Hidden Highlights 10.29.06: Issue #61
Posted by Prag-Thomlison on 10.29.2006
It’s almost Halloween, so we have a scare filled edition of Hidden Highlights! Actually, no we don’t. Instead, JT stalks Dixie Carter, Shane Douglas get angry, the gorilla position turns on JR, Hardcore Holly recovers from injury, Brother Runt gets in on Eric Young’s plan, Cena holds on tight to King Booker, and a graveyard full of other non-frightening ones. Unless you count the return of Hogan Knows Best!
Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag and James "JT" Thomlison
Issue #61
Intro
Hello everyone who bought Brooke Hogan's CD, and welcome back to 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.
Every week we take the top 3 Hidden Highlights from the biggest shows on television (RAW, ECW of SciFi, iMPACT, 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 this, last, or any week in history. On top of all that, we explore the other issues that prove why this is the most positive article in the IWC.
We bring you Hidden Highlights with one goal in mind: to appreciate all those little things that make a huge difference. JT?
JT: Well, we're a week from Cyber Sunday, two days from Halloween, and three hours from another Lions loss! Just kidding kids, they aren't going to lose this week… it's their bye. I hate bye weeks. I also hate being broke; and dropping $400 on your parents' Christmas gifts (oh yeah, I get done early people) will not help that situation one bit!
JP: I'd help you out there, but, you know, I'm Jewish and really can't support any Christmas-related causes. Anyway, as a special treat for Halloween, I bring you this from Spooky World in Boston, MA:
JT: What the heck was that?
JP: It was the Halloween spirit, Hidden Highlights style! Remember kids, Hidden Highlights are everywhere, even in function halls converted into haunted houses.
JT: I hate haunted houses. I hate scary movies for that matter, too. Being scared isn't fun. Being scared is scary.
JP: Yes, yes. Anyway, enough with those ones, let's get on with the real Hidden Highlights!
Hidden Highlights for TNA Presents Bound For Glory Fan Interaction Day!: Saturday, October 21, 2006 by JT
JT: What an absolute BLAST this was. I already covered the day with my live report, so let's just get to it!
(3) Dear God… Cook was right… the world is ending…:
In regards to Traci, let me get something off my chest. Look, I'll be the first to admit to you that for some strange reason, her face never fares well in pictures. Lighting, makeup, whatever, who knows. The fact is you can find fifty unflattering pictures of her face just about anywhere. With that said, I was standing six inches from her on multiple occasions today and let me tell you there is NOTHING wrong with that face. She is a fucking KNOCKOUT. Seriously, you can argue the pictures all you want, but I've met her, and she's about a swig of beer away from being a 10. I kid you not, she is one of the most gorgeous women I have ever seen in my ENTIRE LIFE. I now understand Cook's argument of "you've never seen her in person". Well, today I have, and I am a changed man. You know, it's so funny. After I originally wrote this, I went back and looked at the picture that I took with her last week.. You know what? Amazingly, the face of the woman in the picture is somehow NOT the face of the woman I stood next too. They always say that people are photogenic, why can't they be non-photogetic? I will forever be on Team Cook's side of things on this one. That woman is beautiful.
(2) Samoa Joe kills bitches… and ho's!:
Now, as some of you may have read in my Fan Interaction Recap, Samoa Joe loved the shirt. But it goes farther than that. I was trying to be brief so I didn't get into a ton of specifics (hey kids, it was 2 a.m., sue me). Well today, I will. As I approached Samoa Joe's table and laid out my SAMOA JOE KILLS BITCHES SHIRT, he got a good laugh from it as he signed it. This was expected. What wasn't expected was that after he signed his name, he wrote in "& Ho's" on my shirt after BITCHES… so my shirt now says SAMOA JOE KILLS BITCHES AND HO'S. The guy behind me was also watching, and myself, him, and Joe all got a great laugh out of it. Friendly neighborhood reminder, according to the horses mouth, Joe "hasn't killed some bitches in a while"… guess that all changed at BFG, eh? Really fun time getting to meet him. He was a great guy and it was a real pleasure. You can also see him talk about said shirt in an interview conducted by our good friend Kirsty Quested over at NZPWI.com.co.nz here (Who loves ya, Kirsty?)
(1) It's good to be the boss:
Since this is obviously something that nobody else (unless you attended) can see, I have to give some love to Dixie Carter. As I reported, Dixie Carter was there and made a little speech on stage to all of us (not only in attendance but the TNA supporters and fans in general). And, I am proud to say that I am probably responsible for what occurred afterwards. I was standing two lines from the door the wrestlers were using to get in and out of the room. As I was standing there, I noticed Dixie Carter (on a B line mind you) excuse herself right past me on the way to said door. Me, recognizing who it was, kind of touched her on the shoulder to stop her progress and asked if she would mind giving me an autograph. She was MORE than happy to. She signed my "BFG Fan Interaction" pass you had to have around your neck, and then proceeded to stand there and talk to me for a couple of minutes. We talked about how I (and a lot of us) really appreciated what she did, and she actually asked me where I was from and got into the fact I was a military brat. Some guy approached us and asked her to sign SEVERAL shirts, one of which was for his brother for Christmas, who was currently overseas in Iraq. She immediately grabbed it and signed it "Thank you for your support. We appreciate everything you're doing. Get home safe!", and finished with "U.S.A! Dixie Carter". At that point, more people had realized who she was, and she just ran with it. She stood there, and even moved around from that point, just interacting with all the fans. She was also at BFG meeting fans. It was really great to see her there, and she really seemed to appreciate meeting everyone. She and I spoke three times over two days, and the one thing I remember is that the second and third time we spoke, she immediately knew exactly who I was. EXAMPLE: When she saw me at BFG, she said "good to see you back, thanks for yesterday". Point is, Dixie really made sure to make her presence felt this weekend, and kudos have to be given. That… and she's hot. I knew she was hot, but seeing her attitude and personality up close last week makes her even more hot.
….
….
DIXIE CARTER! WILL YOU MARRY ME!?
….
….okay, that was probably a bit of stretch, and I was attempting to be humorous, but she really does deserve all the credit in the world for what she's done for TNA. You'd never see VKM walking around in the middle of a Fan Fest banquet room, or walking around the middle of the floor crowd for a major PPV. Much respect, Dixie. Keep doing what you're doing.
JP: And all this interaction and you didn't pull a "I'm a columnist with 411mania. Do you think we could sit down for interview/go backstage" type deal? Well, maybe it is better. Going around calling people bitches, hos, reverse-butter-faces, and MILFs isn't exactly the best representation of the site… No, wait a minute… that is exactly what this site is about…
Hidden Highlights for TNA Presents Bound For Glory LIVE(!!!!): Sunday, October 22, 2006 by JT
JT: Well you all saw it, it was a damn fine show. We had an X-Division Battle Royal, Team 3D is apparently back, Monster's Ball kept things going, Eric Young still has a job, Sabin come through for the home crowd, Rhino doesn't, LAX regains the gold, and we have a NEW Champion in Sting! Best of all, the beer was plentiful. Fortunately, I managed to snag a couple of HH before I got completely sloshed (which, in all honestly, I already was before the show even started)! Now keep in mind kids, I'm sure there were plenty more, and I'm REALLY hoping that we got a lot of Reader Write In's this week because after about the fourth match, I had entered the world of "ya know what, it's my time now!" …blame the 14th beer for getting in my ear at that point. Oh, and I felt SO bad for this guy.
Allow me to explain:
There was a security guard sitting about six feet from me, and you could tell he was a HUGE TNA fan. I mean, he knew who was coming out based on their music (and the crowd); he even mouthed BG James' intro with him. The guy was a really, really big fan. So why do I feel bad? The poor bastard had to sit with his back to the ring. He was – as security – NOT ALLOWED TO TURN AROUND. Not sure I'd have been able to do that. So kudos to that guy, that must have really been tough. Me standing in his face drunk telling him how badly that sucked probably didn't help. Oh well, on with it!
(3) Give me my space!:
During the Monster's Ball, things got very heated with all four competitors. One such competitors was Abyss. Once he leapt off the ramp onto Runt, Abyss was not in the greatest moods. There was one man who noticed that – James Mitchell. Normally James Mitchell gets as close as possible to bark out orders to Abyss. After that point in the match though, James Mitchell …well, he did still bark out orders to Abyss… but he also made sure that anytime he did so, he was at LEAST seven or eight feet away. He did his job, but I thought that keeping his distance from then on sold the fact that Abyss was SUCH a grumpy camper, even HE should be wary of how close one gets.
(2) Don't make Shane Douglas angry… you wouldn't like him when he's angry:
This one is a "you had to be there in the live crowd" HH. As all of you were watching the Jake Roberts promo from the back, well, there was a certain man by the name of Shane Douglas in the ring, still bitching out The Naturals. Now, usually we'd see this and it would be no big deal. But the fact is that Shane knew that the camera was NOT on him, and that he was most certainly NOT on television. So did he stop? No. He threw a FIT in the ring. In fact, a referee tried to interject and Shane just kind of gave him the hand with the "don't fuck with me right now" look, and what did the ref do? Immediately got right back out of the ring. He spent maybe a half a second in there. And as soon as he got out, he stuck up his innocent hands like "hey, I don't want any problems here. No beef from me". I thought it was an awesome job KNOWING that they weren't on TV for both Shane and the ref to continue to stay in character for the live crowd. Good stuff.
(1) Calling a match:
During the opening match, there were three people in the ring: Sonjay Dutt, Austin Starr, and Matt Bentley. During the double team on Bentley, Sonjay Dutt sent him into the ropes, and on his way back Dutt gave him a leg-trip, sending him to the floor. Now, at the same time this was happening, Starr was running onto the other side of the ring to garnish some momentum of his own. As he's doing so, you can see Bentley (who is on the ground, on his stomach) reach up with his arms up to his head and motion to his face as he says "kick me"! You probably couldn't see it on TV, but it was clear as day live. Very rarely do we get to see wrestling OPENLY calling the match, but as close as I was, there was no doubt what he said. Nice job by Bentley keeping the fast pace that had been established going – by putting himself out there no less.
JP: I'll say it every time we do one of these: nothing beats the experience of a show live. Nothing.
Hidden Highlights for WWE RAW: Monday, October 23, 2006 by JP
JP: Here is a list of things that have happened at Halloween Havoc over the years:
Ric Flair and Sting vs. the Great Muta and Terry Funk
Rick Rude vs. Masa Hiro Chono
Steven Regal vs. Davey Boy Smith
Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair in a steel cage
Sabu vs. Mr. JL (Jerry Lynn)
Hulk Hogan vs. the Giant (Big Show)
Dean Malenkov vs. Rey Mysterio
Outsiders vs. Harlem Heat
Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero, mask vs. title
Goldberg vs. DDP
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Why, oh why, then would you intentionally use your archival footage to make fun of your own intellectual property? And I haven't seen the E do any, "Worst moments in WWE history" video packages yet. Once again, the only thing the WWE does with stuff like that is alienate NWA/WCW fans even more and decrease the value of their video library. But hey, when you own the world who cares if you destroy something of value? Luckily for me, the show was overflowing with Hidden Highlights that made up for that dirty taste in my mouth.
(3) What's good for the goose:
If the WWE is going to call out embarrassing moments in history, I'm going to catch them at their own game. But I'll give it a nice lemon twist at the end. First off, what was JR smoking last night? He was as far off his game as I can remember. Late in the evening, he called Triple H an eleven time champion, when Triple H is only a ten time champion. Triple H's story for entire year of feuding with Batista and John Cena was that he wanted to become an eleven time champion and never achieved it. Guess the number got stuck in JR's head. But what was really amazing was during the post match beat down of John Cena, JR called King Booker "Booker T" am astounding nine times (ten, actually, but the tenth came after the Hidden Highlight I'm about to show). So what is the Hidden Highlight? Well, after the ninth time, there was all of a sudden a very noticeable PAUSE in the commentary, and then JR and Lawler started saying, "King Booker" ad nausea, almost like they were trying to make up for it. My guess is that someone at the Gorilla position started yelling at them and cut into commentary, making the two change their tune to get over the current storyline on SmackDown!. Well, we at least know that someone in the Gorilla position cares about the other brands and pays attention to them. Good job by whoever stopped JR from embarrassing himself even more.
(2) Giving Directions:
After Kenny defeated Ric Flair, the rest of the Spirit Squad attacked and the Old School Crew made the save. As they were clearing the ring, you could distinctly hear the American Dream Dusty Rhodes tell Roddy Piper that was "going this way" to throw his member of the Spirit Squad out of the ring and that Piper should go the other way. Great funny moment by the Dream giving directions on how to throw your opponents out of the ring.
(1) Punch the right way:
Earlier in the evening, Jeff Hardy and Carlito teamed up to take on Shelton Benjamin and Chris Masters. Hardy was trying to make his way to the corner to tag in Carlito, but Shelton Benjamin was right there to cut him off. At one point, Shelton was between Hardy and Carlito and Shelton punched Hardy in the face. But he didn't just punch him with a straight cross or anything. Instead, he took a curved downward shot toward his right, which not only would hurt Hardy but would use the momentum to push Hardy away from the corner and away from his tag team partner. Excellent work by Benjamin to take a simple little punch and make it into something worthwhile.
JT: You see Vince? Shelton gets on TV once every nine weeks, and does something glorious. Now if only you had let Ted DiBiase manage him as opposed to releasing him, you might have gotten some love this week, too!
Hidden Highlights for ECW on SciFi: Tuesday, October 24, 2006 by JT
JT: Paul Heyman is still an asshole, CM Punk passes his test against Matt Striker, Test – to the shock of everyone – cheats to get a win over Holly, and RVD earns his title shot for the second week in a row! All that and more as we get closer to Cyber Sunday!
(3) Remember what JP said earlier about HH being everywhere?:
Look, I'm sure that in no way was this intentional, because places are booked so far in advance, there is no way this planned. However, sometimes you have to take the unexpected gems – the "pleasant surprises" if you will – and run with them. However, I (and most of us) am a huge sports fan, and to be honest, it truly did make me smile and enjoy the show a little more because of it. Therefore, it counts! So I attended BFG in Detroit on Sunday (game 2, btw), and then tonight, I watched ECW in St. Louis (game 3, btw). That's right, kids, I'm busting out the World Series! Det. vs. Stl….. TNA vs. WWE…. Show in the exact same cities on the exact same nights… is it a complete coinkidink? Of course it is, and some of you who aren't sports fans might not even make the connection; but to me, just the mere circumstances of the three day period (Sun-Tue) arose the "spirit of competition" in me, and not only am I excited for the rest of the series, but with moves both WWE and TNA have made lately, I'm excited to see what direction both of these companies are heading in the next couple of years.
(2) They don't call him Hardcore because he likes kittens!:
So, three weeks ago or so, Hardcore Holly suffered an INSANE gash to his back, one that required numerous stitches. We saw a bandage for ONE week, and never saw stitches. Now, usually, when a wrestler is selling an injury, it can go on for WEEKS depending on the location and severity of the injury. How long did Lashley sell that knee? How long did Rey sell that shoulder? Yeah. Well, it appears that the E decided to go with a different approach, and I like that they did. During Holly's match with Test, I saw NO stitches, NO bandage, NO selling of a back injury… hell, unless it was REALLY close up, I didn't even see a scar! …"JT, get to the point"… fine, I will. In a world where people sell things for longer than they should, I love that they completely stuck with Holly's "Hardcore" gimmick, by having him back in form with no seemingly visible signs of the SERIOUS injury he sustained. After all, it's Hardcore Holly… he doesn't do "stitches, bandages, or scabs". It's only been THREE weeks people. I don't know about any of you, but I've had a serious gash like that, and it has to be carefully watched over …well, longer than 20 days. Yes, he wears the wrap on his arm because of the staph (which almost killed him, mind you), but when it comes to something silly like a little 14-inch scar, Hardcore Holly will have none of that. Great play on his gimmick (which, if I had to bet, he had EVERYTHING to do with).
(1) It's Nov. 7th already?:
Okay, so we all heard him say it, but how many of us knew what he was saying. No offense to the readers, but I have to assume that there are younger fans that read us. For once, I must play to the older crowd. As most of us know (whether we follow politics or not), it's election time. So what does Sandman say during his interview? "I'm the Sandman, and I approve this message". To those of us tapped into reality, that was HILARIOUS. I don't know about any of you, but the local messages for who I should and shouldn't vote for are getting a bit ridiculous. Hell, they get ridiculous every two or four years… I think the point is that for anyone who follows and deals with local (or even state) politics regularly, it was refreshing to hear it from someone who wasn't trying to feed us a bunch of bullshit. The real funny part of this was that he was doing so to get us to actually "vote" for him, something pertinent to the Cyber Sunday PPV. It was a great incorporation of both current events and things going on in the wrestling world as well. The fact that it was Sandman almost makes it even greater.
JP: More on that Hardcore Holly one, what helped that was Taz on commentary. During the match he said something to the effect of, "And I bet Holly lied to the doctors, too" in order to get back early from injury. I thought that was a great line because it was most likely true! It's probably very true of most wrestlers with legit injuries who go back to work way too soon.
Hidden Highlights for TNA iMPACT: Thursday, October 26, 2006 by JP
JP: With Bound for Glory behind us, TNA is preparing for the future with… god knows, there was tons going on in this episode. I spent most of show trying to figure out the rules for the Fight for Right deal. That could have gone on a whole show. Thanks to Larry's recap for helping me understand what I saw and what happens next. I was really messed up in what happened AFTER this match.
(3) On the team:
As Eric Young was doing laps around the ring (which is a Hidden Highlight unto itself) in Stage 1 of the aforementioned match, one man tried to stop him for a second. No, it wasn't to keep him from getting in the ring, but to try to work together with him. Brother Runt stopped Eric and gave him the eye-sign, letting him know that they are on the same page and to try to get Eric to work for him. Good work by Brother Runt to use Eric's current storyline, even if no one else saw or commented on it.
(2) It may have been crazy but…:
While the Fight for the Right match may have left a lot of things to be designed (like sanity), it did have one thing going for it that I'll give to production: The commercial breaks were timed really well. Each "Stage" of the match was separated with a break and a new bell. I thought this was good to set up the different parts of the match and give them the different feels they needed. It also gave the wrestlers a little bit of time to rest so they would be on the same page at the beginning of each stage.
(1) Where is he?:
During the main event promo, Angle called Joe a "bleeder" and Samoa Joe came out to respond. When Joe's music hit, I noticed that Angle first looked at the "face" ramp before he looked at the "heel" ramp to see where Joe was. I thought this great for so many reasons. First, Angle is still new to TNA so he is not used to what ramps people use. Second, it makes it less predictable to know where Joe is going to be. Third, it shows that Angle thinks of Joe as a face (as do the fans) although he hasn't done much to actually go about and turn from being the heel he was when he first came in. Good little fake there that did the same for me.
JT: You know what's funny? I think those ramps have gotten more HH than 70% of either roster. And boy, how great was it to see those two go after each other. People can complain about a lack of build and blowing loads all they want (be sure to look for our answer on that exact subject when we slaughter Randle), I am PUMPED to see these two go at it.
Hidden Highlights for WWE SmackDown!: Friday, October 27, 2006 by JT
JT: Dave is definitely NOT going to ECW, Tatanka snaps as Dave Taylor hurts himself, Beniot pines for the fans to vote for him to take on Umaga (which I did, because I think he'd be a perfect first loss for him), Chavo and Vicki have something up their sleeve, Kennedy sneaks past Kane, MVP is a bitch (yeah, I said it!), Cena gets Batista fired up, the Divas battle it out in costumes, a certain someone returned and will remained unmentioned because we're positive here, and 3 champs and a very big baby got it on for our main event!
(HOLIDAY HIDDEN HIGHLIGHT!) So I liked the Black Album… sue me!:
It's no secret that we don't get to give the Divas love very often around here, so allow me to do so. Hey, it's almost Halloween, they were doing something for Halloween, I have to find SOMETHING, right? Fortunately, I did. As Miz (after the end of the royal and back from commercial break) was hyping Krystal, then hyping himself for his "greatness that is the Miz", for about two seconds as his right arm was raised Krystal reached up and dusted off his shoulder a couple of times. Now, I'm not the hippest guy in the planet (nor does this in ANY way have to do with the fact that I'm a Jay-Z fan [innocent look]), but I'm aware that when you *sings* "get – that – dirt of your shoulder" is an indication of pimpage (or something similar, you may all feel free to insert your own slang based on location). Just thought it was a great move by her – ESPECIALLY with her timing – to coincide with Miz and really, they both put each other over beautifully.
(3) As long as the ref sees it, a tag is a tag:
At the start of the main event, Cena had King Booker locked up - - with both arms. Then he started to head towards his corner. Now, did he release the lock to make the tag? No. He just made sure he was close enough for Batista to tag him in the back. That's legal people. Nice job by Cena to have the ring awareness to know that his hand was necessary for the tag, and also that breaking the lock even for a second to do so might give a great one like Booker the tiniest of windows to take advantage and re-shift the momentum.
(2) Being familiar with your opponent ref?:
Before the Matt Hardy vs. Gregory Helms match, Michael Cole was giving us a rundown of some of the matches they've had along the way in this feud. In every single clip they showed (four matches), it was the same ref! Not only was it the same ref, but it always seemed like he managed to duck an arm or get out of the way just in time; if you saw the moves he was dodging, you may like me have though "man, some refs wouldn't have timed that as well". But apparently, that wasn't an issue for him because he is very familiar with both wrestlers and knows what to expect. Now, not only is this true in kayfabe world, but I think this is a really smart move on the E's part in the real world as well. This isn't a big slug-out between two big men. These guys are smaller and VERY active, and the more attune a ref can be in a match, the better. Remember, the ref is a part of the match as well, and it always helps if he can be as cohesive as possible to make things flow smoothly. Kudos to both the ref and the E on that one.
(1) How quickly we forget:
After Kennedy's "victory" over Kane, JBL proclaimed that "Kennedy now has victories over every current or former champion (World or WWE) on the roster except me!". Well, this *seems* true, but is in fact not. Hello? Chris Benoit anyone? I did the fact checking with OWW, and sure enough, Kennedy has never beaten Chris Benoit. I liked this for two reasons. One, Benoit has only been back a couple of weeks, so it makes sense that the announcers might not be fully adjusted to him being back. For another, flat out, it made me think! "So, JT, a HH is you calling JBL out for being wrong?". No kids, but at least for me, it's fun to me when an announcer says something and I actually have to think about it because I can't remember something or think he's wrong. Let's face it, there's not exactly at lot of deep thinking involved during a wrestling show, and when the announcers can touch you on a level that makes you rack your brain, well I just think that is a testament to them. Call me crazy for actually enjoying a rare opportunity at an actual intelligent thought process during a show.
JP: Speaking of deep thinking, were you calling Miz a Diva in the first one? I'm so confused today!
Reader Write-in 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.
This week JT gets to pick our Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights of the week.
JT: So I complain about lack of emails, JP gets swarmed, and I get nothing this week? Is it me people!? I swear I showered today! Look, I even brought breath mints! Drinks all around on me! …seriously people, show your boy JT some love! So, *GENERAL WARNING*:: some parts of the following Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights may be edited for grammar, spelling, and English translation…
Regular Manu B. starts us off with something from the opening match at Bound For Glory:
After Zach Gowen came out, he got on the top rope for a moonsault. Austin Starr tried shaking the ropes to make him lose his balance, except...HE DIDNT HAVE A LEG ON THAT SIDE!!! simply awesome! and sadly, missed by the commentators.
JT: I was there, and didn't see it, but I'm sure you are spot on Manu. Great job by both parties to execute a move yet do nothing at the same time. *Update*: I have seen the tape since, and he did in fact do that, and it was hilarious. Manu also went on a rant about low attendance and lack of signs… shame on you Manu; JP should not be your scapegoat! Next up is Adam P., who caught a little foreshadowing of sorts.
Hey, this is forum member Goob Jones, was rewatching Bound for Glory tonight and caught something I thought was interesting. During the X-division Invitational Austin Starr teased throwing the midget out of the ring and into the crowd. Then in the Monster's Ball what happened. Abyss threw Runt into the crowd who caught him and threw him back. Seems like they used the X division spot to tease something that would occur later that night.
JT: Not sure it was planned that way, but it is a good connection none-the-less. It appeared more than Starr was doing that more to tease Short Sleeve Sampson than foreshadow, but people are always doing little things like that (proclaiming you're going to beat a guy's ass then lose to him later, etc), and connecting those dots shows that you're on your HH game. Brian T. wants to give the TNA announce booth some love:
I've got to give mad props to Mike Tenay and Don West for their wonderful announcer interaction.
During the Main Event of BFG, Sting and Jeff Jarrett were battling it out on the entrance ramp. When Sting attempted to make use of the steel chair Kurt Angle grabbed it, thus fulfilling his Special Enforcer duties. But this isn't the Hidden Highlight, oh no. After Double J had slammed the steel chair in Angle's face, Mike Tenay and Don West got into a frank discussion about whether Jarrett had done this on purpose, or if he has intended on hitting Sting.
Frankly, I loved it. Generally when those things happen - *coughWWEcough* - the announcers reach the same conclusion, as if they had some telekentic link to know the wrestler's intentions (otherwise known as a script). This is why we have multiple announcers; so that there is discussion about the events unfolding before us. Heck, it was good enough for me.
JT: I noticed this when watching the replay. The thing about it is that you're right; they often do have some sort of telekinetic link, but at the same time, if they don't, they don't speculate. The announcers say something like it's fact (JBL will give you one reason that he KNOWS is the reason, Cole will give you another reason which *he* KNOWS is the reason), but on that one Don West and Tenay were both just speculating like "meh, who knows!?". Heading into RAW, let me just say Joe, the green has been pointed out more than enough times on Eugene, but no matter that. You're paying attention, which is what we're going for here. Same thing for you Gary, the Melina outfit change was indeed a good one, but I think it was pretty obvious that not only did she not want to be caught twice, but that she was adding a Nitro twist to it. Good stuff by both of you. Crock actually had several from RAW:
Watching Raw on Monday made me have to write in about something that I've seen the past couple of weeks. Every week the King, the Show and Cena are out together to promote Cyber Sunday. The King wearing the royal robes and a three piece suit. Cena wearing the thug/marine look. Then there's Show. Always saying he is what he says he is, a big bad man. Does he wear a costume...no, just extra large normal clothes (although I gotta say two weeks ago if he would've had orange shades on, he could've been John Goodman from the Big Lebowski). I think it shows that his character feels he doesn't need the special gimmick to be him, mainly 'cause he's a walking breathing gimmick
JT: That he is indeed. The Show has pretty much ALWAYS been like that, too. He may have had different names over his career, but it's always been very basic. I'm huge, I'm bad, and I'm here. You really don't need more when it comes to Show.
Next was the Cryme Tyme bout. I thought there were a couple of small highlights. HH#1 was when JTG was up on the ropes in the corner when they first came out and from outside the ring Kenny is shaking the ropes to knock him off even before the match started.
JT: Good ol' Kenny, never wanting anyone else to get the spotlight. Not only that, but it was just a really great move to attempt to possibly rattle "the rookies" before the match even gets started.
Secondly, when a squad member was trying to Suplex (sloppily) Shad by the ropes but didn't appear to have the strength. Shad puts his feet on the ropes to get that extra push to complete the move. Pretty nice for new guy to have the savy to help complete the move. Is Shad new to the ring overall or just to the E?
JT: I love this! Not only were WE able to get Cryme Tyme some love, but the readers have found a way as well! They are definitely off to a good start with the Hidden Highlights family (that includes you kids). I'll tell you what I like about it, he had the wherewithal to recognize that the move was about to not go over as well as it should, quickly adapted, and used his surroundings to help pull off the move.
As for the second part of your question; from what I have found, Shad entered OVW late in 2004 (he may have had prior training and indy experience, he may have not). He quickly moved up the ranks and eventually teamed with Neighborhoodie (JTG's name in OVW) and they won the belts down there. So he's been around, and is only now being called up years later (something I know Geoff would approve of). Hitting us up for ECW this week was our good Finnish friend John L., who helps us keep our "live crowd" roll alive:
Third, I'm not sure whether this qualifies or not, but it might be worth mentioning. I was watching ECW's this week episode and during the early parts of the Test vs. Holly matchup the two were starting rather slow and the crowd seemed to get a slightly anxious. The highlight comes right before we went to commercial in the middle part of the match. Test got his head slammed against the steps and rolled back in to the ring, Holly followed him slowly and if you listen closely you can hear a man form the audience say "finish the match off, I gotta go to the bathroom!" Got to love fan interaction.
JT: Live crowd people, live crowd… it's all about being there, for great moments like this. That guy had NO idea he was going to be on TV, but you know what, he was. Not only did he manage to get himself on TV, but he actually got to enjoy the live experience! Coming off of BFG, I am obviously high on live shows. So the point here is… GO TO A LIVE SHOW! That means you Bobby. Get off your ass and go see a show… lazy bastard. Nothing from Impact this week so let's move right into last week's SmackDown, where Matthew G. thinks Terkay has a good memory:
Anyway, this one's from Smackdown last week...I think...
During the Elijah Burke/Terkay segment Burke calls them the "World's Greatest Fight Team". I think this is an interesting choice of words, as it is obviously alluding to the (self-proclaimed) "World's Greatest Tag Team" of Haas/Benjamin, which of course were at one point part of Team Angle....and who's Turkay's only loss to? Angle... exactly....
An interesting dig at Angle, basically saying "your guys were good, but we're better".
JT: Yes! I had been trying so very desperately to figure out a way to incorporate the Kurt Angle fact into a HH, and Matthew has done it for me! I also liked it because it fits Terkay's personality to consider himself a "fighter" which is clearly above a mere "wrestler". Leading into our "Classic/Other" section this week is HH favorite Jis, who had to steal her HH!:
I jacked this from Middlehead on the 411 Forums, so let's give credit where credit is due. Here's what he said, and I quote:
"I like how they don't have the balls to call that HitC toy by its real name."
It makes sense that they would do this. One, it has already been trademarked by McDonald's in reference to the plastic ball pits (kidding). Two, if Little Johnny went up to his less-than-wrestling-savvy parents and asked for a "Hell in a Cell for his wrestling action figures," they might more than a little leery about what the TV is putting into that spongy brain of his. Good marketing by the WWE.
JP: Oh, Jis, look at you. Resorting to petty theft for me! That's so cu—
JT: ………………………….
JP: What?
JT: …anyway, thank you Jis for passing that along, and excellent call by Middlehead. If I had asked for a "Hell In The Cell" when I was eight, I'd have probably gotten laughed right out of the living room. And that's all for this week folks! Great batch as usual, keep them coming!
JP: Oh, and for some reason Yahoo decided to delete all our mail from July 24, 2006 to last Sunday, so I'm hoping that can be restored. If not, well then we just lost a lot of unanswered mail.
Do you have a Hidden Highlight from this or any week in history that you would like to share? Please e-mail JP..erT…er…us at jpjthidden@yahoo.com with your thoughts! Send them by Friday afternoon to be considered! And remember, they can be from any show, live or taped, or any house show, or anything you saw… we just like to know!
That Other Section
This week, JP has something for That Other Section.
JP: After many, many month away, it's time for the return of…
Hidden Highlights for Hogan Knows Best: Sunday, October 22, 2006
JP: The Hogan clan began the move to Miami, and nothing was done quite right. And by quite right, I mean nothing done right at all. Being rich and spoiled didn't help matters much. As a guy who has moved 13 times in the past 7 years, I know how stressful it is to move, especially if you haven't done it in forever. But man, this move was poorly executed!
(3) A lot of clothes:
As the family was packing up in Clearwater, Linda said that they were leaving all the furniture and just bringing the clothes, sheets, and animals. But outside there two U-haul trucks! My god, that is a lot of linen. My ENTIRE life fit in one 14 foot U-Haul, including furniture. Just goes to show you how much the Hogans have.
(2) Return of the Bull:
Anyone who read last season's Hidden Highlights knows how much emphasis was put on Red Bull. Well, this season was no different. When Linda was yelling at the contractor, she actually had TWO sugar free Red Bulls in her hand. Man, talk about being on the gas.
(1) Way to dis your friends:
When Brooke was going to the radio station to play her single, I noticed that it a Clear Channel building. As discussed many times, Hogan is good friends with Bubba the Love Sponge, who two years ago was fired and buried by Clear Channel. Bubba has a long standing feud with them, as does his current boss Howard Stern. Still, Hogan knows that Clear Channel controls so much media that he has to work with them, even if it hurts his best friend. I'm sure Brooke isn't thinking of that, but I am.
JT: You know, I bet Cook noticed all of those as well. He is a HUGE fan of that show, and we can certainly see why!
Exit, stage left!
JP: Don't forget to vote for Team Hidden Highlights in THE GREAT POSITIVITY DEBATE 3: THE SEQUEL NOBODY ASKED FOR. Stephen Randle, we'll kick your butt from Winnipeg to Halifax this Wednesday November 1st!
JT: Be sure to join us next, and every week for all your HH needs! Until then, have a good week my little avacados!
Thank you for joining us for THE 61st ISSUE of Hidden Highlights. Be sure to drop us a line and let us know what you think and all the other Hidden Highlights we missed. Plus, we want to hear your Reader Write-ins for all the moments you see this and every week.
We'll catch you again next time in the reader approved most positive article in all of the IWC: Hidden Highlights! Until then!
