wrestling / Columns
Hidden Highlights 06.11.07: Issue #93
Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag and James “JT” Thomlison
Issue #93
Intro
Hello everyone who got their air conditioners installed just before the coldest weekend of the summer, 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: Hello all. Grab your marshmallows and get a seat around the fire, because I am kicking this week’s issue off with STORYTELLING TIME!
There is a friend of mine at work who has this amazingly annoying habit of doing what I like to call the “no, but” thing. Basically, if you ask him a question, he will answer with a no, but, and then repeat exactly what you just said. EXAMPLE!:
Me: Did you catch the end of the Yankees game?
Him: No, but I caught the end of the Yankees game, though.
Yeah, I know. It drives me absolutely up the wall, and despite my efforts to get him to stop, he will not. He then furthers the annoyance because every time he does it, he busts out the arm swing and “yesssss” a la Napoleon Dynamite’s brother at the bowling alley with his sweetheart. So, I have been waiting patiently to get a little revenge on him for this, and my opportunity finally arose this week. Due to the malfunctioning and subsequent death of his car, he purchased a new one. A nice, shiny – and most importantly – solid black car. Well, his car now looks like this:
Yeah… have fun driving that around the middle of downtown Pontiac! “No, but I had a blast putting that bumper sticker on your car, though!” …asshole.
JP: Gosh I hope that nobody who knows that guy reads this article. Guess you don’t really care if he knows your hatred. Anyway, I had my house warming party this weekend after a long week of traveling, so I’m dead to the world. The only thing we can do is get on with the Hidden Highlights!
Hidden Highlights for WWE RAW, SmackDown!, and ECW present One Night Stand: Sunday, June 3, 2007 by the Readers
JT: Big thanks to the readers again for helping contribute to this section. About all I can add here is “Damn, he FU’d Khali?”… although he did it again the very next night on free TV, so… Also, let me just say that the set/stage rocked pretty hard. One of the better ones this year in my opinion.
(2) Turncoated-ness – by Brandon M.:
From ONS-Anyone who saw the Confidential episode about Jerry Lawler or has read a fair amount about him probably knows that he is an avid collector of Coca-Cola memorabilia and loves the drink. Well when Shane was flying through the air for the announce table elbow drop, they briefly showed the corner of the RAW announce table, and sitting in front of the King was a light blue can, which is a distinctive feature of Diet Pepsi! Heaven help all of the Coke heads out there, the King has jumped ship!
JT: Oh no! That actually makes me wonder if that’s some sort of licensing or advertising issue or something that stems more directly from the E than it does the King himself. Either way, good eye on the drink!
(1) Val Venus: Legend – by Rob H.:
Rob H. also wanted to chime in with his thoughts on the PPV:
I consider myself and “Your An Idiot…” to be the Yin to your Yang. The moon to your sun. The….thing that calls people retard whilst…..you say they’re great. Anyway.
I’m sure you saw this. I’m sure everyone saw this. It MADE One Night Stand. It was the greatest performance of the evening. And of course it was the one and only Val Venis.
During the pointless and badly booked Lumberjack Match, the hardest worker wasn’t Kane or Mark Henry. The hardest worker wasn’t even in the ring. Oh no, it was Val Venis on the outside in the middle working his damn ass off every step of the way.
Venis sold every blow struck, every submission hold applied and every nearfall. He reacted so violently to a hard strike that I could feel it all the way in England. He darted towards the ring every time a cover was made, convincing an old fan like me that despite my better judgement this might actually be the end of the match. He was begging Kane to hold on through Henry’s nerve-pinch or whatever the fuck it’s supposed to be.
Damn near all the crowd reaction for that match came from Venis pounding the ring apron and getting the crowd riled up to support Kane.
He was an absolute star, and absolute legend and an incredible worker for that entire match. A match he wasn’t wrestling or advertised for.
Val Venis made that match and he made One Night Stand. A truly talented worker and performer no matter what his position or role.
Anyway, I’m sure you caught it.
JT: Most of us probably caught this yet we’ll point it out here just to be safe! Val owned that shit. That is why he will have TENURE (look it up youngins) with the E, and people will always cheer for him. He’s a lifer, and he knows what to do in any situation. Not only that, a PPV paycheck has to be better than Heat! (although, I’d slightly suspect Val get paid a little better than your everyday jobber/lumberjack).
JP: If the release of Scott 2 Hottie should teach us anything is that NOBODY is a lifer. I think I gave Val Venis similar props at WrestleMania and RAW/Heat the next night. The guy is great with the Hidden Highlights and it’s a shame his career is so stalled. I was never his biggest fan in the ring, but he’s great on the mic and the motions.
Hidden Highlights for WWE RAW: Monday, June 4, 2007 by JP
JP: Well, I’ll be the first to admit when I’m wrong. It looks like there was no change to the RAW set and it was all because of the Saturday Night’s Main Event double taping. Hope that 2.2 rating was worth making me look like a fool!
(3) Superimposed pain:
On more that one occasion, the WWE has been known to dub over their tapes to create the results they want. For instance, when Sid dumped Hogan at the Royal Rumble, a good percentage of the audience was cheering (because they were pro-Sid, not anti-Hogan), but the tape shows only boos. Or when Victoria beat up all the bimbo divas for detracting from real wrestling, the crowd cheered heavily. Then, the next week, the Rewind segment had excessive booing! I’m not a fan of overdubbing because it means ignoring what the customer is really saying. That said, the WWE has been known to add sounds to videos that do not detract or erase, but do add emphasis. I caught another one here this week when they were showing the aftermath of the Randy Orton/RVD match. As Orton delivered the DDT to RVD off the barricade, a “crunching” sound was added at the point that RVD’s head hit the floor. Of course, this was to make the audience think that you could hear RVD’s neck snapping, thus constituting his need to be out “indefinitely”.
(2) Get back down, boy:
Speaking of Orton, on RAW this week he faced off against former Evolution colleague Ric Flair. After the commercial break, we came back to Flair putting the figure four leg lock on Orton. As Orton was wincing around in pain, he tried to sit up to relieve the pressure. As soon as he sat up, Flair took a quick swipe at him with an open hand slap (which Orton ducked), forcing Orton back down. Excellent quick thinking by Flair there! It was so quick and looked to come completely by instinct that I almost missed it, but definitely a smart move that is kudos worthy.
(1) I’m pretty, are you?:
Earlier in the evening, Cryme Tyme and Candice Michelle teamed up to take on NDM (Nitro, Dykstra, and Melina). As NDM were making their way to the ring, Kenny had another new item of the week in hand mirror. But he not only looked at himself in a narcissist fashion, he then turned the mirror to Melina and Nitro, letting them check themselves out as well. If that was not good enough, Melina then looked into the mirror and smiled back at her own reflection! I’m loving Dykstra’s trying to be like Nitro and Melina’s ability to always be in the moment and react to everything. And of course, Nitro I’m a big fan of, too, and he always puts the little extra emphasis into his character and move-set (including that interesting upside down reverse heel kick). Excellent work all around by this triad.
JT: I’m going to leave RAW alone because I have issues with this new “personality” of Vince that spawns over all three shows. What I will say is that all people should see this, because DAMN:
Hidden Highlights for ECW on SciFi: Tuesday, June 5, 2007 by JT
JT: Lashley is forced to face the Originals while Vince watches on from his old man rocker, Thorne continues to prove his point against Stevie, The Major Brothers lose in an effort against the New Breed, and CM Punk apparently aces the test as he takes down Matt Striker!
(3) Come on out fans, house shows are just as important:
Gotta give some love to the marketing department! So I’m watching the usual segment where they are letting you know their upcoming schedule. First, we had Johnston, PA:
Up next was Newark, DE:
Then back to PA and Philly:
Moving on to Dothan, AL:
And finally arriving in Columbus, GA:
Anyone else notice anything interesting about that (besides the two inch “Condemned” plug)? *Sings* One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn’t belong. Every single one of them had the “Biggest Party of the Summer” (Road to SummerSlam) logo on them, except for the live taping! Look, people know that SummerSlam is coming, but more importantly, people know when a TELEVISION TAPING is going to occur. Just throwing this sign on the ads for the house shows is the E giving the fans a little nudge to come out anyway, almost as if to let them know that while it might not be for TV, it is still just as importantly to SummerSlam. To me this is just a really nice little creative detail to try and include EVERYWHERE they go in the same little family, whether it is taped or not. Speaking of which, I have never been to a WWE house show (sans when I was like 10 and I don’t recall seeing cameras), do they film the whole time as usual in case something happens? Anyone who frequents these and wants to enlighten me, feel free.
(2) Good luck kicking out of that:
I can’t believe I’m doing this. I have to yet ……..AGAIN……. Give Elijah Burke credit? Does this man stop!? Seriously, this may be some sort of stupid weeks-in-a-row record. I feel like I’m short-changing the readers because I use a HH on this guy what seems like every we-
JP: WE GET IT! Tell us the Hidden Highlight already!
JT: I am! Or at least, I was getting to it! Okay, I have seen pins using a wrestlers’ weight against him. I have seen pins where the pinning man applies pressure on his opponents’ leg(s). I have seen pins where the pinning man uses his opponents’ legs against him. I have even seen a combination of one or more of those circumstances. I don’t believe I have ever seen a pin where a wrestler does all three at the same time, AND ALSO uses his inside forearm to apply pressure to the inside shoulder! I mean, jokes aside, I don’t think I have EVER seen this pin in my life, and about said pin, is there a more difficult one to kick out of? I mean you have your opponents forearm, your opponents’ weight, and the weight of your leg all pressing down on you. Just. Look, it’s probably not nearly as amazing as I’m making it out to be, but when you see a move or pin that you haven’t seen in your entire 20 or so year career of watching wrestling, it sticks out! If I’m completely lapsing and this happens all the time, by all means point it out (the forearm HAS to be included as that is the hidden highlight), but I almost literally clapped at Elijah on that one.
(1) Focus, focus, focus!:
During the second contest of the night, Kevin Thorn was having himself a pretty easy time with Stevie Richards. Let’s face it, it wasn’t even close. At one point during the match, Kevin had gotten Stevie Richards to the mat, and began to apply pressure to his neck by choking him (as the ref counted). No big deal, usual stuff, right? Not so fast. What I liked about this was at he had moved his right knee up a bit and into Stevie’s ribs and was pressing down there as well! Hey, why not go after two parts that affect breathing at the same time??? This just meshed so well because Taz had just finished talking about Thorn’s focus, and a move like this totally drives that home, especially against an opponent who really had no chance either way.
JP: And I’m sure you noticed the other theme of the night: destroy ECW originals. The only ECW original on the active roster to not get his butt handed to him was Little Guido. I think this is the final sign of the original ECW. My guess is that Balls Mahoney and the Sandman will be released or just not be renewed at the end of their contract (December) while Dreamer will be moved to the Florida developmental territory to help evaluate talent there.
Hidden Highlights for TNA iMPACT: Thursday, June 7, 2007 by JP
JP: You know, technical truths are great for heels. When a heel is right due to a technicality, it irks you much more than when he cheats. But using a technicality to hype a match? Not cool! Sure, Chris Harris and James Storm are former World Tag Team Champions, but that was not the impression I got from Jim Cornette last week. That was not nice, TNA; that was paramount to bait and switch. I’m a fan of the product and support you through the thick and thin. Please repay people like me by delivering what you say and not playing word games just to try to boost ratings.
Oh, and it didn’t boost ratings. Back to the 1.0 range! Yay! Please rethink your strategy.
(3) Keep your hands where I can see them:
After Robert Roode finished off Jerry Lynn, Roode went back for some more damage. This immediately incurred the wrath of Eric Young, who came down to the ring with a steel chair. Roode then sacrificed Ms. Brooks to Young, who pushed her into the ring. As Lynn held Brooks and Young prepared to hit her with a steel chair, Jim Cornette came down to stop violence against women. As soon as he said “hold it right there”, Eric Young dropped the chair and held his hands up in the air like he was under arrest. The best part, though? Young didn’t put his hands down for the rest of the segment! I love the Eric is still afraid of being fired and has such fear of authority that he immediately acted like he was going to put in jail for his actions.
You can also note the “Eric Young Rules” sign on the other side of the pic
(2) Meow:
This altercation eventually led to match between Ms. Brooks and Gail Kim. Late into the match, Gail had Ms. Brooks in a front chancery and ran up the ropes and turned it into a rolling DDT type maneuver. It was at this point that Don West said Gail Kim is “like a cat climbing those ropes.” I thought this was apropos to Gail Kim as what was her first gimmick in wrestling? That’s right: Le Felina, a cat. Heck, she even wore a cat mask! Give Don West’s new found knowledge of wrestling history and his partner being Mike Tenay, I have to say this was probably a very intentional use of words and not just a phrase that he picked out of the air.
JT: …trust me, you don’t want to see her in that mask… let’s move on.
(1) Where to even begin:
Our top TNA Hidden Highlight this week, though, is going to go to Tomko/Christian Cage segment. That’s right, the entire segment. No, JT isn’t writing this, I mean it! There were so many things going on, I just could not narrow it down:
I have to say, this was one of those rare segments that nothing could be added to make better. It advanced storylines, brought up past history, established relationships, and was well executed and acted. What more could you ask for?
JT: A few things here. As per the birthday, Christian was hiding out in a TNA execs office. Since the execs work 9 – 5 “office jobs”, the office was empty and provided cover for Christian. So whoever that exec is, it was probably their birthday. As for Big Bird, probably a personal choice of said exec. Also, did anyone else catch Christian actually picking up the phone and managing to get out “we’re gonna need security-” as Tomko snatched him up and ripped him away from it?
I actually didn’t catch it the first time, but upon watching it again to get this picture for JP, I heard and confirmed it. While the promo was good on a whole, I thought that the mention of Tomko’s family and more specifically that he got him out of debt really took it to the next level of “reality”. For those who don’t know, Travis Tomko is married and does have a little girl. In a really funny little fun fact, Tomko’s tattoos represent his heritage of Blackfoot Indian. Two of the most famous descendants of Blackfoot? Aaron and Nick Carter…. What the fuck? Do they even know that?
Also, Gail Kim is hot. That’s just a little fyi from me to you guys.
Hidden Highlights for WWE SmackDown!: Friday, June 8, 2007 by JT
JT: Edge and Vince have a little pow-pow, Mark Henry is still a beast, Vicki starts to take over, three faces win over three heels (okay, I could be more specific, but it’s always Chavo, it’s always Kendron, it’s always Yang, etc etc), Edge humbles Benoit a little, the tag champs get a win, and BIG DAVE fails to get a big win (although he does manage to get a DQ one)!
(3) See, that hurts, doesn’t it?:
There are many different points to matches. Some are designed to make a certain person look really good, others are designed to make a certain person look really bad. Other are at a medium though; matches that are booked to make each person look equally capable (these usually happen in mid to upper card matches). Well, I have to give some credit to both Edge and Benoit. It was nothing on a whole they did the entire match, because they both brought it, but they did make sure to equally match and/or counter one another on at least one specific point, the very point I’m bringing up. Again, now that we have pictures, I will bring it up in sequence style!
First, we have Edge, who was attempting to whip Benoit into the ringpost. Chris reversed it, and threw Edge into it, and he FLEW…. FLEW… He sold the shit out of that whip.
Ten minutes later into that match, Benoit went for the same; Edge reversed it, and threw Benoit into the ringpost. He FLEW…. FLEWW… seriously, both men SOLD being thrown into the ringpost at such a high speed that the velocity practically tossed them around like a ragdoll.
As I said, sometimes you have to sell the fact that you’re equal opponents, and both Edge and Benoit did so in a pretty sick looking manner.
(2) No peeking:
From the same match, I’m going to give Edge some love for… cheating! Towards the very end of the match, Benoit went for a pin. He only got the two count, which Benoit – and the crowd, and Michael Cole – argued heavily. Well, the reason it looked so close is because when Benoit had Edge in the pin, Edge took a split second to glance up at the Titantron just as the ref brought his arm down, making sure that he brought the shoulder up at the LAST possible moment! Hey, use your environment in any way possible, and Edge did so by waiting as long as he needed to in order to kick out, much to the chagrin of just about everyone. (Michael Cole even said he thought it was three)
(1) Listen to Lil’naitch:
Ah, that Charles Robinson. Always doing his job. Just as the match between Yang/Londrick vs. Chavo, Helms, and Daivari got underway, they showed Jimmy Wang Yang getting loose by bouncing off the ropes. As he bounced off a rope near the face corner, you could for a quick second see Charles Robinson. What was he doing? Pointing out the tag ropes to London and Kendrick! I’m sure this probably happens all the time, but I don’t think it ever gets on TV so I figured I’d point it out!
JP: I’m behind after this weekend, so I will hopefully get to SmackDown! soon!
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: We got a ton of email this week (keep em comin’!). So, *GENERAL WARNING*:: some parts of the following Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights may be edited for grammar, spelling, and English translation…
First up this week is Charles H., who wants to check in from Saturday Night’s Main Event:
I’m not sure if this has been touched upon but I was watching SNME on Saturday June 2nd and was watching Edge give his back stage interview to Maria. Well I looked at Edge’s title belt and his nametag. On his nametag on either side of his name are lo and behold the Rated R Superstar symbols. I thought that was pretty awesome.
JT: Actually, Charles, we did mention it in last week’s episode (Monday). HOWEVER! You emailed us this on SUNDAY, a day before the column ran. Therefore, we will acknowledge your acknowledgement of the E’s acknowledgement of the fact that Edge is the Rated R Superstar! Just in case anyone forgot:
Keeping with SNME is The Frankchise (swear we don’t make this shut up kids), who has caught a serious violation!:
Hey Guys! Awesome column you have going here. Just rining in with a highlight that I thought was just sentimental to the relationship between Michael Cole and JBL… or a proving that Cole might be as creepy as everyone gives him credit to be. During SNME, when the Boogeyman and Little Boogey came to the ring, Cole made mention of the fact, once Big Boogey gobbled up a pile of worms, that Wade Boggs used to eat chicken before all his games. Well that’s all well an good, if he hadn’t blatantly stolen the information from JBL. This past week on Smackdown, as Little Boogey took on Hornswoggle, JBL made the same reference while explaining that he even went to the bars with Boggs during Wrestlemania Weekend.
JT: Now that is just not cool. Can someone please send the police to arrest Michael Cole for LARCENY! You do NOT steal JBL’s shit! Although, JBL probably gave him the business after the show. Either way, not cool Michael Cole. You are lucky I don’t ask Larry to put you on notice… you aren’t bad, in fact, you’re pretty good (better than most give you credit for), but you’ll never be JBL, so don’t take his shit!
JP: You are just lucky I don’t read you the riot act for stealing my lines, too!
JT: And you don’t steal my lines?
JP: Why would I want to do that? Your lines are aweful!
JT: You know what? Scott S. will get us started on ONS. Now, you all know we’re the Kings of Positivity here, but at the same time we like to give everyone a voice:
As I write this, I’m listening to the pre-show for ONS 3, and the host is a total douchebag. In the talkdown for the Hardyz vs. WGTT Ladder Match he went out of his way to mention that Charlie Haas has never been in a ladder match. Of course, he’s wrong because he’s a douchebag. A couple of years ago we saw Eddie/Tajiri defeat the WGTT for the WWE Tag Team Championship on PPV. And yes….it was a ladder match.
JT: Scott is actually correct. It was Judgment Day of 2003, and Haas was most certainly involved in a ladder match. That being said, I’m going to go ahead and skip all the rest of the email because negativity is not our thing, whether the guy is a douchebag or not. He read the lines that were fed to him; not his fault.
JP: I would probably not have given Scott S. a space in this week’s issue. He also had the subject line of “Hidden Lowlight”, and you know how much I despise that term! HIGHLIGHT! It’s about what we enjoy and showing it off.
JT: Calm down there, buckaroo. I’ve got a better one for you. From last week’s RAW, we have Impaler, who likes his heels dammit:
Impaler here. I want to commend you on your great work in the column. I found Chris Master’s “cheap heat” attempt on Santino Morella from the 5/28 RAW to be a great hidden highlight. Masters is trying to get Morella to come down to accept the masterlock challenge, and calls him “mozzarella”. ROFLMAO!!! I actually did a double take and rewound my DVR to check to see if he actually called him that. Wow! I used to love hearing cheap heat attempts back in the 80s, and this one totally took me back. I hope Masters continues to call him stupid things like “Pizza boy” and “opera man”, and uses it with other wrestlers (can you see him calling Jeff Hardy “Rainbow Brite”?!) Good stuff…
JT: First off, thank you for the kind words. Secondly, that is indeed quite funny. Good heels have done this for years. I believe that Vince has more than once gotten the name of an employee wrong for the sake of heat. Good times. From a couple of weeks ago, we have Brandon S.:
Hey what’s up, of all the matches to find a hidden highlight the Memorial Day divas battle royal when Jillian gets throw into one of the other divas she takes a nasty spill and holds her head she rolls over to the side of the ring and you can see a ref checking on her but instead of just rubbing her head she actually wraps her legs around the ropes to make sure she doesn’t fall out. Pretty impressive considering you can tell she slipped and hit her head pretty good.
JT: I will say two things here. 1. What I like about this is that JR even mentioned the rule at the start of the match that it didn’t matter if it was over the top or not; if they left the ring, they were out… and 2. When I read “Jillian”, I immediately thought of “Lillian” (Garcia) and realized how much I miss her. Come back Lillian! Wyatt managed to wake up from his nap long enough to chime in on a few things:
First off, just wanted to give huge kudos to Vince for really going all out and playing up his character’s desperation/insanity every time he got close enough to a title belt to set him off. Particularly enjoyable was his Southern-style “Git. Git. Git (ad infinitum)” to Santino, and also the look on his face when Torrie Wilson mentioned Linda walking in on them was priceless. Absolutely priceless.
JT: Completely agreed. He played the loon perfectly, and continued to do a fabulous job of selling it the next night on ECW as he watched Bobby Lashley’s match against the Originals.
JP: And super kudos to the continuity department for having Torrie bring up her affair with Vince. Of course, getting Vince caught by Linda with his pants down only helped the Alliance, but still! At least she didn’t have to bark like a dog.
Secondly, Candice Michelle. When she posed for Playboy, I didn’t really think she was all that attractive (great body, yeah, but she really didn’t do anything for me). That’s all changed in the past few weeks, and especially last night when she was wearing the doo-rag and hat combo from Cryme Tyme. Wow. Just wow. My real Hidden Highlight though came after the match, when the victorious trio were celebrating in the ring and JTG went to dip Candice over backwards, he clearly copped a feel, and a rather sizable one at that. Impressive display of slyness there.
JT: She’s never really done much for me either, but I have to say she did indeed look pretty damn gorgeous in her Cryme Tyme attire. The funny thing is JTG probably totally got away with the feel as well because of the gimmick.
Lastly (because I unfortunately fell asleep before the usual highlight of my show, that being the Redneck Wrecking Crew of Cade and Murdoch, actually got to wrestle), I’d like to point out something that makes me alternately wonder if I’m just wanting to see something so badly that I’m imagining it, or if I just need to commit myself. Call me crazy, but I’ve really enjoyed Chris Masters’ work over the past couple of months (I think this newfound appreciation started in mid-March or early-April). Sure, he’s no Benoit, but I think he’s at least putting the effort in and I could be wrong, but if it were 20 years ago, I think he’d be pretty over as a heel. Reason being that while he does have a limited moveset, he’s very good at working over one part of his opponent’s body, as evidenced last night by a neck vice that looked genuinely painful and not just like a resthold. To top that off, he kept throwing nice-looking elbows down onto Santino’s head, further rocking the neck. I also really like that knee drop he does into a seated opponent’s back. All in all, I just think Masters has the look and he might actually be developing into something decent. I guess only time will tell.
JT: No, I don’t think you’re crazy. Chris Masters has done a lot to help himself not only with management but with the fans. He has gotten better in the ring which means he is working on it, and all reports outside the ropes point to him being a really good guy who loves the business. From the files of the continuity police this week comes Bobby D., who catches the King:
Here’s a hidden highlight I caught from Raw last night. During the World tag team title match, J.R. and Jerry Lawler were talking about the draft. Lawler began wondering what would happen if Matt and Jeff were split up by the draft. Well, apparently Jerry forgot that they already are with Jeff on Raw and Matt on Smackdown. Lawler must have forgotten that Matt basically pulls double duty by defending his (former) title on Raw and then competing on Smackdown later in the week. He’s been on the show so much recently that a lot of guys (like Jerry) forget that he’s not even on the brand’s roster.
JT: You are correct Bobby! I’ve said it before, these guys are not perfect and I prefer to make a little fun of a mistake rather than complain. Trevor A caught this as well (and we’ll hear from his soon). We actually got two emails regarding the same thing, first from Damon Z.:
During the RVD/Orton match on RAW (5/28/07), one of the guys in the front row caught my eye. Every time, and I mean EVERY TIME, Orton applied a headlock to RVD, the guy held up a sign that said “Another Headlock Randy?”. Simply Priceless.
And then Jamal provided photographic evidence!
Great column as usual guys, but there’s one thing I can not BELIEVE you missed.
JT: Some may view this as a bit of a negative thing to put in here, but I try to remember that it’s about enjoying the show and being their live. This guy bought his ticket, and has the right to take any sign with him he chooses. Great timing on his part to get a quite applicable sign on several times throughout the match. Joshua G. has some sign love to move into ECW:
If you’ve got some free time, go back and check out the May 22nd edition of ECW. As Tommy Dreamer is walking in, you can somewhat read the “Snitsky Has Backney” sign, and the slightly more offensive “Sabu was a terrorist” sign. The Snitsky sign was the one that got me, as the front row crowd saw it and started the chant. I only know they read it because it was my sign. Definitely flattering, for sure
JT: Well, unfortunately I no longer have that episode on my TiVo. However, we like to give credit to the crowd interaction so definitely cool that they reacted to your sign. I think the real question here is WHERE WAS YOU’RE MY SIGN IS A HIDDEN HIGHLIGHT! SIGN!? We can’t do all the work, folks! Also from ECW is the aforementioned Trevor A.:
Longtime reader first time writer, just wanted to write in a couple of hidden highlights from probably two of the best things going today on ECW Burke and Cor von. In their match I noticed two mini highlights. At the end of the match when Cor von went for the POUNCEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…………….PERIOD! the referee almost go destroyed when Cor von rebounded off the ropes for the Pounce. I noticed that this happens in the majority of his matches since he’s been with the company (especially his debut match) and I was wondering if it was because the Refs aren’t used to the setup for the move (even though most longtime watchers know when it’s coming) or something they are doing on purpose to add to the effect of the move coming out of no where.
JT: It may be a little of both; and let me just say that if one of these days the ref does accidentally take a pounce, I think that will be a hilariously beautiful thing.
Also a hidden highlight with Burke at the end of the match he was all smiles and celebrating until he looked on the mat and saw two of the beads from his hair had flown out and looked angrily at the major brother on the mat and kicked him. Even showing the ref the beads and talking to Cor von about it outside after the match. Little touches like that is what keeps me watching every match of his and Cor Von and not hitting the fast forward button on my tivo.
JT: You know we’re all about the Elijah Burke love around here! That’s just another reason his HH legacy continues to grow! Speaking of Burke’s HH legacy, Brandon M. is back with one from last Tuesday:
From ECW and the best of the week, in my opinion-At the end of the New Breed/Major Brothers tag match, Cor Von had hit the Pounce and began pinning one of the brothers. At the same time, the other brother started to drag himself into the ring to break up the 3 count, which then drew Elijah Burke in to stop him. Nothing special so far, but when the ref moved in position to count the Major brother down he (inadvertently?) blocked Burke’s direct path to the illegal man, and Burke quickly realized that if he had to run around the ref he wouldn’t get there in time to break up the pin. So, in a moment of genius, Burke instead sprinted across the ring and simply leaped over the ref counting the pin and dropkicked the illegal man off the apron instead of the traditional punch. A great display of athleticism and ring awareness by Burke, and it prevented the other Major brother from having to stand there like an idiot while his brother was pinned.
JT: Impressive display of improvisation indeed! Yes kids, Burke is a HH beast! Kicking off Impact this week is Edgar G., who noticed a sign! (I actually tried for my life to read what the sign on the wall said when Sting was kicking Daniels’ ass a couple of weeks ago and failed miserably):
During the Eye Spy segment on Impact, a sign saying “Please Keep this Area Clean!! Your Mother Doesn’t Work Here!!” is clearly visible next to Black Machismo.
JT: hehe… I mean this in the least sexist way, I really do, but I can guarantee you that a woman made up / thought of that sign. Let’s face it, moms are moms, and I don’t think there is a single person who can claim that their mother hasn’t picked up for them at some point in their life. TNA apparently has just a ton of signs around that building. Let’s get some pictures people who attend (looking at you Meehan)! Chris G. has something for Cornette:
During the opening segment when Cornette was in the ring announcing AJ’s opponent, a guy in the front row shouted out “TOMKO” a few seconds before Cornette announced it, and instead of just saying “Tomko”, he then turned and looked to where the guy was, lowered the mic (so it wasn’t as obvious) and acknowledged the guy for having a good idea. Just some nice work by Cornette connecting with the audience paying attention to things people are saying.
JT: Excellent catch. I hate to sound like a broken record, but there is nothing like being at or going to a live show. It is just an entirely different atmosphere than watching it on television, and the wrestlers know that and in turn do what they can to keep the crowd involved. Taking us into last week’s SmackDown is Chris R., who found a really good one heading into Judgment Day:
Since I record pro wrestling to watch at a later date (so I can watch replays of cool moments… who am I kidding, I fast forward half the shows nowadays), this little gem of a HH may be coming in too late for your column. At the time I didn’t think much of this, but thanks to Vickie Guerrero and her lack of explaining why she made Mark Henry vs. Kane a lumberjack match for ONS, I was pleasantly surprised that their SD match that night was booked to reflect the ONS match. All throughout their SD match Mark Henry kept going to the floor to “regroup” and “think”, according to Michael Cole. This, of course, slowed the pace of the match way down and I don’t recall Henry ever going to the floor that many times in one match. So of course it makes sense for Vickie to make their ONS match a lumberjack match, to speed the pace of the match up by having people trying to throw Henry back into the ring during his frequent rest stops to “regroup.” Good job by the Smackdown writers to book that match the way they did to give an actual logical reason why a lumberjack match should take place, and not just throwing a lumberjack match out there for no reason at all.
JT: Never even made the connection, but this makes perfect sense. I remember thinking “man, he’s leaving the ring an AWFUL lot”, and didn’t even click when it was announced that their match would be lumberjack. I think most of us were like “A lumberjack match? Why?”. Now we know! Really good connection there, and does give Vickie some credit as a decision maker because “she” is showing that she is paying attention to what’s going on. Finishing us up this week is Neeraj A. who wants to chat about a broad range of things!
Hello JP/T (I’m only following the order you guys give out in the email addy… nothing personal, I promise),
JP: Whatever JT needs to hear. I know the truth.
JT: Thank you Megan Moody. Please cont-
JP: Why’d it have to be a woman comedian…?
JT: You should know this; if you don’t, I suggest you have a chat with my good friend Captain Obvious. Now, Neeraj?
Since we’re giving out love for selling continuity, I thought that we should give some to Chris Sabin. On the 4/19 Episode of Impact (which I watched a week ago, since here in India, we get all WWE/TNA broadcasts on 2-week delay. The upside, you ask? PPVs are free as they are treated as part of the regular broadcasts by the network), there was a Shelley/Sabin v Senshi/Petey tag match. Near the end of that match, Petey caught Sabin in the Canadian Destroyer, and he whipped out a I’m-fighting-with-the-air-and-now-I-go-down sell and fell out of the ring. Shelley then killed Petey to finish the match and went outside, where Sabin was rolling on the ground. As the ref went out to raise the winning teams’ hands, Shelley touched Sabin to perhaps get up and celebrate. And Sabin responded by taking a swing at him! This was awesome, Chris Sabin still selling the devastating effects of the Canadian Destroyer. What was even more awesome was Shelley’s reaction, he just sort of backed off, with a “let him be” look, and let the ref raise his hand. Totally in character. Then the camera panned off to show Senshi checking on Petey, and panned back to the winners, with Sabin STILL rolling around, and FINALLY Shelley going within arm’s reach of him to try and get him up. Fun stuff from Sabin and Shelley.
JT: Absolutely a great sell, as it should be considering what a devastating looking move the Canadian Destroyer is. To be so out of it that you might accidentally swing on your own partner? Just good stuff all around. And free PPVs? Do we have a PPV HH correspondent in the making!?
p.s. Sometimes it’s ridiculous, but I still think there’s a place in wrestling for the oversell. Sabin’s like an uncrowned king, and gets close competition from Randy Orton. Does anyone else come to mind?
JT: Oh, I most certainly can. One Shawn “oversell” Michaels. From the slow get ups, to the summersault type backflips up and over the ring post, to the look of concussion, our old friend HBK is probably two notches above everyone else you might ever put on that list. And that’s it for this week folks!
JP: Well, I guess you don’t want to hear from me.
JT: You interrupted the Reader section how many times?
JP: Your point?
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!
Exit, stage left!
JT: Well, much as I started the issue with a pic and a story, I’m going to end it with a pic and a story (much shorter, so don’t worry). I am looking for a new pair of shades as my old pair is long overdue, and summer has hit. So I see a highlight on ESPNEWS of a guy (who I should know but don’t) and realize immediately that I want his shades. SO, if anyone could point me in the direction of these:
I’d be eternally grateful. Other than that, have a great week my little chameleons!
JP: Yeah, I have a real problem finding sung—hey! Nobody cares about this conversation at all! Let’s get out of here.
Thank you for joining us for THE 93rd 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!
