[1993-04-30-AAA-Triplemania] Lizmark vs La Parka

[PeteF3]

The one-fall stip threw me, twice over--once at the false finish and again after the restart. This still built well from matwork to lots and lots and LOTS of near-falls, probably the most of any lucha match I've seen. Also countout teases for near-falls. All the bailouts gave this a very disjointed feel, but it did make the counts more meaningful. Speaking of which, the story here is another officiating controversy, and again it's done in an ambiguous, real-sports bad-officiating way rather than just a plain blind referee. Gotta say that having this on the same card as Aguayo/Mascara is overkill, even by lucha standards where the heel refs are part of the show. La Parka gets every benefit of the doubt on every close two-count and at least one near-COR, though replays seem to support the referee. He then ties up Lizmark and gets a three-count, with Lizmark not getting the same benefit. Replays again seem to support the referee, and Dr. Morales and Arturo Rivera sound like they're one step away from coming to blows themselves in the booth. But after a LONG delay, long arguments, and a conference with the Box y Lucha commission, apparently the match is restarted and we pick up where we left off. The turning point is Parka taking a horrific bump into the corner post, and it's pretty much downhill from there, as Lizmark locks on a shootstyle side mount submission.

This was good, and a really coming-of-age performance for La Parka, but as I said--disjointed. The match was building up a ton of momentum and I'm not opposed to the idea of the restart, but the absurd length of time it took (it must have been close to 5 or 6 minutes, or more) stopped things dead in their tracks. And the officiating controversy didn't pay off as spectacularly as it did with Perro and Mascara Ano, though Lizmark deciding to go with a submission after not making any headway with pins was a clever touch. One for a La Parka comp, no question, but overall not quite as fun as the mask match on the same card.

[PeteF3]

Maybe it would've been better to watch the version Gregor posted that cuts out the stuff with the commission. I need to do a full write-up of that match because I think you cared too much about the reffing.

 

It's the one thing about the style that annoys me, even if there are things about it that I admire, in that it looks like NBA or NFL replacement ref officiating--i.e., realistically bad/controversial--rather than referees being blind incompetent narcoleptics. When it works, like it did with Aguayo and Mascara Ano or at When Worlds Collide, it works great. But too many times I want the ref to stay the fuck out of the way and not in a "drawing heat" sense, in a "go away" sense, because I know there's going to be bullshit that draws attention to the ref without him getting his comeuppance (except in the aforementioned examples).

[Gregor]

I've watched this a couple of times and each time went in expecting to like it, but it's not happening. I think they were thrown off a bit by wrestling a one-fall match. After the matwork (which was good but didn't strike me as exceptional), they just sort of jump ahead to the third-fall, back-and-forth kickout spots, and then they stay there until the controversy with the referee. The shift in pace was rushed, and they spent way too much of the match exchanging two counts. They'd have been better off doing something like what Estrada did in his match with Lizmark, when he was in control for a long time and built up some sympathy for the tecnico, before going to the third-fall stuff.

 

Here's Meltzer on the match (5/10/93 Observer). I don't know what to make of the "via a referee's decision, Lizmark was ruled the winner" stuff; it looked like a standard submission.

Lizmark retained the Mexican Light heavyweight title in a strange finish over La Parca. La Parca, a heel, was the best worker on the show based on what I was told and was cheered like crazy and this was said to have been a great match. The match went about 20:00 when La Parca got the pin but just before the three count, Lizmark got his shoulder up. That was "supposed" to be the finish, a controversial one to give Lizmark something to complain about. Anyway, apparently they forgot to inform the commission what they were going to do, because the Box y Lucha commissioner saw Lizmark complain and made a fuss and ordered the match re-started because Lizmark had his shoulder up. Pena came out and what was agreed to was they would go another 15:00 and if Lizmark could win during that time period, he'd retain the title, but if he couldn't, then Parca could keep the title. They went 15:00 so apparently Parca would get to keep the title but somehow via a referees decision, Lizmark was ruled the winner. The ending was every bit as confusing as it reads

[garretta]

YouTube this, please!

[El-P]

Damn, La Parka's entrance to Thriller. This guy had so many charisma already. Crazy to think no one in WCW even thought about pushing him, with the bonus size to work in front of the US crowd. Anyway, this is really good for a while, then they kinda lose the pace and exchange way too many two-falls kick-outs without much rythme or reason. The controversial pin should have worked. Then the restart was more of the same, kinda paceless near-falls. Too bad because it was really damn good for a while and kinda fell apart in the third part. La Parka looked great though.