Joseph Park

[9.0] "Abyss was a very original character, & Joseph had all the acting chops & big time vibes he needed to make that character work. To work such a high impact, intense style & to remain very ring safe like he had his whole career was very notable, indeed."

[6.0] "A mixture of terrible storylines and pretty decent in-ring wrestling, not great, not terrible. His character work with Joseph Park showed some nice range and it was fun to see him try something different even if as a pre-teen I wasn't hugely invested. Good career, should have been booked better."

[8.0] "A lot of bias here, but Abyss was my absolute favorite "spooky" wrestler as a kid. His run with TNA can be used as a historical framework to understand how TNA became the company it did, and while he may have had a decent number of bad storylines of character arcs, for every cringeworthy story we had three or four more examples of masterful self reinvention and the best hardcore matches cable television would have in the 00s. His barbed wire rope death match against sabu will always be what hardcore matches measure up to in my perceptions of wrestling, and abyss deserves his flowers for creating that standard."

[8.0] "Maybe not a guy with the best matches in history but his character and his devotion to TNA and the fans and his willingness to put his body on the line makes Abyss one of my favorite wrestlers of all time"

[6.0] "One of the great hardcore wrestlers of his generation. The guy knew how to have a fantastic match whenever weapons were involved, and his ability to withstand pain is probably up there with the likes of Mick Foley. Had a very good career in TNA, I'd say the low points were that stupid angle they did where he was infatuated with Hulk Hogan and the whole HOF ring. They made Abyss seem like a big goofy clown, when he was anything but. His ability to perform as Joseph Park was great, he showed another side of his ability as a performer. Just wish he was Joseph Park with the whole Hogan thing instead of Abyss. Not the greatest actual wrestler, very good at his style though. Overall, Abyss was definitely a huge member of TNA during the 2000s and 2010s, put on a lot of great hardcore matches, ok-ish gimmick, decent on the mic. Strong 6 from me."

[9.0] "Abyss is one of the reasons I got into TNA. I remember seeing images of him online when I was younger and immediately I was into the whole character and gimmick of Abyss. His best run, in my opinion, was when he was that monster heel that everyone FEARED. He never was a fantastic worker, but I believe that the rating I have given him here is worthy because of all the character work he put in with Abyss."

[10.0] "Decided to re-review everything I ever wrote on cagematch and honestly it was a tragedy that I only gave Abyss an 8 with the guidelines. He was an incredible monster heel that could actually work. He had personally, some terrible pairings *Immortal* but overall he was a great hardcore monster that was extremely entertaining and important to the history of TNA Wrestling. Have to Love Abyss."

[8.0] "Always been a fan of Abyss. Loved his character work and was incredibly menacing and intimidating. A TNA standout for his time there."

[9.0] "Abyss is one of the faces of TNA for me. He's one of the best big men in wrestling, and he helped to make many of TNA's stars. Unfortunately, he was almost constantly a victim of TNA's worst booking mistakes, with his character getting progressively more stupid as his career went on. But his peaks definitely outweigh his failures to me. Must-watch matches include his Six Sides of Steel match with AJ Styles at Lockdown 2005, Barbed Wire Massacre against Sabu at Turning Point 2005, and a great match with Kurt Angle at Turning Point 2008"

[7.0] "A consistently entertaining big man who bled buckets for the cause. Poor guy was never allowed to have a nice easy PPV match and would always be going into something that did not look pleasant to take. For my tastes, his matches had a ceiling and he was in some stinkers along the way. Consistently entertaining in the roles he had."

[9.0] "Arguably one of the best big men in wrestling, he was an absolute treat to watch in the ring and was able to adapt his character greatly in whatever storyline that needed it. His temporary transition to Joseph Park was at first not great and might've overstayed its welcome in 2013, but even then he was a very entertaining character and it evolved well for a comedic role of sorts. Hell, I wish he was able to hold a world title more often, too. Thank you for everything, Chris. I hope retirement is going well for you."

[6.0] "He deserve 6 not a great wrestler in ring but a great hardcore wrestler and Decay was a masterpiece and i think even if Rosemary was the main character of the faction Abyss have helped a lot in a legend role"

[9.0] "Abyss throughout his years in TNA was always a reliable highlight. His in-ring action was good as he could move well for his size and understood in ring psychology which made his offense and selling so good. Plus, he could always deliver a more gruesome hardcore match when asked to. Charisma, character work and mic work were great as Joseph Parks or Abyss. Abyss was a highlight of TNA regardless of the era."

[8.0] "One of the best guys to ever wrestle in TNA though was booked horribly for most of his run. His cage match against AJ is one of my top five TNA matches ever and the four way between him, Sabu, Hardy, and Rhino was one of the better hardcore matches I've ever seen. Regardless of who he was facing, Abyss always sold his ass off to make his opponent look good."

[8.0] "He is a lot better than he gets credit for. One of my all-time favorite matches of his in TNA was his barbed wire massacre match against Sabu at Turning Point. They had a slobber knocker."

[6.0] "A pretty unselfish worker that went through some terrible angles and still managed to get the best out of them, as well as always being the guy who gets beat by the actual top talent. Abyss was never going to be much of a draw but he was booked decently well during the early years of TNA as a legitimate monster that both the heels and babyfaces were trying to court to their side, a guy who could realistically give anyone on the roster a huge fight. Of course as with all monsters in wrestling he got diluted and drawn down to a shell of himself, and a lot of his later work is either unremarkable or just downright bad: can't really blame him considering the wear and tear on his body and he wasn't exactly getting the good side of aging as well. I'm annoyed he didn't get a proper send off by TNA considering he worked for them for 15+ years but it's not surprising considering the state of that company. Good in his prime but he got stale quick."

[5.0] "If you like seeing a person bleed & get through stuff without any story behind it you'd enjoy his work. In the ring he was below average & a cheap version of Mankind."

[10.0] "When I was a kid Abyss used to scare to the daylights out of me. He was basically TNA's version of Kane and he was awesome. I loved the Shock Treatment signature and he had the best finish in the Black Hole Slam and he had a great match with AJ Styles at Lockdown 2005."

[7.0] "He was a good character for TNA to have during their heyday. Every company needs a monster & he worked well in that role, especially when AJ was on the rise. Later in TNA's history he became too synonymous with hardcore matches and all the thumbtacks spots & barbed wire ultimately felt meaningless because we saw him use it far too often."

[9.0] "Abyss is a legendary hardcore wrestler and one of Impacts most memorable stars. He plays the split personality character quite well and i wish him all the best in his retirement"

[8.0] "Despite winning the TNA X Division, Television and Tag-Team Titles during his lengthy run, Abyss never actually became TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Instead, he'd bag a 56-day reign as NWA World Champ in 2006-2007 before the company ditched that title's lineage in May of '07 and created their own. That brief run with the NWA belt created some history. At the time, Abyss' win over Sting at Genesis made him the first ever masked man to hold the famous strap. That's quite a first to crow about, and things wouldn't change until Blue Demon Jr won the thing two years later in 2008. That was after the title had left TNA's jurisdiction however. The NWA Title has gained some recent prominence through association with Cody Rhodes, the All In event and the success of the 70th Anniversary Show promoted by Billy Corgan and Jeff Jarrett's GFW late-last year. It's pretty cool to think that Abyss created fresh records for it 13 years ago."

[6.0] "I respect Abyss for his loyalty to TNA but he really isn't anything special. He's got a good look that suits his style but his in-ring work leaves a lot to be desired. Really liked his more comedic stuff when he played his own lawyer brother."

[5.0] "Sadly Abyss became just a hardcore attraction over the years. As a monster he was entertaining (2005/2006 Abyss is very fun to watch), he was good at that but once the charm was finished there was nothing left, just meaningless matches with a lot of blood."

[3.0] "Abyss looked like a piss-poor Mankind knock-off, the kind of gimmick you'd see at some backwoods promotion in the middle of nowhere. His in-ring talent wasn't any good, either; he had nothing to offer beyond a willingness to bleed and do stunts."

[8.0] "You can only ever rate a wrestler with how they were in their prime and Abyss was a fantastic big guy, great hardcore wrestler and loyal to a fault to TNA, he could have been over in the WWE but insisted on staying with TNA, age hasn't been kind to the monster but make no mistake he can still deliver a good match but not as often as he used to."

[7.0] "In recent years he has become slow and clumsy, but I've always liked Abyss, since his hardcore style and over the edge persona was what made TNA a thing back in 2000s. On the other side, I've never liked Chris Parks."

[10.0] "Abyss is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. Very Hardcore and decent moves. It is always fun to see Abyss bring a bag of thumbtacks to the ring."

[8.0] "Abyss more or less started out as NWA-TNA's answer to Kane, the troubled monster type character. In a way, Chris Parks the man behind Abyss is a little like Kane. Abyss was a really good big man, who thrived in hardcore situations and he took some nasty bumps. He's always been able to move pretty well and in conventual matches, his moveset was pretty vicious. More points to Abyss, due to his depth and character work, allow him to play different gimmicks. Whether he's the monster, Joseph Park, or a member of Decay, he's found multiple ways to extend his career longevity and do something new."

[10.0] "Not giving a 10 for his current career, but for his career overall. Abyss has been a TNA mainstay for quite some time. The monster Abyss used to be one of the most feared wrestlers. He wrestled as a big man powerhouse, with a lot of agility, and some of the best brawling, and death match skills out of anyone. While he has slowed down a lot he's still a beast"

[2.0] "All of Foley's best self-destructive tendencies, minus the charisma to make them actually mean anything. Just not a great performer all around, but he's willing to do a lot to his body, so he gets by."

[5.0] "Abyss can do the big man role, but he's not really much more than that. He's been called a combination of Kane and Mankind, but he doesn't have the charisma of either."

[9.0] "Does what he knows best. In his earlier days he was the one to watch for American deathmatches, though time has taken his toll on him the resurgence as Joseph park has shown that he is not a one type act, but a more complex character than people once thought"

[8.0] "Abyss is one of the greatest legends in TNA, as well as one of the most complete and underrated big men of the past ten years: a single world title (with a short reign) is very unfair. He has a great character and mic skill is also very good. Today his ring work is still decent, despite he has become more slow and static ( but guys, he is 42 years old and he is a giant). In the past, he was a very good hardcore brawler, single wrestler and tag team wrestler."

[7.0] "When Abyss first showed up in TNA it was easy to write him off as a Kane/Mankind clone, but that's no longer a fair assessment. Over the years he's carved out an identity of his own. He can always be counted on for a solid brawl, especially when weapons are involved, and a big scary monster is never a bad thing to have in your upper midcard to act as a "gatekeeper. " Additionally, his time as Joseph Park showed that he's a more versatile performer than he'd previously been given credit for. Has been in TNA for over a decade now and continues to be a valuable guy for the company to have around."

[7.0] "Abyss, hmm... Well in the early days of TNA I think people can agree that he was a monster & was booked like one too. As time as gone on though his character his begin to get stale. When Abyss was transformed to Joseph Park I was very happy, we were finally getting something new & it was quite entertaining for the most part. The wrestling of Joseph Park was obviously not good but that was part of the gimmick. In 2014 though I haven't liked Abyss. From his endless Face & Heel turns & his terrible time with Magnus. Abyss in 2014 has been BAD but overall I've enjoyed his character."

[10.0] "The master of the monster's ball matches, Abyss is the hardcore man of TNA, one of the best and a classic from the begginings of the company."

[8.0] "Abyss had a good run in TNA up until a few years ago, but his in-ring work from about 2010 onward was not up to par. He looked slow, and many of his matches were painfully boring. That's why he was brilliant to reinvent himself with the Joseph Park character. Not only is Joe Park an extremely natural and likeable babyface, but the angle of him being a rookie allows him to hide his in-ring deficiency within his gimmick. One of the better career revitalizations in recent history."

[6.0] "I think that Abyss is a very good hardcore wrestler, but he needs to improve when isn't in hardcore matches."