Chris Parks: Performer of the Year

[Big Red Machine]

It is no secret how much I have disliked the whole Joseph Park angle. It has been extremely poorly booked with characters acting illogically or stupid ways and makes TNA as a kayfabe entity look bad (seriously, an employee just disappears and the company puts no effort whatsoever into trying to locate him? Not even as much as a call to the cops to report a missing person?).

In wrestling, unfortunately, not every cloud has a silver lining. Some angles are just horrific ideas from the start that will do nothing to get anyone over. This was not one of those. While I don't like what TNA has done here, this angle has given me a whole new appreciation for Chris Parks the performer. He shifted into the Joseph Park character seamlessly and gave it a life all it's own. His facial expressions have been perfect... and this is a guy who has worn a mask most of his career. He has everything down perfectly. Here is a guy who is used to playing a role where he is a fearless fighter... and yet, at Slammiversary, he made be believe that he was anxious and unsure of himself- sacred, even- and slowly gained some confidence as time went on. He is used to playing a smooth performer in the ring, but he made his stumbling all over the place seem perfectly natural. Most impressively, perhaps, has been his timing. He was able to time things just right so that he seemed to be having a live conversation with a pre-taped version of himself... on LIVE TV. If he was off by just one second, it could have killed the whole thing by revealing that the supposedly live conversation was pre-taped. So thank you, Chris Park. You haven't been the best wrestler of the year or the best worker of the year or the best talker of the year, but you have definitely been the best performer of the year.

[Serujuunin]

This is exactly what I was thinking. I was wondering how he could genuinely look so terrified when he could probably kick Bully's a**.