Viva Lucha: Who's the Real La Parka?

In WCW, La Parka was one of a large group of luchadors that worked for the company. Called the "Chairman of WCW" for his use of steel chairs, he was one of the crowd's favorite high flyers to cheer and boo. In early 2000, he left the company and went back to Mexico where he had competed as La Parka four years prior to his 1996 WCW debut. The main reason for his departure was a dispute over his name in Mexico. When Adolfo Ibarra, the man under the mask, left AAA in Mexico with the gimmick, Antonio Pena, AAA's promoter, was left without one of his top draws. To solve the problem, he created AAA' s version of La Parka, commonly called La Parka Jr. Soon, controversy over the name ensued. Ibarra returned to his native country to compete for AAA's rival, CMLL, leaving Pena to make a crucial decision. Pena decided to trademark the name and look of La Parka, banning Adolfo from appearing in Mexico as La Parka. Due to Pena's ownership of the gimmick, Ibarra was forced to compete in Mexico as L.A. Park, technically meaning La Autentica Park which translates to the Authentic Parka. Today, Adolfo is allowed to wrestle in the United States as La Parka but competes in Mexico under the aliases L.A. Park and La Par-K. So to clear up any confusion if you're a fan of lucha libre, the La Parka competing in AAA debuted in 1996 as WCW's La Parka started the gimmick in 1992. (visit luchawiki.org for more lucha libre). Viva Lucha!

Left: The Original, Right: AAA's Current Version