Hidden Highlights 04.30.07: Issue #87

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag and James “JT” Thomlison

Issue #87

Intro

Hello everyone who wonders if we are getting April showers or May flowers, 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: Four draft picks in the first 61 selection, AND the man being touted as potentially the best receiver coming out in the last ten years!? I’d be super pumped, but sadly, it’s still the Lions. Then of course the Yankees lost 139 straight, and to TOP IT OFF, you assholes got Randy Moss, who is apparently re-focused because the only thing left on his list of things to do besides getting rich and dominating is winning a championship. Nice.

JP: And it’s baseball season! Stop thinking about football, at least until July. Griping doesn’t become you. I actually got to go to the Red Sox/Orioles game in Baltimore last Wednesday (which was totally awesome). Yeah, I’ve had a lot of high highs and low lows this week.

JT: Well, this is a positive article, so maybe you should stick to the high highs.

JP: You’re right JT! Why should I let the things that bothered me dominate my thoughts and times? Lots of great things happened as well, and they are more important in the long run!

JT: Glad I could help… except I’m pretty sure I didn’t write this part…

JP: That’s ok, I wrote you as a better person as well.

JT: I suppose that is tr— HEY!

JP: Well, enough of JT not writing anything, let’s get on with the Hidden Highlights!

Hidden Highlights for WWE RAW: Monday, April 23, 2007 by JP

JP: Continuing the European tour, RAW made its way to England where the audience was treated to three and a half matches in two hours! Of course, one of those matches was an hour long, so it’s ok. My favorite part of the show, though, was the “Fruity Delicious Fruity Fruity” next to a “Skittles” sign. That, my friends, is when smarks do good work!

(3) Rooooaaarrrr:

During the aforementioned half a match, it ended up being Shane McMahon, Umaga, and Mr. McMahon taking on your local long-haired pasty jobber. Yes, I could look up his name, but why bother? Even if he does get hired, they’ll give him another name when he comes on board! And I am not one of those people that refuse to call a wrestler by the current television name just to prove how smart I am. Which is why I can give this Hidden Highlight to Uuuuuuummmmmmmaaaaaaggggggaaaaaaa! After beating down our British hero, Shane McMahon turned to Umaga and gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder to Umaga. Instead of just standing there and taking it because all heels are friends, Umaga instead reacted as he would to anyone hitting him: he jumped, stared his eyes wide open, and prepared to attack. Thankfully, Shane McMahon is quick on his feet as well and saw this reaction, quickly backing away and telling Umaga there was no problem. Good job all around by the two to stay in character and adlib to the moment.

(2) I’m checking you out:

A little later in the evening, WWE Women’s Champion Melina took on Maria in a non-title match. On her way to the ring, I paid very close attention to a couple of round things on Maria.

JT: It’s going to be one of those week, huh?

JP: What are you talking about? I meant her eyes!

JT: Then why did you… oh never mind…

JP: Thanks! Maria never took her eyes off of Melina during her (Maria’s) entire entrance. Even when in the ring and doing the kissing face, she kept her eyes turned towards Melina. Very smart move by Maria considering that Melina has a proclivity to attack before the bell.

(1) Talkin’ to myself:

I have to admit, I personally have a very bad habit. Often, if a computer isn’t working or a program has a fatal error, I do talk to inanimate objects and non-corporeal ions. Luckily, I noticed that John Cena seems to share my habit as he talks to himself! After getting launched outside the ring, John Cena was down on the mat and lost to the world. It was at this point that I head Cena say to himself, “Come on dude, get up!” There was no way Cena could have known whether he was on camera or even if his voice would be picked up, but he said the line anyway for the fans close enough to hear him and to keep his character going. I really appreciated this moment and was impressed with Cena’s self-motivational talk.

JT: Let me also give some love to the HBK vs. Cena match as well. As I said before in the forum on this subject: If you didn’t find it to be 4 star, Match Of The Year candidate; that’s fine. Hell, even if you didn’t particularly enjoy it, that’s fine too. Let me make sure that I’m clear here. I HAVE NO PROBLEMS IF YOU DIDN’T FIND THIS MATCH TO BE YOUR CUP OF TEA. But to actually BITCH about these guys going out there and putting on a 50-minute, PPV quality match for the London crowd on FREE TELEVISION??? I know we’re positive around here, and I have ALWAYS tried to give the fans the benefit of the doubt, but that thread made me realize that there truly are some fans that WWE just cannot be pleased no matter WHAT they do. Fortunately I am not one of them, so thank you Shawn, and thank you John. I thoroughly enjoyed one hell of a match and it was a refreshing chance of pace.

Hidden Highlights for ECW on SciFi: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 by JT

JT: The tension between Burke and Punk started from the get go and continued throughout the evening, Lashley continues to get the best of Vince, Burke questions the decision to bring Punk in, Snitsky destroys Balls Mahoney, and Punk again costs the New Breed, this time in a much more obvious kick to the face, and hey… that RGX girl is still hot!

(3) You get your cleaning every six months……. Right?:

Not sure if I’m a couple of weeks behind on this or not, but it appears that Snitsky has added a new accessory to his character, and that’s horribly disgusting teeth! Now, I know that he’s been doing that psycho grin since he got back, but it honestly seemed to me that his teeth were now just puss ugly yellow. I’m sure that there is no way he’d let them actually get like that, so I suppose that kudos can be given to whoever in makeup/cosmetics is in charge of that. Overall though, I liked it because dental work is not often something addressed when creating an “overall” character for someone. Nothing says psycho like lethargic hygiene habits!

JP: Then you must be the most pychoti—

JT: ENOUGH! Talking here!

(2) By all means, take your time:

So did anyone notice anything about the ring this week? No, it wasn’t the ECW ring apron. It wasn’t the silver ropes. It wasn’t the silver steps. It wasn’t even the blank black turnbuckles which lacked the “E” logo. No, it wasn’t any of that… it was the combination of them all! Bare with me kids. You see, ECW is usually SmackDown’s little bitch, and anyone who goes to a SD/ECW taping knows that there is very little time between the end of SD and when ECW goes live. Those poor guys have to SCRAMBLE like headless chickens to get things prepared in about ten minutes so that the show can go live (and sometimes they’re stuck with something left from SD). Being taped though, chances are the break between SD and ECW was considerably longer, giving the crew the ample time they’d probably like on a weekly basis to get things set up perfectly for the transition from one show to another. It’s little things like that which we don’t consider on Tuesday nights, but the fact that the crew working in London had the time to properly set everything up is a rare luxury here in the states, something the setup guys probably enjoyed for once.

(1) Where’d the equipment go!?:

Over the course of the evening, we got to see the New Breed hanging out in their locker room. In the background you could see things like Thorne’s jacket and something of Striker’s hanging up. There was also something else there that I couldn’t quite make out. During the second time however, I was able to determine that the one hook in question was holding a pair of handcuffs and a couple of other bondage type “items”. This is not the Highlight however. When we saw the locker room as Punk gave them a pep talk, Thorne had on his jacket and Striker and Cor Von were also ready to go. The handcuffs and co. had vanished! Where the heck did it go, and more importantly, WHY!? Did Thorne have them stashed? Were they packed up so that he and Ariel could leave immediately after the match? I need to know where the handcuffs went dammit! I’ll probably never know, but it just seemed funny to me that the items had “disappeared” as Thorne got ready.

JP: So he and Ariel are into bondage, too, eh? Did you also notice that Thorne talked on this episode! I can’t remember the last time he said anything in camera range…

Hidden Highlights for TNA iMPACT: Thursday, April 26, 2007 by JP

JP: Gotta be honest, I’m not sure what happened on iMPACT. I mean, waaaaaaay too much was going on to really feel like it was happening in one week. I’m pretty sure they gave away the first ever Sting/Angle match and then killed the ending, gave away a major tag match, gave a huge X-Division match, then gave the Sacrifice main event and killed that ending, too. So, uh, at the end of the day iMPACT’s rating actually dropped a little. Dixie Carter, if Vince Russo isn’t booking those segments that the fans are chanting “Fire Russo” at, then I suggest firing (or at least trimming back the responsibilities of) whoever is booking them.

(3) Proving the tape delay:

There was a news item early last week that Jeff Jarrett had to leave the iMPACT tapings early to get back to his sick wife. Because of this, his segments were taped early and out of order. Well, when iMPACT kicked off, Abyss’ blood was still all over the ring. They tape back-to-back, so this is not something out of the ordinary. But when Robert Roode brought Eric Young out, I quickly noticed that there was no blood in the ring. As if I didn’t know anyway, this proved that Jeff Jarrett was going to be the friend since I realized that this segment had to have been taped earlier. Consider this one of those “watch switching wrists and back again” moments that you sometimes catch in movies. That’s right, it’s a continuity error Hidden Highlight!

(2) It’s in the rulebook:

During the above noted X-Division match (by the way, I wasn’t clear on who everyone’s tag team partner was), you were not allowed to tag your own partner. Petey Williams was in the ring laying down his brand of fury she Alex Shelley came in and spit water into his face to lure him into the corner for the tag. This Hidden Highlight actually comes in the way the tag was made. When Williams went to grab Shelley by the hair to lay in a punch, the ref called the grab a tag and made Williams get out of the ring. I thought this was a very unique way to enforce the rules of a tag match and have to give props to whoever laid out that segment for the match.

(1) Bigger than that:

During the tag team match featuring Team 3D defending their titles against Scott Steiner and Tomko, Konnan was again on the microphone and again is going to get my kudos. As he was reminding Don West that he said that he was an LAX fan the prior week, Konnan told West, “You said on national — no international television that you were a fan…”. I like that Konnan caught himself and took the time remind everyone that TNA is actually much bigger than they appear and are in over 60 countries around the world. This is just one of the moments the proves one small word can go a long, long way!

JT: As you know kids, I’m an uber-geek who loves cheesiness. Therefore, as usual, Smallville + Grey’s Anatomy = no Impact until late Saturday night, after I complete this part!

Hidden Highlights for WWE SmackDown!: Friday, April 27, 2007 by JT

JT: We start with Finlay, Dave, and Kennedy going at it (albeit 2 on 1), Kane finds a very unlikely yet similar partner in Boogeyman, Deuce gets a win over Kendrick, Domino then feels all over Krystal, MVP beats William Wallace and proceeds to lose to Benoit, Teddy Long gets it on with Kyrstal, Michelle McCool fails at shutting Jillian Hall up (damn her), and Taker and Big Dave continue to build their match as they get a victory over Kennedy and Finlay!

And how about that Diva match? Was that actually wrestling? Good for them!

(3) He’s the Boogeyman… and he’s COMIN TA-…. screw that, let’s just get this over with:

For the second (and possibly last) time in Hidden Highlights history (we can only hope), I’m going to throw some love to the Boogeyman. Hey, equal opportunity and all that… anyway. As he usually does when he makes his entrance, he smashed a clock over his head (those must be costing the E a little penny eh?). Then, later on during his tag match with Kane (against the Brits), you could see that he still had shards of glass stuck to his head! Sometimes it’s not what you do, it’s what you don’t do; Boogeyman not wiping them off is just another little touch that sells that he is one crazy SOB who simply does not give a fuck! He even wrestled with it, and you could still see a small piece or two after they’d won! Oh, that crazy Boogeyman, apparently nothing phases him.

(2) Dear Dave, I hate you. Love, Taker. Dear Taker, Ditto. Love, Dave:

In the early stages of the Undertaker/Batista vs. Kennedy/Finlay match, Big Dave (who had started) got an opportunity to tag in Taker, and started walking towards his corner. Taker saw this… and did absolutely nothing! No extended hand, no welcoming greet, nothing. On the other hand, Batista didn’t attempt to extend his hand. He merely walked up and gave Taker a tap on the shoulder. Now, it may just be me, but this makes perfect sense to me! These two don’t like each other. They don’t want to root each other on or shake hands or anything like that. They have been put in a situation that they must deal with to get to Backlash, and they acted accordingly to it. These “co-lack-of-cooperation” gestures really helped to create a sense of tension heading into Backlash between the two.

[Speaking of… anyone else notice that Taker stood idly by and didn’t come make the save on his partner (being double teamed) until AFTER the shillelagh was used (BOTH times in fact)? The subtleties between those two – and more specifically the one I mentioned – were awesome.]

(1) Putting your opponent over:

During the match between Chris Benoit and MVP, MVP went on a nice little run midway through which wore Benoit out. Then, Benoit was able to counter a move and hit a German Suplex… one. Then, he let go and rolled over! Now, I’m not saying that he ALWAYS hits three (sometimes it’s five or six as we saw earlier), but even when it’s one or two it’s because his opponent does something to knock him off. This time however, he simply let go and sold exhaustion. To me, this does WONDERS for putting over MVP. I mean, MVP (kayfabe) “had Chris Benoit so woozy, he was forced to let go after just one suplex”. The E is clearly using Benoit to try and elevate MVP, and little ‘out of the norm’ sells like this can really go a long way towards doing so. Does it surprise anyone on the planet that a guy like Benoit knows exactly how to help someone look good (not taking anything away from MVP, but being in there with the Rabid Wolverine doesn’t hurt)?

JP: So apparently not only did I lose a whole line on my DVR, but my local channels disappeared for a day. Because of that… yeah… no SmackDown! again…

JT: You know what though. Much like me and Impact some weeks, at least we’re honest with the readers, as opposed to just making some random shit up. Sincerity is an admirable trait, so no worries JP!

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 managed to get ourselves at least one for all five sections this week! That is always nice when we can spread the love all around. So, *GENERAL WARNING*:: some parts of the following Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights may be edited for grammar, spelling, and English translation…

Before we head into our usual routine, Clem got us this from Lockdown (three days too late, but hey, we welcome any and all!):

I always read Hidden Highlights, I think it’s great, but have never submitted anything before because I never spot anything! For Lockdown however, I did spot something totally sweet in the Gail Kim / Wild West Jackie fight, although it might be a bit pervy for a Hidden Highlight…

Gail Kim was wearing the tiniest little blue bikini for her fight, and looking damn hot doing it! Towards the end of the match, she was on her way out the door, and Jackie pulled her back in by her hair. This turned into a little tug of war, with Gail’s body arched over backwards as she was straining to leave the cage, and led to [we have taken this part out and you will all just have to use your imagination], something I have been hoping to catch a glimpse of since I started watching TNA.

Not sure if this counts as a HH but you said they were thin on the ground about LockDown so I thought I’d throw in my 2 pennies…

JT: Ummm… well, let me just say… naturally, we appreciate ALL Hidden Highlight submissions; I suppose we’ve never claimed that whatever makes you enjoy the show had to be PG, so glad you finally got what you were looking for! Getting us into RAW (and going back a bit) is Chris J., who I suspect is slowly trying to build his way towards an honorary Team Hidden Highlights badge! I think he’s written us like 10 weeks straight now:

In a HH a while ago, it was mentioned about how the red carpet got stuck, or they weren’t fast enough for Melina. Either way she had to wait for it, and as it happened she shot the most disgusted look at the people rolling it, and sat and waited as it would be degradable for her to walk without the red carpet under her boots.

JT: Short and direct; equally as effective. You’ve laid it out beautifully Chris, just another in a long list of things she does to sell the heck out of her “Hollywood Diva” character. After all, she can’t be bothered to walk on dirty, sticky arena floors! Focusing on last week’s RAW is RB, who wants to give some love to the cool one:

I noticed after the Carlito/Khali match, Carlito tells Flair in Spanish that his father was always better than him and that he had more heart! Great job by cameramen and sound guy to catch that I think. Also after the main event I noticed by reading Shawn’s lips that he told Cena it wasn’t about the belt he just wanted to prove a point. To me he broke kayfabe for a brief second there.

JT: I think Carlito showing a little doubt is an odd way to go considering how arrogant of a character he is supposed to play. On the other hand, I can see this as good character development as maybe now he’s “starting to realize” what it takes to win in this business. As for HBK, I’d have to say that it was actually a complete kayfabe moment. That’s exactly what Shawn Michaels the character would say in a situation like that, and it helps further the build for Backlash. To each their own though! Christopher S. has something for our new IC champ:

Just a real quick one that I haven’t seen anyone mention yet. Marella is the real last name of legend gorilla monsoon. Good little wink to history.

JT: Indeed! And in fact, Gorilla’s first wrestling gimmick was as “Gino Marella”, who happened to be a… wait for it… Italian-American babyface! Excellent catch Chris as I was not aware of that. We actually got an ECW email from Thex, who caught a couple of really good ones:

On ECW this week during the skit where Elijah Burke is apologizing to the New Breed (sans CM Punk) about recruiting CM Punk, the corner of the room is a light with a swirl of red and blue light which for whatever reason made me think of Punk and his Pepsi tattoo… and of course just after I realized that, Punk walked in.

JT: One of the other things in the background of the locker room that I did notice, but could find no other reason than “RAW or SD”, but I like that one much better!

Also, before the 8 man NB vs. Originals match… Punk was ready to start the match off… Burke got on the mic, grabbed Punk’s arm and had to yell his name 2 or 3 times to get his attention because Punk was so focused on his opponents…. I thought ignoring Burke was a nice little touch by Punk to show how focused he was.

JT: Agreed. Punk has been no selling Burke since he arrived, and all of these little things were helping to build towards the attack we saw at the end of the night. Excellent catch there. Jarkota hits us with one we’ve covered before, but hey, 87 issues is a lot to remember!:

Not sure how “hidden” this is, but if you looked at the ring mat in this week’s episode, you can see the “blood” stains from Abyss’s beating on the last show. Now, we all know that TNA tapes two or three iMPACT! shows back-to-back in the same night, and that they wouldn’t have a chance to clean or replace the mat. If you want to analyze it, it could mean quite a few things: they’re hoping nobody would notice, they’re hoping people will notice but think that there was too much to clean off and thus sell the beating even more, or that they’re not even trying to maintain the kayfabe illusion and are just beyond caring whether people think of wrestling as “real” or not. Might be something to think about.

JT: As mentioned months ago and by JP earlier in the issue, the blood stained ring has been talked about before because they do tape more than one show at a time, but hey, you caught it for yourself and took the time to write in so I see no need to leave it out. Besides, there could be others like yourself who didn’t read us at the time that are now getting this good HH from you! Thanks J. We also got a few from Ian C.:

Upon my watching of Impact last night, I saw a couple things that I feel should get special mention.

1. Robert Roode’s “aboot.” Classic. Behind all that “money,” “power,” fame,” and “girl,” he’s still just a Canadian.

JT: Hahahahaha…. Not much to add, as I don’t want to infuriate the Canadian readers!

2. Scott Steiner’s promo. Half the time, I didn’t know what the hell he was saying, but when I could understand him, it was awesome, and Tomko’s expressions the whole time just made that segment great.

JT: As you know, I haven’t seen it, but Steiner and Tomko have both been great since coming (back) to TNA. I know everyone wants the new blood to shine, but there is no reason to not let the veterans help build that. Be patient people, it’s coming.

3. Not so much a Hidden Highlight, but does Black Machismo look like Ben Wallace with the ‘fro or what? Just me? Ok…

JT: No. I live near Detroit and had Ben Wallace for years and nothing will ever compare. It’s always nice to make reference to an actual sport though, so I see no reason to shoot down your dream. Both ‘fros are certainly both out there, that is for sure. Moving things into SmackDown this week is Ben B., who – like so many of us – find awesomeness in Finlay matches:

Don’t know if you noticed this one or not: When Finlay gave Batista a couple of shillelagh shots, the second one was in an odd spot – the back of Batista’s right thigh. Except that this wasn’t that strange if you noticed what happened earlier. While he had Finlay in a chinlock, Batista started rubbing the back of the same thigh, even though Finlay had not been working the leg. In fact, if you rewind earlier, you’ll see Batista start grabbing the leg after he gave Finlay the big boot in the face, as if he had pulled a muscle back there.

This leads to the question: could Finlay have picked up on the real (though apparently relatively trivial) injury and decided to weave it into kayfabe? Or could Batista have felt uncertain about the state of his leg and communicated it to Finlay during the match, asking him to include it in the shillelagh shots just to cover his tracks in case it turned out to be a serious injury? You know, make it look like it was because of an assault rather than a simple pulled muscle just in case they need to address it on TV. If so, amazing job by one or both of them to plan for the future.

JT: This is indeed a very interesting question. Considering that Finlay hadn’t worked the leg coupled with the fact that Dave had thrown the big boot up there, it is certainly possible that he strained it or at the very least it cramped up. In terms of kayfabe, you’re absolutely right; very heads up thinking by one or both of them to have a “legitimate excuse” if they discovered after the match that the injury was a bit more serious than they thought. Hell, they could even be using it to Batista a ‘weakness’ heading into his rematch with Taker so that if he does lose again, it wasn’t necessarily under the condition of perfect health. Yes sir, I like this one a lot Ben (especially considering that Batista had it wrapped on SD Friday). And actually catching one from this week’s SmackDown was DD:

Hey, i’ve got a hidden highlight for you from Smackdown this past week in London, well, one hidden highlight, one not so hidden, but both about MVP.

1) Not so hidden, MVP has started wearing one of those breathing aids on his nose, it goes well with his Terrell Owens type, professional athlete character.

2) A good hidden highlight for you, when MVP first comes out for his entrance, he looks back and does a double take on the telephone booth they have out there. If you remember the last time Smackdown were in England Kane put MVP through a telephone booth busting him open. It’s something that he didn’t need to do, and most people won’t notice, but I thought it was a nice touch.

So in closing, MVP rules.

JT: MVP has probably sold his past encounters with Kane better than a Dollar Store selling a paper clip. He has really stepped into his role and the breathing aid thing is hilarious as many football players actually use those. We won’t prop the pedestal just yet, but keep your eye on him. John B. has a classic for us as we head into the closing section, and he’s thinking big:

Did anyone notice when the Undertaker came out to the Royal Rumble earlier this year and eliminated my pick the Great Khali, he actually stepped OVER the top rope as if to say he wasn’t intimidated by Khali’s height or size advantage and that HE was the big dog of the yard.

JT: I like this for two reasons. For one, yours. Once in a while he will go over the top, and when staring down Khali, he needs any help he can get to not appear dwarfed by him. But for another, this just makes more sense with it being the Royal Rumble. If you are stepping over the top rope, you’re able to keep the entire ring in your view to make sure nobody is coming your way. If you try and go between the ropes, there’s always a chance that you’ll blink and have someone attacking you right from the start. So good job of Taker remembering to keep his scene surveyed as he entered. Speaking of surveying his scene, Joe K. got up close and personal with some Knockouts recently, but we’ll get to that:

I was at a Maryland Championship Wrestling event in Bel Air, MD this past Saturday. One of the matches was Alex Shelley v. Joey Matthews (who even had the red carpet/paprazzi entrance). Anyway, I noticed Shelley had countered Matthews finisher (the Kobashi DDT) a good three times, more than anyone had countered a finisher that night. And it hit me…that totally fits into Shelley’s character. He’s all about taping his own matches and the TNA announcers have talked about him watching tapes from all over the world. It would make sense that he would be prepared for anyone, even Matthews, who was a unannounced opponent for the show.

JT: Knowing your opponent is crucial. It is why NFL Quarterbacks hate guys like Ty Law, Dre’ Bly, and DeAngelo Hall. Those guys watch so much film, and are just WAITING to see something they’ve studied and jump a route. Shelley is no different. His character is that of a man who loves film; be it taping it or watching it. Having watch – as you say – “tapes from all around the world”, I would have to assume that meant a few WWE matches as well; although, even if not, he’d still have a pretty easy time scouting him, as Mercury has been in the ring with many of the people Shelley works with today in TNA. Either way good stuff as it perfectly sold the Shelley gimmick.

JP: I once took a long drive out to Bel Air. Didn’t look a thing like on the Fresh Prince!

JT: Uh… JP… the Fresh Prince takes place in California…

JP: Really? Oh… that was a waste of time then…

JT: Well, not for Joe K:

P.S. I got polaroids with both Gail Kim and Tracy Brooks at intermission. I had noticed what you mentioned before about Tracy sometimes looking rough in photos but absolutely lovely in person. And does she ever! And Gail, she’s too gorgeous for the wrestling game. Absolutely flawless.

JT: You see kids, Cook and myself would never do you a disservice when it comes to the ladies. I will say again to all. Meet her, get within three feet of her and get a good look at her, and then come have this talk with me again! Next we have Bobby H. who keeps his HH eyes open even during commercial breaks!

This was actually not a part of the ‘show’ itself, but I thought it was interesting anyway. During the commercial break, WWE will always show a clip highlighting its upcoming events and where they are held. Well, this week I happened to notice that when they mentioned an event in “Nashville, Tennessee” they were showing footage of Lance Cade. This was followed shortly thereafter with an event in “Greenburg, South Carolina” where footage of Shelton Benjamin was shown. Lance Cade has been billed from Nashville, TN (and is still listed on the WWE website that way) and Shelton is, of course, from Orangeburg, South Carolina. It’s possible that this was merely coincidence, but it may also be the production crew actually thinking to show someone from those ‘hometowns’ during the promo for those events. If so, thumbs up! I’ll be watching those more closely from now on.

JT: Bobby I would say that is definitely done on purpose. When people go to WWE events, if someone on the roster is from there, they want to see them (SEE: Ric Flair). So naturally if someone sees their hometown hero on the screen, they’re more inclined to possibly go to an event. It’s funny you mention that actually. I probably would have never gone to the first live event of my life if they hadn’t shown the Ultimate Warrior on TV while announcing that they’d be coming to my town.

JP: Except they might as well flash on the screen “We will JOB this person out in this town” when doing so.

JT: Indeed. Finally this week, we got a fun little read from Gareth S., whom I just don’t think grasped what I was getting at. No matter, we always welcome the feisty ones!

In response to your comments about the beautiful game of Association Football, about which you obviously know so much.

JT: O’Sullivan?

Firstly, the referee has a Red and a Yellow “Card”, the only flags belong to the linesmen (assistant referees) and they are proper flags for waving, not throwing. I mean honestly who throws a flag? The gridiron refs throw handkercheifs not flags, admit it!

What You Said: “Red and a Yellow ‘Card’ “.

What I Said: “Yellow flag”.

JT: Now, this one I’ll give you, sort of. I did indeed type flag, but it was merely because I was in the midst of a thought and it just came out wrong. However, I am well aware that it is a card. My mother is German and we watch as many World Cup games as possible together when it rolls around. So kudos on you catching a word typo.

Now the purpose of the red card is to send someone off (ie. an ejection from the game), whilst the yellow card indicates a booking. A booking is issued for lesser offenses, and is essentially a warning which carries no punishment in the game (although a second yellow card results in a sending off). Also, if a player collects a certain number of yellow cards over the course of a season then he may be suspended for some games (the required number of cards and the length of the suspension will differ from competition to competition).

In addition to these powers, the referee is constantly in communication with the players and managers of the teams, and frequently warns them about their behaviour and conduct before resorting to formal sanctions.

What You Said: “a yellow card… …is essentially a warning which carries no punishment”

What I Said: “There are only three sports I can think of that issue ‘warnings’. The first would be soccer, where a yellow…”

JT: So… we’re agreeing then. Splendid.

Most British sports operate in the same way, especially Rugby Union in which formal sanctions such sending off a player or sending them to the sin-bin only occur very rarely and for the most part the refs just have a bit of a chat with players and team captains and tell them to calm down. This is because rugby is a Man’s Game played by Grown-Ups.

Rugby League is very similar and in Cricket the rules tend to be very highly respected (so much so that any kind of alleged cheating is viewed as practically criminal). Additionally I understand the umpires often give little informal warnings to tennis players.

JT: I completely agree with you and again, I have to say that you misinterpreted the point of my Highlight. My point was that in many sports they have things like fouls, flags, cards, etc. Even in boxing they can dock you a point. But in wrestling, there is no middle ground. You warn, and if it doesn’t work, you call it, period. No other sport (especially team) will see a ref just end it like “it’s over”. The wrestling referee is in a unique position of having less options yet more power. Hence, the warning was his only choice as opposed to minor reprimand.

JP: Oh, see, when I read this one I thought it was in reference to the Reader Write-in involving JR saying it is football in Italy when it actually has some crazy other name. Either way, I don’t recall you saying anything that required a Wikipedia style lecture on the rules of soccer. And I’m saying soccer because I’m a dirty American. And because I like football and baseball. And because I tore my tendon playing soccer and still can’t run today because of it. Thanks soccer!

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, JP has something for That Other Section.

JP: Larry Csonka, ****I**** would care if Carlito were gone tomorrow, therefore you LOSE at Fact of Fiction! The winner by his opponent being a dick is Stephen Randle!!!

JT: I’m pretty sure you can’t declare a winner of Fact or Fiction. If anyone could, it would be Ashish.

JP: I have his permission.

JT: Ashish talked to you?

JP: Ashish, if you agree with my decision say nothing at all.

Ashish: …

JP: See, no problem! Congratulations, Randle!

Stephen Randle: Thank you, thank you. Yes, it may have been the 129,241,523,543,643,321st time Larry and I have faced off in Fact or Fiction, but this proves that Canada > Pittsburg + North Carolina any day!

JT: You are saying an entire country is greater than a city and a state that are no where near each other nor have nothing to do with each other? Your entire analogy makes no sense!

JP: JT, hush up! Randle is our guest, and current winner of Fact or Fiction. Not to mention the winner of the Great Positivity Debate III: The Sequel Nobody Asked For.

JT: But we lost to him! And aren’t you always claiming that you are undefeated at Fact or Fiction?

JP: Yeah, including that sweet win over you!

JT: All right, this section needs to just end before someone gets hurt… namely you.

Ashish: You want to hurt me?

JT: That’s not funny JP! Stop writing lines for people!!!

JP: …

JT: JP?? Oh crap… And even though you may be indisposed, let me just say that A. I beat you completely in Fact or Fiction, and B. There was no winner between Csonka and Randle. Anytime they go 5 for 6, they suck. Man up and disagree once in a while will you? I blame Canada.

Exit, stage left!

JT: It’s 1:30 a.m. First day of the draft is over. I’m exhausted. What else can I say? Have a great week my little second rounders!

JP: And watch more Ninja Warrior on G4! There is nothing better to have on in the background while putting the finishing touches on this article.

Thank you for joining us for THE 87th 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!