A Glimpse at 2016 (part 3)

Rush v LA Park (Liga Elite, 7/14/16) 

Well fuck my face, this was everything you hoped it would be. I don't even know what Elite is supposed to be, whether it's some kind of CMLL spin-off or something, but either way I assume Rush and Park agreed pre-match to use it as a vehicle to fuck the establishment and do everything they're otherwise not allowed to do shy of whipping out a shotgun. Seeing this kind of blood-soaked lunacy in Arena Mexico again had me smiling ear to ear the whole time. Like, there are so many awesome on-paper brawls that you could book from that CMLL roster, but there's always that little voice in the back of your head going "you still wish it had gallons of blood, you bloodthirsty vampire, you." And apparently that voice speaks to every member of this crowd as well because god damn they eat all of this up, to the point where they were legitimately about ready to riot when the referee tried to call the whole thing off. Some of the weapon shots were pretty brutal, particularly the first chair shot to Rush, but there's something sort of harrowing about seeing old man Park stumble around covered in blood like a vagrant Stevie Van Zandt while Rush recklessly launches a mini-fridge at his head. It's actually been a while since I last saw Rush, but man is that guy still the greatest. There isn't a better coke-fueled bully in wrestling and he was just crushing Park with furniture, licking Park's blood off his hands, getting right in the faces of angry fans...generally being the complete headcase that's been my favourite wrestler in the world for the last three years. Both guys going fuck it and continuing to brawl for another ten minutes after the initial stoppage made the whole thing feel even more chaotic, and then you get the big dives in amongst the debris and the crowd throws money in the ring at the end. That's usually a good sign. This was incredible.