La Parka (wrestler)

Jesús Alfonso Huerta Escoboza (January 4, 1966 – January 11, 2020) was a Mexican luchador enmascarado, or masked professional wrestler, better known as La Parka who worked for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion AAA from the mid-1990s until 2019.

Escoboza made his debut in 1987, working as Bello Sexy.

In the late 1990s, Escoboza was billed as La Parka Jr. and then in 2003 he became the "official" La Parka while Tapia was forced to stop using the name and instead became known as L.A. Park.

After working as Bello Sexy for five years he changed his gimmick to Maligno (Spanish for "Evil"), which he used until 1995.

In this time period he also briefly worked as Crater and Santa Esmarela.

In early 1995 Escoboza was once again repackaged as he joined Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA; then formally known as Asistencia Asesoría y Administración) and became Karis la Momia ("Karis the Mummy") a mummy gimmick named after the 1940s Mummy-film series Kharis.

He was the fourth wrestler to use the Karis la Momia name.

On June 30, 1995, Karis la Momia made his first AAA major show appearance as he teamed with Espectro I, El Duende, Maniaco and Halloween, losing to Los Power Raiders at Triplemania III-C.

On May 15, 1996, Karis won his first wrestling championship as he defeated Blue Demon Jr.. for the Mexican National Cruiserweight Championship.

At Triplemania IV-A Karis, Arunyo and Killer defeated Blue Demon Jr.., El Torero, and Máscara Sagrada Jr. Over the summer of 1996 Karis worked a storyline feud, teaming with Los Payasos against Los Junior Atómicos (Máscara Sagrada Jr., Tinieblas Jr.., Blue Demon Jr.. and Halcón Dorado Jr.).

The two teams met in a four on four match at Triplemania IV-B which Los Junior Atómicos won.

The storyline continued at Triplemania IV-C as the two teams faced off in a Steel cage match as the main event of the show.

The match saw Karis la Momia defeat Halcón Dorado Jr., forcing him to unmask.

In November 1996 Karis la Momia was given a new gimmick and he was forced to vacate the Mexican National Cruiserweight Championship because of this.

He may have impersonated a new character named La Calaca (a variation of La Parka character with an inverted costume and a more diabolical mask) in a match fought in Arena Neza at the end of 1996.

This gimmick was later given to a Monterrey rudo named El Sanguinario.

By late 1996, AAA regular, La Parka began working full-time for World Championship Wrestling, which meant that AAA lost one of its most popular performers.

Since AAA owner Antonio Peña had created the character and owned the rights to them in Mexico he decided to create "La Parka Jr."

as a way to capitalize on the popularity of La Parka, giving the part to the promising Escobedo.

La Parka.

Jr. joined Los Junior Atómicos, replacing the very man he had unmasked, Halcón Dorado Jr. One of the early appearances of La Parka Jr. was at Guerra de Titanes 1997, where he teamed with Máscara Sagrada Jr., Venum and Cuervo in a loss to Los Vipers (Psicosis, Histeria, Mosco de la Merced and Maniaco).

La Parka Jr. quickly became a part of the storyline between the Los Vipers group and a group of "AAA Loyalists", this storyline led to a match at Triplemania VI where he teamed with Latin Lover, Blue Demon Jr.. and Máscara Sagráda defeating Los Vipers (Cibernético, Histeria, Maniaco and Psicosis).

On April 4, 1999 Los Junior Atómicos (La Parka Jr. Perro Aguayo Jr.., Blue Demon Jr.. and Máscara Sagrada Jr.) defeated Los Vatos Locos (Charly Manson, May Flowers, Nygma and Picudo) to win the Mexican National Atómicos Championship.

The group held the title for five months, before losing it to rivals Los Vipers at Verano de Escandalo (1999).

On August 12, 1999, La Parka Jr. regained the Mexican National Cruiserweight Championship he was forced to give up when he changed gimmicks, defeating Kendo for the title.

On March 30, 2001, La Parka Jr. defeated Latin Lover, Abismo Negro and Heavy Metal to win the 2001 Rey de Reyes tournament, the first visible proof that La Parka Jr. was being positioned as one of the top tecnicos (Face or good guy) of AAA.

La Parka Jr. followed his Rey de Reyes success by forcing Abismo Negro to submit in their four on four encounter at Triplemania IX on May 26, 2001.

On November 11, 2001, La Parka and Máscara Sagrada teamed up to defeat El Texano and Pirata Morgan for the Mexican National Tag Team Championship.

The team held onto the titles until April 19, 2002, when Electroshock and Chessman took the titles from them.

La Parka Jr.'s climb up the card continued as he teamed with El Alebrije, Máscara Sagrada and Octagón to defeat Abismo Negro, Cibernético, the Monsther and Leatherface in the main event of Guerra de Titanes 2002.

On March 16, 2003, La Parka Jr. won the Rey de Reyes tournament, defeating Abismo Negro to claim his second Rey de Reyes.

In early 2003 the original La Parka joined Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), AAA's main rival, as a result Antonio Peña took legal action against Adolfo Tapia, barring him from using the name "La Parka" or wearing the signature "skeleton suit" in Mexico.

After taking action against Tapia, La Parka Jr. became known officially as just "La Parka".

On June 15, 2003, La Parka main evented his first Triplemanía as he teamed with Lizmark, Octagón and Super Caló, defeating Abismo Negro, Cibernético and The Headhunters in the main event of Triplemania XI.

Five days later La Parka teamed with Octagón to win the Mexican National Tag Team Championship from Electroshock and Chessman, a title the team held for 3,110 days.

The storyline between the AAA loyalists, led by La Parka, and Los Vipers, led by Cibernético came to a head on June 20, 2004, in the main event of Triplemania XII as La Parka defeated Cibernético in a Luchas de Apuesta, forcing Cibernético to unmask after the match in one of the biggest Triplemania events ever.

The feud between La Parka and Cibernético continued beyond the mask loss, including La Parka defeating Cibernético in a "Lights Out" match at Verano de Escandalo (2004).

On January 11, 2020, Huerta died from complications arising from injuries that he sustained from a botched move during an October 2019 match.

Escoboza was not the first wrestler to use the ring name "La Parka", Adolfo Tapia was the original La Parka but did not own either the name or the character.

In 2020, he was posthumously inducted into the AAA Hall of Fame.