in AAA, sort of, the guy who took his gimmick way back in 96 when he wentto WCW is still wearing his outfit. Somehow they have different family members controlling different stables and LA Park is in Dorian Roldan’s stable. Fake Parka is in Joaquin Roldans stable.. At Triplemania XXI the two Parkas will find out who the True Parka is.. At the end of the match Par-K tombstone piledrives Parka, which is illegal in Lucha Libre. The Roldan suits come in the ring, Park knocks one out the other thinks he will knock Park out, lol, and then Halloween and Damien 666 from Perros Del Mal chase Roldan away, and LA Par-K gets the win. Fake Parka is apparently entirely out cold and is stretchered out. AAA acts so lame about it too, they send people out to be like thats not official. Then online they send out something saying it is, then they say the mexico sporting board won’t let them recognize the win. Park said he didn’t really care about the name anymore it’s not about the name it’s about pride and he proved he is the True Parka.
La Park did many great things in this AAA run.He put his mask and career on the line against the hair of El Mesias and won at the Triplemania after the name rights one. He feuded with Jeff Jarrett from October 2011 until ParK ust left in 2013, but Jarrett used everything he could to not have to fight La Par-K and stay champion. He won the AAA Latin American Championship.from Dr. Wagner Jr at Guerra De Titanes in December 2012. The big feud ender match for Par-K - Jarrett is corny AF. tag match where 2nds have hair on the line. Both teams have a Roldan dude and Jeff Jarrett has Kurt Angle who takes the pin from Electroshock.
2011- Wrestling Observer # 6 wrestler in the world.
2012- Cagematch.net Mexican Wrestler of the Year #1
- PWI 500 #19 (highest in his career at 47 years old)
2013- Wrestling Observer #8 Best Brawler (one spot behind Minoru Suzuki one spot ahead of Roman Reigns, Perrito.)
So Jeff Jarrett is lame, Par-K leaves AAA, and eventually Jeff disappears while still champion, good move there. In 2014, Park works a light schedule of 20 matches, but makes a great move on Halloween night in Mexico City. He and his son walk into the ring in full attire halfway through the semi main between Diamante Azul and Thunder. Par-K grabs the mic and asks if anyone wants to fight, anyone at all. They wait a while and noone wants none. They just say ok and leave. CMLL releases a statement 8 days later that LA Par-K was there to promote his upcoming show Liga Elite. Which CMLL is connected with. I think he just walked out there to confuse people, boss man included In 2015 LA Par-K works so many dates all over the country that CMLL had to bring him in he was hottest luchador in Mexico. He works two nights, on the second La Par-K grabs the microphone right before the camera cuts out and says ‘antes de que me apaguen el Micrófono! chinguen a su madre todos..’ CMLL had just began broadcasting its Saturday shows for free live on Youtube in 2015. 4 days later CMLL releases LA Park and apologizes to its fans. The match with LA Park and Rush was set up at the next show, and the people seemed to agree with Parks dirty comment, so the longer they keep him away, the more famous he gets. Just like when the AAA bosses took his name the new bosses are trying to take his voice.
2016 LA Park and his band of rebel luchadors get to do their Liga Elite TV shows, and really they are like a Lucha Libre version of the ‘Being the Elite’ gang. There are so many different indies in Mexico now and from the Perros Del Mal to the Los Ingobernables with Park, Wagner, and Caristico they have been making them all real. These days you can realistically put a wrestling show up on youtube with a decent smart-phone. People can’t afford to travel to Arena Mexico if they want to see their favorites, and I think LA Par-K is a genius. He totally pulled a Chris Jericho, he is the perfect person to pull a Chris Jericho in Mexico.
After three years of not wrestling in CMLL, or AAA, LA Park is more popular than ever in Mexico. So much so that he is in line to be in the main event match for both AAA’s Triplemania and CMLL’s 85th anniversary. This would be equivalent to being the main event of Starrcade and Wrestlemania in the 90s. LA Park has gotten better every year, 36 years into his career, the 52 year old is a once in a lifetime talent and should be more widely recognized.
