To the uninitiated, Lucha Libre in modern times generally conjures to mind images of colourful masks and athletic maneuvers. But in Lucha there’s a rich well of wild, bloody brawls that comfortably sit alongside the best from Memphis, Philadelphia, Tokyo or anywhere else.

LA Park’s post-2000 era was and still is his brawl era, with some of the best wild Lucha matches of the last 25 years. Here’s a few recommendations.

LA Park v Rush – 16 July 2016

Wrestling is at its best when you suspend disbelief: you believe in the hero, the threat of the villain or the depth of the grudge. That last point, oh boy you don’t have to work hard to get sucked into this one. The term Ingobernables makes for a great tee shirt, but LA Park and Rush are truly ungovernable in this one as objects fly, blood flows and just as we think they’re done, they come back for more. The Arena Mexico crowd just keeps.. getting.. rowdier..

The referee, under a hail of objects thrown from the crowd and realising he simply cannot keep any kind of order, eventually just leaves them to it as both men refuse to concede an inch. It’s superbly novel seeing this type of chaos in a modern Arena Mexico setting and caused all sorts of problems for the promoter. Handwerk Reviews’ excellent writeup on the match called it “a generational monument to violence”, that’s pretty spot on.

La Parka (LA Park) v El Hijo Del Santo – 23 December 2001

Shortly before the name change from La Parka to LA Park was this three-fall bloodbath with the iconic El Hijo Del Santo. When Park enters the area with an inverse of his usual attire to all-white, blood was guaranteed.

The second fall sees some particularly gruesome imagery with Santo’s blood smeared across the mat, Park’s attire and even a few front row seats at one point. A thoroughly enjoyable scrap, the finish is a bit of a mess but that doesn’t take the shine off a stellar brawl.

LA Park v Caristico – 22 October 2016

My two favourite luchadors of the modern era (shout out to Ricky Marvin at #3) in a cage match? Yes please. A nice departure from other cage matches, this one revolves around the chairs inside and who has control of them.

Caristico takes a beating and bleeds heavily. There’s some innovative setups and moves,a belly to belly suplex with a chair that I can’t remember seeing before and one particularly brutal chairshot. The big moment of the match had me on my feet, just fantastic. Finish isn’t clean (detect a pattern here?) but it is something different – another really fun brawl.

LA Park v Rush 22 June 2018

Two years on from their brawl of the year at Arena Mexico, LA Park and Rush do it all again in a two out of three falls match that goes right off the rails in a stellar climax. A particular highlight has Park grab a fans drink and launch it into the crowd, then shortly after gets a few thrown his way as he stands over Rush ready to drop an entire row of chairs on his head.

Doesn’t hit the same levels of violence and danger as their Liga Elite match, but still a very good watch. Unfortunately we’re still waiting on that Mask v Hair match promised in the post-match promo, I won’t hold my breath.