Hidden Highlights 10.15.07: Issue #111

Posted by JP Prag on 10.15.2007

The WWE Championship stops spinning, Umaga keeps headbutting Triple H even when Randy Orton tries to take him away, Tazz talks about sweaty wrestlers, Kevin Nash brings Sting a microphone, MVP pours a glass of juice, and more!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #111

Hello everyone who discovered that they make special Peeps for Halloween and can now not wait until November 1 when they go on sale for 25 cents a pack, 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: Holy mackerel, I have not had a free moment to get anything done this week! I have been so overblown with work, articles, friends in town, and life in general, that I have not had a chance to even spend some quality time with the most important person in the world to me… Me.

But it is a new day here in the world of Hidden Highlight, as we have our guest co-host for the next month. He is the winner of the Reader Write-in Contest, and a man full of positvity and Hidden Highlights know-how. Lady and gentleman, the one, the only, Brandon Metheny! Brandon?

Brandon: Thanks JP, its an honor to be here. I won't let everyone who voted for me down.

JP: But what about the people who didn't vote for you? Well, I know you like to be a bit humble, but in case you haven't noticed, some people around here are pretty high on putting themselves over.

Brandon: Well, in that case, what I really meant to say is that I'm doing it for the MMMMMMMMILLIONS... um, isn't anyone going to echo me here? No? Damn.

JP: Ok, ok. So, what can the readers expect from you? Are you going to jump in all over the place? Make fun of everyone? Scare away my lovely ladies?

Brandon: What ladies?

JP: Kid is learning already.

Brandon: In all seriousness, I'll jump in anywhere I'm needed, and won't make fun of anyone unless they anger me. Chris Masters, I'm looking at you. Also, as a fair warning I tend to be extremely sarcastic. But rest assured, I say it all with love.

JP: And you had SmackDown! Which was full of Chris Masters. Good times indeed. All right, I think we've got some good banter going on, so it's time to cut it off prematurely and get on with the Hidden Highlights!



Sunday, October 7, 2007 by the Readers via JP

JP: No Mercy this year saw THREE WWE Championship title changes, which would be more than the last two years combined. It also saw a few Hidden Highlight, which also happen to number in three. Hmmmm….

(3) Save_us_Playboy_Model:

No Mercy can start with Matt Parkinson and a little conspiracy theory:

Durring a pay per view that was thought to be the return of Chris Jericho someone did break the walls down, but not Jericho, Candice Michelle. Candice Michelle's entrance was the exact same as Y2J's, a video package at the beginning and cutting to the wrestler facing away from the crowd. Nice job by production (or whoever it was), whether it be intentional or not. Who knows maybe save_us_222 is Candice Michelle trying single handedly to save the WWE. Hands up for Candice vs HHH for mania 24.

JP: Yes, clubbing music will save the world!

(2) End of the spinner:

This one is actually from me. I noticed it in the replay clips and on RAW, but the WWE Championship is no longer spinning! Instead, the WWE logo has been locked into place, and isn't going anywhere. One step back to a normal belt? We shall see!

(1) Guess they aren't saving money now:

Speaking of the championship, Alvin Hussey said:

I was just checking wwe.com for No Mercy news and noticed a picture of Randy Orton with the WWE belt. The highlight? It had Triple H's name on the nameplate. Considering he had only just won it earlier in the show that's pretty impressive work by the production team.

JP: Like the title said, I hope that finally shuts down the rumor that they are going to stop putting face plates on titles. Geez!

Brandon: I couldn't agree more. I still can't believe how much play this inane little story got, especially since Kane's pyro for one night probably costs more than a year's worth of face plates.



Monday, October 8, 2007 by JP

JP: Although the lowest rated RAW of the past decade, this show provided a plethora of Hidden Highlights. I wish I could say Hidden Highlights equal ratings, but there is cumulative affect over time; kind of like lead poisoning or cholesterol. Yeah, that's it… Hidden Highlights build up in you until you just keel over and die.

(3) It hurts so much:

Early in the show, Santino Marella came down to the ring for his re-match with Val Venis. I wish this Hidden Highlight was for Santino because he's been doing all the little things perfectly (his interactions with Lillian Garcia were priceless all night). But this one goes to his potential opponent (since they didn't actually fight) in Val Venis. Val came down to the ring still limping from his injury to the knee a week before. That was an excellent sell, but it was not enough for me. When Val got to the stairs, though, he used his right leg to pull himself up and dragged his left leg behind him, taking the steps one at a time. That is how you sell a knee injury. Too many times you see a wrestler forget their injury when they get to the ring, but Val sold it all the way up the steps.

(2) Mmmmm… headbutts:

The mid-show main event saw Triple H facing off in a handicapped match against WWE Champion Randy Orton and Umaga. Triple H took a serious beating, and was laying down at the edge of the ring apron. Umaga then came around the side of the ring and started laying headbutt after headbutt into the game. Meanwhile, inside the ring Randy Orton came up behind Triple H and started to pull him back into the ring. Still, even though Randy Orton was pulling him away, Umaga did not stop giving headbutts, but actually managed to get in three more! Nice work by Umaga to keep up the pain and the attack, even when his opponent was moving away from him.

(1) Who does your hair?:

In the same match, and shortly after that last Hidden Highlight, Randy Orton had pulled Triple H into the center of the ring. Once there, the champion placed Triple H in a key lock while Umaga delivered several kidney shots. To put on added pressure, Randy Orton then moved his hand behind Triple H's head and pulled backwards on his hair, causing a great deal of pain. He managed to pull on Triple H's hair for a good twenty seconds before the referee noticed and told him to knock it off. Excellent work by Orton to put on the extra pain, and bonus points to the referee for noticing what was happening and acting in the shoot style we've come to know and love.

Brandon: I do love me some shoot style and Orton seems to have really found his niche in it. Speaking of which, am I the only one who was hoping that, at No Mercy once HHH caught the Randy Orton Concussion Kick (or ROCK as I like to call it), Orton would realize he had another foot and would haul off and kick HHH with it, point blank? Anyone? Someone? Guess not.



Tuesday, October 9, 2007 by Brandon

Brandon: I'll be honest, this is the kind of ECW I like to see. Give me 4 matches (though you could argue that only 2 or even 1 were really matches) with a kick-ass long main event instead of 6 short not so good matches. To the list!

(3) Lucky, lucky bastard

OK, I normally don't seek out HH from the crowd, but this one was just too good to pass up. As they zoomed in on the Miz during his entrance, there was a sign over his shoulder which read "Kelly Kelly my husband wants you". I really have nothing thrilling to say about that except that to have a wife who will not only go to WWE events with you but also hold up a sign attempting to get you a Diva is awesome.

(2) Tazz saves the Vampire:

Well after my Kevin Thorn HH last week won me this contest, I have another one about him, but this time he owes Tazz thanks. As we all saw during the match, Thorn nearly botched what I can only assume was a slam of some form very very badly or, as our esteemed Larry Csonka put it, KEVIN THE VAMPIRE almost kills a man, but lucky for him Tazz was there to smooth things over. As soon as it happened, Tazz jumped in and said that the amount of perspiration on both men caused the jobber to slip off of Thorn's back, as though it were a totally innocent mistake. Nice job by Tazz to take a potentially disastrous moment and make it seem completely logical.

(1) Morrison returns to awesomeness:

I have long been a fan of the John Morrison character because it fits John Hennigan so well. The entrance rocked, as always, but the true moment of character to me was about halfway through the match when he did the "outside-in" dropkick and knocked Punk to the floor. Before he got up off the mat, he looked over at the ref who was standing there to count Punk and just said "Did you see that?" with the cockiest grin on his face before pulling himself up. Great bit of playing the character to the fullest, even though he had no way of knowing the camera would be on him.

JP: That whole match was filled with goodness from both Morrison and Punk, too many to go into here. But I have to say, Tazz also saved another segment when Joey Styles tried to bury the Miz owning Extreme Expose storyline because he didn't understand how a manager could control someone. Tazz took the time to explain all of the "logic" to Joey, which is always interesting to see Joey get schooled.



Thursday, October 11, 2007 by JP

JP: The second two hour episode of iMPACT finally aired, and it was also the last show before Bound for Glory. In it, we saw Abyss go face first into tacks, Amazing Kong premier and destroy Gail Kim, Jay Lethal deliver an elbow drop when he had bad ribs, and Sting dress up as a member of ***THE*** LAX (thank you Matt Morgan for that one). Now what else did we see?

(3) Perfect lighting of a porcelain:

Kurt Angle spent much of the show paranoid looking for Sting. Dragging Jeremy Borash around, the two checked out a men's handicapped bathroom in the main hallway of the iMPACT Zone. As the two walked inside with the cameraman, I noticed something off to the left side… it was a lighting structure used for cameras on movie and television sets! Who puts a lighting structure like that in a bathroom? I guess someone who wanted to record in there. I guess Jr. Fatu got used to that in the WWE and didn't notice when he decided to go to the bathroom. Crazy drama.

(2) I can't hear you:

Earlier in the night, Kevin Nash also went looking for Sting by heading to the staircase that led to the rafter. He got about one step up when he called for Sting, which was funny enough when you know about Kevin's knees. But Sting was willing to meet Kevin halfway down the staircase, and the two had a little heart to heart. The entire time, though, my eyes were glued on Nash's hand as he was carrying around a microphone. Why would be bring a microphone, I wondered? Because they needed a way to pick up the sound! They were too far away for a normal boom mic, so they rigged one up using a regular microphone. It was rather creative thinking from production and deserves to be pointed out.

(1) Yo hablo… something:

A short time later, Team Pacman was being interviewed in the back and Ron Killings let everyone know that they were ready to retain their titles in three days at Bound for Glory. He then said, "For those of you who speak Spanish: tres horas!" For those of you who do not speak Spanish, that would be three hours, not days! I was laughing pretty hard about that when Mike Tenay said, "Ron Killings raps, dances, and wrestlers better… MUCH BETTER… than he speaks Spanish." Too true, Tenay, too true.

Brandon: And now we know that LAX won the Number One Contender's match at Bound for Glory. With all respect to Meehan, methinks the Truth may have slipped up just a wee bit.

JP: Don't worry, in this article there is never a need to be respectful to Meehan.



Friday, October 12, 2007 by Brandon

Brandon: Well it was an interesting week on Smackdown as Jesse and Festus continued their role, Chuck Palumbo and Chris Masters continue to feud for a reason that eludes me, and for the first time I can remember, WWE filmed two vastly different endings to the show. As I mentioned last week, my HH often focus on production aspects, and you shall see that below. On to the Hidden goodness!

(3) New wrestler, smart dresser:

Just because Jesse is new to Smackdown! doesn't mean he can't play to the crowd, even if it is in a subtle way. At first I thought nothing of the blue and yellow singlet that he was wearing, until I realized that Smackdown! was in Detroit this week. Detroit is, of course, in the state of Michigan, and what are the Wolverines colors? Why blue and yellow of course, a smart and subtle move by the young guy.

(2) He really DOES have the Juice:

OK, here's my first production HH. Most wrestlers Titantrons have a series of video clips which are haphazardly (kinda) set to the music, with no regard for what the lyrics are. Well MVP's video is mostly like the others EXCEPT for the line "like Tropicana, I've got juice". During that line, the video actually shows a cup at a drink machine filling up with orange juice! My real question though, is whether some poor camera man had to shoot orange juice filling a cup or if WWE actually had some orange juice footage on file, for some bizarre reason.

(1) Don't you worry Matt, it'll be just fine:

During Kane's entrance, the camera quickly cut away to MVP and Matt Hardy standing in the ring. Even though Matt looked just fine, MVP put his left hand out and tapped Matt gently on the chest, as if to say, it'll be OK Matt, don't be scared of him. But Matt then subtly one-upped him, as they both cleared out of the ring once Kane came in, MVP slid out quickly, where Matt slowly climbed out for through the middle rope then hopped to the floor. Who's the scared one now?

JP: I was watching that exact segment with a couple of buddies of mine and turned to them and said, "That is why MVP is my favorite wrestler on SmackDown!"




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: If my internet would stay up long enough, I could actually get these in here. So, *GENERAL WARNING*:: some parts of the following Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights may be edited for grammar, spelling, and English translation…

We'll kick off with Brian Thomas and some low brow humor:

During the Samoa Joe/Junior Fatu/LAX vs. Christian Cage/AJ Styles/XXX match, after AJ moves himself from the "Samoan-sit-on-your-face-because-I'm-bigger-than-you" spot, Mike Tenay says, "Did you see the light-bulb all of a sudden go on there, when he realized that Junior Fatu could just drop down right on top of him. When you don't take him over, you better get the hell out of the way." Then Don West retorts, "Talk about Dark Side of the Moon". A delicious little subtlety, since a stinkface is essentially an in-your face "mooning" . So when it's jammed in your face and you can't see anything, literally becoming "The Dark Side (of) [a] Moon".

JP: I like Don West, but man I think you've given him a little more subtext than he was planning. Still, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Next up Chris Jacobs wants to disagree with me:

Carlito wasn't cheating with restarting the count, all refs do that. His eyes were off Mr. McMahon, so he MAY have been able to get in and break the count. When someone is knocked out on the floor the ref will count, and if a wrestler jumps out, or distracts the ref, even though the guy could not have possibly gotten up in the second it takes him to turn away, the ref always restarts the count. Carlito was studying.

JP: Chris, you took what I said way too literally. I meant the overall cheating of Carlito being a referee in a match helping Vince McMahon. IE, it was their overall plan to be cheaters. You see, cheaters in the sense of being evil, not in the sense of actually cheating. Or being on that show Cheaters. Why would anyone sign a release form to be on that show? That is driving me nuts. But not as nuts as I am for Dominique:

On the Oct. 8th Raw I saw and heard a couple of things. First on the WWE Championship Belt it had Randy Orton's name on it. I thought the "E" wasn't going to put names on the belts anymore to save money. Guess it just depends on who you are because Triple H had his name on it at the PPV and he was only champ for an hour or so.

JP: See! This rumor needs to be buried for good! Sorry, hun, I'm not taking this out on you. I'm pretty sure there was a corporate meeting and some operations manager said, "Throw out some ideas to save money." The faceplate one was one of them, and someone thought it was so stupid that they told a friend, and that friend told another, and eventually it reached Meltzer. In the end, it's something the E has forgotten about because it was a silly idea, and yet it is still remembered here.

The second thing is J.R. and King commentating during the handicap match. It was said to be a tag team handicap match when Vince announced it but when it started both men were in the ring. King said he thought they were tag team partners and J.R. came back with the statement You know how much things change around here.

JP: It was Texas Tornado style match, baby! I love those things, but not as much as I lo—

Ghost of JT: Don't even start, you have a guest here this week!

JP: Doesn't that mean he should interrupt me, not you.

Ghost of JT: I suppose so…

Brandon: Yeah, scram Ghost! I'm doing all the interrupting around here!

JP: You heard the man.

Ghost of JT: ::tear::

Andy Clark: Can I make fun of JT, too?!

JP: Well, it's not really JT, but sure.

Andy Clark: The Ghost of JT may be gone, but Andy Clark… WILL… NOT… DIE!!

JP: I don't get it…

Andy Clark: Andy Clark… WILL… NOT… DIE!!!

Brandon: I don't get it either…

Andy Clark: Andy Clark… WILL… NOT… DIE!!!

JP: Yeah, totally missing the punchline. Could you follow it up with some explanation?

Andy Clark: Andy Clark… WILL… NOT… DIE!!!

Brandon: I don't think that explained anything.

Andy Clark: Andy Clark… WILL… NOT… DIE!!!

Brandon: Is this some sort of initiation I wasn't aware of?

Andy Clark: Andy Clark… WILL… NOT… DIE!!!

JP: Andy, that's great and all, but cou—

Andy Clark: Andy Clark… WILL… NOT… DIE!!!

JP: All right! We get the point!

Andy Clark: Andy Clark… WILL… NOT… DIE!!!

JP: ANDY—

Andy Clark: Clark… WILL… NOT… DIE!!!

JP: WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!?!?!

Andy Clark: Andy Clark… WILL… NOT… oh, I have a Hidden Highlight:

I haven't looked on the forums or anything because I don't want to know if anyone else caught it, but we had a William Regal HH in the form of a subtle Jericho clue. When Regal had his pictures out (George Michael, Elton John, and the Queen) he noted when referencing the Queen that "someone broke it." Remember who that "someone" was? Chris Jericho. Back before WrestleMania X-Seven I believe Jericho and Raven were having a Hardcore Match and it spilled into then Commissioner Regal's office where Jericho used Her Majesty's picture as a weapon. I thought it was a cool little throw back!

JP: Holy crap Andy, that was an amazing reference. It was totally worth you not dying. Another one who will not die (because we heard from him earlier) is Chris Jacobs with some LIVE Raw notes:

I was there at the Van Andel tonight, and two things that I remember that stuck out, (I may remember more later). On Sunday Night Heat, the Redneck Wrecking Crew were in action against Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Super Crazy. Cade was in the corner and getting a little rowdy, and the referee told him to keep hold of the tag rope. Now this for some reason had the TV side on Stage Right instead of Stage Left; it was swapped, and the tag ropes were in the opposite corners of what the two teams were in, so Cade just grabbed hold of the padding that wraps around where the buckle connects to the pole, and he held onto that black covering and sat there waiting for the tag. You could clearly see the tag ropes in the other corners, and when Raw came on they actually took the tag ropes off and put them in the right place. So props for Cade for improvising, and I guess they have a certain way of doing things since they moved the tag ropes around instead of just having the opposing teams switch to the other corners.

JP: An odd production snafu for sure, but you are absolutely right giving the kudos to Cade for improvising with what he had.

Next was when they set up the red carpet and stage in the ring for Orton, Vince was coming out, and there was a crew member fixing the stage inside the ring, and he didn't get out of the ring fast enough. He laid down behind the stage so that he was out of the camera's view, and instead of crawling out and clearly being on TV, and showing people they weren't ready, another crew member came up and literally pulled him out of the ring, like when someone pulls out the referee during a pinfall attempt. This way the guy slide on his stomach out of camera's view, and right to the floor without ever being on TV and showing that they were not ready to come back from commercial yet.

JP: Now that is a really cool thing to catch live! Live I always try to say, the production staff work so hard, often longer hours and more days than wrestlers, yet are compensated no where near as well. On top of that, they have to go through very physical and smart moments like this, so those guys deserve even more major kudos. And some more kudos go to first timer Jimmy Palm for some additional No Mercy moments (this must be the most popular PPV ever, we never get this many write-ins about a PPV):

During the HHH/Umaga match, the action spilled outside and Umaga laid out H on the steps. He then grabbed the WWE title and stared at it. What was great about this moment was that I could see actual joy on Umaga's face. He looked around at the crowd, then back at the belt, with a slight smile, before turning his attention back to Trips. This was a great bit of work from Umaga, as it sold the fact that he was slowly realizing the opportunity he had. The smile seemed to indicate that Umaga thought he was so close to a World title he couldn't hold his joy inside. He almost looked like a child with candy. Pity the match ended up a bit short, but I appreciated the use of character here.

JP: When Umaga was Intercontinental Champion, he was always chewing on the belt. I wonder if he thinks the WWE Championship tastes better?

The thing that sold the Last Man Standing match for me was Orton's realistic recoveries. He would struggle and struggle to get to his feet, and he made every count, but after 9, Orton didn't magically recover straight up to his feet, he gave himself a final push and straightened his knees, technically he was standing up. But his torso was still hunched over, which continued to sell the move that knocked him down in the first place. Nice bit of realism there.

JP: In boxing, that would consider him still down! Luckily in wrestling we have a lot more leeway to what "standing" means. And (I kid you not) we have more from "No Mercy" with Peter Clay. Where were you people when I was writing the No Mercy section?

My favorites from No Mercy:

- Fan sign in front rows visible during first Randy Orton Entrance: "I'M GLAD CENA GOT HURT!"

- Fan sign in the front row visible every now and then: "JERICHO WILL SAVE US"

- During the second 10 count in the last man standing match one guy in the front row yelled out "Come on ten minute champ"

- In the last man standing match when Randy delivered a standing drop kick to HHH a guy in the 4th row got up and ripped off his shirt Hogan style whilst the count was up to 2.

JP: Those were all great, but when it comes to signs there is only one I want:



First timer Graham, though, keeps his eyes elsewhere:

Not strictly from a broadcast, but have you seen Lex Luger's face in the picture that's on the front page of 411 Wrestling for the Top Ten Bret Hart Matches (Too Many Capitals!) - doesn't he look REALLY happy that Bret is the man?

JP: They did fight for quite some time, many times, in different organizations. Still, another Lex Luger reference, it's all good. Plus, Hidden Highlights on the main page makes me giggle. Not like I do for Fixxer315 who will finish us off with a Classic from Royal Rumble 1996:

Late in the show, Brian Pillman makes his debut before a WWF live audience. He cuts a brilliant promo in which he rants & raves, even managing to bring in Jeffrey Dahmer, which was golden before the Milwaukee crowd. Pillman then hobbles off. However, on the way out, he runs into his former tag team partner Steve Austin. Pillman gives him a "go get him" type of gesture, but Austin simply looks at him for a second, then turns away. This was brilliant for those who knew the Hollywood Blondes as it allowed the two to acknowledge their history while saying at the same time that things were going to be different this time around. It's too bad that Pillman & Austin never really got the chance to show what they could do before a WWF crowd, as I imagine a one on one feud between the two in 97 or 98 would have been absolutely golden, if only for the promo work.

JP: Pillman is one of those guys who you knew was capable of so much more and his death just robbed the wrestling world. Plus, I would have loved to see if Eric Bischoff was right and that Pillman would have come back to WCW is one of the biggest work-shoots ever.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, go read a history of Brian Pillman followed by Controversy Creates Cash. Good times!

Brandon: Well, most of our readers don't know, but I didn't really get into wrestling until about 2003, unfortunately well after (in wrestling terms) Pillman's time. I've seen some of his matches and a bit of the DVD and I really regret that I never got to see him work live.

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




JP: Well Brandon, we're at the end of your first issue. Nice job this week. How are you holding up?

Brandon: You know JP, I'm feeling pretty good. It was a lot of fun to write this column and banter with you throughout the whole thing. And this is like Fact or Fiction right? So I'm pretty sure I won this one in the end.

JP: Hey now! You know I'm an undefeated seven-time Fact or Fiction champion!!

Brandon: Hey, I need some sort of winner right now, my Rams sure as hell aren't doing it. Sigh. Does anyone know when the Celtics season starts ?

JP: Really? Even I diehard Red Sox/Patriots fan like me wouldn't back the Celtics. Then again, I really have no love of basketball. Luckily, I have both Red Sox and Patriots to keep me happy (and awake until 2am) right now, so let's roll!

Thank you for reading the 111th 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!