411's Countdown to WrestleMania 22: The Hidden Highlights of WrestleMania (Part I of II)
Posted by Prag-Thomlison on 03.06.2006
The smallest moments on the biggest stage of them all!
Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag and James "JT" Thomlison
411's Countdown to WrestleMania 22
Intro
Hello everyone awaiting the biggest PPV of the year, and welcome to a special countdown to WrestleMania 22 issue of Hidden Highlights!!
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.
Normally, every week we take the top 3 Hidden Highlights from the biggest shows on television (Impact, RAW, 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 or that we missed. On top of that we revisit old moments to find Classic Hidden Highlights and then explore other issues that prove why this is the most positive article in the IWC.
This time around, though, we are switching it up a bit. Each of us will pick our top five Hidden Highlights from WrestleManias gone by. And then we'll turn to you, the readers, to fill in your favorite Hidden Highlight moments as well!
And who is this mysterious we, you ask?
First, there is JP Prag, master attorney to wrestling's most hated.
And then there is James "JT" Thomlison, formerly underappreciated ByteThis! recapper, now waiting for Smallville to have new episodes again and ByteThis! to (supposedly) start back up.
We bring you Hidden Highlights with one goal in mind: to appreciate all those little things that make a huge difference. JT?
JT: 27 days and counting my friend. It's the granddaddy of them all, and I am excited. There are some who are not particularly thrilled with the card / storylines / what-have-yous, but I always enjoy WrestleMania, and I don't expect this year to be any different. Boy, we had ourselves a full plate this last week, eh JP?
JP: To say the least! It's been an extremely busy week, so with that in mind, let's end our normal witty repartee and get on with…
The WrestleMania Hidden Highlights!!!!
JT's Top Five WrestleMania Hidden Highlights
JT: My comment is that this thing is two columns lengths long and I'm not going to waste anyone's time reading a bunch of senseless banter J. I love you too readers.
(5) WrestleMania VI: Demolition vs. Andre the Giant / Haku:
As Demolition was making their way to the ring for their match with Andre, Jesse Venture was talking about how the pressure was on them:
JESSE: "If Demolition fails today at WrestleMania, it'll be a long, long time before they climb that ladder and get another title shot."
MONSOON: "Indeed, Jesse, because we've got countless numbers of tremendous teams waiting in the wings here."
Ah, the good old days. I'm certainly not knocking the title - any title - scenes of today, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the scenes of yesteryear. You see, back in those days, there really was a metaphorical ladder, which people and teams had to climb up. At the time, if you wanted the big belt, you had to first win the Intercontinental Title. If you wanted Tag Team gold, you had to beat whoever was champ last. You had to beat anyone who had more momentum then you. You also had to juggle this in with winning jobber matches. One thing I miss about those days is that when someone got a shot at the title, you really felt that they had earned it, making victory all that more enjoyable.
(4) WrestleMania XVIII: Ric Flair vs. The Undertaker:
About halfway though the beating that Taker was giving Ric Flair (and quite a beating it was), Taker was in full "vicious badass" mode. He pointed out to someone in the crowd, and said "I'll come down there and beat your ass" (yes, I read lips, thank you). At the time I thought nothing of it, but then a few minutes later, Taker was set up for the Old School, but he paused; this was so he could look at the same area of crowd and say "Look, you piece of shit", and WAM! Flair countered and threw Taker off the top turnbuckle. Then it hit me. Taker was actually doing two things here! 1. Including the fans, always a plus, and 2. By pointing the first time, him talking trash to the crowd was a setup for later when Flair would turn the tables and the match would have a shift in momentum. Good job by Taker thinking way ahead of time on this one.
(3) WrestleMania XV: The Big Show vs. Mick Foley:
During the Big Show / Mick Foley match, Show had lost his cool and exited the match; he headed over towards the announce table, shooed a couple of people out of the way, and grabbed a chair. Standing right behind the chairs was a standing up Howard Finkle with a mic in his hand! Now, he could easily have been sitting down with the mic on the bell-table, but by standing during matches - with the mic in his hand no less - he really sells the fact that wrestling is "unscripted", and matches could end at any time; he needs to be prepared to announce the winner in a seconds notice.
(2) WrestleMania X: Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Crush:
Macho Man Randy Savage and Crush competed in a "Falls Count Anywhere" match, with the stipulation that once the pin had been made, the pinned wrestler has sixty seconds to return to the ring, or the other man would be victorious. Macho got the (second) pin, and Crush was on the outside of the ring, seemingly knocked out. After Mr. Fuji (his manager at the time) managed to revive him via a pitcher of water, Crush began to get in the ring, and he was lying there with roughly six seconds to spare. What does Mr. Fuji do? Put his foot in! You see, Crush was in the ring, but his foot was hanging under the bottom rope. As JP explained in HH yesterday, technically, that does not count as "in the ring"; the time could have run out, and if he wanted to do so, the ref could have called the match. Nice job by Mr. Fuji doing exactly what he should do – look out for the interest of his wrestler.
(1) WrestleMania XX: John Cena vs. The Big Show:
Yup, it's going to everyone's favorite, John Cena. I actually skipped this match (with a couple of others) watched the rest of the show, then figured "meh, watch it". And I am glad that I did. I noticed something I haven't noticed in at least ten viewings of WM XX. We all saw John Cena fake out the ref with the chain. We all saw Cena pick up the knucks and hit Show. BUT! After the second F.U., Cena went for the pin and the leg hook. Now, normally, a leg hook is a leg hook. However, Cena had attempted to put the knucks back in his pocket, but the ref got there too early, so he couldn't. So, as he went for the leg hook, he made sure that he locked his hands around Show's leg exactly like this:
So he could secure the win while making sure there was no way the ref could see the knucks in his hand. And as the ref went over to the ring announce table, Cena stuffed them in his pocket. The extra security on the hand lock really was a great job of not letting the ref see something that might ruin his chances at a U.S. Title.
JP: You can't see Cena cheat! Oh, the setup was too easy. An excellent spread of different types of Hidden Highlights over many WrestleManias. Kind of reminds me of my own list…
JP's Top Five WrestleMania Hidden Highlights
JP: Like JT said, this is going to run long, so let's dive right in!
(5) WrestleMania V – Red Rooster vs. Heenan:
I know, not the most conspicuous way to start off. And just for that, I'm going to turn it over to J.D. Dunn's recap:
Funny thing - Gorilla and Jesse are talking about Heenan and Jesse is so used to disagreeing with Gorilla that he says, "No, no, no — yes, exactly."
What a great little moment. Jesse consistently tries to act heel but it's tough when he agrees with what's going on! The same thing would happen later when Hogan turned heel and suddenly the Brain was the face announcer on Monday Nitro. I love when people stay the same but the fans change them (see: Larry Zbyszko).
(4) WrestleMania XVIII – Hogan vs. Rock:
This match was great because the fans forced a change on the entire match and Hogan and Rock got to prove how good they really were. For those not in the know, Hogan was the heel coming into this match who had literally tried to run down the Rock. But did the fans care? Absolutely not! They cheered Hogan relentlessly and booed the Rock like he had eaten their children.
About a quarter into the match, the two realized that they could not turn the fans back to their way, so instead of fighting it, they went with it. Hogan started doing the poses, Rock started to give the cocky eyebrow. My favorite moment was when the Rock went outside the ring and started telling fans ringside to shut up and then started using all of his old heel terminology. It's one of those Hidden Highlights that's in your face, but shows how those little bits make a huge difference.
(3) WrestleMania III – Hogan vs. Andre:
Now this is an odd one because it was not really a Hidden Highlight at the time, and would not become one until 1996. During the classic encounter between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, Hogan got frustrated and went outside the ring. Hogan then proceeded to lift up the ring mats and attempted to Piledrive the Giant on the concrete (which Hogan was backdropped on instead). The Hidden Highlight? When Hogan turned heel with the nWo, examples like this could be used against him! After Hogan turned in 1996, I went back and watched a lot of his stuff and what I realized was that Hogan was always a cheat. He used to bite, scratch, punch, refuse to break in the ropes, run back in after he'd been eliminated, remove turnbuckle pads, and cause DQs through run-ins. This was just another moment that proved Hogan the hero was the same as Hogan the villain.
(2) WrestleMania XVIII – Hardcore Championship:
Back in this timeframe, the 24/7 rule was in effect for the Hardcore Championship. In the third (fourth?) match of the night, Golddust was taking on Maven for the championship. Hilarity ensued when Spike Dudley ran in and pinned Maven, stealing the championship. Oh, but it would not end there! By the end of the night, the title had changed hands a number of times, finally ending up back around Maven's waist after he pinned Christian.
For me, the Hidden Highlight came when Spike was running the back and Al Snow tried to run him over with a golf cart and ended up crashing through a wall of boxes. With both men down, suddenly the wind picks up, and the Hurricane LITTERALLY just flies on to the screen and pins Spike for the Championship. Of course the Hurricane would show up at a disaster. He was there to help! But then again, he saw the chance to be champion and took it. This segment just overall gets points for to the producers, writers, and characters for the perfect timing, the flawless movement of events, and the added effects of the sound hitting perfectly. You could not ask for a funnier segment.
(1) WrestleMania XIX – Jericho vs. Michaels:
My absolute favorite Hidden Highlight moment, though, and the first one I thought of when we (I) signed up for this special was from WrestleMania XIX with Chris Jericho taking on Shawn Michael. But the Hidden Highlight has nothing to do with in the in-ring action!
Jericho was already in the ring and Michaels started making his way down. Since it was WrestleMania, the production guys set up confetti guns all along the ramp for Michaels to shoot off. Well, about the forth of fifth one down, Michaels could not get the gun to go off. So what does he do? He gives the "shrug, I'm Shawn Michaels, what are you gonna do?" and starts laughing it up with the fans at ringside. If this wasn't a great bit of improv enough, the camera then turned back to Jericho who was making the "Neh, neh, neh, you're Shawn Michael, you're so special" face and movement, and then just flipped him the bird.
Kudos to Michaels and Jericho for being able to improvise when all the added stuff was going wrong, for staying in the moment, and for being damn hilarious while doing so. Though I may not have cared for the outcome of the match, that moment single-handedly made WrestleMania XIX for me.
JT: Two of the best no doubt. It completely fits the cockiness of both characters, and Michaels pulling out the old "oh well" shit really sells the mood that WrestleMania is supposed to be a really fun night for everyone involved, even the wrestlers. I was also watching WrestleMania XVIII the other day and that Hardcore match almost made the list several times. Good thing I held off!
Reader Write-in WrestleMania 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.
Just a *GENERAL WARNING*:: some parts of the following Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights may be edited for grammar, spelling, and English translation…
Your countdown begins with Adam Nelson who said:
At WrestleMania XX, Molly went for the Widow's Peak on Victoria. What makes this a hidden highlight is that Molly is actually the person who taught her the move in real life (after getting it from Roderick Strong).
A kayfabe explanation could be that, even though they were allies when Victoria debuted as a wrestler, Molly knew that they'd be opponents eventually, since she was women's champion at the time.
JP: I liked both explanations, and a nice prop to a slightly forgotten hair vs. hair women's match!
Next up is 411mania's own (sort of) John Dee with another one from XX:
At WrestleMania 20 during the Undertakers big return while Kane was in the ring and Bearer was standing at the end of the ramp holding the urn, he yells at Kane "YOU'RE NO SON OF MINE!!!"
I thought that was brilliant of him to acknowledge a story that NO ONE else had mentioned from several years earlier (remembering that Bearer "had an affair" with their mother and was allegedly Kane's father) and also played up the "everyone is disgusted at Kane's antics for the last year" factor.
JT: I'm surprised JP didn't take this one given his massive love on continuity, but my turn is my turn! First off John, I enjoy the Dee Spot. Good call on the Hidden Highlight, especially coming from a guy (Bearer) who hadn't been around in quite some time and could have easily forgotten a small detail like that.
This one comes fromRob Dow who decided to go a bit further back in time:
Anyways, here's a most likely unintentional WrestleMania Hidden Highlight. During WrestleMania III, the competitors rode to the ring and back on a motorized cart that looked like a miniature ring. After the Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant match, Hogan did his usual posing in the real ring and then got into his cart and posed while he rode up the aisle toward the back. After he passed through the tunnel to where the fans couldn't see him anymore (while the camera was still on him), he collapsed onto the ropes on his cart. A split second later, the shot went to Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura who thanked the fans for watching, etc.
When Hogan collapsed as soon as he thought nobody was looking, it showed how much energy he put into not only the match, but the post-match celebration. In fact, he had so little left that he could barely stand. He truly gave 100%.
JP: I always say just because it is real it doesn't mean that it's not a Hidden Highlight. What an honest reaction from Hogan, and excellent eyes on you to catch it.
Still, JY wants to return to more recent events:
Not pseudo because it's not really Hidden, but pseudo because it didn't really happen. It was WM XX, and all the rumors were proven true when Undertaker returned as the Dead Man (kinda) with Paul Bearer at his side. As Bearer makes his way down the aisle, JR (as only JR can) freaks out, screaming "Oh my God! Look at that HIDEOUS FACE!". At which point Bearer jerks his head to the side and glares at JR. At least, that's what we thought happened. Turned out we were just used to the announce tables being by the ramp, while they were actually down by the ring. Still, for that moment, we all thought that JR was yelling loud enough for Paul Bearer to hear him, and it was truly a Hidden Highlight.
JT: JY makes a very good point. It's very easy to remember certain things like heel / face turns, or winning titles from one week to the next; while something minor like moving an announce table for one evening isn't rocket science, it's certainly understandable that the change might slip one's mind from one minute to the next.
We get a bit further back when blckrobe chimed in with:
This one is a classic HH from WrestleMania 2. As I was watching it today they came to the tag titles match between The Dream Team and The British Bulldogs. About halfway through the match what do we hear from the commentators? "The Dream Team is the number one team in the world and The British Bulldogs are the number one challengers". Not the number two team. Both teams are number one's. A subtle reinforcement that either team could win this match. That is what good commentating is.
JP: Announcers can to so much to put over a team and how important they are. That is a perfect example from way back when.
But Josh Lankton will have none of that past stuff and brings us back up:
It was WrestleMania XX and Goldberg was facing Brock Lesnar. Stone Cold Steve Austin was the special guest referee. Now, by this time, pretty much everyone knew that Lesnar was leaving and Goldberg wasn't renewing his contract. So the fans didn't seem to be enjoying the opening of the match. Therefore, they all started chanting Austin's name. What did he do? He ignored them. He didn't turn around and acknowledge them cheering or anything? Why? Because he was a referee for that night. He was overseeing a match and was keeping his concentration deep into these two huge behemoths about to tear each other apart. I just thought that was a good job of ol' Steve to make his job as special guest ref seem more important.
JT: Special referees can go one of two ways. They're either really focused on their job, or they're to so into themselves as wrestlers that they do a shitty job. Stone Cold clearly was the former of the two.
Fellow 411mania Sunday columnist Andy Clark at least took us back a few more years:
I just watched WrestleMania 2000 again (don't ask me why) and noticed through the entire show that they called Vince McMahon "Vince." Now, that's not unusual because that is his name, but we tend to get used to hearing the announcers call him "Mr. McMahon." Every time the announcers would mention his name he'd be "Vince McMahon" and the graphic with his name read Vince. JR even caught himself when Vince had to go to the back following the attack by Shane where he said something along the lines of "There goes Mist--Vince McMahon being helped backstage." I found this interesting and my curiosity paid off. At the conclusion of the match when Vince comes back to ringside and turns on The Rock, JR exclaimed, "Why did MISTER McMahon hit The Rock with the chair?" This showed me that as long as he was face his name was Vince McMahon, but as soon as he turned heel again he was back to being Mister McMahon.
JP: This is very true! Vince is a face while Mr. McMahon is the heel. Subtle name changes (not changing gimmicks) is a very effective way to separate out a character. Excellent catch.
Chris Domenicucci also had one from further back:
I was watching the Owen vs. Bret match from WrestleMania X and noticed what I would call a hidden highlight, but I'll let you be the judge(s)
As soon as the ref counted to three, Owen jumped up and before he even started to celebrate, he looked at the ref and asked if he (he used his three fingers to signify this) in fact made the 3 count and picked up the win. When the ref confirmed this, he THEN started celebrating as if he won the world title. This totally sold the whole concept of the match as Owen acted as if he too couldn't believe he beat his brother, when it was pretty much a given that Bret would win the match. It also made Bret *that* much more of a threat because Owen [couldn't] believe that he actually beat his older, much more experienced brother Bret. It was a fitting end to an amazing match. God I miss those Harts...
JT: I actually watched WrestleMania 10 on Friday as I was preparing for this article, and since I had already read this letter, I was going to skip Hart vs. Hart, but the fact is this is probably the best opening match in WrestleMania history; thus, I decided to go ahead and watch it. Great match, and Chris is correct, Owen completely sold being shocked. Good stuff.
After that, Amber Johnson decided to get a little symbolic with us:
After watching WrestleMania 19 the other day I came across a symbolic "passing of the torch" highlight. It starts with the match between Hogan and McMahon when the Legend finished the match with 3 leg drops for the 1, 2, 3 win. The next match which featured ICON future legend/hall of famer Rock who won his match after 3 rock bottoms to Austin, then it ended with Lesnar who was at that time thought to be the new face of Sports Entertainment who finished Angle off with 3 F5's..I thought it was a fitting highlight although Brock ended up leaving within a year after.
JP: The number three is hugely symbolic in general, but especially in wrestling. A very interesting catch, and a rather unexpected one, too!
Robby Boydstun then wrote in to comment on a match I already talked about:
For this one I must refer to the your master of the HH, or your HH god, The Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla, The First Ever Undisputed Champion, Y2J, Chris Jericho! This particular one took place at WM XIX (which I believe had one of the strongest cards of any WM in history) in Y2J's match against HBK.
Now, about midway through the match Y2J hit a reverse flying elbow and started "Tuning Up The Band". When he goes to hit him with some Sweet Chin Music, he shuffles his feet. Some of you may say "so what does that have to do with anything?".
Well if you think back to the build up to the match, it was all about Y2J wanting to be HBK as a young kid, but then realizing he could be better than Michaels and started focusing on being the "First Chris Jericho". The whole match he was [emulating] Michaels with a flying forearm, kip-up, and the famous muscle pose of HBK. However when he shuffled his feet he added his own style to it, thus making it a Y2J move. It backed up the fact that even though Michaels was his idol as a kid, he still wanted to be Chris Jericho, and beat HBK, not be him.
JT: All I can say about this Hidden Highlight is SOLD! Christ those guys are great. It's a damn shame Jericho is probably gone for good, and HBK will be cutting back.
Of course, Burt Price is a history nut, so he came up with a great one of his own:
At WrestleMania X, we had two WWE championship matches, each having a special guest referee. In order for it to be fair, both participants had to agree on the referee. In the Lex Luger-Yokozuna match, it was Mr. Perfect. In the Yoko-Bret match, it was Roddy Piper. Now why would Yokozuna agree to have fan favorites as referees? The answer is WrestleMania continuity.
For Mr. Perfect, he wrestled Lex Luger at the previous WrestleMania (IX) and lost to him because Luger cheated.
For Roddy Piper, he wrestled Bret at WrestleMania VIII and lost the IC title to Bret, making it his first pinfall loss in WWE history.
Both referees would have grudges against the fan favorites and in one case (Perfect), it worked.
JP: Wow, I never really thought about it that way. That was pretty deep, and a perfect Hidden Highlight. Nice catch!
Well that wraps up our Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights for WrestleMania. All accept one…
Hidden Highlights Challenge: Stevie J!
JP: For those not in the know, regular reader and writer Stevie J is the proprietor of AngryMarks.com (well worth your time to check out. Stevie wanted to take the Hidden Highlights Challenge by providing a Hidden Highlight from every WrestleMania. Well, Stevie, take it away!
Stevie J: Greetings ladies and gents. I'm Stevie J, and a few of you (well let's be honest - maybe one or two at the most) will know me as the man behind the AngryMarks.com website. As it happens I'm also a huge fan of the 411 wrestling section. While everybody is familiar with the goodness of all things Csonka, Randle the Candle and Rocketbusta Radio's own Nick Marsico among many others, there is a section that even among 411's faithful readers that I consider the hidden highlight of browsing the site every single week. Appropriately enough the column is CALLED "Hidden Highlights," penned by none other than JP Prag and James 'JT' Thomlison.
While exchanging e-mails with JP about this column's awesomeness the subject of hidden highlights from WWE's "grandest spectacle of them all" WrestleMania came up. I've been on my own personal Road to WrestleMania ever since it was first announce that the 22nd annual edition would be held in Chicago last year, and I bought travel packages for both my wife and I to attend as soon as they were available. Sure I wanted to go and get some scoops for my website, but I also wanted to be a part of the madness, and Chicago is about as close as they'll ever get to holding one in my hometown of Omaha. Now when I bought those packages I had no idea that WWE was going to go on a rollercoaster ride of insanity starting with the unfortunate death of Eddie Guerrero, but nevertheless I feel that the way to get my own enthusiasm back for the show "where it all begins again" is to take a look back at past editions of WrestleMania through the years. What follows is not necessarily the MOST memorable moments, the great matches that we all have burned into our brains, but the subtle Hidden Highlights in and AROUND those matches that help make WrestleMania so great. I promised JP no less than one Hidden Highlight from every year's show, so it's time to present them and see what you the reader think as well as JP and JT themselves. Incidentally I take no responsibility for any potential highlights that were left out of these shows as the editions I'm viewing are the edited DVD's from the WrestleMania Anthology box set. Herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre we go.
JP: And… BEGIN!
Stevie J: WrestleMania I – It certainly won't go down as the best WrestleMania card of all time, but in and of itself the event is memorable just for being the then-WWF's "roll of the dice" on a supercard where the event itself would be as important as those who were on it. Incidentally it's a common misperception that this was the first ever McMahon PPV - that was actually "The Wrestling Classic" shown in November of 1985, although some historians have argued it was available on PPV in select markets. Largely though it was shown at various venues on closed circuit television, and certainly became a hugely popular rental in the video market after it was aired. Before we get to my personal Hidden Highlight of the show, let me just say that hearing Gene Okerlund sing the national anthem nearly killed my buzz. Mean Gene, I love you to death man, but I've heard better noises come out of my cat when I stepped on her tail (no worries Gene-o, I'm no great vocalist either). Now everybody always talks about King Kong Bundy squashing S.D. Jones in record time, the "Body Slam Challenge" between Andre the Giant and Big John Studd, and the main event of Hulk Hogan and Mr. T versus Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. For my money though the most overlooked match is Ricky Steamboat v. Matt Borne (who later became Doink the Clown) and my Hidden Highlight is the interview package with Gene Okerlund right before the match. Steamboat had disappeared from wrestling in December of 1983, forfeiting the NWA Tag Titles he held with Jay Youngblood, having just recently returned to wrestling when he resurfaced in the WWF; and Borne was very little known on a national level at this time, having only the fact he was a second generation professional wrestler to build his name on. These two had to put over a reason to care about this match in a very short amount of time, and with this pre-taped interview segment they did so in fine fashion. Borne stumbles a little bit at the start of the interview, but goes on to put over Steamboat as being a world famous wrestler and a phenomenal athlete. The key point Borne puts over is that despite these accolades Steamboat is missing one quality - meanness. Borne's best line: "You're there to win just like I am, but I am there to beat you up." Not one to take this lying down, Steamboat comes on camera from the right and not only does he looked ripped, the veins around his neck are throbbing. He cuts a good promo about how he "came to this area" to develop a mean streak, but it's literally his own blood vessels that sell the match. That's a Hidden Highlight if I've ever seen one - if you can make a babyface like Steamboat so mad that you think his head will pop off of his shoulders you're in for a bad day. "The Maniac" and "The Dragon" went on to have a fine match that really stands out on such an uneven card, and this Hidden Highlight interview gives anybody watching good reason to care about it. G'wan Ricky, get mad! Stay mad!
JP: Well, a bit more intro than necessary (and what's with the negative "But this, but that"? This is THE MOST POSITIVE ARTICLE IN THE IWC!!!), but still a valid Hidden Highlight. Matt Borne really only had a few moments to get over everything he was about in that match, and his line, followed by Bruno's veins, probably subtly sold more people than a hundred chair shots. One point!
Stevie J: WrestleMania II – In what may still be the most innovative concept in WrestleMania history, the McMahon company took a big gamble in 1986 and had three different wrestling cards in three different time zones - New York, Chicago and Los Angeles - linking them all together by jumping from the feed from one city to the one in the next heading from East to West. Paid attendance between the three is estimated at just over 40,000 and the tradition of seeing it each year on TV if you couldn't attend became firmly established. The feed that infuriates me the most of those three is the East coast, not because of the match quality itself (a pretty weak card culminating in a boxing match of all things between Roddy Piper and Mr. T) but due to the annoying presence of Susan St. James as the guest commentator who joins Vince McMahon during this section. Not only is it clear she knows nothing about wrestling, her idea of describing any violence inside or outside the ring is to proclaim "UHH-OH!" in the most whiny annoying voice you've ever heard. The final third of the show is also a little underwhelming but culminates in a much more memorable main event - Hulk Hogan v. King Kong Bundy in a steel cage match for the WWF Heavyweight Championship. Therefore it's not hard to see that the meat and potatoes of this show wrestling wise comes from the Chicago section in the middle, and it's certainly no coincidence that WWE would return there exactly 20 years later. The first two matches were a little on the short side, but that allowed enough time for a 20 man over-the-top
Battle Royal featuring both WWF stars and NFL greats, followed by a World Tag Team Title match between the British Bulldogs and the title holders Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake. It's not hard to find Hidden Highlights in a tag match since there are four people involved, but this one has even more potential since both teams are accompanies by managers - the champs accompanied by Luscious Johnny Valiant and the challengers brought to the ring by Captain Lou Albano. On top of that the babyface Bulldogs have Ozzy Osbourne with them as a corner man, and there are TWO separate referees to keep track of the action - one inside the ring and one outside the ring. Talk about overbooked! It's even more remarkable when you consider that press photographers were right up against the ring canvas and in some cases under the ropes taking photos - it's just one big mess of humanity all around. Nevertheless there is one Hidden Highlight during this match that stands out far above and beyond the others just because it was likely not well noticed then or even today. During the middle of the match Greg Valentine and the Dynamite Kid start exchanging forearms and elbows to the sides of each other's heads, which Dynamite gets the better of as Valentine sells being staggered and a bit punch drunk from the offense. Using a series of blows and chops Dynamite maneuvers him to the babyface side of the ring and puts him in the corner to deliver shoulder blocks to the gut and "soften him up." Now if you watch closely you'll actually see Dynamite's stance slip a bit - either the ring was wet or the Kid may have had a twinge in his right knee - and the shoulder block to the gut changes direction. Dynamite is such a consummate professional in the ring that he makes this accidental slip look purposeful by performing the rest of his shoulder blocks afterward the same way - dropping to one knee as though it gave the upward thrust of his shoulder blocks into Valentine more momentum and impact. It's subtle and the series of moves happens so fast you can miss it, but through quick thinking on Dynamite's feet he takes what could have been a big flub and instead smoothly makes it look purposeful and deadly. Indeed for "keeping it real" in this match, Billington has earned this Hidden Highlight.
JT: We'll give you the Hidden Highlight because it is indeed good and adds to the overall enjoyment of the show. However, you're still sort of calling other things bad, and that is a no-no here. One point.
Stevie J: WrestleMania III – Many people have argued this to be the single greatest WrestleMania of all time. As a result it's hard to imagine there's any part of this show that hasn't been thoroughly examined, picked apart, and completely analyzed. This show has arguably the most famous match of all time - Hulk Hogan v. Andre the Giant; and what some have called the best match of all time - Randy 'Macho Man' Savage v. Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat. Looking for Hidden Highlights though, I came across a great one in the most unexpected of places - 'The Natural' Butch Reed v. Koko B. Ware. Now some might argue this is just a filler match on one of the greatest WrestleMania cards of all time, coming right after a six-man tag with the British Bulldogs and the Hart Foundation and right before the aforementioned Intercontinental Title match between Savage and Steamboat.
Maybe it is, but if you normally skip over or fast forward through this match, I'm going to give you something to look for during it that may catch you by surprise. After the match, Butch Reed and his manager Slick are celebrating the victory when an irate Koko B. Ware catches Reed with a punch directly to the throat and neck area. Slick takes exception to this and starts to beat down Koko with his walking stick/cane, which draws Tito Santana to the ring to make the save. In the process Santana goes crazy and starts stripping off the Slickster's clothing, and this is where the Hidden Highlight comes in. Even though the camera is focused entirely on Slick and Santana and there's no reason for Reed to stay in character, if you watch closely you can see him staggering on the apron of the ring, struggling to pull himself up using the ropes - HE'S STILL SELLING THE PUNCH. Reed makes you totally believe that he wants to come in and save his manager, but the blow that Koko delivered was so devastating there's nothing can do because he's dizzy and quite possibly sucking wind from a crushing blow to the larynx. By the time Reed can finally crawl into the ring, Slick has fled up the rampway with his clothing in shreds. Once again that's the textbook definition of a Hidden Highlight - something small and unexpected that in retrospect made a story, match or event that much greater. Reed's selling made Tito Santana's somewhat goofy run-in to attack Slick into great drama.
JP: Absolutely right. He had no reason to stay in character and could have just rolled out of the way and called it a day. But he wanted to sell the story, the move, and himself in those few brief camera moments. One point! But what is up with these long intros? Nobody asked you to recap an entire WrestleMania!
Stevie J: WrestleMania IV – You may have noticed my descriptions of the events are getting shorter as this list gets longer. I do apologize for that but in the interest of time and with 21 editions of WrestleMania to get through brevity is my watchword. This event is fairly easy to summarize though - the entire point of this year's WrestleMania was a bracketed tournament whose eventual winner would become the new WWF World Heavyweight Champion. The title had been vacated when Andre the Giant defeated Hulk Hogan on Saturday Night's Main Event due to a dubious three-count by Earl Hebner, at which point Andre "awarded" the title to Ted DiBiase (presumably a cash payoff was made by the Million Dollar Man to Andre in exchange). President Jack Tunney threw this completely out, effectively saying it didn't matter whether DiBiase owned the title belt or not, he was not champion. As an aside, do we all remember as kids when this stuff seemed perfectly believable? I don't want to get into one of those "I mourn the death of kayfabe" rants but those schoolyard arguments about whether or not wrestling was fake had plenty of ammunition due to the fact a WWF World Title was so prized someone would try to cheat, steal, or buy the title at any cost - only to have that title negated due to the dubious means it was acquired. It certainly felt real, and even though the tournament to find a replacement champion made for an excessively long WrestleMania, making the eventual winner work his way through each round of the bracket also gave this "sports entertainment" an air of credibility it otherwise wouldn't have had. My pick for Hidden Highlight comes early in this show though, during the first round match between Ted DiBiase and 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan. Duggan executes an atomic drop, which DiBiase almost oversells, launching himself completely out of the ring. To preserve some believability he doesn't immediately come back into the ring. The referee starts a count-out, Duggan gloats, and DiBiase goes over to "consult" with his hired lackey Virgil and his big muscle Andre the Giant. Now I love Andre like everyone, but his English wasn't the most comprehensible on a good day, and it's hardly likely that someone with as little ring experience had at that time could offer any words of wisdom, but DiBiase sells the three man huddle as being vitally important. For all we know they discussed who forgot to take their fiber laxatives that day. Watch the match again and instead of waiting for the inevitable finish, pay attention to this little Hidden Highlight and know the greatness of Ted DiBiase - a consummate wrestler who not only sold for his opponents in the ring to make them look better but knew the right points to stall to make them look good when OUTSIDE the ring, selling the importance of his lackeys at ringside as valuable in the process.
JT: Managers, lackeys, "ring accompany-ers", etc etc have really died out in the last few years, and are crucial to helping sell things *outside* of the ring. DiBiase proves how vital these people can be. 3 points.
Stevie J: WrestleMania V – A not so Hidden Lowlight of this event is being forced to endure Rockin' Robin's singing of the national anthem at the start, proving to be the worst performance at WrestleMania since S.D. Jones was defeated by King Kong Bundy in under 30 seconds, and nearly as awful as Gene Okerlund singing at the inaugural event. Let's get right to it though - my Hidden Highlight for this event is once again Ted DiBiase, this time wrestling Brutus 'The Barber' Beefcake. Now the match itself might seem to be pointless since it goes to a double count-out, a bad move unless you are building up feuds at house shows or on free TV, and WrestleMania is usually where one blows OFF big feuds to resolve them once and for all. However WWF was trying to put over Beefcake as a babyface, as they obviously had big hopes for him, so this match is more significant than one might think. For me the Hidden Highlight is that despite the match being ruled over due to a double count-out, DiBiase doesn't simply quit and walk away in disgust - in fact DURING the announcement by Howard Finkel he takes the opportunity to rake Brutus Beefcake in the eyes. Now why would you do something like that outside the ring, after a match? Inside the ring you would do it to blind an opponent, take advantage of his incapacitation, and do something that would lead to the pin fall. DiBiase can gain neither advantage nor pin fall outside the ring, and the match has been called a draw anyway, so this simple move is DiBiase's expression of disdain for Beefcake - I don't care about the match, I just want to hurt you bad. Years later they'd call this sort of thing "hardcore." DiBiase does in fact try to take advantage of Beefcake's blindness, but he reverses it with a power move and shoves him into the ring post, then gives chase to his lackey Virgil to a thunderous roar of approval from the crowd, eventually leading to Beefcake getting the better of both men back in the ring and giving Monsoon an excuse to declare it a "moral victory" for Beefcake. The whole set-up for it turned on that rake to the eyes, a tet-a-tet affair of "you don't care, so I don't care" - Beefcake would get even by any means and almost took the clippers to DiBiase's head for a little haircut in the process. Subtle, but highly effective escalation on the Million Dollar Man's part.
JP: I know I did a little Ted DiBiase bashing in my Ultimate Warrior case, but the guy knows how to put on a Hidden Highlight. Excellent catch. That said, I absolutely DESPISE the term "Hidden Lowlight". It doesn't exist! Hidden Highlights is about making wrestling more enjoyable, not finding something else to tear down (and giving me yet another case for In Defense Of…). Just because of that, minus one point!
Stevie J: WrestleMania VI – The Ultimate Challenge. The Ultimate Conflict. The Ultimate Egos - Hogan and Warrior. At least it was a chance to hear a pay per view be opened with the Canadian national anthem for a change, since they held this one in Toronto. That and the fact a young Adam Copeland was in the audience for the event might each be considered a highlight, but neither one has been hidden very well. We're missing something subtle, something unrecognized, something unmentioned when people discuss this pay per view solely as the clashing of two titans. Perhaps it's all of the terrible jokes and bad puns used during the promos for Demolition vs. Andre the Giant & Haku, the tag team champions? Nope, that's a lowlight. Is it the punches that Haku throws? I've seen flies smack into bug zappers harder. People tend to rate Demolition as being one of the greatest tag teams ever, but for my money both Ax and Smash look sloppy in this match. The true Hidden Highlight here, and the reason I've focused on this bout, is Andre the Giant himself. Since Andre's mobility was severely crippled at this point by both his Acromegaly and rising weight, Andre had to make himself look like a fearsome opponent without having to actually do a lot. First aspect of this highlight is the fact Andre held the tag rope every time the ref was looking his way, selling the whole "I'm playing by the rules shtick," but when there was a distraction by Demolition he'd step just barely in the ring for a quick cheap shot or lean over the ropes for a head butt. When it came time for the big finish though, they had to come up with a creative way to explain why a man the colossal size of Andre wouldn't easily break up the three count, again keeping in mind that despite his limited mobility he was supposed to be one of the most feared men in wrestling. When Haku took a double team move from Demolition, Andre stepped in for the save and grabbed one man from behind, holding him so Haku could do a kick to the head. A quick duck and the kick meant for Demotion hit Andre instead, which he sold by staggering backwards and falling into the ropes, getting his arms tied up in them in the process. Bobby the Brain Heenan tried to free him but couldn't do so in time to stop Demolition from getting the three count and becoming the WWF tag team champions. When you think about Andre making a bad match better by subtly fooling us all into thinking he was doing more than he did, that's a DEFINITE Hidden Highlight.
JT: I'm with you on finding highlights! I'm not with you explaining how bad everything was beforehand, just to save it with a small highlight. 0 points.
Stevie J: WrestleMania VII – This has to go down as the most jingoistic WrestleMania of all time. It could have been subtitled "God bless the USA and God bless our troops." Good Lord, Hacksaw Jim Duggan even comes out to do commentary in the opening match wearing an Uncle Sam get-up worthy of JBL at The Great American Bash. It's hard to fathom now looking back that they actually turned Sgt. Slaughter, maybe the most patriotic wrestler of all time, HEEL just so that Hulk Hogan could be in the main event once again. I don't know which WrestleMania I looked less forward to finding a Hidden Highlight in, 7 or 9, but they're both pretty lame for an event that's supposed to be the year's biggest and most important. Here's an example of a wrestlecrap-worthy reason to induct WrestleMania 7 aside from the one's already mentioned - in one single backstage segment poor Gene Okerlund has to interview Regis Philbin (who makes a bad joke about Earthquake) Alex Trebek AND Marla Maples. A promise is a promise though, and I said I'd deliver one Hidden Highlight from EVERY WrestleMania, so here it is - Davey Boy Smith. He had started his solo run not long ago and kept the name British Bulldog for himself, and even kept a pet bulldog named Winston as a successor of sorts to Matilda. The match he has against Warlord is pretty unmemorable as are most of the pairings on this card (he beats Warlord with a running powerslam in under three minutes) but the Hidden Highlight here is Davey Boy Smith selling for Winston. During a pre-match promo Smith acts as though Winston was barking (even at full volume the dog was totally silent the whole time) and actually leans down and appears to LISTEN TO WHAT WINSTON IS SAYING. The dog totally no-sells this by turning its head away, probably not wanting to get Smith's braided hair in its eyes or nose, so even if the dog was barking or "talking" its out of position and nowhere near Smith's ear as he leans in. You're thinking this whole segment should have been canned or never done in the first place? Fo' sho' you right, but Smith gamely continues on, raising his head up and looking straight at the camera to deliver this message: "Winston wants me to tell the Warlord, there is no bull, in this British Bulldog." Smith single handedly saves this train wreck promo and sells better for an ugly mutt than Chris Masters has sold for any opponent he ever had. Bravo Smith, bravo.
JP: Oh, that would have been a good one. I liked it, I really did. But the net-gativity (stealing that one Meehan), is bringing you down. If you began at "A promise is a promise" and ended at "promo" without using "trainwreck" it would have been yours. Alas, this is not to be! Zero points!
Stevie J: WrestleMania VIII – I would like to offer a personal screw you to the World Wrestling Federation for the fact that not only did Reba McEntire sing the national anthem (yuck) but even worse, Tito Santana had to open the show wearing an awful garish bullfighter's outfit and be referred to as "El Matador." Who's brilliant idea was that? Don't answer, I already know, the same person who convinced Scary Sherri Martel to sing his opponent's theme song - the one and only Shawn Michaels making his singles debut at WrestleMania. Thankfully HBK later decided to sing it himself, and it became a whole hell of a lot better. Still this card was a whole lot better than the previous year's, and two wrestlers as good as Santana and Michaels being the OPENING match proves it. I had to pick this match for the Hidden Highlight despite being a curtain jerker, as managers and valets at ringside always make for good Hidden Highlights. Personally I can't stand Martel she does her job well here, and this is another case where I'm picking a Hidden Highlight for something somebody doesn't do. When Michaels throws Santana over the ropes and out to the ringside area right in front of her, Martel just looks at him the whole time. Her facial expressions during the period before Santana gets back in the ring run the gamut from disgust to smugness to lust (at one point she's staring straight at Santana's butt). It's not very often you see somebody do so little and get over so much, but in this brief segment Martel conveyed the following: "I know Shawn Michaels is better than you. I might find you somewhat attractive, but his star is rising and yours is falling so I'm pitching in with a winner." Brilliant!
Stevie J: WrestleMania IX – Ugh. Jim Ross in a toga, Undertaker wrestling Giant Gonzales, and Yokozuna beating Bret Hart for the WWF title only to lose it minutes later to Hulk Hogan. This WrestleMania stinks on every conceivable level possible. I didn't think I could find a single Hidden Highlight anywhere in this stinkathon, but I did! The Headshrinkers v. the Steiner Brothers. This was the only time the Steiners would appear at WrestleMania, and they took full advantage of it. It's worth nothing Scott was not nearly as jacked up, muscle bound, or lacking in stamina as he would be when he became "Big Poppa Pump." Scott wins the match with a Frankensteiner, and while that's definitely a Highlight it's not something Hidden enough that anybody could miss. What is Hidden though is Scott does when Fatu sends him to the outside with a running kick. First aspect -
Fatu either came too early or Scott was out of position, but he still rolled over repeatedly to the outside, selling the impact in a unique way - he was so hurt by the blow he hung himself upside down on the apron and couldn't immediately drop to the ground. Second aspect - when his brother Rick goes in the ring to argue with Fatu, Samu comes over to ram Scott's head into the ring post. Scott DOUBLE sells this attack, first staggering off the post and then cracking his head into the floor next to the ringside announce table. This happens so quickly that unless you watch it in slow motion you might think Scott hit the table itself, an idea Macho Man Randy Savage plays up on commentary (small Hidden Highlight to him as well). Third aspect - Scott staggers to his knees and is only able to get up and back into the ring when brother Rick helps him back to the ring apron. I'm big on little things that make a match more believable, and Scott went out of his way to make the Headshrinkers look both vicious and devastating. In fact I'll give him extra credit as the face-in-peril for most of the rest of this match. It's too bad Scott got all 'roided and bloated because this match shows there was a time when he was a hell of a worker as well as an athlete.
JP: Oh man, you know I am tempted to give you zero points for the completely unnecessary "stinkathon" comments and then ending with Scott Steiner bashing—ESPECIALLY because I am doing In Defense Of… Scott Steiner starting this week! But because you pointed out about five Hidden Highlights within one, and ones that were all good, I'll give you the point.
