Thursday, February 8, 2007

La Parka


Ring name(s) La Parka,L.A. Park,L.A. Par-K,Adolfo Tapia,Principe Island,El Gringo (Monclova Coahuila)
Billed height 6 ft 2 in (183 cm)
Billed weight 255 lb (116 kg)
Born November 14, 1965,Torreón, Coahuila
Trained by Raul Reyes,Alberto Mora
Debut 1982

Adolfo Tapia Ibarra better known as La Parka is a professional wrestler from Mexico most famous to American fans for his days as "The Chairman of WCW." He currently wrestles as LA Par-K since Triple A owns the rights for the La Parka gimmick. He unauthorizingly uses Michael Jackson's Thriller as his theme music.

Adolfo Tapia started wrestling in 1982, but he did not really start making a name for himself until he started wrestling as the masked La Parka in 1992. His costume and mask are a skeleton resembling the outfits used in Mexico's Day of the Dead ceremony. He is a very flamboyant wrestler, sometimes wearing sombreros to the ring, playing guitar on the chair he always brings to the ring, strutting and dancing in the ring, and even strutting on the turnbuckle.

His biggest and longest running feud in Mexico was against Lizmark. They feuded for years. He also feuded with Jerry Estrada, Konnan, Super Calo, La Calaca and Pierroth, Jr. He frequently teamed with Psychosis. He was part of the "When Worlds Collide" joint AAA/WCW PPV in 1994 and wrestled briefly in ECW in 1995.

In 1996, he went to WCW and picked up his feud with Super Calo. He became known as "The Chairman of WCW" because he would hit his opponents with a chair, stand it up and pose on it after strutting. In 1997, he reformed his team with Psychosis with Sonny Onoo as their manager. They feuded with Wrath, Mortis, and Ultimo Dragon. By 1998, he had left Onoo and feuded with Disco Inferno and Psychosis. He was used on some WCW PPV's but never got a push to the top. In June 1998, he tore his ACL in a match after a Goldberg spear. He returned in September and got into some trouble for competing in Mexico without Eric Bischoff's permission.

In November 1998, he joined Eddie Guerrero's Latino World Order (LWO) with Psychosis, Juventud Guerrera, Los Villanos, El Dandy, Silver King, Héctor Garza, Damien, and a reluctant Rey Misterio Jr.. They feuded with Konnan and Perry Saturn. The LWO disbanded in January 1999 when Guerrero was injured in a car accident. La Parka started teaming with Silver King and picked up his feud with Super Calo again. He briefly feuded with Eddie Guerrero upon his return since Eddie caused the LWO to disband.

When Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara took over booking in late 1999, they had Ferrara's voice speaking English over the intercom while La Parka would be doing interviews in Spanish in the ring. The voiceovers would comically explain La Parka was a fan of Skeletor from Masters of the Universe, hence his in-ring wear. This ended after a few weeks when La Parka heard something he did not want said and tossed the mic down as Ferrera was speaking. By early 2000, he had left WCW for Mexico where he had some trouble with the AAA promotion over the use of the La Parka name. They had it trademarked and he did not want to work for them, so he changed his name to L.A. Park and debuted with AAA's rival, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. In January of 2004, Park and Shocker defeated Los Guerreros Del Infierno for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship. Rey Bucanero and Último Guerrero would win their titles back in a rematch in March but L.A. Park challenged Último Guerrero for the CMLL Light-Heavyweight title at the CMLL 71st anniversary show but was unsuccessful. He continued wrestling in CMLL as well as independent promotions in Tijuana and else where in the country.

2002 and 2003 saw him wrestle for XPW, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Major League Wrestling and the revived AWA Superstars. In 2004, he made brief appearances in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, using his chair on his opponents, but was soon back in Mexico teaming with Shocker. In 2005, L.A. Park can be found wrestling in his native Mexico and in the United States for LXW and UCW and occasionally for FCW.

As of June 2006, he's currently still performing on the CMLL, has become a heel and has had a very successful run of matches on Mexico, mainly due to his current feud with Dr. Wagner Jr., which have a very positive fan reaction. In one of their most recent matches, which happened on the Arena Mexico in June 9, 2006, L.A. Park won when he faked a foul and Dr. Wagner Jr. was disqualified.

Popular Posts