Hidden Highlights 06.04.07: Issue #92

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag and James “JT” Thomlison

Issue #92

Intro

Hello everyone enjoying this way too hot Memorial Day weekend (unless you are not American; in which case Happy Monday!), 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: Well, two weeks until my birthday. Birthdays for me are kind of a reminder of things I haven’t done yet in my life, and give me a little nudge to get working on some of those things. Watch out Brittany Daniels, your days are numbered.

JP: Yeah, it would be nice if you were potty trained at some point. Most people usually get that before their late 20’s, but no pressure! Now on with the Hidden Highlights!

Hidden Highlights for WWE RAW: Monday, May 28, 2007 by JP

JP: I love RAWs from Canada because the Canadian fans are some of the most creative and involved you could ever imagine. Normally I’m pretty anti-smark, but Canadian crowds just make me laugh. That you could have that many people acting like they were in the ECW Arena is incredible. You find a way to get 15,000 to chant insider information! Anyway, I bring this up because I wanted to give some special props to the originality is signs I saw in the audience. Two of my favorites were:

“Smart marks hate John Cena” – How very true

“I hate signs” – Just classic

(3) Only one smart one:

Our opening… err… contest of the evening was a Divas’ Water-fight Cross-brand Battle Royal featuring a whole bunch of the ladies from different brands. Aside from being impressed that Michelle McCool’s wrestling training has been going well and that she could have a future as a wrestler if she stopped trying to look like every other generic bimbo (remember when she wore army fatigues and, you know, had her own personality? Yeah, I cared a little more about her then.), I was much more impressed by our WWE Women’s Champion Melina. Now, while most of the… classily dressed (oh, I’m going to ping that designer every chance I get) ladies came down in high heels (who the heck wears high heels to a wrestling match?!?!) or went barefoot (at least makes sense), only one woman thought about her footwear, and that was Melina. She came down to the ring wearing deck shoes (as Jerry Lawler called them), which gave her a much better grip while walking around and stopping her from slipping. Extremely smart move my Melina that stayed within the theme of “beach clothes”.

(2) World’s Greatest Tag Team of Hidden Highlights:

Later in the evening, the World Tag Team Champions the Hardyz teamed up with Cade and Murdoch and took on the World’s Greatest Tag Team, Johnny Nitro, and Kenny Dykstra (sub-kudos to Kenny for the hilarious road kill boa to show he was in a team with Nitro). Sometime into the match, Charlie Haas had Jeff Hardy in the ring but was in need of a tag. In one of the most unique and effective moves I have seen for getting a tag, Haas put Jeff in a front chancery and then rolled and rolled—maintaining the lock on the chancery—until he got to the corner to make the tag. How incredibly smart is that? It’s about time Haas started showing off that he is an accomplished amateur wrestler.

As a bonus Hidden Highlight, after making the tag to Shelton Benjamin, Benjamin jumped over the top rope hitting Hardy on the way down. Now that would be an OK Hidden Highlight, except the real Hidden Highlight was that Jerry Lawler called it! King, looks like you are trying to get back into my good graced by calling Hidden Highlights. Well… it worked.

(1) Do you like my new dress?:

Of course, I would be remised to let this section go by without noting all of the modifications to the RAW set! This is the first time the RAW set has had a major change since Ric Flair was in charge. There have been small changes, yes, but these were pretty significant:

Instead of the rhombus shaped Titan-tron, it has been replaced with a much wider rectangle that is further up in the sky

A black background with colored light bulbs was added behind, above, below, and to the sides of the Titan-tron, allowing customized color drawing and words (like “CENA”).

The brown blocks on the ramp-way entrance were moved forward by a good deal, cutting down the “stage” area.

The ring ropes became black instead of red and the ring posts became red instead of black.

All and all, an interesting change in scenery. I think they need to change out the blocks on the stage to have the complete affect, but it is a good start. I always enjoy a freshening up of the set.

Ex-post facto note: After watching Saturday Night’s Main Event, it is apparent to me that RAW and SNME taped on the same night (which I should have already known). Now it will be interesting to see if they keep any of the elements that they used from the double tapings or return to the regular RAW set next week.

JT: I also noticed that while they usually show the TV angle on the big screen, they are now showing a real time angle from a different camera, so not only does the live crowd get to see the action from the perspective from their seat, they’re also seeing a different angle that what we are seeing at home! (at least, that was the case in this week’s SmackDown, not sure about RAW) And I agree completely on Haas; him and Shelton both need to start busting out the move-sets!

Hidden Highlights for ECW on SciFi: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 by JT

JT: Burke gets a win over CM Punk in the “cleanest” of fashions, Vince won’t go away, Thorn has his Balls in check, and Orton continues to hit people with RK-Concussions! How about Striker bringing up a tusk-less elephant! And this week, we have photographic evidence! A new trend here at HH!

(3) Excellent Execution:

During the CM Punk vs. Elijah Burke match, CM Punk had managed to get Burke to the ground, and delivered a wicked kick to his back. Burke popped up and seemed to be quite motivated. What transpired to me was almost a perfect sequence. Both men were standing, and it went down like this:

Punk kicked Elijah in his left thigh, to which Burke kind of grabbed it and moaned.

Punk kicked Elijah in his lower back, forcing Burke to drop the right knee and grab it as well, yet still remaining half up.

Punk then kicked Elijah in the left shoulder, causing Burke to grab it and complete the fall to the mat.

To me, this was just beautiful. Instead of no-selling a shot or going down on only one move, Burke remained with Punk the entire time, selling a shot here or there that finally led to him falling to the mat. It does take two to tango, and I will therefore give both Punk and Burke props for making this whole six second interaction transpire.

(2) Ouch, that still hurts, part 1:

In a complete shocker, I have to give another Highlight that occurred during the match between two of ECW’s most potential stars, Punk and Burke. After Burke was on the outside, he got a little pissy and decided he needed a chair. He began to get into the ring, and Punk came down and hit him with a Dropkick between the ropes. Burke fell to the outside, and immediately began to hold his chest/rib area (where the chair was). As we were about to go to commercial, there was a brief second where Burke reached down with his left hand an briefly grabbed his left thigh – the same one from moments earlier in our previous HH! I liked this because we so often see someone take a two minute BRUTAL beating on a body part, and they don’t sell it five minutes later. Here we have ONE KICK to the body part, and Burke remembered to sell it almost three minutes later. Yes, we like this Burke guy, and reasons like that are why.

(1) Ouch, that still hurts, part 2:

Well, this may be a HH first. I AGAIN have to give love to Elijah Burke. After Marcus Cor Von hit CM Punk with that vicious Pounce, Burke grabbed him and got the pin. As he did, Cor Von was leaving the ring, but as soon as he heard the bell ring, he immediately got back into the ring to celebrate with Burke. Cor Von lifted Burke’s hand with his left (Cor Von’s left) hand, and then reached over with his right hand and patted Burke on the stomach. As soon as he did, Burke kind of grimaced, sent his right hand over Cor Von’s way in that “dude, don’t”, and made a face of “I still hurt there man”!

He was yet AGAIN selling an earlier injury, this time the ribs which happened to occur in our previous HH. Look, positive or not, there are guys who have been in this business for 10 years who do not remember to sell things later in the match/finish. Burke showed on MORE THAN ONE occasion that these are the little things he thinks about (and he isn’t even a former wrestler, he’s a former boxer) during the match and I have to give him credit for it. He even continues to sell it after they head up the ramp, as you can see here:

The leader of the Continuity Police, JP, should be quite thrilled with those last two.

JP: Of course I’m thrilled, that was a really good sequence! I’m just devastated that you are you using the Tivo/SingBox/Vista connection to grab screen caps making me look lazy. Damn you boy! Maybe you could help me out a little?

Hidden Highlights for TNA iMPACT: Thursday, May 31, 2007 by JP

JP: It is week one of three of the latest television tapings, and the Slammiversary card continued to come together. Now, I don’t read spoilers, so I have no idea who the two “former world champs” that are going to face off next week are going to be. Taking this from a total mark perspective, the former World Champs in TNA are:

Abyss – Still out on kayfabe injury. Could come back in this match have Jim Mitchell’s new monster destroy him so he losses. Probability: 2-1

AJ Styles – Already won his spot. Probability: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000-1

Christian Cage – His match seems the ultimate payoff in the last week, so this seems to be too soon. Should be a night of teasing Cage. Probability 10-1

Gail Kim – Bet you forgot that she was a WWE Women’s World Champion? Seems like something Russo would not forget (see: Medusa), but Gail isn’t up to competing with men like Medusa. Probability: 10,000,000,000-1

Jackie Moore – Not only is Jackie a former WWE Women’s World Champion as well, but she has beaten several men. And although I would not put it past Russo to have these two women square off, I don’t think Dutch Mantel, Jarrett, and Carter would allow this tournament to be belittled by a match like this (no offense to Gail and Jackie, I’m fans of both). Probability: 10,000,000,000-1

Jeff Jarrett – We already know he was not at the tapings due to personal issues. It’s not going to happen. Probability: Infinity-1

Jerry Lynn – Oh, you don’t remember that Lynn is an ECW Champion. Him losing (or being a darkhorse) would make this a good a main event match. He’s quite a possibility. Probability: 5-1.

Kevin Nash – It’s been a while since we’ve seen Big Kev in the ring, but that’s because he’s had knee surgery and a heart attack. Nash is in no condition to compete, and his return should be built up huge not thrown away on TV. Then again, that has not been TNA’s best suit recently. Probability: 10,000-1

Kurt Angle – Already won his spot. Probability: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000-1

Mr. Backlund – Bob Backlund is still trying to get his release for his match with Shelley, so this is not likely at all. Probability: 10,000,000,000-1

Raven – This is an interesting one. Raven is former ECW and NWA/TNA champion, which puts him in high regard. He has won King of the Mountain before, which makes him a great darkhorse (which he was when he won the title). This could make a compelling an interesting story for Raven, and give him something to do for the first time in a while. Probability 2-1

Rhino – Rhino seems to getting involved in this LAX match-up, but that doesn’t mean he can’t J-O-B it out in the build. Probability: 5-1

Ron Killings – Would be a good choice if he was not still out with an injury. Killings is good for a J-O-B and a darkhorse, but he’s just not available. Probability: 10,000,000,000-1

Scott Steiner – He already has a match at Slammiversary, so why would he be involved in this? Probability: 10,000,000,000-1

Shane Douglas- Douglas is waaaaaay out of his prime shape to be wrestling. Plus, we haven’t seen him in forever. Probability: 10,000,000-1

Sting – Already had a chance and lost, now getting involved with Christopher Daniels. Then again, Cornette could give him a second chance because of the outside interference. This would give Daniels a second opportunity to cost Sting. Probability: 100-1

Vince Russo – Had to throw it in there. Probability: 10,000,000,000,000,000-1

Ok, that leaves the question of who in the world is available.

Goldberg – TNA cannot afford his price tag right now. Plus, this would have leaked beyond the spoilers in a second. Probability: 10,000,000,000,000,000-1

Terry Funk – It’s been a while since Funk was around TNA, but I don’t see any reason for him to come back now. Besides, Funk is older than Backlund, so that storyline would make even less sense if Funk were allowed to wrestle. Probability: 10,000,000,000,000,000-1

Larry Zbyszko – Larry is actually available and has a long history with TNA. Still, only Larry sees himself as a wrestler anymore. Everyone else sees him as a mouthpiece. Probability: 10,000,000,000,000,000-1

Ultimate Warrior – See Goldberg plus a few dollars. Probability: 10,000,000,000,000,000-1

Lex Luger – Needs the work and has the history with TNA. Would not make a big splash but could be an interesting J-O-B. Probability: 1,000-1

Vader – He’s been back in the states for a while and has not been signed to a WWE Legends contract. Still, he has no history with TNA so this would strange and out of the blue. Probability: 10,000-1

Macho Man Randy Savage – He actually HAS wrestled for TNA before, and it left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths. Probability: 10,000,000,000-1

Hulk Hogan – NO WAY could this happen without the entire world knowing. Probability: 10,000,000,000,000,000-1

Paul “Giant/Big Show” Wright – An interesting possibility, but his return should mean a little more than this match. I think he’s fine not doing anything at the moment. Probability: 10,000-1

Christ Jericho – Jericho has all the reasons in the world to come to TNA, but he’s still busy doing all of his other projects. This does not seem like the time for Jericho to return either. Probability: 10,000-1

Diamond Dallas Page – Page has a history with TNA as well. Although he did not seem happy at the end of his last run, he could be brought back. He is actually a fairly likely outsider that it would be ok to bring back without a ton of fanfare. Probability: 1,000-1

Bret Hart – This dude can barely walk still. Probability: 10,000,000,000,000,000-1

Sid Vicious – Sid has been wrestling for two months, and TNA lacks monsters. This could be an interesting one. Probability: 1,000-1

The Rock – Way too much Hollywood to be bothered with little TNA. Probability: 10,000,000,000,000,000-1

Harley Race – Has a long history with TNA, but is just too old. Probability: 10,000,000,000,000,000-1

Tommy Rich – Oh, I forget he was champion, too. For good reason! Probability: 10,000,000,000,000,000-1

Carlos Colon – Oh, he isn’t going to jeopardize his children’s futures in the WWE. Probability: 10,000,000,000-1

Sabu – I think he’s still under his 90-day no compete clause. Plus he and TNA did not have a good run last time. Probability: 10,000,000,000,000,000-1

Ken Shamrock – It’s been a while since we’ve seen him, and it would be an interesting one-shot to do the J-O-B. Plus, it harkens back TNA history. Probability: 1,000-1

Some Japanese guy – TNA has been working on their Japanese relationships; I could see the possibility. Probability: 1,000-1

David Arquette – Had to throw it in there. Probability: 10,000,000,000,000,000-1

Wow, I really didn’t realize how many former champions were available. That’s actually quite interesting. Anyway, I’m voting for the return of Abyss vs. Raven, with Raven getting the win when Abyss is taken out by James Mitchelle’s new monster.

(3) I like new stuff:

As noted in the RAW section above, I like to check out the scenery and see what new things have been added—and one of my favorite places to that in TNA is in Jim Cornette’s office. Whoever works on that thing is obviously a master of details and perfectionist because new things are being added all the time. This week, Cornette got a fax machine and framed copy of “Sole” magazine. Seriously, what is that about?

(2) That’s a quick move:

Although noted by many other writers on this site this week, I was quite shocked to remember just how good Kaz (Frankie “The Future” Kazarian) is in that ring when he took on X-Division champion Chris Sabin in a non-title contest. Kaz showed the world again why he is a top tier in-ring talent as well as a true personality. Also, he showed that he is master of Hidden Highlights. During the match, Sabin went for a spinning round-kick, Kazarian not only ducked the shot, but used his own momentum to turn his duck into a round-house sweep! That is pure wrestling and athletic goodness that deserves major props.

(1) 3-2-1 YAY!:

Earlier in the broadcast, the Christian Coalition was out back strategizing what to do about AJ Styles and Tomko having to have off against each other. At the end, Christian had the three put their hands in the center and cheer “Christian Cage” on 3. Now, since wrestling is predetermined, AJ obviously knew that Tomko was going to grab him. A sign of a bad actor is when they know something is coming and purposely cut off their lines prematurely because they know a cut off is coming. What my director always taught me to do was to continue to the lines, to think in the moment like nothing was going to happen, like you don’t know the future. This is exactly what AJ Styles did. Instead of just cutting off before the cheer because Tomko was going to attack, he actually started to chant “Christian Cage” because he had the time! Kudos to AJ for being in the moment and playing the character as in life, not as in a bad show.

(he is just finishing up the “Chrish” in Christian in this shot)

JT: Man, we’re using a lot of bullet points this week, eh? And also, wow, I had literally forgotten about Kaz; is it me or has he really not been on television in THAT long???

Hidden Highlights for WWE SmackDown!: Friday, June 1, 2007 by JT

JT: Benoit and Hardy get a non-surprising win over MVP and the Miz, Jillian Hall still cant sing, midgets wrestled (I’ll leave it at that), Kane almost defeats Mark Henry, the tag champs keep their belts for now, and apparently neither Edge nor Batista need luck, or have luck, or don’t have luck… or something. I don’t know, a bunch of chest poking!

(3) Keeping it fair in the interest of endurance:

We’ve given Snitsky love. We’ve given Miz love. We’ve even (sigh) given the Boogeyman love. Now, we add another to our list of unlikely candidates, this time in the form of Jillian Hall! During her match with Michelle McCool (who the heck knew she was an Academic All-American softball player at FSU!? And maybe more surprisingly, trained by Finlay!), Jillian got her into a stretch. What I noticed about this was her right hand which was applying pressure. You see, Jillian Hall made sure that she was pushing down on her chin, not Michelle’s neck. Had she have had the neck, the ref would have been forced to start counting! This is actually solid technique on Jillian’s part to make sure that she could apply the move as long as she saw fit (unless of course, Michelle throws a knee to her face like she did!).

(2) Does the hotel come with a loaded bar and little mints as well?:

As most of you know, we around here are a couple of background whores, because they really can provide so many little things you may not notice because you’re attention is focused on the main action of a scene – be it a match or promo. In the locker room, you had Hornswoggle warming up for his match against the Little Boogeyman. If you looked behind him (not a difficult thing to do as he is so small), hanging on the wall was none other than a mini-robe! What the hell!? Do Leprechauns take showers after their matches? Probably not, and in fact is more than likely neither do midget wrestlers; we’ve seen before that the E has used miniature props for their little guys, and it was very humorous to me to see what very well may be Dylan Postl’s real robe. Even if it isn’t, another great job by the prop dept to come up with something for them.

(1) Sneak a peak anyone?:

With about 15 minutes left on the show, I was actually able to catch this one from earlier in the evening because they were showing us a recap of the Kane vs. Henry match, only the shot they gave us on one particular instance was from a different camera angle than the original! Anyway, that’s not really the highlight at all. No, this one goes to Kane. When Mark Henry slammed him into the ringpost, he then had his eyes closed to sell the shot. He began to lean forward, and as he did he opened his eyes (more of a peek really) for a SPLIT SECOND to see where he was falling (as there were cables and cameramen in his path, in fact the very cameraman that gave us our original shot earlier in the evening). He immediately re-closed them confident he had a clear path, and fell at their feet. I’m telling you if you blinked, you missed it, but he did use a millisecond long of awareness to make sure he wasn’t about to fall onto one of the crew around the ring.

(as you can see, eyes closed)

(I know it’s hard to tell, but trust me, his eyes opened for half a second if you were watching to check, and this is that half second)

(I could have gotten an earlier shot, but it’s obvious that a second later his eyes were again closed and he managed to perfectly fall between two WWE guys [you can see their legs on the left and right side].)

JP: Having Kane fall on you must count as hazard pay, right?

Hidden Highlights for WWE RAW, SmackDown!, and ECW present Saturday Night’s Main Event: Saturday, June 2, 2007 by JT

JT: Cena gets DOMINATED by Khali, Mark Henry interrupts the arm wrestling contest between Vince and Lashley (by order of Vince, btw), the faces again (Benoit/Dave) get a win over the heels (Edge/MVP), there was a match with little and big people which I’ll disregard for obvious reasons, and a bunch of weirdoes beat another bunch of weirdoes! Let me also add that the opening package at the beginning about “Biggest, Smallest, Strongest, Strangest” etc. to me was just as good as the opening last time with all the super quick promos from wrestlers. A change of pace is always nice.

(3) I’m not touching that!:

Well, we’ve talked before about how crew is usually very quick to get things out of the way so that there are no accidents or anything. This can be anything from putting a wrestlers jacket (or belt) away, to just getting a prop of some kind off up the outside of the ring, to even a ref getting a foreign object up off of the ring mat. Well, that is apparently for normal wrestlers! When Hornswaggle escaped the clutches of the Boogeyman and retreated up the ramp, Boogeyman followed. And, when the camera panned up the ramp, you could see that the Boogeyman’s clock (and little clock) were still there! I guess nobody, be it wrestler or ring man or crew worker, dare mess with the Boogeys’ stuff!

(2) Oh, JT, not again with this shit:

So, I think it’s pretty much safe to say that we beat the “Green paint stain on Eugene’s jacket” thing to death, revived it, set it on fire and watched it burn, brought it back again, and then shot it in the head. That being said, I’m going to have to bring out the pads. We all saw Eugene debut his new look tonight. Cape, tights, shirt, etc. A whole new get up; I thought so anyway. Everything about his outfit was indeed new and different… except the boots! I know this because I was able to spot – yup, you guessed it – a green stain on his white boots, just like his jacket. Now, normally I might have let this slide because it has been covered so much. But seeing the boots made me realize that we had never even considered anything else. We took the jacket for granted so much because it had been talked about so many times, that is all we looked for anytime we saw him when in fact, that same green stain had been on his boots as well. Shame on all of us! Just because we see something doesn’t mean there isn’t something else there, and Eugene proved it tonight.

(that’s the best shot I could get, but believe me, it’s green. Next time you see him, check the left side (his left) of his left boot; it’s a very defined stained)

(1) Wait, there are people that actually like him?:

I know that JP mentioned a couple of signs earlier in his RAW intro, but I felt the need to take it a step farther and give a particular sign in general some HH love! During the opening match, there was a guy in the front row who held up a sign: “2007 M.O.Y + MIC SKILL = BOOS?”… excuse me a second.

………………….HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…………………..

Now, this is OBVIOUSLY referring to John Cena, as he has both mic skills, a couple of MOTY candidates, and it’s during his match. Now, there are many of us who recognize that a lot of the problem with Cena is the booking, advertising, etc; yet we overlook these things in recognition of the fact that he is a talented and entertaining perform. There are also people who – while they don’t think he is useless – just aren’t entertained by him, and this is fine as well. This sign is in no way directed at us.

This sign is clearly a big fat FUCK YOU to anyone who qualifies as a “Cena Hater”, who simply show up to events to boo him or refuse to acknowledge any sort of talent on his part be it through talks with their friends or online discussions such as the forums (I’d also like to remind said haters that Vince still got the $30 bucks you plunked out to go boo him). Being that we here at HH are supporters of Cena, I saw no reason why we couldn’t give this sign a little more attention than it may have garnished from our good friend in the front row.

JP: Let’s not forget that these are the people who were praising Cena for his in ring work when he debuted on SmackDown! and even before that in OVW. I’ll give you, Cena’s style has been extremely curtailed compared to what he is capable of. But that is the story with everyone in the WWE. I don’t hear people booing Chris Benoit because he is only doing 1/10th of the moveset I’ve seen him do in WCW, which was 1/2 the moveset he did in ECW, which is 1/3rd the moveset he did in Japan/Canada/Independents. It just doesn’t make sense to me.

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 JP gets to pick our Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights of the week.

JP: It’s the past, present, future, and just plain weird crop of Write-ins. So, *GENERAL WARNING*:: some parts of the following Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights may be edited for grammar, spelling, and English translation…

We’ll start off this week where we left off last week, and Jeremy Haston will bring us there!

Just picked up on a couple of Highlights and wanted to share them with you.

First from last week’s SmackDown. After Mark Henry came out for his match, but before his opponent was announced, JBL referenced Admiral Yamamoto of Japan and quoted him saying, “We have awoken the sleeping giant.” As he’s repeating the line, Funaki’s music hit and the Japanese flag waved on the TitanTron. I thought is was a very good Highlight from JBL and am a little bit surprised that you guys didn’t pick up on it.

JP: I think I’ve heard him say the line enough that I didn’t particularly pick up the reference that time, but an interesting catch.

Second, from TNA last week. When Christian is walking out towards the ring as Angle and Sting are out there I noticed something I have never seen before. Christian was wearing a Lance Armstrong bracelet. The bracelets, in case you didn’t know, is a fundraiser for cancer treatments and awareness. Not having any old episodes of TNA to look back at I can’t say for sure if he’s worn it before. But if not, it might be his way of showing support for Jill Jarrett. That might be a stretch, but you guys have often said that it’s what makes us enjoy the show more and being from Austin, TX, the same town as Lance Armstrong, it caught my attention and made me think.

JP: No, I totally noticed it, too, last week and didn’t think he’d been wearing it before. That could be as good a reason as any, and it’s really sad that Jill has now passed on. Chris Page will make us feel a little better with his thoughts, though:

Just wanted to note on last week when I noted about Sabu being in the video package. I don’t know if this might have been just something over here in Britain (actually I’m assuming it was) but Sabu was DEFINITELY in the opening credits of last weeks ECW doing the Arabian Facebuster. When I recorded Raw this week, I let the player run and I also ended up re-recording the repeat of ECW so I double checked and sure enough he was still there. That said, this week he wasn’t there, now replaced by Lashley. Just thought I’d throw that in so as not to make me look like I hadn’t been paying attention.

JP: See, things are different in overseas markets, and this is something I’d like to delve further into in future issues. But people overseas, if you happen to see something on your broadcast that didn’t happen in the States or vice versa, be sure to let us know.

Oh, actually, I’ve thought of one. From Judgement Day when Great Khali was beating up Cena on the outside, J.R. remarked that Khali isn’t stupid enough to just let Cena get counted out since the title was on the line. But of course he HAD done just that several months ago when he faced Jeff Hardy for the IC belt. I guess he’s learning as well.

JP: And we’ve gotten write-ins about Umaga learning, too! Look like the monsters are going to school. Up next we have first timer Ian with something I meant to call JT out on last week:

I haven’t written to you before but I thought I would point out that on Edge’s title belt either side of his name is the Rated R logo. It isn’t obvious at first because they are not in black like his name but engraved on. You can see them briefly right at the start of SmackDown when he comes out and holds the title above his head, there is a quick close up and then it is difficult to spot after that.

JP: I did totally notice these as well, but it took me a bit to realize what I was looking it. The stickers are like orange-red, so they kind of blend with the belt when the light is on it.

JT: Hey, I noticed it, I just didn’t use it! To make up for the no-sell:

JP: Pictures don’t prove anything! You could have taken that whenever. Speaking of things you didn’t pick up on and that I didn’t chastise you about, Goob from the 411mania forums chimes in with:

I have a hidden highlight from SD last week that I was surprised no one else sent in. Whenever the Boogeyman comes out for Jillian she rolls out of the ring and as she’s walking backwards up the ramp she say’s something to the effect of. “Oh no, I’m not letting you get me again.” Which I thought was great continuity from her remembering that it was Boogeyman who bit the mole of her face, and getting the line in, even if she wasn’t sure the producers would be showing her instead of the Boogeyman.

JP: I definitely got that one, too. At least they reference that she used to be JBL’s image consultant, but that is a good bit of history way too often overlooked. Finally moving into this week, first timer Justin Plummer shot us an interesting one from RAW:

I was just watching the Randy Orton/RVD match on Raw (5-28-07). The crowd began to chant “TNA” and shortly after RVD hit his usual move where he flips his opponent from the corner with his feet. Immediately after this he appeared to mimic Kurt Angle’s taunt. I didn’t tape it so I can’t go back and check, but it looked pretty clear to me. Pretty ballsy if it is really what he did.

Let me know if anyone else thought this happened.

JP: I caught the TNA chants, but I’m not so sure about the mimicking of Kurt Angle. I do expect RVD to make some overtures, though, on television. That will definitely be Hidden Highlight worthy. Moving on, Mike E. checks in with a good read:

Of the two matches I happened to catch on RAW (The Battle Royal and the 8-Man Tag) I noticed, in the tag match, that Matt and Jeff were cleaning house and were on fire. Matt had hurried over to his corner to climb the turnbuckle where Cade and Murdoch were standing. Murdoch, realizing he was still holding the tag rope, raised his hands and backed off really quick so as not to tag himself in by touching Matt. I may be reading way too much into it, but that also plays into their whole “face turn.” The typical heel would’ve slapped the “hot” face on the back, stole his thunder and went in for the pin.

JP: No, I think it all leads to the Cade/Murdoch face/not face turn. By backing off, he also let Hardy know that he was not going to attack him then. Another first timer Raphael Siegrist has a couple of his own. I just picked him because he addressed the letter to me and not JT:

I have two hidden highlights for you. The first one was from Monday Night Raw. During a commercial break, an advertisement for a MMA competition was shown. The highlight is one of the fighters that was shown was Brock Lesnar. Coincidence? I think not.

JP: Most definitely not! The MMA company knows that Lesner got started in the WWE and they want to attract his fan base.

The second highlight is when I re-watched the 2004 royal rumble match. When Eric Bischoff came to the ring to cheer on superstars, who did he go to? Edge. When Theodore Long came out, who did he go to? Rey Misterio. Both men won their respective brand’s title the next year in matches linked to Wrestlemania (Edge with MOTB and Misterio at Wrestlemania)

JP: An interesting ex-post-facto Hidden Highlight, like Vince McMahon complaining about bald people. Moving into ECW, we have regular upon regular Fixxer315:

While not particularly hidden, I thought that Elijah Burke’s immediate cover of Punk after the rope slip-up was a great heads-up move. The fact that Burke would take advantage of a Punk mistake added realism to the match and showed just how on-the-ball Burke was (both in terms of character and in terms of the man behind the character.

JP: Can I say I 100% agree. I was so impressed by Burke’s quick reaction time and the fact that he did not have a surprised look on his face that it made the mess up look like a seamless part of the match. Also, kudos to Tazz for covering up for Punk saying that there was so much sweat on the ropes because the two had been bouncing off of them so much. Made total sense to me! Skipping back in time again QuickNSpeedyE says:

I noticed something during MVP’s US title celebration on the 5/25 edition of SD! The new champ was coming down to the ring in a flashy car, true to his character. Here’s the HH though, it was a Mustang! Of course he would be riding around in a car made in the good old US and A.

JP: Mustangs are fun to drive and all, but I prefer reliable Japanese vehicles. Sorry USA, you just don’t do it for me. Thankfully, Corey Van Slyke returns us to this week’s SmackDown!:

Tiny HH this time, and a big rant

When the referee counted Little Boogeyman for the 3 count, he [Little Boogey] spat one of the worms [at the ref], [and the ref] looked at his hand, shook it off, and then told the timekeeper to ring the bell.

P.S…. DON’T FUCK WITH HORNSWOGGLE! FUTURE CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPION!! FEAR THE TADPOLE SPLASH!!!

JP: Hornswoggle was damn impressive in that match.

JT: What is really funny about Corey’s comments is that the wrestler who plays Hornswoggle actually held the NWA Wisconsin (that gave us Kennedy) X-Division title.

JP: Crazy. Speaking of crazy, wrapping up this week is… well, I’m not going to put the name to protect the guilty.

This is a hidden highlight from a local Indy show that recently ran here last weekend, and I just had to share it. Me and my friends had just finished finals week at the college, and decided to celebrate by watching a card, and killing what was left of our exam-ed out brain cells with much beer and spirits. With the crowd around 300 people, it was bigger than what we were expecting, which is always a good thing. Most of the crowd around ringside seemed to be family and friends of the workers, or maybe just out on a weekend pass from the prison. A retirement community must have brought by some of the fans, cause I swear, there were like 7 rascal scooters lined up at ringside, with the sweet smell of granny shit and ben-gay mixed with impending death in the air.

JP: Wow, that’s the most description we’ve ever received about an audience. But man, this better be going somewhere.

As far as the hidden highlight, well here it is. This match was billed a no dq match, must be a winner. Well, some fan (a plant) threw a cheese grader in the ring, which you could tell had been altered to do no real harm. So one of my buddies, (under the influence of the good folks at Budweiser), went to the bathroom, “defiled” his socks, and came back to his seat. (socks in hand mind you). While the match was still in progress, he throws them in the ring.

JP: Oh that’s just awful!! What, there’s more?!

One of the workers must have remembered the Socko skit from years prior, so he grabs one, puts it in his pants for a sec, pulls it out, and puts it in the other guys MOUTH!!!! Once they realize what it was, we were laughing so hard, I shit out a kidney. We had to run out the back door to our pickup, to escape the other workers beating the shit (all pun intended) out of us. We did get a few dents in the truck while pulling away, but ahh the memories.

JP: I’m totally assuming this was in the Midwest somewhere!

I know you probably can’t put this in a hidden highlight column, but we all are fans of your site, and just thought it was a great story to tell. Take care guys.

JP: I’m… just speechless.

JT: Um… way to give back to the wrestlers? I have to say I’m rather speechless on that one as well! When the goal is to enjoy the wrestling show more, I suppose we can’t really put limits on what that means!

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: It almost feels like something was missing…

JP: NOTHING IS MISSING! YOU NOTICE NOTHING!

JT: If you say so… Can’t say I’m looking forward to this week; we’ll be a man short for four days at work which means the glory of hectic-ness, AND I’m already scheduled for an extra day. Yay. Although, I will kind of enjoy watching San Antonio destroy the Cavs a couple of times since they knocked out my Pistons (and all you people who want to call me a “doubter” and tell me how “that’s what they said about the Pistons”… whatever you say. The Spurs are going to humble LeBron James, and you know what, I think it’s the best thing for him. He is going to take his loss like a man, learn and grow from it, and own the NBA for the better part of the next 10 years. It’s his last growing pain, let him take it. I’m aware that they are 2-0 against the Spurs, but like I said, whatever you say). Have a good week my little boomslangs!

JP: Normally those sports and work rants are in the intro. You really are changing things up. Well, save some stuff for the 100th issue, just EIGHT WEEKS AWAY!!!

Thank you for joining us for THE 92nd 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!