Adolfo Tapia
From Freepedia
| Adolfo Tapia Ibarra | |
|---|---|
| Image:La Parka.jpg | |
| Statistics | |
| Stage names | La Parka L.A. Park L.A. Par-K Adolfo Tapia Principe Island |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Weight | 255 lb |
| Born | November 14, 1965 |
| Hometown | Torreón, Coahuila |
| 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." Due to legal reasons, he currently wrestles as L.A. Park.
Contents |
Career
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 skeleton outfits used in Mexico's Day of the Dead ceremony. He is a very flamboyant wrestler, wearing sombreros to the ring, playing guitar on his chair (he brings a chair 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 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 with Goldberg. Goldberg speared him and he immediately grabbed his leg. 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, a reluctant Rey Misterio Jr., El Dandy, Silver King, Héctor Garza and Damien. They feuded with Konnan and Perry Saturn.
The LWO disbanded in January 1999 when Guerrero was injured in a car accident, and La Parka started teaming with Silver King and he picked up his feud with Super Calo again.
He briefly feuded with Eddie Guerrero upon his return for causing the LWO to disband.
When Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera took over booking in late 1999, they had Ferrera's voice speaking English over the intercom while La Parka would be doing interviews in Spanish in the ring. 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.
He briefly joined Russo's group and had a fight with Psychosis on WCW Monday Nitro for the vacated IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title which he lost.
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.
In wrestling
Previous managers
Finishing and signature moves
Championships and accomplishments
- 1-Time NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion
- 2-Time WWA Junior Heavyweight Champion
- 3-Time Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champion
- 1-Time IWC Heavyweight Champion
- 1-Time CMLL Tag Team Champion (with Shocker)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him # 172 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
Trivia
- La Parka's uncle was a wrestler who gained fame as Volador but later changed his name to Super Parka, wearing an outfit and mask similar to his nephew.
- Another wrestler wrestles as "La Parka" in Mexico for AAA. He is usually denoted as La Parka, Jr. (Even though he his only a couple years younger), La Parka (AAA) or La Parka (PAP).
- In AAA his entrance theme was Micheal Jackson's "Thriller".
External links
- Fan Page: http://www.geocities.com/laparkamania/
- Gimmick Database Page: http://www.cagematch.de/cgi-bin/database/english/profile.cgi?action=overview&worker=00001710
