Hidden Highlights 05.18.09: Issue #194

Posted by JP Prag on 05.18.2009

Batista works out to Mickie James’ theme music, Matt Striker knows when Finlay is not at his best, John Morrison fondly remembers his childhood watching Rey Mysterio, Main Event Mafia Security protects all version of Kurt Angle, Alicia Fox deals with pain in the right way, and more!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #194

Commentator: Previously, on Hidden Highlights…

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Commentator: Randomness was the name of the game.

neverAcquiesce: They may not have hit the pay winda, but they certainly brought the plunda!

Riss: You missed one. Carlito's facial hair fell off after is match and then he continued to cover his chin.

Commentator: This was especially true in relation to Michelle McCool.

Cool McCool: Well, Michelle McCool has said she's a Christian, so the name "Faith Breaker" isn't necessarily a reference to AJ's faith, but Michelle's.

mogamer: Yet she sleeps with a deadman?

Undertaker: The only person making "subtle digs" on Michelle McCool is ME.

Jug Store Cowboy: So, you're saying you have a small penis?

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





JP: Hello everyone who saved a few cats yesterday and managed to catch up with a few people on the phone at the same time, 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 a bit of the past that I keep meaning to watch since I bought it on DVD.

Fixxer315: I recently watched Starrcade 91, which revolved around the Lethal Lottery & Battlebowl concepts, and picked up a pair of Hidden Highlights that took place during the tag team drawing.

Because he wound up being picked as Cactus Jack's partner, Buddy Lee Parker gets destroyed in the lockerroom by Abdullah the Butcher, the on-and-off partner of Jack. However, the true highlight of that moment is watching Bobby Eaton in the background during the assault. Eaton folds up a chair, but simply holds it up, as if to indicate that he's certainly not going to get involved, but he would defend himself if Abdullah goes after him. This moment is especially noteworthy because Eaton would be on opposite sides with Abdullah in the next match.

JP: Whenever I think about Eaton, I always remember his time on WCW Saturday Night during the mid-1990's where every week he came out, jobbed, and was called a "great veteran" and a "tag team expert" by the announcers each match. Looks like I'll have to go back to 1991 for some of his best goodness!


Classic Hidden Highlight

JP: Sticking in the past, we leave WCW behind for one of the WWE's biggest shows.

Jaysin: This is from the Royal Rumble 1997. What's interesting is that the highlight comes during the post-show celebration. Shawn Michaels had just won the WWF Title from Sid, and this event just happened to be taking place in San Antonio TX. Shawn seemingly hugged everyone in the first row, family mostly. Just before the show went to black, Shawn hugged 3 guys who couldn't possibly be family. They just so happened to be Tye Dye Guy, and two other ECW mainstay fans.

JP: Well, those guys were WWE fans, too, for a long time and it is quite possible that Michaels knew them from his younger days in the indies. Wow, I'm feeling quite old at this moment, please excuse me.


RAW (in general)

JP: Ok, I'm back and ready to move on to RAW. Well, at least the opening video package via this first timer.

Will Bush: In the opening package that highlights all the superstars from the past and the present, only the best of the best are represented. But now, a new person has been added to the mix… John Morrison~! He's important enough to make it in the opening montage now!

JP: Being that Morrison is one of my favorites of the current generation, I'm all for it. I'm still not so sure about him being a face, but I'm trying to keep an open mind about it.


RAW

JP: Now we can move in to the real show where Batista was fighting against Priceless to see if he would be in another handicapped match later in the show.

Remember the Name: In Batista's handicap match against Priceless during the beginning of RAW, Cody Rhodes had Batista sitting on the 2nd turnbuckle. He wrapped Batista's leg around the 2nd rope, then stepped back and kicked him in the groin. Not a coincidence that it's a variation of a move Cody's brother has done for years.

JP: And yet his brother appears to be trying to save Hornswaggle on Superstars!

Oh, and for all you Cody Rhodes lovers out there, we have already covered Cody having the triforce on his boots several times. Thanks for continuing to notice, but I don't need it sent in anymore.


RAW

JP: Batista losing meant he had to get ready for his big extra-handicapped match. This, fortunately, led to some unintentional hilarity!

Body Donna Zip: Did anyone notice that after the Mickie/Maryse match, they went to the back to show Batista warming up for his match with DiBiase. But Mickie's music was still playing. I thought it was hilarious seeing Batista (unintentionally) warm up to Mickie's music. His bouncing around exactly matched the best of the theme song.

JP: Sometimes, it's the things that aren't meant to happen that can bring a little smile to our faces!


RAW

JP: Later in the show, John Cena came out for an exhibition match with the Miz. Before the match could begin, the Big Show came out to watch the proceedings. When he did so, he walked over to the announce table and took a seat. But did you happen to catch what the Big Show did before he sat down? He actually tested the top of the table to see if it was strong enough to support him and if it was soft enough to sit down. It was a rather funny little add-on in an otherwise meaningless moment.


RAW

JP: Later in the show, Matt Hardy (under protest) teamed up with William Regal to take on Kofi Kingston and MVP in a very impromptu match. During the match itself, Matt Hardy put Kofi Kingston in an abdominal stretch for the second time. When he did so, Hardy actually took his hand and started to pull on Kofi's knee pad, forcing his legs further apart. This actually put Kofi in a much more painful position and gave Hardy some great leverage. It was such a small detail, but it added so much additional punishment to a simple move. It was almost as if Hardy was trying to win some type of award or something….


RAW

JP: Not to be outdone, William Regal also put Kofi Kingston in a submission of his own—a dragon sleeper like maneuver. When Regal did so, though, he also took his elbow and drilled it into Kofi's kidney. If that was not enough, he then took his forearm and started to crush it against Kofi's stomach and ribs. You see, Hardy wanted to win a William Regal Award in a match with William Regal, but Regal showed once again why he has that award named after him.


ECW

JP: Over in the land of extreme, another man who likes to dish out extra punishment got called out, but for a different reason. Finlay was once again taking on Tyson Kidd, this time with Natalya banned from ringside. Kidd worked on Finlay's arm until the point where he could not use it very well anymore. That still did not stop Finlay from mounting some offence and going for potential pinfalls. When he did so, Matt Striker made a great observation. Striker actually pointed out that Finlay usually lays a forearm across his opponent's face when going for a pin (as in, dishing out the extra pain), but since his arm was injured he could not do so. It was quite an interesting observation and one that really struck home to this Hidden Highlight mogul.


SuperStars

JP: Over on SuperStars, Rey Mysterio took on Shelton Benjamin with John Morrison joining on guest commentary. While the match was going on, Todd Grisham asked Morrison for his thoughts about Mysterio as a competitor. While Morrison was complementary of Mysterio, he actually began his statement with, "When I was kid growing up watching Mysterio…"

It was actually a great little dig on Mysterio. The WWE likes to pretend that Mysterio is this "youngster" that is in the up and coming generation, but he is an older guy that a new generation grew up watching. Morrison was able to put over that he really is the younger athlete of the new generation and that Mysterio really is the veteran of the Bobby Eaton type.


iMPACT

JP: On iMPACT this week, Kurt Angle was away on vacation leaving Scott Steiner in change of the Main Event Mafia. While in their locker room, Kurt Angle was there not only in spirit, but there was literally a picture of him on an easel. But did you happen to take a look at the Main Event Mafia Security? They were actually guarding the picture of Angle and nothing else! It was quite a funny little message that the security is there for Angle, no matter what form he happens to appear in.


iMPACT

JP: All throughout iMPACT they showed bits and pieces of a "day in the life of Jeff Jarrett". Although I did learn that Jarrett has an unhealthy obsession with talking about Mick Foley with his children, the real gem of these came just before the second segment. After Mike Tenay gave the into to the segment, just before it started to play Don West let out a very quick and under his breath, "Yawn!"

Don West's heel character is hilariously awesome and that was another great moment. Of course, that was the Hidden Highlight one. The non-Hidden Highlight one was when Daniels hit the ring to save Suicide and he said, "We all know that's Daniels under the Suicide mask, but who is that impersonating Daniels?" Drop dead on the floor laughing time for that one!


iMPACT

JP: Also on iMPACT, the semi-finals for the Team 3D Tag Team Invitational were under way with the aforementioned Suicide and Amazing Red taking on The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams). During the match, Doug Williams was in the ring with Amazing Red and was taking control. He then started to grab at Red by the little tuft of hair that Red has, something referee failed to notice. It was actually a great little way to cheat without getting much notice; quite evil indeed. Just goes to show you that even a little bit of hair can be used against you!


SmackDown

JP: Finishing up the long week of wrestling (which is every week) was, of course, SmackDown and some diva action.

David: Along with the higher quality of wrestling on Smackdown than RAW, I've also been pleasantly surprised by the number of new talents that have stepped up. Among them is Alicia Fox. Not only does she have more potential than most of the current model / DivaSearchers-turned-wrestlers (like Candice and Kelly Kelly), but she's also pretty entertaining when she's selling.

During the divas tag match between Melina, Gail Kim and her and McCool - she was tagged in and went up against Melina. There came a part where Melina snapmared Alicia and tagged Gail in, where she than dropkicked her right in the face. Instead of just sitting there and waiting for the dropkick like every other wrestler usually does - Fox held her jaw, said "OOOWW!" and groaned in pain, selling the pain of a simple snapmare before being dropkicked in the face. I just thought that was cool, since not many women add those small details (besides Jillian and Victoria).

JP: True, most people just sit there and act all dazed until someone hits them in the face. She was actually reacting quite well so it made sense that she was just sitting there waiting to get hit in the head!


SmackDown

JP: During the same match, they went to the replay of one of the big moves that had just happened. As the replay screen came out, Alicia Fox was actually going for a cover on Gail Kim. Despite the screen being in place and the clip queued, they held off a few moments from starting the replay so that JR could count the potential pinfall. I really enjoyed that they decided to hold off because it showed that the match could end that second and they would not want to be in the replay when it happened. It made the moment feel more spontaneous than planned, something all of the wrestling shows need more of all the time.


Well everyone, that wraps up this week's show. Thank you for reading the 194th 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!