2021 Ongoing MOTY List: Park and Rush Return!

LA Park vs. Rush AAA/Sanchez 7/17

PAS: This was their first singles match against each other since 2019 and I am happy to watch these two guys slam their bloody heads into each other again. This was a bit of a Greatest Hits version of their match, with a little less frenzy than their best stuff. There was no crazy Park tope here, and I hope that is still in his bag. But, their greatest hits are still pretty great. Rush dominates early and opens Park up with a broken beer bottle, Park fires back and bounces an entire case of beer off of Rush's head and carves him up as well. We get a bunch of big exchanges and a couple of foul near falls, before PARK gets a surprisingly clean pin with a spear.  I imagine Rush leaving ROH leaves us open to this match being run back more times, and while we are probably never getting the hair vs. mask match, I'll watch this as often as they run it. 

ER: Man this was great. I love this feud. Phil and I love this feud so much that we actually went to New York just to see this match, which of course wound up canceled. But I'll watch any match these two have for the rest of their careers, just to see their specific kind of magic. This was nearly two years after their previous match and didn't break new ground, but it's amazing what kind of drama and frenzy they can whip up playing the hits. This is some great Fat Elvis Park and it's great how much sympathy and excitement he can draw while taking a beating, because everyone in Arena Neza knew it was leading to him potentially murdering Rush. The acoustics in Neza are perfect, and when Rush whips Park's chest with his big belt it gets an incredible echo. I think part of the reason why I continue to love Park and Rush matches is because they're always filmed the exact way I want to watch Park and Rush. Every big chop, slap, and bottle break sounded amazing, and the camera made me feel ringside. Rush beat Park around ringside and into the crowd, throwing a drink overhand at him while Park was being comforted by a very small child. Minutes later after getting a box of empty beer bottles bounced off his head, Park breaks one of those bottles on a chair directly next to that same child. 

There's a great shot of Park as he's in the crowd breaking bottles, where you can see his big belly hanging down, and you realize Park is getting the same Regional Old Fat Guy huge crowd reactions Big Daddy or Otto Wanz would get. Park takes some big spills in the ring, going down hard on an overhead belly to belly and getting the back of his head whipped into the mat on a German that was mostly just a fast rear waistlock takedown. The match structure with them always works, as Park takes big falls and needs recovery time, so Rush gets to flex and preen and toss his hair and it's always great. Park's overhand chops are the loudest in wrestling, the referee takes a hard slap from each (which slows him down counting the pin after each guy kicks the other in the balls), and Parks' match finishing spear hit Rush like a truck. I really loved the build to that spear, getting things to the point where both just ran at each other for one final joust, Rush getting stopped dead cold by the biggest skeleton in history. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST