BASLER’S BLOG
by Al Basler
Making It Count
Last week on New England Championship Wrestling on WMFP TV, it was the week of the countout. Both matches ended with one of the participants unable to return to the ring before the referee’s 10-count. Let’s take a look at each one and what it signifies going forward.
In the first match, Mike McCarthy scored a victory over “The Boston Bad Boy” Jason Rumble in a match that was scheduled to determine the number one contender for the NECW Television Championship. After an errant charge into the corner, Rumble went crashing shoulder-first into the ringpost and spilled to the outside of the ring. McCarthy then proceeded to fiddle with the turnbuckle pad. This took the attention of the referee away from the action, which allowed McCarthy to tie Rumble’s legs to the post. Rumble was unable to free himself and get back in the ring before the referee reached 10, giving the win to McCarthy.
Say what you will about how it happened, but you can’t deny that Rumble was O-U-T-S-M-A-R-T-E-D. Jason Rumble has been around this game far too long to fall victim to something like that. After the match, I interviewed Rumble, who was obviously not happy about what happened. Now, for those of you who may not have seen last week’s NECW and for those of you who don’t speak Rumble, Jason asked for and was granted a rematch against McCarthy. When he gets his chance for revenge against McCarthy, he better keep his head on straight or else he can kiss his Television Championship aspirations G-O-O-D-B-Y-E.
Speaking of the NECW Television Champion, Johnny Thunder was the second man to suffer a countout defeat on this night. “Sensational” Scott Levesque, who Thunder defeated in the semi-final of the tournament in which he became the champion, was granted the first crack at the new champion. After that initial encounter, Levesque attacked Thunder and injured his arm. While I was interviewing Thunder before this defense, the challenge attacked and again focused his onslaught on the arm. The champion was coming in injured.
During the match, Levesque, smartly, zeroed in the injured arm and spent the majority of the match doing further damage to it. Thunder fought back and even hit his signature Thunderstruck, an inverted STO, but the injury to his arm prevented him from hitting the move with as much force as he normally would. This allowed Levesque to roll to the outside, where the battle continued. The challenger got the upper hand and used a modified version of an armbreaker over the back of a chair. The cumulative effect of Levesque’s attack prevented Thunder from being able to beat the count, securing a victory for Levesque.
Of course, a championship doesn’t change hands on a countout, so Thunder remains the Television Champion. But Scott Levesque now holds a victory over Johnny Thunder. More importantly, he has created a weakness in Thunder’s arm. After the match, I interviewed Thunder, and he was very heated at Levesque for what had transpired. He vowed that when he got his hands on Levesque again, we would see the old Johnny Thunder.
Now, that’s interesting. The old Johnny Thunder was a man who would do whatever it took to win, no matter the cost and no matter the means. The old Johnny Thunder was a man who showed up at the end of the Television Championship tournament when he used the ropes for leverage to score the pin on Justin Corino. The old Johnny Thunder is coming to avenge the loss of the new Johnny Thunder. So, who is the new Johnny Thunder? Aside from a new haircut, it seems that he is a man that relies on the old Johnny Thunder when the chips are down. Maybe the new Johnny Thunder can’t get the job done without the old Johnny Thunder. The question is, can the new Johnny Thunder live with that?