La Parka: A Tribute to Masked Wrestlers Part 3

"A Tribute to Masked Wrestlers" is an ongoing series paying homage to the greatest pro wrestlers who have donned a mask in the ring.

Check out Part 1 on Ultimo Dragon here and Part 2 on Tiger Mask I here. 

With the painted bones gleaming across his black body suit, his skull masked darkened by the shadow of his hood, few wrestlers grab your attention as quickly as La Parka.

The funky luchador took the Ric Flair strut to a new level, wiggling and dancing to the delight of fans. 

There may not be a wrestler who had more fun in the ring.    

La Parka (real name: Adolfo Margarito Tapia Ibarra) had his audiences buzzing as he boogied down the entrance ramp. 

With his trademark chair in hand, he rocked out air guitar-style, dazzling us before he even stepped into the ring. 

Genesis

Tapia wrestled for a decade before he became La Parka. 

Had he stayed with any of his previous masked gimmicks—El Minero, El Gringo, Invasor del Norte I, Principe Island or El Asesino del Tepito—perhaps he would have stayed floundering in obscurity.

He began the most important phase of his career when booker Antonio Peña founded Asistencia Asesoria y Adminstracion (AAA) and asked Tapia to join him.

Peña designed a costume based on the Mexican holiday "Dia de Los Muertos."  Day of the Dead celebrations are full of skull imagery. 

Dressing Tapia in a skull mask and skeleton bodysuit turned out to be a brilliant move. In a sport overflowing with men in masks, La Parka stood out. 

Tapia's personality was as outlandish as his ring wear, and fans were powerless to the strength of his charisma. 

His tenure in Mexico included memorable battles with Lizmark, whom he fought often for the WWA Light Heavyweight Championship.  Tapia eventually won that championship twice. 

WCW

When WCW imported a number of Japanese and Mexican cruiserweight stars in the late '90s, some of those wrestlers became huge successes (i.e. Rey Mysterio), while others failed to capture our attention. 

La Parka, despite not being as acrobatic or agile as some of his peers, became one of the brightest stars in the cruiserweight division. 

Constantly carrying around a steel chair earned him the nickname "The Chairman of WCW."

His matches were always highly entertaining.  His charisma was infectious.    

Even in a crowded six-man tag match, La Parka was nearly always one of the highlights. 

His underrated technical ability made Nitro matches against the likes of Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko phenomenal entertainment. 

At the tail end of 1999, Vince Russo took over creative control of WCW.

That meant La Parka was headed for one of the most awkward and embarrassing situations in wrestling.  Russo decided to have a dubbed English voice piped in for La Parka's interviews.

The end result reeked.

Russo had grossly miscalculated.

La Parka didn't need to speak.  His funkiness and effervescent personality already had him over with American fans.    

La Authentica

While Tapia had been wrestling as La Parka with WCW, Peña had given the gimmick to someone else.

Jesus Alfonso Huerta Escoboza donned the skull and bones gear but, as talented as he was, couldn't match Tapia in stage presence. 

Tapia and Peña fought over the legal rights to the La Parka name.

While the courts attempted to settle the dispute, Tapia was disallowed from wearing his trademark outfits and instead wore similar ones with different color combinations. 

He began wrestling as L.A. Park as in La Authentica (the real) Parka. 

In 2010, AAA wisely turned this into a feud with Escoboza and Tapia battling for the (kayfabe) rights to the name. 

Closing Thoughts

When fans think of the Chairman, they don't necessarily remember that he was Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champion four times or the IWC World Hardcore Champion. 

La Parka's career is not defined by the titles he won. 

The original La Parka was a true showman. 

Win, lose or squash, he gave fans their money's worth. 

Exuberant and unique, La Parka was and still is one of the most enthralling and exciting luchadors in wrestling history.