What's Joseph Park's Payoff?

[Alex]

So Joseph Park has been seen on Impact for just over a year (I think)

At first he was looking for his brother Abyss who had gone missing. He questioned various wrestlers and eventually fueded with Bully Ray who it seemed had something to do with the disappearance. After beating Ray (with a little help from Abyss) Park tried helping Hulk Hogan combat the Aces & Eights finding evidence against them. He was captured and tortured for a few weeks before being released. He wanted to fight the Aces & Eights but Hogan made him go to OVW to train. After completing his training he came back and has had a few matches since but nothing overly important.

Now one of the things that makes Park interesting is that whenever he bleeds he begins to imitate his brother Abyss (angry attacks, Black Hole Slams etc) but when he's done he has no recollection of it.

Now we all know that Chris Parks is the same guy who plays both Abyss and Joseph Park. But what is the payoff to this angle likely to be. I like a slow burning storyline but you don't want to drag it on to long.

Personally I'd like to see an identiy crisis thing where Joseph Park is what Abyss could have been had he not gone crazy and he starts acting like one or the other in quick succession e.g. in the same promo and does moves from both identities in the ring with the payoff with an amalgamation of the two characters being the end result. A smart sophisticated, pyschotic Abyss.

 

[DirtyD79]

At this point I don't think the writers even remember what the payoff was supposed to be anymore. It just seems like yet another attempt to "humanize" Abyss and make him an even bigger puss than ever before. Maybe it was supposed to be an amnesia angle or they were actually trying to do one man playing twin brothers straight up, either way it's pretty much gone nowhere.

 

[Steamsixliner]

It wold have been awesome if Park was just a shell personality, perhaps the result of an attempt at rehabing Abyss, only for him to eventually snap and not only return to the Abyss personality, but also be revealed as the mastermind behind Aces and Eights. Then both angles would resolve and be replaced with something interesting.

 

[Papa Pillman]

I don't think that there is any rush to get to a "payoff" on the Joseph/Chris Park angle. Obviously this is a "split personality" angle, but for now the Joseph Park personality is much more entertaining than the Chris Park(Abyss) personality. Abyss had grown stale, and I think even Park felt that way and this was a chance to try something different. And the result? He has absolutely nailed it. The way that Park plays the "Joseph" character is brilliant. The longer the character is around the better he develops it. This next step of converting Park into an outsider trying to learn the business from the inside at an expediated rate has been done perfectly and produces funny segments basically every week. Park appears to be having so much fun developing Joseph, why would they rush to swith and/or integrate the characters?

I think that they will keep going with the Joseph character as long as it continues to be fresh, fun, and interesting. Also the longer Abyss is away, the more likely people will be ready to see him when he comes back. Rushing to end this angle and bring some form of Abyss back would ultimately just turn this into another temporary wrinkle to the Abyss character that ultimately changes nothing and gets Park and TNA back to where they were before. That would be a shame. The Joseph character has been too entertaining has too much potential to continue to be. Let's just enjoy that while we can instead of being to focused on what comes next.

Joseph park is one of the best and most truly original new "gimmick" characters that wrestling has seen in the last handful of years. And all the credit has to go to Park himself for how he nails the idiosyncracies of "Joseph".

 

[das1234]

i think it was supposed to be a jekyll and hyde sort of thing, but then they realized that he is awesome at acting, super over and funny.
so they scrapped their plans and dont know what to do next.
for me he got a bit stale since he had his "official" debut, but i really dont want to see abyss again. what is so much better about abyss than a part-crazy lawyer that we need abyss back?
maybe they can do something where A8 did something to him when they tortured him for weeks, but i sadly see this character running into a dead end and getting stale quickly, because he doesnt have much going for him once the wrestling inside-talk jokes get old.

 

[TheHorndogSays]

The Joseph Parks character has never done anything for me. The only positive I can see out of this would be for James Mitchell to reappear as I feel his presence has greatly been missed and is truly underrated for his promo skills. He has quickly become a Barry Horowitz meets Jekyll and Hyde storyline. Only logical payoff I can see would for him to be dismantled by A&8 and Abyss returns seeking vengeance and we just treat it like a change of characters similar to Christopher Daniels/Curry Man years ago.

 

[ABMorales787]

There is no payoff to him, he's another name in the roster. The idea is that he's an audiences surrogate. A guy with zero talent that develops a love for wrestling and gives up his dayjob for it. That's his gimmick. With the flashes of Abyss sneaking in as nods to the fact that they are the same guy and as a potential future direction to bring back Abyss. It's why Joseph misuses terms like "kayfabe" and "politiking". He's a nod to smarks who wish they could become the real thing.

 

[GameOver]

I stopped caring withing the first 2 months. Certainly not doing anything for a Abyss return or improving his character one bit, tho at the very least it has given him a chance to expand his repetoir

 

[Alex]

There is no payoff to him, he's another name in the roster. The idea is that he's an audiences surrogate. A guy with zero talent that develops a love for wrestling and gives up his dayjob for it. That's his gimmick. With the flashes of Abyss sneaking in as nods to the fact that they are the same guy and as a potential future direction to bring back Abyss. It's why Joseph misuses terms like "kayfabe" and "politiking". He's a nod to smarks who wish they could become the real thing.

I never thought of it like that, I just thought there would be an inevitable storyline where it's revealed Abyss and Joseph Park are the same person and they'd do something with it. I mean I guess he wasn't going to go much farther as Abyss I guess.

I mean I do like the Joseph Park character and I do like the behind the scenes terminology he says, it gets a chuckle out of me.

 

[SpecialFNK]

I've always wanted it to end up being Joseph Park is Abyss. I'm not sure what word to call it, but like he was beaten/tortured so bad he created this split personality and shut out "Abyss". he came up with Joseph Park, and he believes he is Abyss' brother.
I can't even remember the last time "Abyss" was mentioned. Joseph doesn't appear to be looking for his brother anymore.
"Joseph Park" has been good with with audience, so maybe now TNA is just going with that and not pushing for anything else yet.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

It wold have been awesome if Park was just a shell personality, perhaps the result of an attempt at rehabing Abyss, only for him to eventually snap and not only return to the Abyss personality, but also be revealed as the mastermind behind Aces and Eights. Then both angles would resolve and be replaced with something interesting.

I second this notion. I would very much like to see Park do a complete 180 and turn heel. Combining aspects from both his Joseph and Abyss characters into the Aces and Eights leader. He would make a great leader to the stable. Be the well mannered and spoken Joseph but then also have the mean streak Abyss was known for.

There is of course the issue of him being kidnapped before Bound for Glory but I think Joseph could simply pass that off as being a ruse to draw suspicion away from him.

Joseph could also explain the REAL reason he went to OVW was to not only get a contract, but also find new young talent for Aces & Eights.

It's by far my favourite theory for the leader and I think it's perfectly doable.

 

[MWRedskins]

I honestly think they had a planned payoff, but have since put it in the rear view mirror for now and it likely had something to do with a split personality, but me personally, this is one payoff that I can wait for as the Joseph Park character is just gold right now. he have me laughing to death when he told Hogan that he heard about politicking your way to the top then saying Vote for Park. his character is funny and is entertaining to watch in the ring, on the mic or in backstage segments. I do think eventually the Abyss character will come back, but I don't mind the Joseph Park character for now.

 

[Ayden C.]

In terms of crazy theories that could potentially happen; what if Joseph Parks volunteers to be a part of Aces and Eights? I know this sounds crazy but stick with me here. Concluding that the beating via Bully Ray post Genesis beat out the Abyss personality; what if the kidnapping of Joseph beat it back in? Only to an extent of course, where he wears the Abyss attire and uses his moveset but still is intelligent like Parks.

Doesn't this sound like someone that group would want as a part of them? And being that if you consider the split personalities, would have Abyss loved being stuck in the brain of at first a very soft man? It isn't crazy to think he could have simply still gone on like nothing had changed, and simply continued to play the man in training while also (mentioned above) combing OVW for prospective talent.

Of course this isn't going to provide any large payoff for TNA but that was never expected. What will receive a payoff though is the character of Abyss who was slowly on his way to staleville before Joseph arrived. I'm not about to say that this is definitely going to happen but crazier things have happened in TNA.

 

[JJ15776]

Honestly, this was one of the reasons I stopped watching TNA. Well, the most recent time that I stopped, which was in the buildup to Bound For Glory. All the great potential in the Aces & Eights and the Joseph Park/Abyss stuff, and it just never really lead to anything great. It's frustrating to get so invested in something, and be so excited to see where it leads, and then it never leads anywhere. TNA always drags me in with the potential, then I get bored when it never goes anywhere and I stop watching. This has been going since they started their weekly TV shows.

I suppose, like somebody else said, that this is just Joseph Park's character now. Kind of like how Eugene was a little slow, Park is a schizo. Maybe someday he'll get an electric shock or a particularly hard hit to the head or he'll get a wish from Santa or he'll just disappear for while, and it'll be fixed.

 

[The Eighties]

I think the Joseph Park version got over more than they expected so they have drawn things out further. I'm sure in the end he will have the full psychotic break and become Abyss again, but for now he's gonna remain the "lovable" buffoon who keeps dropping wrestling terminology.

 

[Dirk]

I still don't know if TNA is maybe trying to pass Joseph off as Chris's legit brother. My flatmates (who are casual fans at best) thought he was Abyss right away, but they haven't gone anywhere with it, so I'm a little confused.

 

[TheOriginal]

in all reality abyss is tna's mankind/mick foley.
wait for Judas Messiahs return as they played him off as abyss's 1/2 bro and he has recently stated on a tna return

 

[boso428]

whenever they decide to move on with Park/Abyss character they should take Park and use the Fight Club/Tyler Durden split personalities bit and have him recruit a couple guys, Gunner and Crimson??, to do some of the dirty work minus the brainwashing

 

[Stewmaga]

I don't think there is a planned pay off, personally I think 90% of TNA is written on the fly, I doubt they have a plan here at all.

 

[Spinebreaker]

I second (or third, maybe fourth) the idea that there maybe *was* a planned payoff for
the Joseph Parks angle, but TNA didn't realise how over the character would get.

When TNA signed Gallows, I thought maybe the plan was to have him play the role of 'Abyss' so that there could be an Abyss Vs Joseph match. (For anyone more than a couple of years younger than me, before he was Luke Gallows, before he was Festus, he was the Fake Kane that fueded with the real Big Red Machine for a while, and he was pretty good at it.) Behind the mask, wig and jacket he could pass for Abyss.

Abyss could be a reveal in Aces and Eights. That could be interesting.

I'm expecting Joseph Parks to be a part of Sting's team for Lockdown.

A natural payoff for the Parks character after his training, would be a belt of some sort. TV champ perhaps?

I do think TNA does a LOT on the fly. The ECW invasion angle was changed last minute, Main Event Mafia return was changed last minute, Roode becoming champion was changed VERY last minute. Aries and Ray's heel turns seemed to be based on crowd reaction. I don't think there's an issue with changing plans like that, but you're gonna get some hits and some misses.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I personally think this is the stupidest storyline ever. This is not how you treat one of your 4th Triple Crown Champion and 2nd Grand Slam Champion, TNA. I’m sorry, but it’s not. Since we can’t cry over spilled milk, I think the angle should culminate in one of the craziest reveals ever. The “J” in Christopher J. Parks is Joseph!! Joseph Parks is Abyss!! That is the only way I would accept this nonsense. Make it like Joseph is Clark Kent and Abyss is Superman, but in a much more cowardly / evil way. Man I really can’t stand this angle and the worst part is, it’s still going on.