2018 Ongoing MOTY List: PARK vs. Gringo

115. LA Park vs. Gringo Loco  MLW Fusion #38 12/14 (Aired 1/4/19)

ER: I wasn't actually expecting this to get competitive, especially after the first 5 minutes or so were just Park punching Gringo around the arena. That alone would have been enough for me to recommend, as I thought Park's strikes were among the tightest I've seen all year. His punches look great, he kicked a prone Loco in the head with the toe of his boot, hit him with the edge of a beer can, threw in a nasty short headbutt while they were touring the arena, everything Park threw looked great. We get a weird arena tour that literally resulted in nothing. They must have had something planned but it didn't happen, and fans didn't move, so we wasted time with them walking somewhere, standing somewhere, and then walking back. I assume Gringo is taking the loss shortly after, the way he gets handily tossed upside down into the guardrail, but Park misses a corner charge and takes his great flipping corner bump allowing Gringo to hit a cool cutter springing off the ropes, then a gorgeous (and impactful) tope con hilo. Gringo is a real chubbo now, and it's totally cool he hasn't lost an ounce of his grace or flexibility. We even get a Loco dive off the entrance rigging, all stuff I wasn't expecting. I love how suddenly competitive everything got even though we knew Loco didn't have a chance. Park didn't work quick in this one but he worked a nice steady groove, making his impact count on every spot, and I'm glad they took the opportunity to match up a couple of guys who I don't think would have otherwise crossed paths.

PAS: Loco is a guy who has been toiling in relative obscurity for years, and it is really cool to see him get a coming out party. He was part of the Gringos Locos vs. Terribly Cerebros feud in IWRG which is one of the all time great feuds in wrestling history, but outside of that has been mostly working midwest lucha feds which only sporadically make tape. Really happy to see him signed to a fed with TV and it is awesome he got a showcase match against a legend like PARK. I thought this would be a semi-squash too, especially after PARK started dancing and chugging fake beers, but Gringo got some really big moments, climaxing on that crazy rigging dive. Totally nuts match which exceeded expectations by a lot, this had a very WCW feel to it, where all of a sudden some random match on the Pro could totally own.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST