Hidden Highlights 04.06.09: Issue #188

Posted by JP Prag on 04.06.2009

CM Punk stomps Christian right in the stomach, John Morrison can’t remember which twin he is spending his time with, Chris Jericho moves his chair away from Ric Flair at a WrestleMania press conference, Madison Rayne knows not to run with scissors, Maryse can’t stop dancing on the ring apron, and more!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #188

Commentator: Previously, on Hidden Highlights…

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Commentator: JP knew absolutely nothing about college basketball.

Dubhagen: JP: There are no Canadian teams in the college basketball tournament. The NCAA only covers American colleges and universities, while Canadian colleges and universities have their own association.

Steve B: JP, love the column week-in and week-out, but if you think there's a Canadian team in the NCAA, you know less than next to nothing about college hoops.

Stenographer: JP did say he knew almost nothing about college basketball! No insult here!

Commentator: Still, some people care more about JP's advice than his knowledge of college sports. This letter came into the Hidden Highlights office just last week:

Dear JP,

I'm a 24 year old guy and met this 40 year old woman on AshleyMadison.com (find your lovers here!). Anyway, I thought things were going great, but then I played her this 37 minute album I made of myself rapping in 1997. After that, she didn't want to see me again. I mean, I listen to it all the time on my iPod, so what's the matter with her?

Thanks for your insight in this.

Jeff Tall
Austin, Massachusetts

JP: Dear Jeff Tall,

Perhaps subconsciously you wanted to scare the girl away because you are in love with someone else. Maybe you have a thing for a 7' 4" Punjabi Playboy? You need to follow your heart in this one and drive your big yellow truck right into his great big heart. You might even consider getting a tattoo of your love on your arm and post it on the internet on a Tuesday. That would be a good first step!

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Commentator: And now, 411mania.com proudly presents…





JP: Hello everyone who is still in Houston, TX in a post-WrestleMania throwdown, and welcome back to Hidden Highlights! If you've never been here before, let me tell you what we are doing in these pages.

Hidden Highlights are about the little things that make the product great. They are about showing the positive motions all those involved in wrestling do to make a better show. The Miz may hold his opponents hands down to make a pin attempt better. Charles Robinson may let a little tear shed from his eye every time someone mentions Ric Flair. Mike Tenay may tell you about the 17 year history of a visiting wrestler and make them sound huge in one sentence. These are all examples of little things that make the product far better.

Every week this article spotlights up to the Top 15 Hidden Highlights of the week, whether the be from television (RAW, ECW of SciFi, iMPACT, SmackDown!, and a PPV or television special if there is one), the past, small shows, tapes, or the indy scene.

This article may have an author, but it is also dependent upon the readers and true fans of professional wrestling—those who love what they watch and want to tell the world what they have found. The Top 15 are chosen from what I see and what readers write-in. Whatever is the best is what you'll see!

And who am I? Well, I am JP Prag, and I bring you Hidden Highlights with one goal in mind: to appreciate all those little things that make a huge difference.

Now let's get on with the Hidden Highlights!


Classic Hidden Highlight

JP: We'll kick it off this week with last night's WrestleMania! Oh wait, no, I'm writing this all before I even leave for the show. Well, look for Hidden Highlights from WrestleMania 25: LIVE! next week here in Hidden Highlights. For now, let's take a trip down memory lane.

JV: This is from SummerSlam 2005 where Mick Foley and Ric Flair were going to clash in a I Quit match. Before that Melina and Mick Foley were discussing the match backstage and Foley says, "I will not say the words I Q U I T". The Hidden Highlight is that he spelt the word, because what happened in his last I Quit match? His use of "I Quit" got used against him in the match! And as the saying goes "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"

JP: This might come as a bit of a shock to you, but we covered almost this exact same point in Issue #51.

Stenographer: For the record:

JT: I was joking! I don't specifically remember it, but I do vaguely remember exactly what Katie is talking about. It was a short feud, and I believe that this definitely happened; kudos to Katie on this one. Speaking of kudos, Clark found a great example of continuity (which you'll of course love JP):

During Mick Foley's promo at ECW, when he was talking about never saying the words "I Quit," he made sure to say that the words "I-Q-U-I-T" never escaped his lips, making sure to spell out the words. Why would he do that? Because the last time he was in an "I Quit" Match, The Rock recorded his voice saying the words "I Quit" (in a similar promo) and played it during there match! Way to not get burned a second time by Mick.

JT: How awesome is that? C-O-N-T-I-N-U-I-T-Y. I'm surprised JP hasn't chimed in already. This is a great call; making sure he isn't taped a second time. He wants to make sure his feud with Flair is completely legit.


SmackDown – Retro 2 Week

JP: Getting a bit closer to the present, SmackDown presents an oddity that has been around for a bit.

Greg from Kayfabeland: When JBL's entrance came up I just happened to look to the inspection sticker in the windshield and I was expecting (for some reason) it to be Connecticut because of WWE's offices. Not only was it not but it was the big state of Texas, JBL's home state. I guess it furthers his rich guy gimmick, or WWE told him to walk or buy his own limo.

JP: If it was JBL's, I'd expect it to be New York! Looks like someone has not re-registered their car yet.


SmackDown – Retro 1 Week

JP: Moving now to just last week, one of my all time favorites Gail Kim made her re-debut in the WWE.

AlexXx: Would have thought this was a no-brainer--

JR saying that Gail Kim really made an "impact" when she took out Michelle & Maryse?

JP: How about the fact that he did it AGAIN this week? Meethinks I sense a pattern brewing in JR's speech.


SmackDown – Retro 1 Week

JP: On the same show, another off the cuff comment looked to have much deeper meaning.

William Jansen: Early in the show JR congratulates Japan on winning the Baseball World Championship to which Tazz sneaks in the comment that he was rooting for Holland. Hollands sports-teams always plays in orange, and are nick-named Oranje (which means orange in Dutch). Since orange was the official color of Tazz back in the day, it was a pretty nice reference even though probably only Europeans would pick up on it.

JP: God I'm going to miss Tazz! The team of him and Striker would have been perfect. Actually, they would have talked over each other too much, but a man can dream.


SmackDown – Retro 1 Week

JP: Apparently we missed quite a few Hidden Highlights from last week's SmackDown because everyone is still talking about it.

Aaron Hussey: During Shawn Michaels' "tribute" to the Undertaker, we could all see the opposite ideals between HBK and Taker, e.g. white vs. black etc. However, there was a slight difference. When Undertaker takes off his hat, he does by putting his left hand on the top of the hat, and his right hand of the bottom. HBK did the opposite, with the right hand on the top and the left on the bottom, showing even more the contrast between the two.

JP: That is an incredibly small detail that is in deserves of its kudos!



RAW

JP: Moving ahead into RAW this week, word choice still seemed to be the name of the game.

FireReaverX: Before his match with Chris Jericho, Lawler hyped Randy Orton's appearance later in the show by saying that he would be addressing his 'reprehensible actions' from last week. I found it funny he'd use that word considering both Orton's attack on Stephanie and Jericho's attack on Flair (which prompted Lawler's match) were the exact incidents Dixie Carter pointed out in response to Vince McMahon's statement that some of the things TNA does on television are... reprehensible.

JP: I doubt it was intentional, but the fact that you picked up on it makes is a wonderfully enjoyable little tidbit. I thought it was funny how you put it all together, and that's all that really matters!


RAW

JP: Of course, announcers aren't the only ones who throw in the details. Our good friend from production always have to do something amazing.

neverAcquiesce: When Michaels emerged from under the casket there was another highlight. When they showed the replay of the attack we could see the Titantron in the background: the production crew was wise enough to keep the camera angle revealing Shawn OFF the Tron so that Taker couldn't look up and see the sneak attack ahead of time. That's clever.

JP: And that is especially good since Shawn used the production crew to his advantage the two weeks prior by watching from the Gorilla Position before hitting the Undertaker with Sweet Chin Music. Looks like Michaels has had the production crew in his back pocket for this entire program.


RAW

JP: RAW also had an 8-man battle royal featuring the participants in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania. While listening in to the commentary, one thing really caught my ear: Jerry Lawler called Finlay "Fit Finlay" not once, but twice during the contest. It's very rare that someone called Finlay by his old school first name of "Fit", so to do it twice just shows how much history Lawler has. The name is totally ingrained in his head and he just cannot let it go!


RAW

JP: Also during the battle royal, Christian had been knocked down to the mat and Kane was prone in the corner. CM Punk saw this scene and headed over to the corner to punch Kane in the face. As he got over there, though, he gave Christian a quick stomp in the stomach! Just because he may like Christian or they are both faces, does not mean that Punk would not take advantage of a prone opponent. Nice work by Punk to get the extra shot in to a man who was defenseless.


RAW

JP: With that match out of the way, there was only one thing left for RAW: main event confrontation time!

Terry Matthews: During the Legacy - McMahon brawl. While Hunter was tossing that bodyguard into the wall, Shane was still putting a few punches into the his ribcage / stomach just before Hunter tossed em. It's the little things that Shane does that make this seem more real.

JP: Even though he doesn't have the greatest punches in the world, it was very smart of him to try to continue to punch away even when Triple H was about to take care of business. He shouldn't know what's coming and acted that way.


ECW

JP: Over in the land of extreme, I got to fast forward through the entire 45 minutes in the middle because it was nothing by recaps. That didn't stop one vivacious lady from finding something from her favorite subject.

Rachel Pritchard: Over in ECW, during the main event match between the Bella Twins (and I can't even begin on how wrong it felt just to type that), we get a shot of Miz and Morrison on the outside watching the action. During said show, you can hear Morrison saying, to Miz, something along the lines of 'I don't even know which is which' having been informed that Nikki is wearing red, he proceeds to cheer her on by yelling 'Go Red!'. This is great continuity with a few weeks back, when Miz pissed off Brie by refering to her as 'Twin A' rather than by her name, and it also puts over Morrison as the kind of jerk who doesn't even care which of the girls he's been hanging around with for two weeks now. Nice work.

JP: You weren't the only one who picked up on part of this.

Ramsey: During the Nikki vs. Brie match to close ECW, John Morrison was on the outside cheering on Nikki...but in all actuality, he was simply dismissing the match, paying attention to his phone, so much as to not yell "c'mon Nikki" at times, but just "c'mon red!," the color of Nikki's outfit...so not only is Morrison disinterested since he's so obsessed with himself, he can barely remember which twin was which, using the color of her outfit instead to identify her, yet STILL not remembering her name!

JP: Classic John Morrison. This is why that guy is my hero.


WrestleMania 15 Press Conference

JP: On thee same day as ECW, there was also a little press conference for WrestleMania. Thankfully, someone was on the scene!

Jeremy Jacobowitz: I was covering the WrestleMania 25 press conference in NYC this past week and a great Hidden Highlight took place.

Chris Jericho stayed in character throughout the entire presser, including looking disgusted with everything that was said by Ric Flair and Hot Rod. And then when Ric sat in his seat two spots down from Jericho, Jericho moved his chair farther away, wanting to be as far away as possible from Flair.

JP: Only guys like Chris Jericho would stay in character at a meaningless press conference! Someone else who doesn't get a lot of credit for never breaking character like that is Scott Steiner. There is a man who LIVES the gimmick.


iMPACT

JP: Believe it or not, there was another wrestling show on this week that had nothing to do with WrestleMania. It is called TNA iMPACT.

neverAcquiesce: During the 8-man tag, Hernandez went over to his corner to tag out. Homicide had his hand stretched but Jay Lethal stretched and tagged himself in instead. LAX obviously only trust each other so Lethal knew he'd have to interject himself if he wanted to be a part of the match. In addition, as Jay entered the ring Homicide gave him a "Son of a bitch…" look.

JP: Of that feisty Jay Lethal! Now I wonder when either member of LAX will use their title shots? And if so, will it just lead to more tag team matches?


iMPACT

JP: Also on iMPACT, Madison Rayne took on Taylor Wilde. At the end of the match, Wilde had pinned Rayne but that was not enough for the Beautiful People. The beat down Wide and then attempted to cut her hair, but Wilde was too swift and got away. When that happened, Angelina Love started yelling at Madison Rayne and backed her into the corner. Rayne was still holding the scissors point outwards at that moment, so as Love yelled at her, Madison actually flipped the scissors around so that the point was in the palm of her hand. This was really quite thoughtful to make sure no accidents happened with the scissors. This was especially true since a few moments later she had to go running with them. And we all now you should not run with scissors!


SmackDown

JP: In the final show before WrestleMania, WWE Diva's Champion Maryse teamed up with Michelle McCool to take on the team of Gail Kim and Maria. The match began with Michelle and Maria in the ring. During that entire time, I was entranced by Maryse in the lower right hand corner of the screen. She was there dancing, grabbing attention to herself, and riling up the crowd. No matter what that girl is always working and never manages to sit still for a second. Maryse never wants to not be the center of attention, especially when she's not even on camera.


Well everyone, that wraps up this week's show. Thank you for reading the 188th ISSUE of Hidden Highlights!

Do you have a Hidden Highlight from this or any week in history that you would like to share? Please e-mail this article at [e-mail] 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. The best of the best will be featured among the top 15 next week.

In the meantime, be sure to catch my very own Thursday morning news report The Hamilton Ave Journal: the only wrestling news report focused on the business of wrestling.

And don't forget to bookmark 411mania.com and perhaps even make it your home page. You can do that by clicking here!

Until then, you have just experienced the most positive article in all of the IWC: Hidden Highlights!