Hidden Highlights 06.25.07: Issue #95 (Part 2 of 2)

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag and James “JT” Thomlison

Issue #95 – Part 2 of 2

Continued from Part 1

JT: Whoa, I feel like I was cut off mid-sentence. Ok JP, maybe you’ll have some energy for Mike L. wants to yell at us (or really, JP) about lack of Black Machismo love!:

Maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but I haven’t seen you guys give props to Jay Lethal for going overboard with his Macho Man gimmick. On the most recent episode of Impact prior to the Slammiversary PPV, Nash, Lethal, & Dutt were sitting in a circle when Lethal made the remark “I gotta get my belt back from the Dragon.” (referencing the Savage/Steamboat fued) to which Nash replied, “Sabin, not the Dragon.”

Also the week prior Lethal made a remark about Jake Roberts ruining his wedding, to which Nash told him he wasn’t married.

JT: Well, since JP has Impact duties thanks to my TiVo scheduling, I’d say take it up with him! Kidding aside though, you are right. Those are both really good examples of how Lethal has really thrown himself into this character, and done a GREAT job. If it helps, I did give Lethal some love in last week’s “Wrestler of the Week” since not a lot of what he does is “hidden”. He’s over the top and in your face, just like Macho, which is the point. Also Mike, we did notice (and mention) the switch of the Vengeance match name to be *sensitive towards the death of Vince*.

JP: Yeah, I’m going to have to say I didn’t mention those things about Jay Lethal because they were Blatant Highlights. Not saying they are not awesome, because they are. I hope I made it up to you with all the Jay Lethal love I’ve given out in the past few days.

JT: That was rather cordial. What happened to angry JP who snapped at a reader and gave him rules for how he should learn to write to us? Or the one that attacked Floyd for weeks even when he knew he was wrong? Getting us into SmackDown this week is Lynx R. who I’m including, because JT being wrong is always fun:

Not a newy, but maybe a twist on one you guys picked up last week. At the moment I don’t have Pay TV, so can’t see any of the shows in motion, but I kinda wondered about the case against Charles Robinson. Another angle to this is that normally in that kind of situation, the one standing (this case Edge) takes advantage of the one still laying (this case Flair). By the looks, Edge didn’t do this straight away, so I don’t know if it is a rule or not but Robinson could have been following the shoot refereeing guidelines and started to count Flair, which normally wouldn’t happen cause Edge (or whoever the attacker is in a usual situation) would have been on Flair straight away. I could be wrong, but this could turn it into a kudos for Robinson for doing it.

JT: And confirming this for us is 411’s own Matthew Sforcina, who has also been keeping his eye on the new and improved refs!:

Remember how refs are meant to be more assertive? Rules are to be followed now? Well, a count out can happen out of the ring, or in the ring, and BOTH MEN DO NOT HAVE TO BE DOWN. Edge was up, so he couldn’t be counted out, but if Flair hadn’t have responded (due to the fact that Orton knocked him the fuck out a short while ago in a match) to the 10 count, Edge would win by CO, unless he broke it. The refs have usually let that go, if one guy was up they break the count for both, but now that the refs are reasserting themselves, that means following all the rules. And this is one of them.

JT: Orton did indeed knock him the fuck out. He’s been doing a lot of that lately! Good call on the ref though, we’ve been doing our homework here trying to get them some credit for the new “enforcement” of things, so getting one from the readers only helps the cause! Although, this makes me look like a complete ass as I gave Charles Robinson shit for starting the count. Yay me! Oh well, can’t win them all! And Matthew, Vince isn’t really dead (zing!). More on SD from The 2nd Mouse regarding the tag champs and company:

I don’t know if you would consider this a HH or not, but I just loved it a couple of weeks ago on SmackDown! when, during an interview with Deuce & Domino w/Cherry the interviewer asked what would happen if the threesome were to be split up during the draft, and suggested that Cherry might be sent to ECW…D & D responded with “what are you, crazy or sumpin? She goes where we go” …and Cherry pipes in through a mouthful of gum “yeah, where we go.” Hysterical! I thought it was a perfect moment for Cherry since we haven’t gotten to know her too much yet and it says she is loyal to the boys, if not too terribly bright.

JT: Completely agreed. She hasn’t been able to do much – either on the mic or physically (I suspect the skates create a safety issue) – so it’s nice to see her take what she can get. It’d be nice to see a little more interaction out of her, but now I guess we’ll have to just deal with what they give us. CJC thinks the sticker dept. may be a bit shabby!:

Many people have noticed that Edge has little Rated R stickers either side of the name plate of his belt but on the episode of Smackdown where Benoit fought Edge a few weeks ago when Edge came out at the start of the show to host The Cutting Edge as well as when he made his entrance for his match he had the stickers but after the match was over and the ref handed him his belt the stickers had disappeared. Where did they go?

JT: To start, I’ll assume that it is a sticker rather than an engraving. Secondly, I would honestly say it’s nothing more than lighting, or it fell off. I’ll give credit because while everyone seems to be pointing out the R’s, you are pointing out the lack of R! Hitting us from overseas this week is Adam W., who admits it’s more of a tongue-in-cheeker than actual HH.

I saw this pic (attached) of John Cena (the fav of young uns and women alike) and noticed a strange coincidence…

As you can see, the title belt nameplate uses the same font/typeface as the CE stamp we get in Europe usually on items that are safe for children similar; to the FCC stamp you guys have.

Co-incidence?

Well… yes probably, but it made me chuckle seeing as Cena is marketed to the kids

JT: I agree. The chance of the two being connected is almost guaranteed to be microscopic, but when thinking about it like that, it is definitely worth a chuckle. One of those “figures” things.

I’m gonna go ahead and let John B. in here because he is a regular and so therefore shouldn’t be ignored, but I honestly don’t see much merit behind his thinking:

I’ve been reading columns as to the “Whodunnit” mystery of Mr. Mcmahon’s “Demise” and everyone I’ve read seems to omit or forget one thing about a former Governor of the state of Minnesota. Specifically what he did when he served with the Naval underwater Demolition team. Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn’t a guy who used work on a Demo. squad know how to build a bomb?

JT: I will give you the connection between Jessie and his military past and further connection to the E, but other than that, I don’t see it. He isn’t involved in the E, and there is really no reason behind it. If anything, he got where he is today BECAUSE of WWE, so no. As we mentioned earlier though, “nothing is far fetched”. We also have DJ S. who made a little crossover note:

Ashish posted this story on June 17th:

Early last week, Mr. Banderas was held by police in Wilkes-Barre, PA and is a “person of interest” in the limousine explosion which may or may not have killed Dr. Vincent Kennedy McMahon, Chairman of the World Wrestling Entertainment.

First off, I thought it was cool that they’re acknowledging Vince’s ‘death’. Second, dig the prefix? Dr. Vincent. Didn’t Vince just get a doctorate from somewhere? Way to go WSX for keeping the competition’s storyline going.

JT: You are correct! Vince recently received an honorary doctorate from Sacred Heart University, which is a well known Catholic university. I don’t know if Vince is Catholic, but the thought of it is really funny. Dean I. wants to give some love to the announcers:

WWE and announcers are playing this angle very closely to the vest…they say EVERY time… “Mr. McMahon” not “Vince McMahon” is presumed dead. Of course, that’s their out…being that Mr. McMahon is the character…not the man. Good job by the announcers not slipping up and calling him Vince. AND…On wwe.com, their “black memorial with the picture in the circle” says “In Memory of “Mr. McMahon.” (I still can’t believe anyone thought he was really dead).

JT: I’ll take it a bit farther. The same is going for the wrestlers as well as the “fans” who showed up to mourn. We’ve noted on the face/heel – Vince/Mr. McMahon thing before, and I’ve actually found it sort of odd that nobody has called him Vince since he died. Almost as if he really had no friends, strictly co-workers! I can understand certain people buying him being dead, just not most of the world. I got an email from someone who lives in a country where they really don’t get a lot of wrestling or wrestling info, so that is understandable; but yeah, if you are John Q. Wrestling Fan, I would be pretty amazed if you bought it as a sincere “accident” that resulted in death. Finishing us up this week is Sportsbuggy, who… well, you’ll see (this is the entire email):

AUSTIN TALK ABOUT THE BEER TRUCK INCIDENT BEING SOME PLACE IN PA.
ACTUALLY AUSTIN DID THAT STUNT IN ALBANY, N.Y. GO BACK AND LISTEN THE TRUCK WAS SUPPLIED BY A LOCAL DISTRIBUTOR.

JT: Ummm… if you say so? Not sure what else to say to that!

JP: That was too much, readers, too much. I have a really busy week next week and if I get to working on this article and have all of that… well, thankfully I’ll have WiFi on a beach in LA. That is all.

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’s officially summer, kids, so get out there and enjoy it. Just make sure you’re home long enough to catch and mail in some Hidden Highlights! Have a good week my little Indonesian lillypads!

JP: Special props to my bud Zishan and his bachelor party this past Saturday. I still can’t walk from the three hours of paintball. And then I sat on a plane for 8 hours. Not a smart weekend in JP land. I’m in the west coast kids, so please don’t rob my house!

Thank you for joining us for THE 95th 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!