The Real deal
Fresh off RPW title, Cummins heads to World Trials
By Bruce Morgan, Record Express Sports Editor
Lititz Record Express
LITITZ, PA – Pat Cummins is still fairly new to international wrestling.
But the 1999 Warwick High School grad got a big confidence boost last October.
A two-time All-American and 2004 NCAA runner-up at Penn State University, Cummins captured the 264-pound title during the first season of Real Pro Wrestling, the new professional league contested within the framework of international wrestling rules.
Standing between Cummins and the title was No. 1-seeded Tolly Thompson of the California Claw, runner-up to Kerry McCoy in the finals of the 2004 Olympic Trials. But Cummins, who competed for the Pennsylvania Hammer, put Thompson on his back twice, built an early lead, and held on to win 10-3.
“He came out really hard, but recklessly,” Cummins said in a phone interview from State College. “He really wanted to get a lead on me right away, and I kind of used it against him. It made it so much easier the last half of the match, where if I got taken down, it wasn’t a big deal.”
For someone who has been on center stage at the 22,000-seat Savvis Center in St. Louis, Mo. for NCAA gold, Real Pro Wrestling was on a much smaller scale. The inaugural season was filmed in secret during a tournament (8-man brackets) held last Oct. 8-9 in a Los Angeles, Calif. television studio. The matches were then later broadcast weekly on the PAX-TV and FoxSportsNet networks.
“It was good competition the whole tournament,” said Cummins, who defeated Angelo Borzio of the New York Outrage 10-4 in the quarterfinals and then won a 9-8 thriller against the Iowa Stalker’s Wes Hand to advance to the finals. “It was a different experience being in Los Angeles and going to a TV studio wrestling every day.”
Plus, it was a new experience to compete for a financial reward. The wrestlers got bonuses for wins, how convincingly they defeated their opponents, and what place their team finished. The Hammer took 3rd out of eight squads.
Although Cummins didn’t get rich from RPW’s first season, he laughed and said, “It was much more than I’m used to for wrestling. I’ve been doing it for free for so long.”
Cummins will also be drawing a paycheck as an assistant this coming year. He just hasn’t decided where yet. His busy schedule has included recent visits to a couple of campuses, and Northwestern, Virginia, and Lehigh have all made offers to the hulking wrestler.
“I’ve got some decisions to make here pretty soon,” Cummins said.
First things are first, however. He jetted to Ames, Iowa last Wednesday to compete in the 2005 World Team Trials from June 18-19 at Iowa State University.
“I’m going to wait to make my decision until after (the World Trials) because this is the most important thing right now,” Cummins said. “I think they understand that too.”
Cummins finished in sixth place at the 2004 Olympic Trials and is currently ranked seventh by TheMat.com in the USA Wrestling senior freestyle rankings.
If he would happen to advance to the finals in the World Trials, a familiar opponent would be waiting for him there. Thompson, who won the U.S. Open in April, received an automatic bid to the championships, which will be held in a two-out-of-three format.
The winner will advance to the World Championships in Uzbekistan the home country of Olympic and World heavyweight champ Rusian Utegenov.
“It’s going to be a ways to get to (Thompson), and I’m just thinking about who I have to wrestle,” Cummins said. “But if I get to the finals, I feel like I have a pretty good shot.”
One thing would be different about a potential Cummins-Thompson rematch. Cummins no longer has the beard which he was sporting during the inaugural season of Real Pro Wrestling.
“My coach said when you have a beard, you look meaner – it’s almost like having a two-point lead before the match,” Cummins laughed. “But it was so hot last week, I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t last another week.”
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