Hidden Highlights 08.13.07: Issue #102

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #101

Hello everyone recovering from a weekend out in Camden Yards watching their favorite two teams (that isn’t the Yankees losing) in action, and welcome back to Hidden Highlights!!

Hidden Highlights, they are about the little things that make the product great. They are about showing the positive motions all those involved in wrestling do to make a better show. William Regal may bend his opponent’s hand backwards just a little bit harder to dish out the pain. Christian Cage may reference a piece of obscure history. Tazz may bring realism to the product by describing an abdominal stretch in detail. The camera operator may take a low shot looking up at the Great Khali to make him look like a true monster. These are all examples of what Hidden Highlights is about.

Every week this article spotlights Hidden Highlights from the biggest shows on television (RAW, ECW of SciFi, iMPACT, SmackDown!, and a PPV or television special if there is one), delves into the past to find the ones never recorded before, and goes beyond to small shows, live events, tapes, and the indy scene to see what no one else sees. This article may have an author, but it is just as much written by the readers and true fans of professional wrestling—those who love what they watch and want to tell the world what they have found.

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

JP: What a great week for baseball! Unfortunately, it was a crappy week for wrestling as on Tuesday night my SlingBox decided it wanted to be reset and has been waiting patiently for me to do so. Unfortunately, I haven’t gone home so can’t do it. That also means I have seen ZERO wrestling this week. ZERO! That also means when I get home I’ll have THIRTEEN HOURS of wrestling to watch. When the heck am I going to do that? I’m going to need to stay up all night just to watch TV. I shouldn’t have to feed myself Mountain Dew Amps (tastes like Mountain Dew and purple pixie sticks) just to watch some rasslin’!

I mean, this happens like three times a year, tops. And it HAD to happen on the one week I needed the SlingBox working. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love that device. Heck, I just wrote an article in the company newsletter about it (you didn’t think I did all my writing here, did you?), but this just… just… arrrrg… For serious, I really can’t compla—

Andy: Uh, JP?

JP: WHAT?!?! Oh, hey Andy, what’s up?

Andy: Don’t you think you should, I don’t know, introduce me or something?

JP: Shoot, we are writing Hidden Highlights here, aren’t we?

Andy: That’s what you asked me to do!

JP: Right! Anyway, this week our guest co-host (at least our main one, because we may have another helping hand) is Andy Clark, writer of the Shimmy which is about… errr… Andy, what the heck is the theme of the Shimmy?

Andy: It’s about the inner struggles of a young adult wrestling fan as he attempts to find his way in the bizarre yet fascinating world of sports-entertainment. Basically I just do whatever the hell I want and hope I don’t get fired.

JP: Ah, I see. Well, anyway, many people know Andy as the runner-up of Rant Wars II, coming up just short to Bayani Domingo (who you may know as the man behind Truth B Told, which is about random hot Asian bitches looking good). More importantly, though, Andy is a former writer-in to Hidden Highlights, thus making him another one of our alumni. He also won The Great Positivity Debate II: THE REVENGE over the aforementioned Bayani, thus redeeming his earlier loss. Andy?

Andy What? Are you just tossing it to me now? I think I’ve already talked!

JP: Well, anything you want to say in your own words that I haven’t written for you?

Andy: Well, actually I’d like to hear a little bit more from you, seeing as you’re away and all. I know this technology failure must be really tough on you. Do you have any words of encouragement for our readers that fear for your well being?

JP: JP PRAG WILL NOT DIE!

Andy: I see. Well that’s certainly…original.

JP: JP PRAG WILL NOT DIE!

Andy: Yes. I’m sure.

JP: JP PRAG WILL NOT DIE!

Andy: Oh yeah. Payback’s a bitch. Dance, monkey, dance!

JP: JP PRAG WILL NOT DIE!

Bayani: Uh, dude, you do realize it was that bit in Hidden Highlights that got you over right? Outside of the transgender demographic of course.

Andy: Oh, ha ha, you’re right. Sorry there, JP. Got a little carried away. Absolute power and all that. Ha…ha…ha.

JP: Now you know why I love writing a conversation article so much! And with those words, there is only one thing to do: Let’s get on with the Hidden Highlights!

Monday, August 6, 2007 by Andy

Andy: Monday Night Raw as an intriguing show to get Hidden Highlights from, mainly due to one William Regal. I couldn’t give him all the attention though, so we’ll only get two thirds of Raw’s HHs Regalized. Read on to see which ones they are!

(3) Ain’t No Stoppin’ Him Noooow:

We start our Hidden Highlights in the Battle Royal to determine the new General Manager of Raw. Shelton Benjamin actually had quite the showing here, making into the Final Four. But did you notice anything about his attire? Instead of wearing his snazzy new World’s Greatest Tag Team long trunks he was wearing his old Intercontinental Champion short blue and white trunks. This Battle Royal was about individual accomplishment and Shelton was focused on winning for himself. Of course Shelton wouldn’t have known about the Battle Royal until after he was out there, unless Mama Benjamin gave a call to Mr. McMahon and sweet talked some info out of him.

(2) Wait, Did I Miss Something?:

Sticking with the Battle Royal, how about that William Regal? Sure a heel pretending to be injured so he can sit out a Battle Royal is the oldest trick in the book, but this time it was special. Normally when we see a heel do that, especially one that would be a favorite like Regal, we know right away where it is going. But this week Regal decided to fake his injury during the commercial break. That way none of the fans at home knew that he had slunk out of the ring and therefore really thought that The Sandman had won the match. Great way to get the same result without making it look too predictable.

(1) William Regal is Special Too:

Regal’s first act as General Manager was to set up the WWE Dating Game, citing a desire to be a game show host. This was reminiscent of another episode of Raw where an interim General Manager decided it would be a good idea to play musical chairs. That GM? Eugene, former pupil and tag team partner of one William Regal. Is it possible that Eugene’s fun loving nature rubbed off on the stuffy Brit? You can only imagine that Eugene was sitting at home proud of his friend for the great bit of entertainment he put together on Monday night.

JP: You know the Hidden Highlights are good when you can not watch the show, read them, and picture them perfectly. And believe me, we are not done with William Regal yet! The man DOMINATES the Reader Write-in section below!

Tuesday, August 7, 2007 by Andy

Andy: To be perfectly honest finding Hidden Highlights for ECW was kind of hard. If they suck, blame JT for not being here. If they don’t, my e-mail address is [email protected].

(3) Extreme Strip Poker Revisited:

All may not be rosy in the Miz-Extreme Expose four-way dance as this week we saw Kelly Kelly feel sympathy for Balls Mahoney. This makes sense because if any of the girls would like Balls (he he) it would be Kelly. Remember back to Extreme Strip Poker when Balls was the dealer, all the girls seemed to have a thing for him in a Beauty & the Beast kind of way. Kelly Kelly was one of those girls and she probably remembers those fond memories of taking off her clothes while playing high card.

(2) Wigs are Scary:

I didn’t see ECW last week so this week’s episode was the first glimpse I’d had of The Boogeyman’s new look. He looks pretty intimidating and I like it actually. One thing I noticed was his fake black hair that he wore to the ring. Anybody else remember a monster that ended up having fake hair? That’s right, the Big Red Machine Kane. And if you remember correctly Boogey and Kane were a tag team for a while on SmackDown before Boogey got drafted to ECW. Perhaps Kane taught his brother in freaky a thing or two about evil accessorizing.

(1) The ECW Title Plants Roots:

I’m not so sure how much of a Hidden Highlight this is other than a note that nobody else has said yet. Ever since the ECW revival last year the main title on ECW has been referred to as the “ECW World Title.” That has been its official name, despite having the “World” part dropped or a “Heavyweight” added in conversation. If you noticed on Tuesday, however, every time the title was referred to (and I went back and checked) it was simply the “ECW Title” or “ECW Championship.” Apparently it is no longer being actively referred to as a “World” Title even if it is, kinda, treated like one. This ECW Championship has really found itself in the same position it did back when the real ECW was running, technically considered a World Title by most where you could fantasy match up World Champions, but really seen at more of an Intercontinental or United States Title level. According to the verbiage used on Tuesday and WWE may be seeing it the same way as well.

JP: No offense to John Morrison (who is one of my favorite wrestlers) and CM Punk, but they have not been around enough nor have a history of wins to really be considered a top contender. Although I will keep the title on my chart of World Championships (I’ve been keeping track of what titles you really need to win at any point in history in order to be the true unified champion due to splits in the lineage, not just creation of new titles). All and all, I think the important question is this: Kelly Kelly has a memory?

Thursday, August 9, 2007 by Andy

Andy: This was a last minute fill in for JP, but I’m actually glad I watched this week’s episode of Impact. I’m digging the direction of TNA for the first time in forever and this was a fun show. Onto the Hidden Highlights!

(3) Not Really Hidden, But Nobody Called It:

During the House of Fun Match, Rhino delivered a drop toe hold to Raven who then fell into a chair. Don West called the drop toe hold, but that was it. Uh, hello? That’s Raven’s signature move and nobody thought to point that out. Mike Tenay is normally all over that kind of thing. I know it’s not a big deal because wrestlers steal each other’s moves all the time but I felt it needed pointing out. There is also probably something to be said for Kaz stealing the Van Daminator but I’m not quite sure what it is. I guess RVD is just relieved that actual wrestlers are stealing his moves (no offense to Shane O’Mac who actually does the Van Terminator/Coast to Coast better than RVD, IMO).

(2) What Kind of Sick, Wordy Bastards Work Here?!:

I found it amusing that on the same night that we saw the return of the House of Fun Match (formerly the Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match which I imagine had to be shortened due to copyright infringement) we heard the announcement of Abyss’ Doomsday Chamber of Blood Match. Apparently the monsters of TNA are quite wordy and poetic because this just follows in the pattern of “evil” stipulation matches. Don’t forget the Hangman’s Horror Match or the Dream Blood Gallows of Retribution Match either. I suppose you could also count the Kevin Nash Open Invitational X-Division Gauntlet Battle Royal for Bound for Glory in there as well, although Big Kev isn’t exactly monster material.

(1) I Was Born a Poor Black Child:

The highlight of Impact for me was Kurt Angle’s performance. Amidst his depression Angle was channeling Steve Martin as he came off much like Martin’s character Navin R. Johnson in the movie “The Jerk.” I laughed out loud when Angle was remarking about the things he had in his life like his two championship belts and his tie and his shirt much in the same way that Johnson explained that the only things he needed in life were his ashtray… and his paddle game… and these matches… and this chair… and the remote control… and this, I need this. Classic.

JP: I’m starting to think that Kurt was working the interweb with his crazy antics and on-air radio nuttiness months back after he first signed with TNA and for a while after. It seems to me that he is very old school and is always pushing the character to come and retconing to explain his motivations in the past. Look no farther than James Mitchell’s TNA conference call to see that one in action! There is a man who LIVES the gimmick. It reminded me of the movie “The Prestige”. The magicians knew to succeed they had to live the gimmick, and Angle and Mitchell are guys that are doing just that.

Friday, August 10, 2007 by Ogre

Ogre: Didn’t expect to see MY name back up there, did you? Well, that’s what happens when you have ties all over the world to get someone’s SlingBox cut off at the right moments. I can NEVER have too many columns to appear in. EVER. But since I’m here I might as well make myself useful…

(3) Swellness:

So, anyone who frequents this great old internet of ours knows pretty much everything they (think) they can about the WWE inside and out. So the Wellness Policy is an old hat for us. But this week was the first time I think I actually ever heard them mention it on live TV. But that isn’t the actual Hidden Highlight. That honor goes to the way they phrased it. It wasn’t simply the WWE’s Wellness Policy it was the comprehensive Wellness Program. With all of the recent news about Congress going for WWE’s throat with this Wellness biz, I find it sort of nice that they actually acknowledge it on air, as well as try to put it over. Good Job.

(2) I think I know that guy…:

So, at first during the Masterlock Challenge I thought that I was having a déjà vu… turns out I wasn’t. The second guy “John” whom he called up has actually been on WWE TV before. Some of you might remember him as one of the jobbers Umaga used to murderlize in the ring. I remember him because he had one of the BEST sells to the Samoan Bulldozer EVER. He looked like he was in a coma and his eyes were actually glazing over. It was quite nice. You’d think WWE would pick up on stuff like that and not re-use jobbers as plants… hmm.

(1) Respectful Silverback:

It’s not a big secret that I am really big mark for Mark Henry. I genuinely like the guy. So when he came out this week I caught a Hidden Highlight from him that I always tend to catch. Fans of wrestling will know that to wipe your feet off before you step between the ropes is a big sign of respect. I’ve noticed for a couple of weeks now that Mark Henry does this every time he enters the ring. Even though he is a heel, it’s nice to see that he as a person still has respect for his craft.

JP: I’ve always noticed that the majority of people who wipe their feet spend most of their careers as heels. Maybe that’s why I always like heels so much? I think they are more respectful of the business (and a lot of them tend to be more technically sound than your big boy babyfaces). Oh, before I forget, I heard back from Trevor Alexander who wrote in with every show last week:

Ha ha just read your column about black berg and being a racist cracker… unless I’m a chocolate graham cracker it’s pretty impossible don’t you think.

JP: Whoops! In Ogre’s defense, I wrote that line. Than again, Ogre is a racist.

Andy: Everybody sing! In the marmalade forest (forest), between the make believe trees, in a cottage cheese cottage, lives Ogre (Ogre), Ogre (Ogre), Ogre the racist… uh, Ogre.

Ogre: Oh you son of a bitch. Someone is gonna die!

Andy: Don’t you mean “Somebody gonna get dey ass whipped? Somebody gonna get dey wig split?”

Ogre: I hate you.

Sunday, August 5, 2007 by JP

JP: Well, I didn’t watch this before I left, so I have nothing here! Boy, I’m useful this issue. I’ll try to give a double dose next week.

Andy: Wow, now I know how you must have felt with JT around.

Hidden Highlights are not just about what was written above, but about what you have seen as well. This article strives to not only spotlight the best Hidden Highlights, but to engage you, the viewers, and make you the best audience in the world.

JP: Dear Zack Rizza and anyone like them: this will be the last week I forward messages from [email protected]. From now on, e-mail me at [email protected] or chances are I’ll miss it. So, *GENERAL WARNING*:: some parts of the following Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights may be edited for grammar, spelling, and English translation…

Here’s a man who figured out to forward his Hidden Highlights to me; it’s Pedro Rodriguez:

– Khali love! Two weeks ago during the Smackdown battle royal, during the match, Finlay began to attack everyone with the shillelagh. Finlay first attack Khali in the knee. Once Khali went down, he began to attack the back of the head. Fast Forward to the end of the match and Khali wins. Yet I noticed he still sold the effects of the attack because he held the back of his head again. A nice touch by Khali to sell the effects.

JP: See, all it takes is hitting Khali with a blunt object severely to get him to sell! I would not be surprised if Finlay stiffed him a little bit too, so some of that may have been real.

– On this week’s RAW, we learned a very valuable lesson that it’s not a good idea to piss off an official. After the ref started the match between Umaga and Marella, Umaga had Marella in the corner, punching him repeatedly. Normally, a ref would break the hold or begin a 5 count. But instead, the ref half-ass his attempt to break the hold and didn’t even attempt to count. This is likely for two reasons: 1) Umaga is a beast and the ref feels he doesn’t want to be attacked by making Umaga angry, and 2) The ref feels Marella deserves more punishment.

JP: It would seem that Umaga’s face turn was two weeks in the making! Who knew that it would be a double turn with Marella. I can’t wait for Santino to go insane and attack everyone for looking funny at Maria.

– Also on RAW, during the Cryme Tyme segment, someone actually threw money at them! It happened in a second, but it was notice because when the camera changed angles while they were walking around the ring, I noticed it still there on the ground. Interesting. I thought they wanted that sweet, sweet pay.

JP: I noticed some people were offering more than $40 and had the cash. Guess someone in the back told them not to take too much money from the fans. They wouldn’t be able to buy John Cena t-shirts if Cryme Tyme did that! David Dunn saved his money, so he’s up next:

On the recent SummerSlam hype videos being shown on Raw, SmackDown and ECW, the montage has been showing a clip of Batista at the same time the backing music says “Animal” before changing to Melina and “Attraction”. I have no idea whether the production crew will have deliberately partnered Batista with “Animal”, or if it’s just co-incidence, but it’s a Hidden Highlight as far as I’m concerned.

JP: No, I bet you are right. We’ve highlighted in the past several video montages that timed specific words to images. The writing department may not always be on top of things, but production is top notch in the WWE. Hungry for more production notes is Chris Gabriel:

The segment with King Boooka and “Jerome” sitting at a table had a fairly obvious HH in the donut with the bite taken out of it. But did you notice that the donut with a bite taken out of it is the logo of a major motion picture that started showing that week? It was none other than Simpson’s The Movie. I’m surprised they didn’t bring back the Spiderman guy when that movie came out but this time call him Spiderpig!

JP: You know, I didn’t make the connection until you said it, but now that I think of it, it was the same type of pink frosted donut, too! At least it is in memory now. I do have to say, I really enjoyed the Simpson’s Movie and recommend anyone seeing it… especially if you SlingBox is on the fritz and you are 500 miles from home. Someone who is rather close to my home (he’s only 50 miles away) is Jeff Cosetta:

I don’t know if it’s been mentioned yet, but there was a HH a few weeks ago during the Stevie Richards – Kevin Thorn match where Stevie scored the first upset win. Joey Styles took a dig at Stevie noting the coloring of his tights. I didn’t think much of it until after Stevie had scored the upset and Tazz again said something about the coloring of his tights being lucky. Those colors: black and orange. I thought it was a nice nod as a remembrance to Tazz as an active performer.

JP: Have to be honest, I wasn’t paying much attention to that particular match. I was most likely Issue #99 at the time! Still, a good catch and it is nice to see Joey still get a few “Joey” comments in there. By the way, do you know a girl named Emily Weiss? I think she works in your office. We went to regular school and Hebrew school together. Not really important, I haven’t talked to her much in the past few years. Actually, it was about 10 months ago that I ran into her at a Red Sox game at Fenway. Go figure? Anyway, enough of the past; it’s time for the present being presented by Zack Funk:

After Regal won the battle royal in his usual underhanded ways, he celebrated by running around the ring waving the V for Victory/Peace hand signal. Of course, in England raising the index and middle finger like that to someone is the equivalent of giving the finger here in the states. So not only did Regal steal the win from The Sandman but he told off the crowd with his celebration as well. Austin was always known for giving the “Stone Cold Salute” and I can only hope the “Regal Saltue” continues past his battle royal victory.

JP: And William Regal wins the Chris Jericho Award for the week! The real question is, who won the William Regal award? Well, it wasn’t Fixxer315, that’s for sure:

Very subtle, but during King Booker’s interview on Raw, when “Jerome Lawler” was mentioned, Sharmell did a hilarious eye-roll, suggesting that Booker is wasting his time by mentioning him, let alone having to wrestle him.

JP: Hilarious! I don’t think we put over Sharmell enough for of the little things she does at ringside and in interviews. I want to go back and watch some tapes of her as Paisley with The Artist Formerly Known as Price Iakea. I wonder if she was that good back then? What? That’s right, I said enough with the past, and Nik Nygard knows just what I’m talking about:

OK I found some Hidden Highlights for RAW (8/6/07). With all of them on the Battle Royal.

1. In the Battle Royal after Kendrick and Umaga flipped over the ropes and the camera let us see Umaga crush Kendrick’s throat, there came a HH for Kendrick. It’s hardly visible because the camera is almost always right on the ring, but when it cut away to a shot where it was facing towards the entrance ramp you could just see Kendrick stagger to his feet. Not only is that some good selling of the Spike, it means Kendrick was actually watching the camera to see when the best time to get up was, big props there.

JP: I remember reading an interview with Konnan once about why he’s was always pacing around during the nWo interviews. He went on to explain that camera time was so valuable that you had to keep walking around to make sure you were in the shot as much as possible so people would know you. Kendrick seems very much of this same train of the thought.

2. Later when it was (supposedly) down to Shelton, Sandman, Cody, or Carlito, Cody gets in after Shelton almost takes him out and Shelton just turns around and clobbers him, Cody jumps backwards at the ropes and falls back down on his ass. Fortunately Carlito had just looked up to make sure it worked and quickly ran over and lifted Cody out. It was good to see that he was paying a lot of attention around him.

JP: I don’t think I need to highlight how good I think Carlito is, but I will anyway!

3. Lastly after Regal sneaked in and clobbered Sandman with the boot he just started dancing and completely forgot he was holding the boot. I think this is just like something he would do since if you went from jobbing to Kane and Boogeyman and suddenly became the GM of RAW you probably wouldn’t just decide to put your boot on, you’d jump like mad! Oh and that was a great face by Regal there too.

JP: I am so happy that Regal is GM of RAW. Wait a minute… where did I hear that idea before… Oh, that’s right, Issue #97:

JP: Oh my gosh, I’m begging them to make Regal the GM of RAW. Since they’ll never let Regal go in the ring like he’s capable of, and he’ll never get the WWE Title even though he’s beyond the Intercontinental Title, you might as well give him a speaker role! Besides, you know the WWE is concerned about his health considering his history with drugs and his heart disease, so if they are going to limit him action wise, just let him be GM. Heck, he already was Commissioner of both WWE and the Alliance, so we know he can do it. Nothing against Jonathan Coachman, but he’s no William Regal. Although, Coach as the Assistant to Regal would work just as good for me.

JP: Looks like I got everything I wanted. What about you?

And a Question. While I’m on the boots thing, I noticed that Shelton has one of those Gold Ribbons that people who’ve lost someone in the war wear on his boot. Has that always been there? I haven’t noticed it until just now.

JP: Not that I can remember, anyone else know? Knowing the area that Shelton is from, he probably knows quite a few people who are serving or have been injured/killed, so it would not surprise me. Neeraj Angal does not surprise me with his depth of Hidden Highlights, so I’ll let him go:

– At the GAB, did you notice the positioning of the three wrestlers before the start of the match? Kane was TV top left, Batista bottom left, and Khali was on the right. During the entire time when Khali was entering/posing, Kane and Batista never once looked at each other despite being in the same half of the ring. Instead, their glares remained fixed on Khali. Now this is odd considering it’s a three-way title match for the biggest title on the brand. Clearly, the plan about eliminating Khali first and then fighting it out was previously decided upon, and then put into action. I thought this was a great bit on the part of Kane and Batista to get that point across.

JP: Not that Kane is really trustworthy that you should take your eyes off of him! The man did set JR on fire, lest we forget.

– During the main event, Lashley entered first and was pacing around the ring waiting for Cena. The whole time he was pacing in the left (TV) half of the ring. As soon as he started pacing towards the right half, the ref (80% sure it was Mike Chioda… again, help, JP?) got in his way and sent him right back to his side of the ring! This was great work, to establish control from the onset, especially given Lashley’s tendency to jump the gun.

JP: I’m going to give the point to Mike Chioda for lack of knowing who else it may have been.

– On the following RAW, during the Mickie/Maria v Melina/Beth match, Santino interfered and cost Melina/Beth the match. After returning to the commentary position, Santino had this “I didn’t see anything, did you see anything?” look on his face, accompanied by some vehement shoulder-shrugging. Now this is classic HEEL STRATEGERY~. Maybe foreshadowing a heel turn for Santino? He’s stale as a face anyway.

JP: Did you read my comments above on the guy? The heel turn is totally needed. Actually, when he first debuted I said this (Issue #89):

JP: So I have this fear about Santino Marella. The first week he won the title was fun because it was unexpected. The second week he looked humble and goofy because he did not know how to react to a camera, and it worked. This week, I don’t know. I had this really big “Rocky Johnson” feeling where they are trying TOO hard to make him look like a babyface. I mean the big smile, the clapping, the talking nice… it was too much. I’m afraid that the fans are going to turn on him and a perfect storyline will be ruined. It wouldn’t be the first time that the WWE took something that worked naturally and made the fans hate it because they tried too hard (See: Cena, John). Sometimes, the brilliance of being a manager is to just know when to let your employees do the work themselves, let them do what they do best. If you micromanage and try to control the work, it just doesn’t come out quite as good.

JP: I like quoting myself when I’m right. But I’ll continue to quote you.

– I hate to give Santino more credit, but I liked the way he kept on his ridiculous Italian accent for the entire duration he was on commentary. I remember being highly annoyed when Renee Dupree used to frequently drop his French accent halfway through promos while being a part of La Resistance.

JP: From what I understand, Santino played Russian in OVW and kept that up all the time, so it looks like he has the skill for the kayfabe.

– Staying on the same match, if you paid attention to the wardrobes, Maria/Mickie both wore black, and Melina/Beth were in blue and gold. Mind you, they wore similar colors, but did not wear the same designs. This is very cool, as it shows that while they’re not on an established team as such, they’re definitely on the same page. Have I mentioned how much I love subtle things? Hell, even Santino was wearing black!

JP: Matching clothes and keeping individual preferences, that’s my type of Hidden Highlight!

– On SmackDown!, a lot of cool reactions this week:

1. During the Noble/Hornswoggle match, Noble was chasing the leprechaun around the ring while screaming “You think it’s funny now?” at him. To this, Hornswoggle actually replied by shaking his head as if to say no!

2. Hornswoggle’s facials after winning the match were pretty cool.

3. During the Chavo/Eugene match, Eugene pointed at Chavo and screamed “YOU!” To this, Chavo replied “ME?!?” with the most ridiculous look on his face. It was funny stuff.

JP: That last one is pure gold! I’m a huge fan of watching facial reactions, but just pure reactions in the moment are the best.

– Eugene’s leg-selling was top quality throughout the match against Chavo. But the icing came near the end – when he lifted Chavo for the airplane spin, Eugene shook off the pain in his knee before going into the spin. Even after dropping Chavo, when he staggered, he hopped around on one leg. That was some great selling continuity.

JP: He does get that savant strength that makes him forget he’s in pain, too.

– MVP always remembers to do his timeout sign every time he takes a breather or bails during a match. Yay for continuity. So when is MVP going into the HH Hall of Fame, JP?

JP: It’s a little early for that. I really think someone needs to be out of the game for them to be inducted. Chris Jericho has been out for so long that he was definitely ready to go on. Who will go in next? More details to come!

p.s. I’m Indian, a native speaker of Hindi, and someone who can detect and understand Punjabi by context. So I’ve been trying to figure out what Khali is saying for weeks without ANY success. I mean, I can’t even detect the most basic Punjabi words (like ‘I’ or ‘do’, which are the same in Hindi anyway) in his speech. I’m guessing this is due to the large amounts of growling that is part of his speech, and probably also due to some sort of speech disability (though I haven’t found any sources to verify this). The funny thing is that whatever Khali utters does not remotely sound like any major north/western Indian language. On the other hand, I can lip-read our man Ranjan Bischoff (for the lack of a better surname), and I can catch a lot of Hindi in what he says to the big man off-mic.

JP: That’s what I’ve been saying! I don’t even recognize any sounds at all! I’m convinced he’s not speaking anything at all. At least Ranjan is giving it his all. Much like my counterpart, Jay P.:

Hopefully I’m not the 50th person to point out this Hidden Highlight, but I got a huge kick out of William Regal’s exuberant celebration after he won the Battle Royal to become Raw’s General Manager. The big highlight came when Regal giddily danced in place, then with a huge grin on his face, he held his arm out to the side and pointed to it, prompting the ref to actually slide back into the ring to raise Regal’s arm in victory.

JP: It’s ok if you are the 50th person, Regal totally deserves it!

Do you give credit for Hidden Highlight Assists? If so, Jonathan Coachman led the roster in assists during the 8/6 edition of Raw.

Assist #1- After he had his post-victory shower, Regal (again!) deserves credit for another Hidden Highlight when he instructed Jonathan Coachman to round up contestants AND construct a set for his impromptu gameshow. It would strain credibility to believe the WWE just HAPPENED to have a game show set lying around in back, so with his little throw away line, Regal allowed the viewer to suspend disbelief by planting a mental image of Coachman barking orders at a harried set designers to hurry up and throw some paint on some foamcore boards.

JP: And now William Regal has won awards that I don’t even have names for. See, that’s what I’m always talking about. Things should not be ready to go, it should actually look spontaneous. I have when wrestling comes across as planned, and it’s little (big) things like this that make kayfabe fun and useful.

Assist #2- The next assist offers the most HH per second (HH/PS) of any other segment in the history of the WWE!! First, Coachman deserves his own HH by establishing a logical premise for why he was getting calls from Mr. McMahon’s accountant on his mobile phone. Coachman claimed to have received an important call for Vince in Vince’s office, but the Coach had it transferred to his own mobile phone so he could walk through the arena to find Mr. McMahon. Brilliant!

Then Coachman found Vince speaking to a bald production guy backstage, and Vince noted how he was recently bald himself, which earns Mr. McMahon a sweet continuity HH. But then the bald production guy (like last week’s crew member) steps up to the plate and earns his own HH by casually remarking, “Yeah, it looked good on you,” before walking off camera. Coachman got the assist an instant later when he handed Mr. McMahon his mobile phone. Vince disdainfully, and suspiciously, wiped the face of the phone on his jacket before he spoke into the receiver. No Coach cooties for Mr. McMahon!

JP: That was a lot in a few seconds! See, that’s the real power of Hidden Highlights: when a bunch of them come together to make a fantastic segment. I’ll have to do a classic one on the WrestleMania with the Hardcore Title match going through the show. That absolutely made the show for me!

Finally, can I give a HH to my girlfriend for a heads up observation? She had never seen Santino Marella before, nor did she know anything about his character or history. However, during Santino’s Dating Game promo, she immediately picked up the supposedly Italian Santino’s brief lapse into his Russian OVW character when he replaced his “w” –sounds with “v”-sounds, such as saying “vant” insteat of “want”

JP: Well, you could give her credit, but I think it would be better of you just gave her to me.

Ghost of JT: JP, I’m here to remind you that you are a perv. And that you shouldn’t try to steal things from readers, especially their girls. It really hurts readership.

Andy: And I agree with the ghost!

JP: Stop sucking up to the ghost, I’m actually here!

Andy: And I did all the work this issue!

JP: I hate it when the guests are right. Speaking of people who are right, here’s Chuck Lipsig:

Actually, William Regal pronounced “Umaga” correctly. In Samoan, the letter “g” stands for the “ng” sounds.

From this page: http://www.samoa.co.uk/grammar-stage1.html

4. CONSONANTS,
[1]. G [nga] is always nasal, as ng in sing, i.e., the n and g intimately coalesce. Its pronunciation is easily caught by those who have learnt how to pronounce the French word encore. Some foreigners have difficulty with this sound at the beginning of syllables: galuega, work; agaga, spirit, gataaga, end; i gatai, seawards; i gauta, inland.

JP: I really need to get home and watch this episode to know what I’m missing. All I had was JD’s recap! Sticking with your UK submissions, here is first timer Alec Grant:

I’ve never written to the column before but it’s always a fantastic read – ever since I was a kid I’ve always dug the performers who could give us those little extras.

Anyway, on to the point. Since Johnny Nitro turned into John Morrison he seems to have had more to play with. He seems to be doing a good job with his Doors-esque persona and I was bowled over when, on this weeks ECW, he described himself as being “beyond good and evil”. This isn’t a direct Jim Morrison rip-off but rather the title of a book by one of his favourite philosophers, Friedrich Nietzsche. Looks like John has been researching his subject.

I hear La Resistance will re-debut next week as a pair of 1950s Parisian existentialists.

JP: I’m a big Nietzsche fan, mark out for John Morrison, enjoy listening to the Doors, and laugh at existentialist jokes. Yep, this was a good one for me! From new to old, it’s the returning Johnny Leafhill:

– During the opening battle royal King Booker was eliminated by Sandman and Jerry Lawler, despite not knowing it’d be caught by the camera, stood up, pointed at Booker and laughed out loud. Keeping the feud going.

JP: Lawler is a consummate professional, even though he’s a total hypocrite and liar.

– Early in the dating game -show run by Regal we saw “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan pause during his opening speech and actually remove his engagement ring. I believe many viewers might’ve missed it, but later on the host, Regal pointed out “No wonder he’s single” to further play the act.

JP: Remember how the Big Show used to keep his wedding ring taped up? Or when Kurt Angle took off his wedding ring before getting in the shower with Joy? No wonder his wife wants a divorce!

– Regal’s facial expressions were completely priceless throughout the show beginning from winning the battle royal. However, when he lost his temper during the dating game Maria’s startled expression was simply outstanding. I added a (low quality) picture to demonstrate.

JP: Hey, without JT around I have no screen capping going on. If you are looking for a job, I may have one for you!

– Finally I’ve got a classic hidden highlight. I was watching The Self Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior and as the document went through Warrior’s first title win against Honky Tonk Man. Honky Tonk called out “anyone” to challenge for his title and at first no one responded. The colour commentator (could’ve been Gorilla Monsoon, not sure) said “maybe we have an opponent, but maybe he’s still lacing up his boots”. Great way of selling wrestling, as if they didn’t know who’d come out.

JP: This is just what I was talking about! It has to be spontaneous, not planned. If a wrestler is a surprise coming out, his fireworks should not be ready to go. Little things Hidden Highlights, people! Finally, the man who I mentioned at the beginning of the article, Zack Rizza and his possible last appearance if he doesn’t get my e-mail address right:

I would like to give props to a man who doesn’t normally get props on 411wrestling.com (or any other group) and that’s Hacksaw Jim Duggan. It was pretty obvious at what he did. When William Regal introduced him, you see Duggan waving and with a big smile on his face… then he looks down at his hand and removes his wedding ring.

JP: Oh, sorry, I gave your Hidden Highlight to Johnny Leafhill first to make you look like a copycat! So silly of me!

All right kids, that wraps us up this week. I actually did this section early, so if you sent in anything from Thursday night on, it’ll end up in next week’s issue. Also, look for me to actually contribute to the article next week beyond responding to people!

Andy: You better. I can’t do this gig every week.

Do you have a Hidden Highlight from this or any week in history that you would like to share? Please e-mail this article at [email protected] with your thoughts! Send them by Saturday afternoon to be considered! And remember, they can be from any show, live or taped, or any house show, or anything you saw… readers just like to know!

JP: Thanks again, Andy, for not only filling in, but stepping up when my SlingBox went down. And double thanks to Ogre for the last minute SmackDown! edition. And thanks to the readers for filling in the rest of the content. It’s always good to know I can get away with writing Hidden Highlights without actually writing any Hidden Highlights!

Andy: Can I do it one more time?

JP: Do what?

Andy: I think you know.

JP: JP PRAG WILL NOT DIE!

Andy: Sweet. I need to get me a partner I can write dialogue for.

JP: Happy now?

Ogre: I still hate you.

Andy: Yes I am. Goodnight, Canada!

JP: And good morning to the rest of you! Don’t forget to send in your write-ins for Hard Justice this week as well. Nobody here will be covering it, so if you don’t, it will look a lot like the Hogan Knows Best segment above.

Thank you for reading the 102nd ISSUE of Hidden Highlights! Be sure to drop a line with all the other Hidden Highlights not covered this time around and everything you catch in the week to come.

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