Basler’s Blog
by Al Basler
Officially Dethroned
There are new Tag Team Champions in New England Championship Wrestling. Last week, we saw Mike Webb and Nick Fahrenheit defeat “The Sure Thing” Mark Shurman and “This Guy” Scotty Slade to capture the titles they have been chasing for several months. Most fans of NECW will say this was a long time coming. If you ask Shurman and Slade, or get within earshot of them, they will tell you that NECW, and Paul Richard in particular, screwed them out of their titles.
Shurman and Slade became the NECW Tag Team Champions by defeating Webb and Fahrenheit to claim the vacated titles, using one of the title belts as a weapon, which some might call dubious means. In the rematch, when it seemed the challengers were poised to claim victory, Shurman and Slade walked out for the countout, which preserved their title reign. It was deemed by NECW that due to these actions by the now former champions that Webb and Fahrenheit deserved another shot at the NECW Tag Titles, with some special stipulations.
The first stipulation was that the match would be conducted under Texas Tornado rules. This meant that there would be no disqualifications, no countouts, and no tags required. Shurman and Slade welcomed this caveat. The second, however, was not received so kindly be the then champions. Paul Richard, former ECW referee, would act as the Extreme Enforcer for the match. In essence, Richard would be a second referee outside the ring if needed.
When I interviewed Richard before the match, Shurman and Slade interrupted, feeling that NECW was attempting to stack the deck against them, and that Richard was there to make sure they lost. After they said their piece and left, I asked Richard why an outside enforcer was necessary in a Texas Tornado match. He explained that because of the unpredictable nature of the rules of the match, he would be there to ensure that a clear winner would be determined, which turned out to be prophetic on his part.
During the match, the referee inside the ring, Chris Bartolo, came out on the losing end of a championship tug of war that he wasn’t even involved in and was taken out of the match. After Webb was hit with one of the title belts, Slade attempted a cover and Richard entered the ring to make the count, but Webb was able to kick out before three. Slade then proceeded to argue with Richard over the speed of the count, followed by shoving the Extreme Enforcer. Richard responded in kind and Slade stumbled back into a roll-up by Webb and Richard made the three count, awarding the NECW Tag Team Titles to Mike Webb and Nick Fahrenheit.
If you have been paying attention to New England Championship Wrestling on WMFP TV or have listened to the July edition of the NECW Shootin’ Range podcast (or hopefully both), you know that Paul Richard is now the General Manager of NECW. When you combine this with the fact that you can make an argument that Richard may have counted slightly faster for Webb after the confrontation with Slade in the ring, you have the recipe for a conspiracy theory, one that lends a hint of credence to Shurman and Slade’s claims that NECW was out to get them.
Maybe you can write off the difference in the pace of Richard’s cadence as negligible. Or perhaps he did get caught up in the moment with Slade and had a human, emotional reaction. Whatever the case may be, we know for sure that Mike Webb and Nick Fahrenheit are the new NECW Tag Team Champions. And until Shurman and Slade receive their contractually guaranteed rematch, there will be no end to their conspiratorial claims. It’s clear that the story between these two teams is far from over.