Kevin Nash praises La Parka, WCW luchadores: ‘All those guys were sweethearts’
Kevin Nash enjoyed working alongside the talented group of luchadores that were brought into WCW in the 1990s.
On his Kliq This podcast this week, Nash was asked if La Parka — a Wrestling Observer Hall of Famer primarily for his work in Mexico — was considered a top star in WCW. Nash responded by praising La Parka and all of the WCW luchadores as “sweethearts” that everyone got along with.
“He was definitely [a top star] as far as the Latin crew. He was one of the top guys. He was a good f***ing dude,” Nash said about La Parka. “I mean, everybody got along with him. But all those guys were sweethearts. So there wasn’t one of them that was a dick.”
Nash, on a past edition of Kliq This, said he remembers working one or two tag matches against La Parka when they were in WCW together. Nash thought Eric Bischoff’s idea of having the first hour of Nitro feature “car crash” cruiserweight matches was brilliant, especially when Nitro was three hours. Viewers weren’t going to turn the channel during those matches, and WCW could hype up what was going to happen later in the night.
Adolfo Tapia Ibarra as La Parka/LA Park —
The original LA Parka was played by Adolfo Tapia Ibarra, who still competes today under the name LA Park. Tapia lost the rights to the La Parka name due to a trademark dispute, with Jesus Huerta Escoboza becoming AAA’s second version of La Parka before passing away in 2020 following an in-ring accident. A third iteration of La Parka now wrestles for AAA and has made a couple of WWE main roster appearances since WWE’s acquisition of the lucha libre company.
When WWE accidentally used an image of the original La Parka to advertise a match last year, Tapia said he is not interested in joining a major American promotion again.
“I prefer to fight for my Mexican people than to return to a large company in the United States,” he wrote. “I’m staying here in Mexico.”
After his WCW stint, original La Parka’s most extensive work in the United States was his 2018-2022 MLW run where he was positioned as one of the top stars of MLW’s revival. That run included one MLW Tag Team title reign with his sons El Hijo de LA Park and LA Park Jr. Their Los Parks faction was fired from MLW in 2022 due to going off-script and getting too rough during a brawl with Jacob Fatu and Alex Hammerstone.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.