La Parka vs. Jerry Estrada, Mexican National Light Heavyweight title, AAA 3/28/95

Man, how good was Parka at this point? He brought the same sort of attitude to this as the Lizmark match, shoving Estrada early and gyrating in his face. And if there was ever a guy who deserved a Park gyration it was Jerry Estrada. This wasn't as epic as the Lizmark match as it had a ton of bullshit with Tirantes, but it was a similar brew of uncooperative matwork and killer high spots. On the Jerry Estrada scale of out of his mind to utterly disinterested, he ranked about an inoffensive, but there was some visible spot calling in the third caida that hurt this a bit. It was also shorter than average for a title match, but that was largely because of the Tirantes angle.

Lizmark vs. Enfermero Jr., NWA World Middleweight Championship, EMLL 8/83

Early 80s lucha has a different vibe to it. It's kind of like when you watch older sports matches and the crowds are completely different from the ones you get today. You watch a match from the Boston Garden for example and it seems like a special time. This was the same. Kids would flood the ring before and after the match, hoping to get an autograph from one of the workers and there was the kind of buzz about the crowd that only happens when there's a solidarity of everybody being there to see the wrestling. And the work itself was different. From the workers' grappling stance to the exaggerated stylings of some of their moves and holds, it seems like early lucha may have been even more expressive than the work we're used to. Enfermero Jr was Jaque Mate before he repackaged himself as such (and had that really fun Intocables run.) His gimmick was an evil nurse. Don't ask me what Mexico has against doctors and nurses, other than some serious mistrust in the healthcare system. The match was really good. It didn't maximise the dramatic potential of a title match, but the work was really strong, and any and all Lizmark is worth watching. Enfermero looked like a capable worker, albeit not a serious challenger to the title.

Satanico/La Parka/Fuerza Guerrera vs. Lizmark/Mascara Sagrada/Volador, AAA 2/15/94

This had a really solid mat exchange between Lizmark and a rather portly looking Satanico, but the AAA style exchanges dragged on and on and eventually this became a bore. Mascara Sagrada looked surprisingly smooth, however. First I softened on AAA, now Mascara Sagrada. What's wrong with me?

Lizmark/Rey Misterio/Rey Misterio Jr. vs. La Parka/Psicosis/Espectro Jr., AAA 5/5/94

This was the kind of all-action match that AAA was good at even if it fell short of a classic. Lizmark again got the mat section, this time with Espectro Jr. They put on some really good exchanges, which were further proof of how good Lizmark was in AAA. The others couldn't really match that pairing, but this had better rhythm in the AAA rope exchanges.

Blue Panther/Fuerza Guerrera/Psicosis vs. El Mariachi/El Charro/El Mexicano, AAA 10/15/94

AAA tended to let only one pairing work the mat in the primera caida. In this case, it was Blue Panther and El Mexicano instead of Panther and Solar. Panther had a couple of short exchanges with Solar later in the mat, but Solar (or El Mariachi as he was packaged here) squared off against Fuerza to start in what was a pretty disappointing match-up. The rudos weren't really on their game here and the technicos, for all their costumes, weren't that charismatic, but it was still okay.

Eddie Guerrero/Art Barr/Lizmark vs. Blue Panther/Fuerza Guerrera/La Parka, AAA 7/11/1993

For a while, Art Barr's life must have been pretty good. Snort some coke, come to the ring to Van Halen, hobnob with Roddy Piper and get plenty of love from the publico. I've never been much of a fan of Love Machine, but I thought he was pretty much perfect here. This was a really hot match from AAA's big '93 run. It's not a great match because of the booking but Parka rocks and just about everyone else is good. Watching this, I began to wonder if Parka was the best worker in Mexico in 1993. I think he certainly has a case. I always thought of Parka as being somewhat green at this time, but watching this stuff is blowing my mind. I can't think of anyone significantly better than him in 1993.