Hidden Highlights 04.27.09: Issue #191

Posted by JP Prag on 04.27.2009

Randy Orton makes the most perfect pin attempt ever, Josh Matthews remembers things about Matt Striker’s past that even Striker forgets, Bobby Lashley shocks a particular set of people in the universe, Jeff Hardy cannot be pinned with a shoulder slightly off the mat, and more!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #191

Commentator: Previously, on Hidden Highlights…

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Commentator: One of our write-ins was confused as to when as even happened:

Garrett: Angle vs. Shane was at King of the Ring 2001 not No Mercy 2001

ThePav: The Classic Hidden Highlight was from King of The Ring 2001 and not No Mercy. Kurt pulled triple duty that night. It's True, It's True.

Commentator: Of course, despite an entire article of write-ins (showing how many people write-in and care) some were not impressed.

Sigh: This is the worst column ever. I truly cannot understand the concept and see the point in wasting your time doing this.

Jason: Have to agree unfortunately, its lost its direction. The vast majority of these "hidden" highlights are now either unintentional, tenuous, unremarkable or extremely obvious.

JP: Well I guess I should just hang my head in shame and qui—

faythe: Screw what everyone else says - this is still one of my favorite columns.

JP: Oh right, this is about positivity. I forgot when people are trying to do nothing but bring us down. Guess I'll stick around for a little while longer. Gee, I'm so sorry that after 191 weeks straight some things aren't as amazing and new as they were three and half years ago. Luckily, the crew and I seem to find new things to talk about every week. I'm not sure about you, but I don't catch everything and I appreciate having the little things that I did not see pointed out to me.

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





JP: Hello everyone who is live at their second PPV this month, 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!


ECW – Retro 1 Week

JP: We'll kick it off this week with a bit of last week and two of Hidden Highlights all time favorites.

Now Listen: When Morrison went for the pin against Bourne, Morrison did not only pull Bourne away from the ropes. No, not only did Morrison hook the leg. Morrison used his own legs to wrap Bourne's unhooked leg to help prevent Bourne from kicking out.

JP: John Morrison likes to show off his flexibility and smarts, but that is not the only thing we'll get about him from that match.


ECW – Retro 1 Week

JP: Like I just said 1.31892 seconds ago…

David: Also, Striker noted that the rhinestones that "bedazzle" Morrison's pants inflict additional pain/damage to his opponent, making Morrison seem not only obsessed with his appearance, but also smart in that he used his clothing as an advantage.

Can someone give that man a fucking medal or something please?

JP: This is they type of detail I love from the announcers (and Striker in particular). And for those not familiar with Josh Matthews, we'll get to him later in this column. But that guy is such a student of the game that he and Striker could be the greatest team ever… so long as some people out back don't tell them every little thing to say.


SuperStars – Retro 1 Week

JP: I did finally manage to catch up to last week's wrestling in the middle of this week, so there was one thing I really wanted to bring up about SuperStars. During the inaugural broadcast, the camera work was quite amazing and different than anything the WWE does. During the opening shot, the camera stayed very close to the entrance, showing a smaller fireworks display. And during the matches themselves, the camera often moved in for extreme close-ups at different angles than you would expect; the angles were done to convey closeness. The whole show was designed to look like it was smaller and more intimate just by the camera work alone, even though it took place in a couple of large arenas. I really enjoyed how this gave the show a unique look and feel, and it's a shame that they decided to not keep it up this week (much like when ECW premiered years ago).


iMPACT – Retro 1 Week

JP: Moving along with the end of last week, Christopher just plain Daniels Chris Daniels back to just Daniels made his official return to TNA as himself.

Guest#3518: On TNA this week, during Christopher Daniels entrance, he got on the ring apron, looked in the camera, and said, "I never left!" I thought this was cool because he never did leave (Curryman, Suicide).

Guest#3648: Yeah, that shit was awesome. Daniels FTW~!

JP: I have to say, that is a very cool Daniels moment, one that has so many meanings.


RAW

JP: Jumping ahead to RAW this week, Chris Jericho fought John Cena in another one of their excellent contests. Late into the match, Cena managed to get Jericho into the STF, and something interesting happened. Normally when people are locked in the STF (or any other submission maneuver for that matter) they make their eyes go buggy wide to show how much pain they are in. This is especially true when they are crawling to the ropes as Chris Jericho was.

But Jericho actually shut his eyes; and as the pain deepened, he squinted his eyes even more tightly shut. This got me thinking to when I work out and what I do when I am in pain. I realized that when I am in pain, I took shut my eyes tighter and tighter—rarely do I ever have my eyes go straight buggy. So Jericho was adding a strong moment of realism that made the move look even more painful.


RAW

JP: That was not all that Jericho did in that match, though.

The Godfather: In the vintage Jericho - Cena match from London, England, Jericho was talking trash as usual, when he said the following interesting line:

"Come on Cena! You wanna be tough, Cena? You wanna be the Rock?"

Pretty cool, huh?

JP: Why ask me? Why not ask Jared?

Jared: When Jericho was yelling at Cena, he said "You think you're good Cena, you think you're tough, you wanna be the Rock?" I thought this was a great touch. After Cena was pretty much shaken off by Johnson it was a low blow for Jericho bring it up. It was a great touch by Chris.

JP: Couldn't agree more. Jericho knows how to incorporate the real world into his character, whether the writers would do it for him or not. That's why the man in is the Hidden Highlights Hall of Fame.


RAW

JP: The other big match of the night was a no DQ contest between Triple H and Randy Orton.

Matt: Orton really sold the struggle to pick the steps up and toss them over the ropes. It really puts over how heavy and damaging the steps could be.

JP: I was very much suckered in to how heavy Orton made those steps look. Now don't get me wrong: they are not as heavy as real steel steps, nor are they extremely light. But Orton's "struggle" with lifting and balancing them made it look like those things could kill somebody. It was a great little thing done in plain sight.


RAW

JP: At the end of the match after Orton delivered the RKO, I thought he did something quite interesting with his pin. Even though Orton was already on the side that would block Triple H from the ropes, he ran around to the other side of Triple H to make the cover. That is when I noticed that from the other side he was able to put pressure on his non-injured leg instead of putting the pressure on his injured one.

faythe: Randy Orton sold his leg injury really well. When he pinned Triple H he used his right leg for leverage and held his left in agony. I thought it was a nice touch.


RAW

JP: That was not the only thing to come out of Randy Orton's pin cover.

Chris Jacobs: After Orton hit HHH with the steps, he went for a cover. What you noticed is that Orton took no risks in the cover. As he knelt, not only did he hook a leg, but he was seen moving HHH's hand and placing HHH's whole arm underneath his own leg. So when Orton covered he was holding down the arm near the ropes and if HHH was still conscious he would be forced to kick out and not take the easy way out.

Matt: Orton again showed off his smarts and ring prowess, not pulling HHH away from the ropes. That could just give him more time to recover. He went on the other side and cut off HHH's arm and leg, forcing him to kick out instead of trying to grab the ropes.

JP: I think that all together that was probably the best pinfall attempt we have ever seen.


ECW

JP: Over in the land of extreme, as promised Josh Matthews impressed me again. The opening contest ended up being Hornswoggle taking on Natalya Neidhart in what is to be Hornswoggle's last match on ECW. As the match got underway, Matthews started hinting at some of the superstars that Hornswaggle has pinned, to which Matt Striker pointed out Jamie Noble and the like. Matthews was quick to remind Striker that Hornswoggle had pinned him—which Striker had to accept—but had also pinned Striker in that very building! That is an amazing piece of historical knowledge for Josh Matthews to be carrying around. Knowing Hornswoggle defeated Striker is one thing, but to now what arena it happened in shows just how much of a student of the game that Matthews is.


ECW

JP: During the same broadcast of ECW, Matt Striker would had to one-up his partner.

Rachel Pritchard: On ECW, Matt Striker described Katie Lea as 'Paul Burchill's sister, The Scarlet Witch', or words to the effect. This is a reference to the Marvel character of the same name, who (in most versions of the character) has a very creepy if not outright incestuous relationship with her brother, Quicksilver. Nice use of nerdery by the always diverse Extreme Educator to hark back to the now-shelved angle that brought the Burchills onto TV in the first place.

JP: Now of Katie Lea starts dating an android, then we'll have a direct comparison!


ECW

JP: During the aforementioned comment, Paul Burchill was taking on Evan Bourne. Burchill went for a pin on Bourne, but the referee refused to make the count because Bourne's foot was partially under the bottom rope. This is a rule I like to see enforced and showed how much the referee was paying attention and wanted to add realism to the match. A wrestler does not need to have a foot on the ropes; having one underneath the ropes is good enough to break up any count or hold.


iMPACT

Rachel Pritchard: Meanwhile, over on Impact…

JP: Hey! That's my line!

Rachel Pritchard: Ahem… Meanwhile, over on Impact someone (I believe it was Mike Tenay, but it could have been Don West or Random Voiceover Guy) said that Bobby Lashley 'shocked the universe' when he debuted at Lockdown. At first I thought that this was a fairly clunky take on the usual cliche of 'shocked the world', but then it hit me: what does Vince insist on calling us since the phrase 'wrestling fans' would be too close to admitting that 'wrestling' is what the second W stands for? 'The WWE Universe'. Ah, TNA, your subtle barbs never fail to impress.

JP: I enjoy their subtle jabs much more than overt ones. This is how they should be doing it more often!


SmackDown

JP: Over on SmackDown, the brand extension was in full effect as Matt Hardy teamed up with long time friend Kane (you know, the guy who raped and married his girlfriend) and took on Jeff Hardy and CM Punk. Late into the match, Kane was in control and took Jeff Hardy down for a cover. The referee in position got down to have a look and checked Hardy's shoulders, deciding that they were not down. He waited until Kane put enough pressure on Hardy's shoulders to force them to the mat before starting the pin. I thought this was another great moment by a referee to enforce realism in the product, something that you've noticed we caught quite a bit of this week.


SmackDown

JP: Finishing us off this week, The Big Show and the Undertaker fought in The Big Show's farewell match on SmackDown (how many times has that guy been traded?). During the match, The Big Show pulled out a number of different maneuvers, but one in particular stood out to me. Late into the contest, Big Show actually locked Undertaker into a modified Dragon Sleeper (he just did not sit down to fully put the move on). Why this stood out is because when the Undertaker was evil many years ago, he used a Dragon Sleeper as his finisher, a move he called TCB: Taker Care of Business. The Big Show pulling off the submission hold seemed like a nod to me to the Undertaker's past, and something that gave me a good little chuckle.


Well everyone, that wraps up this week's show. Thank you for reading the 191st 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!