wrestling / Columns
Hidden Highlights 07.09.07: Issue #97
Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag and James “JT” Thomlison
Issue #97
Intro
Hello everyone thinking about switching hotels just to build status at another brand, and welcome back to Hidden Highlights!!
There are very few positive things on the Internet. It’s more about everyone’s negative view of what everyone else is trying to do.
— Eric Bischoff, Controversy Creates Ca$h
Hidden Highlight (n) – a small, hardly noticeable point that makes a big, positive difference. This could be anything from a wrestler putting extra emphasis into his moves to make it believable to a person in the background reacting while not the focus to the cameraman shaking the picture to create an effect. There are just so many unsung heroes of wrestling that it is impossible to cover them all.
Every week we take the top 3 Hidden Highlights from the biggest shows on television (RAW, ECW of SciFi, iMPACT, SmackDown!, and a PPV or television special if there is one). Plus we turn to you, the readers, to let us know all the Hidden Highlights you saw this, last, or any week in history. On top of all that, we explore the other issues that prove why this is the most positive article in the IWC.
And who is this mysterious we, you ask?
Why none other than JP Prag and James “JT” Thomlison, of course!
We bring you Hidden Highlights with one goal in mind: to appreciate all those little things that make a huge difference. JT?
JT: Man, it is hot. HOT. The kind of hot that makes me wish it was winter, which really makes no sense because I spend the entire winter wishing it was summer. I need to send Mother Nature some flowers so she keeps it at 70 degrees with a light breeze all year long. Yeah, that should work…
JP: And for some odd reason, I’m leaving the nice humidity of New England and spending my summer in the sweltering humidity of DC. You know I blame you for this, Meehan. Just for that, we’ll get on with the Hidden Highlights… stat!
Hidden Highlights for WWE RAW: Monday, July 2, 2007 by JP
JP: Oh my gosh, I’m begging them to make Regal the GM of RAW. Since they’ll never let Regal go in the ring like he’s capable of, and he’ll never get the WWE Title even though he’s beyond the Intercontinental Title, you might as well give him a speaker role! Besides, you know the WWE is concerned about his health considering his history with drugs and his heart disease, so if they are going to limit him action wise, just let him be GM. Heck, he already was Commissioner of both WWE and the Alliance, so we know he can do it. Nothing against Jonathan Coachman, but he’s no William Regal. Although, Coach as the Assistant to Regal would work just as good for me.
(3) Going down a little quicker:
As part of William Regal’s decree, the wrestlers vying for the WWE Championship were to compete in Beat the Clock matches with the fastest winner going on to face John Cena at the Great American Bash. The first match saw Randy Orton go up against Jeff Hardy to set the benchmark for the evening. As the match came to a conclusion, Randy Orton hit the RKO out of nowhere. Now, more often then not, Randy just hits the RKO as a standing reverse neckbreaker, basically just dropping his opponent while he lays flat in the air. This week, though, Randy went for the extra effort and hit it Diamond Cutter style. As he was in midair, Orton moved his free hand into place above Hardy’s head, thus making a faster and harder hitting RKO. Good upping the game there Orton; now you just have to keep it up.
(2) I’m so embarrassed:
All right, this one is less Hidden and more for going for the extra effort. In case you didn’t notice him, the “WWE Sign Guy” Rick was in the audience for all three show this week (since they were taped at the same time) and thus had lots of things to do during all the shows. Now, he’s already gotten a lot of props for the “Edge Sucks” signs that he handed out to the entire ringside area for SmackDown!, but I want to give him props for something vastly overlooked. As Carlito made his way out for his match with the Sandman, I caught Rick with a sign that said “Embarrassed Carlito Fan” and he was WEARING A PAPER BAG ON HIS HEAD!! I have never, ever, for the life of me seen someone wear a paper bag on their head at a wrestling event. Rick, that gets you 1000 creativity points. Now next show, be sure to bring a sign that says:
THE WWE SIGN GUY IS A HIDDEN HIGHLIGHT
Thanks!
JT: Kind of a shame Sign Guy doesn’t read us. If ANYONE could get a sign on TV, it’d be him. Anyone know his email? I’ve got bribe money!
JP: He has a MySpace account, but you know how I feel about those things…
JT: Beating with a sack of oranges… yes, we remember…
(1) RAW is King Booker:
William Regal may have been fantastic in his interim GM role, but the man who stole the show was none other that King Booker! Here were a few Hidden Highlight examples of why King Booker was the true ruler of the RAW Kingdom:
I know we had a few readers write in some of the same and more, so I’ll let JT get to them in the Reader Write-in section. But I tell you, if I was worried about how the King Booker character would come across on RAW, this night assured me that everything was going to be OK.
JT: I can’t believe you seriously stole like 19 of the reader write-ins to do your section. For shame!
Hidden Highlights for ECW on SciFi: Tuesday, July 3, 2007 by JT
JT: Nitro and Dreamer put on a great opening match (which Nitro gets the best of), the dancing Divas are back next week, Matt Stryker gets a minor mention, we get a Vengeance match (seriously, with this and the AM RAW on Saturday, I’d be pissed if I spent 40 bucks. I understand why they had to do it, but damn, we couldn’t get an Elijah Burke match?), and Punk has the anecdote for the poison that is Kevin Thorn!
(3) Soda in a backpack?:
Okay, seriously. I’m watching the Vengeance match that they decided to show (I’m assuming to help build the feud), and out of nowhere I notice this guy in the background with something I have just never seen strapped across his back:
Yeah, what is this? Some sort of new beverage transport system? A mini fridge on his back? I mean, it seems obvious from this shot he is a vender:
But still, I have never seen anything even closely RESEMBLING something like this!? The weird part was I could NOT take my eyes off this guy. He was in the background for what had to be a good three or four minutes, just going on about his business. Like I said, I’m sure he’s just a vendor of some sort, but this big ass Pepsi backpack of sorts just drew my attention. Does he have sodas in there? Is he funneling the shit into people’s cups through some sort of tube (because I swear I saw him take a bunch of money and not grab or do anything with that backpack one time). Someone tell me what the deal is! Arena employees, clear this up!
And speaking of that match, let’s give some love to Nitro (since this entire ECW section is devoted to him apparently) for the look of surprise when he won. Gotta sell the “I had no idea this would happen!” look! (you may also notice the WWE logo instead of the ECW logo in the corner because this was on a WWE PPV, not an ECW broadcast!)
(2) Hey, I’m not so bad off after all:
During the opening match, Tommy Dreamer had an arm lock on Johnny Nitro. Desperately trying to free himself, Nitro was pulling his arm out as hard as he possibly could, trying to separate his arm from Dreamer’s body, as evidenced here:
But then, as his arm was almost out, he changed his game plan, and actually grabbed a hold of Dreamers arm! Why? So that he could pull Dreamer into him as he delivered a shot to the head. Grabbing him and pulling him forward was actually shifting the momentum into his favor! Nice bit of improve (kayfabe) by Nitro to realize that his arm wasn’t in as bad of a predicament as he thought, and then actually use it to his advantage to inflict some damage!
(1) One bum arm is better than two:
What can I say, I just REALLY enjoyed the opening contest between Nitro and Dreamer. I like that they are letting Nitro cut loose a little with his offense, and a guy like Dreamer is perfect for putting it over. That is neither here nor there though as it pertains to this highlight, just figured I’d get that in there.
Now, we all saw Nitro spend a good 5 – 7 minutes going to town on Dreamers left shoulder. At one point, after Nitro had just connected with not one, not two, but THREE kicks to the shoulder, he went for the pin. The ref got to two and Dreamer kicked out… raising his left shoulder! Now, this may seem odd to you, as at first thought it would seem that exerting the energy with the injured odd would be silly. But thinking about it, it actually makes perfect sense to me. I mean, the shoulder is already gone, why bring the healthy one into that picture? This is a bit of a dramatic comparison, but if someone shot you in the left leg twice, and then said “I’m going to shoot you in the leg again, which one?”, would you honestly say the right? I wouldn’t. Why have two bum legs instead of one? I would say the left because it’s already on the fritz, and do what I could to keep the healthy one at my disposal just in case (in Tommy’s case, to go on a small run of clotheslines with the right).
*Dreamer actually continued to kick out with the left several times so it may not be as Hidden, but I was midway through this highlight and still think it deserves to be commented on*
JP: I’m surprised you didn’t mention that ECW has a whole new intro. They are using the “This is Extreme” guitar riff (without the words) instead of “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor”, as well as changing out the entire intro video. Perhaps this is all part of the new “young people rule” ECW. Of course, the original ECW was faced with a similar issue years ago (when they had few veterans left and only a bunch of young guys), which is how Justin Credible, Jerry Lynn, Steve Corino, and Rhino ended up champions in the first place.
Hidden Highlights for TNA iMPACT: Thursday, July 5, 2007 by JP
JP: Hey, what happened to that “Eric Young match” that got bumped last week because the TNA World Title match went long? Oh well, we got to see a fantastic 20 minute tag team match, Gail Kim in the ring (roar), and Angle holding both of his championships. It’s kind of funny that Angle now has two championships that have come into existence in the past two months (sorry, the real IWGP Championship is the property of New Japan, even if Lesner never lost the title [Rhino never lost the ECW Championship]). Go Angle!
(3) He abandoned us:
This one is less Hidden and more just of how proud I am. Normally when someone leaves a promotion, they are never spoken of again and anything they do is completely re-written out of history. Yet TNA this week went the opposite direction with Konnan, much to my delight. It started with the video package of the three tag teams before their match when Homicide bad-mouthed Konnan for “ducking out” on them. Then, during the match, Mike Tenay and Don West talked a lot about Konnan’s role with LAX over the past year. The peek of that came when Mike Tenay said, “Well, perhaps Konnan has been holding LAX back as of late.” Oh, truer words have never been spoken. LAX had their push squashed because of Konnan’s issues with TNA management, and with him gone LAX has been given a lot more presence and leeway. They’ll get those titles back again soon.
(2) No, he flinched:
While Jim Cornette was sitting out in the announce booth throwing out matches for Victory Road, Christian Cage came out to confront Cornette. While the two were jawing at each other, Cornette said that Cage should also be worrying about Abyss looking for revenge. Christian then explained that if Abyss were there, he was slap him across his face. At that moment, Cage would back to show Cornette was a slap would look like, and CORNETTE FLINCHED. Despite the fact that Christian never came forward with the slap, Cornette still flinched because at the end of the day his character is afraid of getting physical. Nice move by Cornette to remember that he would not like to be hit.
(1) I’m working here!:
During the main event triple threat match between Gail Jim, Ms. Jackie Moore, and Ms. Brooks (yes, it was the main event), we went to commercial break. When the broadcast came back, Moore and Brooks had Gail him in a half Boston Crab each, or a whole crab together. It was tough to pick up, but I head Ms. Brooks say to Jackie Moore, “I’ve got it. Let go, I’ve got it.” This was absolutely great! Ms. Brooks wanted to win the match and be the one to punish Gail, and she was trying to convince Jackie that she did not need to be there to hold the more. Nice thinking by Ms. Brooks and acting completely in character, even while hitting a move.
By the way, as noted by many other people, Ms. Brooks has a totally cute face in person. I have no idea what TV does to her, but I swear they are not the same person. It’s kind of crazy!
JT: That’s so funny that you mention that, because I had already written this before I got the draft from you:
“Also I’d like to note that Tomko seemed to be back to 100% behind Christian this week, which I liked considering Cage’s promo about what he’d done for TT. They had similar attire (both in black), he counted along with Christian when he was naming off superstars, he was as upset with Cornette as Christian was, and he was looking to protect Christian when Abyss’ music hit. Good stuff on Tomko’s part. And oh yeah, despite how the camera captures her be it a picture or on TV, Traci Brooks is F’N hot as hell. I cannot fathom why it does not translate when it’s through a lens. I will, for the umpteenth time, challenge anyone to be within three feet of her (at a signing or something where you can really get a good look) and call her un-hot.“
Hidden Highlights for WWE SmackDown!: Friday, July 6, 2007 by JT
JT: Matt Hardy continues his dominance, this time with a win over the US champ MVP, Michelle McCool like clothes apparently, Vicki is… there, Masters overpowers Jimmy Wang Yang, The Majors win their debut SD match, Finlay and Flair start a little something, Palumbo teaches Dykstra how to debut, Eugene gets destroyed, and Big Dave answers the call from the Great Khali!
Since I don’t often divulge much more than recap here, let me say this. I absolutely LOVE that they are putting Batista into a feud with Khali (especially the way they did it). It’s something fresh and a little under the title which I think is exactly where they need to go with him. On his initial turn, he was HOT, but eventually faded (injury). Upon his return, it seemed a bit stale, but he managed to get a lot of the spark back, but again it seemed to die down. Something just wasn’t clicking – even in his feud with Edge (speaking of which, how about the same “Edge Sucks” signs all around the rings! Awesome. Speaking of awesome, the way Edge tried to wrap up the show and sneak out of the Cutting Edge was greatness in my eyes. He has truly evolved). The thing is though is that Dave is UBER-over, anyone who goes to a live show can tell you that. Because of this, the E does not want to give up on him, and I can’t blame them. Batista CAN draw. He has run through some of the best. He beat Triple H when he was HOT (Dave I mean). He beat King Booker when he was HOT. He beat Edge when he was (mildly) HOT. But – while they are certainly higher than Khali on the card – they are mere normal sized and large men. Batista is bigger than all of them. We marked for the challenges he had to overcome, but now what? How does he get that spark back going against someone like Finlay? (no offense to Finlay) I really think that putting him against this giant was just about the best move they could have made with him. As I’ve said before when talking about Batista’s inconsistency to stay hot, I like him and I wish him the best. Hopefully this kicks off another hot streak.
Speaking of which, let me also point out that while many people knock Batista (don’t get me wrong, he has his issues), doesn’t it say something for the man that he can be thrown into a feud with Khali and it immediately becomes interesting? I think it does. No, JP?
JP: It’s pretty much what I expected them to do with Khali once I saw he was moving back to SmackDown! (I mean, how many different brands can you be in in just a year?), but it makes the most sense so there’s nothing wrong with that. Batista is better when it looks like he’s overcoming someone, not that they are sneaking by him. That’s what got him over in the first place: he was outsmarting Triple H and Ric Flair. Now he has to prove he can out-power Khali. And I don’t care what anyone says; watching ANYONE pick up a man the size of Khali is just phenomenal. I saw John Cena FU the Big Show probably 20 times, including three times in person, but it never gets old. Or how about when Brock Lesner superplexed the Big Show off the top rope and the ring collapsed? That’s how you use a big man!
(3) Wow, counter anyone?:
Okay, every now and again we go the obvious route, and I must do so this week. I feel that we must – MUST – give Jimmy Wang Yang some love for that ridiculous counter to Master’s hip toss. I mean, perhaps I am naïve and just not as familiar with high flying athletic wrestlers as I should be (be they indy or down in Mexico or overseas in Japan or something), but has anyone EVER seen that counter to a hip toss? That shit was just insane to me. I’m not even sure what to say. I was stunned when I saw him do that. Nice work JWY, you threw me off my game with that impressive one!
(2) I’m out… no really, I’m out:
From the same match (or afterwards I should say), I’ll try to find something a little more hidden for you. After Khali came out, he left JWY knocked out, and cut a promo via his interpreter. They then left the ring, and as he was heading up the ramp, you could slightly in the background see Jimmy Wang Yang, STILL lying flat in the ring, seemingly unconscious! I point this out for two reasons. The first and unimportant one is that people recover so quickly all the time, it’s rare to see someone just OUT like this (at least on TV) for so long. Good sell on his part. However, I think this was for another reason. For those of you have never been fortunate enough to attend a SmackDown! taping, they still do actually take little breaks at the spots that are planned for commercials. They show commercials up on the big screen until they get “back from commercial break”. Now, JWY still laying there, then taking his sweet time to get up, possibly get a pop from the crowd, and walking to the back is a great (and logical) time filler to keep the fans into the live show while there is a pause in the action. It probably happens all the time, we just don’t see it on our TV; this week, JWY was one of the ones charged with being a “filler”. Just one of those things you don’t think about since we are not there in the arena.
(1) What are you, kidding me?:
During the debut match of Kenny Dykstra and (re-debut) Chuck Palumbo, Kenny got Chuck down to one knee and into an arm bar. When he did this, the ref asked Chuck if he wanted to submit, to which Chuck – rather quizzically (his look) – said no, and then got this look on his face that screamed “are you serious? This early in the match? An arm bar?”! The pic won’t do it any justice, but I thought this was a perfect no-sell on his part. I’m not the biggest no-sell fan because I think they are often misused, but this was the perfect spot for it in my opinion. If you have wrestler A and wrestler B debuting, and you want both to look legitimate, you can’t have wrestler B over-selling an arm-bar three minutes into the match. His look basically said “Yes, Kenny is talented, but I’m a tough guy biker dude, and this little arm bar isn’t going to get it done. He’s going to have to do better than that”. It put himself over while not hurting Kenny in any way. In fact, this might be the first no-sell we’ve ever Hidden Highlighted. Either way, this was an excellent gesture on Palumbo’s part.
JP: I can’t believe Chuck Palumbo has been back in the E for ten months and this is the first time we’ve seen him on a main show. Oh, and props to Michael Cole for bringing up Palumbo’s WWE Tag Team title reigns as well and not letting JBL just mention the WCW ones. I don’t like pretending that someone was never in the company.
On a side note, we need another heads up: Ric Flair and Fit Finlay were both in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania 22. Also, Flair was #1 and Finlay was #2 at the Royal Rumble 2007, so they had a minute and half alone. That said, this was their first one-on-one match as far as I know.
Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights
Hidden Highlights aren’t just for us to find and tell you about, but for you to spot and share with us. Don’t just sit there and stare, but be a more active, attentive, and engaged viewer. Appreciate all the hard work that goes into making the wrestling we have the privilege to watch and then let us know what you caught this and every week.
This week JT gets to pick our Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights of the week.
JT: Now onto all the highlights JP stole earlier! So, *GENERAL WARNING*:: some parts of the following Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights may be edited for grammar, spelling, and English translation…
Before we dive into things this week, regular Manu B. was utterly shocked that JP left some of his email out:
“JP: Manu Bumb sent in a bunch of stuff this week, but I’m going to peer it down to a couple of his best. Also, the shortest, because Manu forgot how to capitalize again and I refuse to do excessive editing:”
I can’t believe you left out the one about Torrie!!! I personally thought that was my best hidden highlight.
JT: Never fear, Manu, I’ve got you covered this week. So for all the readers, I proudly present this delve into some very intelligent banter regarding Torrie Wilson:
and her tits looked great.
nothing hidden there, just saying.
JT: Now that is a high quality wrestling discussion if I’ve ever seen one! Deep stuff, Manu, deep stuff! (sorry buddy, you didn’t walk, you sprinted head first into that one) Getting us started with RAW is regular Josh L., who gives a little nod to the continuity fairy:
During the opening of RAW, when William Regal came out to address the four men vying for the No 1 Contendership, he called them ‘Kennedy….Lashley….KING Booker…and Orton…’ which I thought was brilliant because 1) he served under KING Booker as his Court over on Smackdown! and is used to referring to him in such a majestic manner. And 2) Booker just interrupted several of the aforementioned superstars when they referred to him without the ‘KING’ title. Brilliant mic work by William Regal who is a master in his own right. Keep up the good work, guys!
SIN Tonight, Repent Tomorrow…..
JT: This is an EXCELLENT catch. Like you said, William Regal is golden on the mic. Chances are even if he had never served under Booker he still would have called him King, because that’s the kind of respect heels give one another. Oh and for those wondering about the ending, I just put it in because he ends all of his emails to us with that, and I don’t think we’ve ever included it.
JP: Uh… yes we have JT. You spent one issue talking about it for about two paragraphs because you loved it so much. You can read all about it in Issue #71
JT: Oh, well, enough about that, we have more Regal love! This time from Fixxer:
I don’t know if this would qualify, but I really enjoyed the way Regal said “good luck” in his opening announcement to the Beat the Clock competitors. To me, it seemed as if he gave the pronouncement more sincerely than McMahon, Bischoff or Coach would have done in similar circumstances. Perhaps that is because unlike those guys, Regal is a competitor and he appreciates what wrestlers do in the ring on a regular basis more than McMahon, Bischoff or Coach who only appear in the ring periodically and don’t have serious title aspirations.
JT: Makes perfect sense to me. Even the biggest heel has to appreciate what it means to compete for a title shot. It is to strive to be on top, and to knock it because you don’t like someone would be silly, as they are on the same journey that you are, just taking a different path to get there. And with yet even more love from that promo, we have Brian W., who turns his attention to the ring:
Last night on RAW(7-2-07), William Regal said to the contenders in the ring that he was sure they were wondering how the #1 contender would be determined. The camera was at Regal’s back looking into the ring from a distance, but after Regal made the statement, you can see and hear Booker T say, “DAMN SKIPPY!” It was fantastic, and something I thought a lot of people might have missed.
JT: I saw/heard this and completely agree. In fact, there were several occasions that I caught King Book being completely animated in the background as if the camera was a foot from him and focused solely on him. All Hail King Bookaaaahhhh! Paul Q. Also caught that one, and later in the evening caught this:
When Booker was talking to Shelton Benjamin (And also when he was shown watching Lashley’s match), a medieval flag is hanging in his locker room.
JT: Wow. I will be honest and let everyone know I completely missed this one, or even if I did see it, didn’t give it enough thought to remember. Paul is right though:
That’s a good point out right there! Seriously, how the Hell did we miss this?
JP: I saw it, I just liked “You damn skippy” better. Besides, we’ve talked about King Booker’s royal decorations before. I’m not going to give you the link (since I can’t find it), but I know its been brought up.
JT: Aren’t you Mr. Sourpuss today! Can’t you let me give the readers any love? Switching to ECW, Matt C. does something that me and JP love to see – gives loves to the production team!:
My Hidden Highlight for the week goes to the entire WWE production crew for performing magic on the CM Punk v. Nitro match. In less than a week (since ECW was taped on Monday) the following occurred:
1. Joey and Taz re-recorded their entire broadcast of that match off a replay tape.
2. The audio department filtered out all of the “We want Benoit” chants and replaced them with a recording of the “ECW” chant.
3. The audio department then re-edited all of the other crowd noise to add more reaction sounds.
4. The video department re-cut the entire match to eliminate visuals of signs outside of the front rows by inserting shots from the other cameras and to cut down on the time Nitro was looking to the crowd with his own reaction to the original Benoit chants.
5. The writers came up with the direction for ECW to go in so they could get all of the above done in the six days they had.
Of course the bigger magic will occur when what was shown on ECW will be what appears heretofor on the DVD copies of Vengeance.
JT: I will extend this even further to everyone who was in charge of getting RAW pulled in Canada and overseas, but also how quickly every mention of him was removed from WWE.com. They certainly had a lot on their plate, and as you said, handled it in a professional and timely fashion. Emailing us this week regarding TNA is Joshua P., who takes our highlight from last week a little farther:
Hey fellas, I see you already gave some love to the single match Impact last week, I just thought I would add another element. When Angle and Samoa Joe are in the back being separated by the X-divison, did you notice some of the guys (Jay Lethal, Petey Williams) were in their ring gear while others (Lance Hoyt, Senshi, Alex Shelly) wore street clothes? This goes a long way towards telling the audience that more matches were planned, but got scrapped at the last minute. Especially Petey, since he wasn’t on either of the two episodes that were filmed at that taping! (maybe Xplosion, I don’t know, but you get my point). Later, when Tomko and AJ Styles joined the brawl, they also wore street clothes. This is often overlooked…I just can’t buy a wrestler sitting in the back in his ring gear if he’s not going to wrestle. (Sting, I’m looking at you, pal)
JT: You make a very good point. Not only that, but it may have been the second hour taping! Maybe Shelley had wrestled in the first hour and was now just hanging out backstage. It also like you said helps to sell that the match was not slated to go that long and other wrestlers had to be bumped off the card to accommodate it. Definitely a welcomed change in our world of “Well, it’s 10:47, show ends at 11:00, 10 minute main event!”. Also from iMPACT! is Jacari H., who caught some crowd interaction which we love around here:
First, I just want to say I enjoy reading the weekly Hidden Highlights. This is actually my first email in correspondence to a Hidden Highlight. I was watching Impact and I noticed something new to me that took place during the entrance of Team 3D. When they were heading to the ring Bubba Ray handed his title to one of the fans, allowing them to experience a “moment” with it. To me this was great since they are real fan favorites, thus showing the fans some appreciation. That’s all I have, keep up the good work!!
JT: I think this is awesome. Naturally, I do not attend every house show and I do not see EVERY televised show be it free or PPV; that being said, I cannot one time in my entire wrestling career think of this happening at all, where a wrestler just said “know what? Here you go”. If I am correct in my memory, then this is certainly taking crowd interaction / participation to a whole new level (note: I am aware of the crowd storming for Christian winning the title, I just don’t recall him handing the belt off to a random fan). I really wish I could have gotten a picture of this for you Jacari, but my TiVo was being a whore and didn’t start iMPACT until I NOTICED it wasn’t recording like 20 minutes into the show. I’m going to give some love to the READER instead of the wrestler/person involved on this one, as Ryan R. explained it for me:
On the 7/5 edition of IMPACT! Jim Cornette and Christian Cage were bickering at the announce table. During this talk, Cornette said that Harris is the guy that’s about to shatter the glass ceiling, using Christian’s head as a battering ram. This immediately struck me as odd because leading up to Slammiversary, Cornette preached that there was no glass ceiling in TNA. Now he makes a reference that someone is going to shatter the glass ceiling in TNA. I think we all knew what Cornette meant, but it just seemed odd.
JT: See, this is where I give Cornette a pass, only I don’t have to, because you just did. When a man has been in the business that long, that cut a thousand promos, he’s liable to forget what he said in one of them. Therefore, I agree, we all knew what he meant, so the point is moot. That being said, it is a good call, as he did indeed say there was no glass ceiling in a previous promo. That was a great job Ryan of being able to recognize it, yet dismiss it because of who Cornette is. Nothing from SD this week, but Michael R. starts out our Classic/Other section with some Carlito love and a question about Nitro:
Personally, I think this is a very funny Hidden Highlight. Before last year’s sweet triple threat match for the Intercontinental Title, Carlito was already in the ring. Johnny Nitro was the next to come out, and of course that meant his manager (and soon to be Women’s Champ) Melina, and her infamous ring entrance. When she does do her split and come into the ring, Nitro, as usual, gets in the way of the good stuff, but I noticed in the camera shot that Carlito had actually gotten down to mat level to watch Melina’s entrance. Just a small touch onto Carlito’s bad boy (read: immature) character, even though I think he was a face at the time.
JT: Well, the past has shown that Carlito’s character is a ladies man, so I see no reason why he wouldn’t sneak a peek!
JP: I think we covered that at the time, too, but a good classic nonetheless!
Also, technically, Johnny Nitro is a Triple Crown winner. Although the World and WWE Titles are recognized, Nitro does have the ECW Heavyweight Title, which completes the trifecta. Also, is he the youngest Triple Crown Champ?
JT: It’s a little unclear, but I’m going to assume by Triple Crown winner you mean has held gold all three shows (RAW, SD, and ECW). If that is the case then yes, he is the youngest to do so. Now, if we’re talking about incorporating the old ECW records into this, then we have a few actually.
*Yes, I am aware that at the time of them winning titles, they weren’t necessarily brand specific*
Dudley Boys – World Tag Team Titles (RAW), WWE Tag Team Titles (SD), ECW Tag Team Titles
Kurt Angle – ECW Champion, World Heavyweight Champion, WWE Champion (numerous other titles such as tag team and European)
Lance Storm – World Tag Team Titles, ECW Tag Team Titles, Intercontinental Title
Chris Jericho – Intercontinental Title (RAW), European Title (SD), ECW TV Title
Eddie Guerrero – Intercontinental Title (RAW), WWE Title (SD), ECW TV Title (numerous other titles such as tag team and European)
Chris Jacobs chimed in next with some thoughts about my Cena comments last week:
I actually like watching Cena, sometimes he has good matches, for the most part I just don’t like the gimmick. He isn’t as “fake” as before with all the rapping, and slang, now he just wants to fight, I like that. But to say someone payed $40 just to show up and boo him is a real jackass thing to say. There are a lot of other fine talent that they could have paid there money for, They don’t like Cena, so they pay to see other performers, and then boo him when he comes out. Cena is stale to most people, he is stale to me, but I can enjoy the matches for what they are. I just get sick of him winning everything, there is no surprise anymore.
JT: For one Chris, it’s called dramatic exaggeration. Of course people are there for the rest of the show, but that had nothing to do with the point I was making, thus it was unspoken. However, if you honestly believe that there aren’t people who put “boo the shit out of Cena” near the top of their list of reasons why they’re going to the show, I would suggest hitting a show and re-assessing. Chris wasn’t done though, as he later sent us this classic:
I saw someone bring up the HHH vs. Jericho highlight with the ref hitting the steel and hurting his hand. I have noticed something like this in a Randy Orton vs. Cactus Jack in the Backlash hardcore match. After Randy was dumped on the thumbtacks, and pinned for a 2, the ref held up the two sign and immediately had this nasty look on his face, acted like he picked a tack out of his hand (that wasn’t there), but still acted it, shook the hand, and clutched it to his chest for a few seconds. I’m sure referees may have hit the tacks, and if you look close enough you can notice that he did not have one in his hand, but for a regular fan not really paying attention, and for the people watching live you couldn’t tell, all you could see was a two count with tacks in the ring, and the referee pull “a tack” out of his finger, shake his hand, and hold it to his chest for a bit, so I liked the little touch.
JT: We’ve talked about it a bit more lately, and this is just another example that the ref is an actor as well. Yes, he has a job to do out there (kayfabe), but part of his real job it to – just like the wrestlers in the match – help sell the product as real. I like this one a lot Chris. Next we have Jarkota, who wants to talk ropes!
Okay; this isn’t for any specific date or show, but it’s a Highlight nonetheless (and I know how crazy you guys are for color references). I just noticed about a week or so ago that RAW has it’s red ropes and SmackDown! has blue, but what does ECW on SciFi have? White. If you look at that on the dates these shows air, it’s the old familiar pattern red, white, blue. And, watching classic WWF matches on my Hulk Hogan Anthology DVD set, what color are the ropes in that bygone (and long-missed) era? The top is red, the middle is white, and the bottom is blue. I don’t believe that this is an accident on the part of the production crew, but even if it is, it’s still a nice (and rare) nod to the past.
JT: In the grand scheme of things, I doubt that the intention was THAT extensive behind it. If I had to guess, I’d say blue was chosen for SD simply because they already had red for RAW. Do not let me belittle the highlight though, the point is that there are indeed dots there and you are connecting them! I was kind of disappointed when SNME came back because they went with all white ropes; I thought for sure they would go red, white, and blue like the shows you eluded to. Hitting us with stuff across the board is Dan H.:
First, let me say that I can’t wait until you guys hit # 100, I have been reading for awhile now back since issue # 26, and after I read that issue it opened my eyes to the little things that wrestlers do in matches to make it look less predetermined, or just overall mess-ups which are funny, in most cases. Now after that incessant babbling is done time to move to the hidden highlights!
JT: Thanks Dan, we’re looking forward to Issue #100 as well!
Not really a Hidden Highlight per say but more of an idea, during Vengeance: Night of Champions, when JBL had the in ring announcer (I can’t think of his name) tell the crowd about his/JBL’s accomplishments I thought about having none other than Bradshaw’s former partner Ron Simmons come out and say DAMN! I would have marked for at least a week for that little tidbit of history.
Ron Simmons: DAMN!
I really didn’t want to bring this up but during the “Benoit Tribute” Raw when they showed the Benoit V. Malenko match from WCW Hog Wild ’97 I believe it was, Tony said something along the lines “The nWo has a new member among the crowd of bikers here in Sturgis.” I immediately thought of only one person who would mix in with the bikers, was a friend of “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan, and that would be The Disciple, but just to make sure I had to check my WCW Trading card binder, yes I still have them they’re probably worth some money (I hope). As luck would have it, it didn’t tell me, and seeing as I don’t know his real name I couldn’t look it up on Wikipedia, feel free to verify this but I am assuming that my knowledge serves me correctly.
JT: The man you are thinking of is Ed Leslie, better known to wrestling fans as the one and only Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, who was also chums with Hogan in their WWE days together when they were managed very briefly by Jimmy Hart.
I’m surprised that you guys didn’t point this out but during the almost cliche Kurt Angle pull apart brawl during Impact! (6/28), I noticed that Robert Roode had come to help break it up, and as the others where forcefully removing Joe from the Impact! Zone, Roode had just briefly checked on Angle to see if he was OK, I thought this was odd for two reasons: First, isn’t he supposed to be a heel? Second, why would he care about Angle, unless they plan on making him a face, he should have gotten a few swift kicks to Angle, but then again he isn’t involved in a feud with Angle which would make sense why he didn’t. To me it seemed as if he broke kayfabe for a split second.
JT: I would have to say that it’s because they’re trying to get Kurt all “comedic insane heel” again, so Roode would naturally check on a heel before he would a face. This might have – in fact – been done intentionally to try and help sell Angle as a heel.
Although it has probably been there for awhile I noticed that Rhino had a kanji symbol on his singlet but I couldn’t tell you what it looked like just thought that it was interesting.
JT: I thought it looked more like a spider web but I could be wrong. The closest looking Kanji (Chinese symbol) I could find resembling a spider’s web stood for “Extreme”, so you know never know.
Another attire highlight, I now he’s wore it before but I just noticed that the A on the back of Angle singlet looks a lot like the MLB’s Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim logo, minus halo. The logo is attached for reference.
JT: I couldn’t find a good picture of Angle’s ‘A’, but here is the photo Dan sent us with the Angels logo. Taking us back a couple of years is James B. (JB!):
The match was on SD, and it was before the Royal Rumble. In this match it was Undetaker taking on Heidenreich and Paul Heyman. Before the match, Heidenreich was telling Paul how much he hated the sight of a casket..
Now on to the match and the highlights:
During the match, Taker bent down to his knee and raised his arm as if reaching for the urn. Well intead out comes not one but two caskets.
Now here come the highlights:
1.) The look on Taker’s face before he struck his pose, it was something along the lines of “If you dont like one casket, try two on for size.”. At this moment Heidenreich tagged in Heyman and then proceeded to head out of the arena.
Now Paul Heyman provides the second highlight.
2.) Shortly after Heyman tagged in, he got this look of fear on his face and then at the top of his voice started yelling “I fear you, i respect you.”. This was a great change of pace from just a few months prior, where he kept trying to piss off Taker, the look on Heyman’s face at the tag was like ” oh no, not again.”
JT: Heyman always did have some classic “oh shit, no!” faces. He was always the one to flap his gums the most when in no danger, and then turn into a complete chicken-shit when left unguarded and in danger. Classic heel manager stuff right there. Finishing us off this week is Chris H. Now, Chris spotted this before the events of the Benoit tragedy unfolded. I likely will not offer any comment on his email, but we allow our readers a public forum with their emails, and so I will print this:
I know many of our views of Benoit have changed, but here is something I picked up on before knowing the full details of his death.
Anyway the hh comes before the start of his title match at WMXX. After HHH enters the ring, the ref takes the belt and shows it to Shawn Michaels. Michaels looks down at the belt and touches it for good luck. The ref then brings it over to Benoit. Benoit only looks at the championship belt, he does not touch. What is hidden about this is the superstition when it comes to championships. Professional hockey players who have yet to win the Stanley Cup will not touch it, as it is considered bad manners and bad luck to ever win the championship. The same applies for NFLers who have yet to win the Vince Lombardi trophy. So here is the Canadian Crippler not touching the trophy because he was not worthy, as he has yet to win it.
A small thing from a performer who once brought so much joy to us.
JT: Thanks to all of our emails this week, and as always keep those bad boys coming. Only three weeks until our 100th issue!
JP: Oh right, we should probably get working on the super secret special details of that. Yikes! There’s a lot to be done in the next few weeks!
Do you have a Hidden Highlight from this or any week in history that you would like to share? Please e-mail JP..erT…er…us at [email protected] with your thoughts! Send them by Saturday afternoon to be considered! And remember, they can be from any show, live or taped, or any house show, or anything you saw… we just like to know!
That Other Section
This week, JT has something for That Other Section.
That’s right kids! We hav-
JP: Wait a second. What is going on here?
JT: What? I’m doing the other section this week.
JP: Why? We removed this section of the column.
JT: Yes, I’m aware but I felt that one of the readers had written enough to warrant special circumstances.
JP: …why wasn’t I consulted on this!?
JT: Consulted? You’re kidding right?
JP: No I’m not kidding! What if I had something big planned to go after the reader section; it would be ruined!
JT: Well, JP, do you have something big planned to go after the reader section?
JP: Uh, well no, but that isn’t th-
JT: Yeah I think it is! Now, as I was saying, this week we are having a one time return of the Other Section, thanks to a reader! As we head towards finishing this issue off, we have Adam N., who just has a BUNCH to say. These are all courtesy of Adam.
I know some of these are kind of weak, but I just wanted to share some thoughts on the shows.
JT: No problem Adam. It’s not like me, JP, or the readers hit home-runs every time we’re at bat. The point is you found them to be HH and enjoyed them, so we will share. He said himself:
OPENER!:
This past weekend, I went to three indy shows for the FIP/SHIMMER Hot Summer Nights tour. Friday and Saturday were FIP shows, and Sunday was SHIMMER’s first show outside of the Chicago area.
JT: Sweet! Adam broke them down by days, but we won’t here. Look at it like this. The farther down we go, the later it is in the weekend! Oh fine, we’ll break them down! First, from June 29: FIP and SHIMMER Present Hot Summer Nights Day 1: Melbourne, FL:
What if he gets thirsty?:
Larry Sweeny had a water bottle with him that he set on the apron under one of the turnbuckles during his match. In the course of the match his opponent accidentally knocked it to the floor. One of the guys at ringside immediately put it back where it had been. My immediate thought was that it played into the finish somehow, but it didn’t. I’m guessing it was just so Sweeny could find it after the match.
JT: Hey, you have to have your aqua, right? After all:
JT: Kidding and forum referencing aside, this is good because it points out someone who we often forget. There are a ton of guys – be it cameramen, grips, ring announcers, or guys there for specifically the reason mentioned – that never get credit for it. That’s what we are here for.
As I was saying:
There was a four corners women’s match involving Lacey, Sara Del Rey, Daizee Haze, and Allison Danger. After convincing the referee that she shouldn’t have to start the match, rather than paying much attention to the match, Lacey looked down to Rain (her regular tag team partner in the Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew) and had a conversation with her. It’s a little thing that helps get her arrogant character over.
JT: As you know, anything that adds to continuity here is not only okay in my book, but is revered in JP’s way of looking at things, so good call.
Barricade Reinforcement:
As opposed to WWE and TNA, FIP doesn’t have particularly sturdy barricades, so I could always tell when the action was coming over to my area because the guy at ringside would get off his chair and grab the barricade so it wouldn’t move as much. Probably not something that will be visible on the DVD release, so I figure it counts as a hidden highlight.
JT: Hey, it’s a live show. Anything you can bring to the live show HH’s count, even something like this. Kudos to the guy who kept himself safe by holding the railing back! So everyone knows, we are now moving to June 30: FIP and SHIMMER present Hot Summer Nights Day 2: Crystal River, FL
“Expensive” Guitar:
The YRR (a heel stable) was having a beach party before the opponent of one of their members showed up, and they had some inflatable guitar pool toys. The opponent got a hold of one of them and flattened it. While the cameras were on the match, one of the other guys in YRR, Kenny King, walked by to claim it from the ring attendant, but as he did, he said it was a very expensive guitar that had been used by a famous musician (I forget who off the top of my head), to get over the fact that the stable’s gimmick was that they were stuck up rich kids.
JT: I like this. It reminds me of reality TV where rich people just stomp on others. The only rich people who contribute nothing to society that I can stand are Rob & Big… probably because they’re exactly how me and my best friend (“bodyguard”) would be. Other than that, if you feel you have entitlement because you have more money than most people, you’re probably a douche.
Beach Party Backlash:
During a tag team match, YRR continued their “beach party” in a corner of the room the show was in, and they were batting beach balls around like volleyballs. Of course, fans got their hands on the balls and started playing with them, eventually knocking them into the ring. At first, the ref was only slightly annoyed, but about the fourth time it happened, he just slammed the ball out of the ring, showing that the constant distraction was really getting to him (and distracting us from the match).
JT: YES! The refs strike back! Seriously, I can’t blame him. He has a job to do in there. He isn’t a quarterback, but he is an integral part of the match and how it flows. All these beach balls would interfere with that and I totally understand him stepping in like “okay, that’s enough”.
That hurt both of us:
During a match between Erik Stevens and Jigsaw, they did the repeated shoulder tackle attempts spot, and after each one, both men, not just Stevens (who was the one standing still) sold the impact. Most of the time (RVD aside), the person giving a move doesn’t usually sell that it has any impact on them.
JT: I agree, this is rare. It’s kind of like a double clothesline, which I love in the right situation. Things like this put both wrestlers back to square one no matter how long the match has gone. Good call.
Bonus: Merchandise Tag Team Champions of the World:
On the SHIMMER DVDs, Allison Danger has talked about the Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew’s double team abilities by saying that they share a brain. This clearly applies to the merchandise table too. I only had a 20 dollar bill, and Rain told me she didn’t have change for a 20, but Lacey quickly chimed in to say that if I got a poster of her and 2 pictures of Rain, they could split it up later. I said that I’d wait until Sunday, but it was still a good double team attempt.
JT: Um… I’m going to assume that they were both at the table you were at buying something. Other than that, I got nothing.
Double Bonus: He’s not back yet:
During Roderick Strong’s defense of the FIP World Title, he kept a submission on until 4 despite being a face. Being a Bryan Danielson fan, I shouted “He has ’till five!” at the ref. The ring attendant, understanding the reference turned to me and said, “He’s not back yet,” but the way he said it makes me think that Danielson’s headed back to FIP soon.
JT: Again, I have to go ahead and say that was a “since you’re there” thing. The guy may or may not know what is going on, but I guess the point here is that he even spoke to you in the first place. And if he did give a nod to the future, nice work! Speaking of work, I have the task of reminding all of you that we are now dealing with July 1: SHIMMER Presents Hot Summer Nights Day 3: Inverness, FL
Rock the Playlist:
Before the show started, and during intermission, random songs were played on the sound system. Well, maybe not so random, as some of them were entrance music for SHIMMER wrestlers who weren’t at the event (one due to schedule, three due to injuries, and 3 due to getting signed to WWE developmental contracts)
JT: Probably on purpose. Might as well play SHIMMER music while waiting for a SHIMMER event.
Alumni Meeting:
Speaking of former SHIMMER wrestlers, with the new WWE development territory being down in Tampa, three women who wrestled in SHIMMER that are currently in that territory (Krissy Vaine, Shantelle Taylor, and Nattie Neidhart) were all there to support their former co-workers. However, they sat well away from the ring, so they probably won’t be visible on the DVD.
JT: I love the show of support. It’s good to see people not with the company coming out to support their friends.
I’m taller than her:
One of the guys in the crowd called Daizee Haze short, but as she replied, the referee, who isn’t much taller, stood on his tip-toes so that he wouldn’t look as short.
JT: REF LOVE! I think we’ve covered how HH feels about that. Good for him to “step up” if you will in lieu of the circumstances!
The Finish:
The finish is that it’s time to move on. Haven’t you read enough? Go away! Only, go away in that way where you still read us and send us Hidden Highlights. That’s how that works. Combine the two! Thanks again Adam!
JP: Oh yes, thanks Adam. But thank you even more JT! Thanks for making this a 20 page issue. You know that anything longer than 18 pages runs the risk of needing to be broken into two parts. And guess who has to figure that one out? I’ll give you a clue, his name begins with a “J”.
Exit, stage left!
JT: 31 days until preseason football starts. I have started smelling the brats and beer already, it’s almost here! Have a great week my little squids!
JP: What’s funny is that the Red Sox were in Detroit all weekend and we didn’t talk about it at all. Guess writing this article while the games are going on doesn’t help any. I’m going to assume the Sox took at least 2 out the 3 and laugh and laugh at you.
JT: But I’m a Yankees fan.
JP: And they lost, too! Ah, good times for JP…
Thank you for joining us for THE 97th ISSUE of Hidden Highlights! Be sure to drop us a line and let us know what you think and all the other Hidden Highlights we missed. Plus, we want to hear your Reader Write-ins for all the moments you see this and every week.
We’ll catch you next time in the reader approved most positive article in all of the IWC: Hidden Highlights! Until then!
