Hidden Highlights 02.18.08: Issue #129

Posted by JP Prag on 02.18.2008

Earl Hebner gets some protective gear, Chris Jericho pays special attention to JBL’s legs, Stevie Richards starts to relive his old gimmicks, Petey Williams starts to channel other late great Canadians, Chavo Guerrero gets to keep his logo, and more! All with guest co-host Randy Harrison!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #129

Hello everyone seeing things looking up, 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: Things are looking better this week than last, but time is at a premium, so we must get rolling! I know, I've ripped you people off with so little witty banter these past couple of weeks, but a guy has to do what a guy has to do; much like this week's guest co-host. You've seen him before in these pages, but he is also a king of the MMA Zone (Sprawl and Brawl Video Review, Five Rounds of News, tons of MMA news items, etc…): Randy Harrison. Randy?

Randy: Thanks for having me again JP, but you forgot my weekly review in the TV zone… and my fill-in for the ECW Tirade for Larry this week. Not that I'm, you know, LOOKING for the extra attention or anything but I mean I did manage to have a fairly prolific week. How are things going with your two columns anyhow?

JP: Well, me and my lowly two columns do quite a nice job taking up most of the hits for the site. Funny part was, I was reading some back issues of In Defense Of… and thinking how good they would be now that there is a commentary section at the bottom of the page.

Randy: You mean so people could rip you to shreds in your own article?

JP: You know what… I think I liked completely controlling the feedback mechanism. Ah well, can't win them all. Let's get on with the Hidden Highlights!



Sunday, February 10, 2008 by the Readers via JP

JP: I was actually supposed to go to Against All Odds, but a schedule change and personal issues kept me away from South Carolina. But now it looks like Lockdown may be coming to Boston, so I *may* be able to go to that. When is Lockdown, April 13th? That looks like an ok deal for now, we shall see. In the meantime, we have two Hidden Highlights for Against All Odds via 411mania's own Sat:

(2) The pain never stops:

During the Robert Roode entrance, Payton Banks was holding her neck. Probably due to the fact that she was suffering from the beatdown that she got earlier in the show from Traci Brooks.

(1) That's protective clothing:

During the barbed wire massacre between Abyss and Judas Mesias, Earl Hebner was wearing a long sleeved shirt and gloves. Why? Probably to avoid getting cut from all the barbed wire.

Randy: The long sleeves and extra layers was something I remember Raven doing during a barbed wire match in the old ECW, so it was nice to see them bringing it back for Barbed Wire Massacre. It makes me wonder though about why Earl Hebner was smart enough to come up with that but Mesias and Abyss decided to just go out there half-dressed like it was a regular match. Silly monsters.



Monday, February 11, 2008 by JP

JP: I can't take Brian Kendrick seriously when he has the "I'm upset" face on and comes storming into the ring with no fanfare. He's just one of those guys that "serious" does not work for. My guess is that he knows that, too. Like RVD, he has more of a laid back character that most western CT/NY based people never seem to get. And since I used to live in CT and my current client is in NY (nonetheless the large amount of time I've spent there), I get how they think. Of course, I don't agree with how those particular people think, as I myself am pretty laid back, despite being born a Masshole.

(3) That poor little boy:

The opening contest of the night saw a No-DQ match between Vincent K. McMahon and Hornswaggle L. McMahon. As Hornswaggle was making his way into the ring, the camera just happened to catch Jillian… errrr… I mean Lillian Garcia in the corner of the screen. Lillian had the most painful grimace on her face, as she knew little Hornswaggle was in for a terrible beating! Nice work by Lillian to be reacting to what is about to happen despite not really being the focus of the camera.

On a side note, Vince sure has not been living up to his guarantees recently. He really needs to fire someone to prove that he can really do it. I mean, Finlay, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and John Cena have all got away with doing things he said he would fire them for. Although, I do like that he had to fill out paperwork to dismiss someone.

(2) Oh, those long luscious legs:

Out of the blue, we had the Chris Jericho vs. JBL rematch. So a DQ ending on a PPV ended with a no-hype clean finish on a taped RAW? Sure, why not! It gave me a good match for free to see! Towards the end of the match, Jericho had hit JBL with a devastating move that left JBL flat on his back, but still close to the ropes. As would be expected from a Hidden Highlights machine like Jericho, he hooked the leg closest to the ropes and pulled in JBL's arm. But that, my friends is not the real Hidden Highlight! As the ref went down for the one count, Jericho then also hooked his leg over JBL's loose leg furthest from the ropes! Why would Jericho do this? Because JBL has a lot of leg strength and could kick out, as well as the length of JBL's legs make it possible for him to reach the ropes. Nice extra thinking there by Y2J.

(1) One more thing about legs:

Speaking of legs, a very interesting thing happened during the diva's match between Maria and Melina. Late into the match, while the announcers were talking about something else irrelevant, Melina had been knocked to her back and Maria was coming in for the pin cover. As Maria started to get down into the position, Melina actually managed to kick her right leg into the air and hit Maria face first! This was an amazing bit of athleticism and smart thinking that was completely missed by the announcers, but greatly admitted by this Hidden Highlights aficionado.

Randy: I can totally understand you wanting to talk about Melina's legs, but JBL's? You've got me worried, man. I think the strain of all these weeks of Hidden Highlights columns has finally taken a toll on your mental faculties.



Tuesday, February 12, 2008 by JP

JP: I was reviewing Randy Harrison's Not So Tremendous Tirade for ECW on SciFi this week to compare to my notes, when a very interesting Hidden Highlight caught by eye. Apparently, Mr. Harrison here gave Kelly Kelly vs. Layla El match of the night honors with **1/4 stars. Very interesting…

(3) Ah, the sweet fragrance of the Gulf:

The opening of the show saw Chavo Guerrero making his way to the ring for a promo about how sick he was. As Chavo was walking down the aisle, he was going lots of little things like scratching his eczema smelling his armpits. My favorite thing he did, though, was when he smelt his wrists like the Gulf of Mexico was a perfume he had put on! Nice one there by Chavo.

By the way, I'm still confused why people were fishing in the dark at 10pm in a polluted and apparently deadly water.

(2) You'll see:

This week also saw the return to action of Baron Von Big Dancin' Flyboy Stevie Night Heat Cool Rock Flamingo Richards. Stevie made short work of his opponent Rory Foxx, but not before providing a little Hidden Highlight. As Stevie was about to charge Rory in the corner to put him away for good, you could just barely hear Stevie say, "I'll show you!" bringing back his old moniker and still intro to his theme music (a la Shelton Benjamin).

(1) It hurts my hurts:

Colin Delaney has been known these past few weeks for coming out with almost as much tape as Shark Boy did for months. This week, something interesting caught my eye. Under all of the white tape on his left shoulder, there was also a black pad. This makes so much sense to me as to protect the shoulder it would need extra padding! Also, the tape probably hurts an injured Delaney, so having a pad there must soften the strain.

Randy: I did indeed give Layla and Kelly Match of The Night in my ratings for the show. I mean everyone else that was, you know, GOOD, ended up in squashes or matches that were like three minutes long. It's more by proxy than anything else and I'm surprised that I didn't catch a lot of hate for it. Since those two are usually pretty terrible it was a nice change of pace to not see them have a four-minute match with eight blown spots.



Thursday, February 14, 2008 by Randy Harrison

Randy: The fallout from Against All Odds was felt all through Impact this past Thursday, and there was plenty of great stuff to see for the Hidden Highlights. Abyss seemingly walked away from TNA and Brother Ray couldn't suck it in enough to make weight to fight, not to mention the greatness of Eric Young calling Karen Angle "Bridezilla". There was a ton of things going on and I even manage to give you all an EXTRA HH for this show since it was just too good to leave out.

(BONUS) Forget the contract, Joe needs a calendar:

In his promo to open the show Samoa Joe made a bit of a faux pas by telling Christian Cage that "maybe I didn't do the best job last night". Of course, we all know that Impact was taped the Monday after Against All Odds, but they generally avoid making slip-ups like that when it comes to their promos and announcers. Joe forgot that he needed to make the adjustment for the taping schedule and it definitely made me chuckle for a moment.

(3) It's a highlight to me, even if it happened months ago:

I just noticed watching this episode of Impact that Mike Tenay has decided to wear a suit instead of that "four sizes too small" tuxedo that he's been rocking from the beginning of his TNA tenure. I'm glad to see that at least one of the announcers is looking like an announcer and now we just need to talk to Don West to let him know that primary colors are his friend and that he doesn't need to be kicking it on color commentary with the periwinkle shirts with matching tie, week in and week out. Good job and kudos to whoever told Tenay that it might have been time to make a change in wardrobe.

(2) Enough is enough, and it's time for a CHANGE!!:

Speaking of change, this one is a little more abstract but I loved the Petey Williams promo when he came out to answer the challenge of Scott Steiner. He honestly sounded like he was channeling another great Canadian wrestler who felt like his size kept him from getting the respect he deserved, in Owen Hart. I was just waiting to hear one of Owen's old catchphrases to make it complete. Great work from Petey on that one, whether he intended to do it or not. Anything that makes me remember the awesomeness of Owen is more than worthy of being deemed a Hidden Highlight in my book.

(1) Tomko goes subliminal:

Right after the Petey/Steiner match, we ran to the back to see Tomko and Angle having words. Now, word has come out that TNA is changing their slogan from "We Are Wrestling" to "Cross The Line". During his little speech to Angle, Tomko says that he "crossed the line" at the PPV by turning on Christian, and he talks about "how much everything is changing" in TNA. This was great for me, as it ended up subtly bringing up the fact that there's a change in slogan, without hammering it over our heads. Maybe it's a little foreshadowing to the change too. Either way, I loved it as much as I loved Tomko claiming he didn't want to be "the bitch" and then making demands like a woman with PMS about how they were going to do what Tomko wanted to do when he wanted to do it.

JP: I did happen to catch Mike Tenay's wardrobe change and pointed it out about six weeks back. That said, I've got nothing against Don West's technicolor dreamcoat wardrobe. Rather, I like the outfit he has with the white shirt that has the silver and black stripes on the collar that match the tie he wears. That's class, baby!



Friday, February 15, 2008 by Randy Harrison

Randy: The last show before No Way Out is chock full of Highlighty goodness, and was not too bad a show to go home on. By the way, since this is the positive column, I won't mention how "positively" silly it is for Big Daddy V and Mark Henry to be spitting up blood off of The Undertaker's modified gogoplata, when it's a shoulder lock, not a throat or neck submission. Granted, that's my MMA background coming into play, but it's a good thing that I decided to be positive and not bring it up. On to the HH's!!

(3) Cole steps it up:

The best thing about Smackdown used to be the commentary team of JBL and Cole, before JBL returned to in-ring action. Michael Cole has been forced to really up his game due to working with the stiff that is The Coach, and he did so in the match between Batista and MVP. While talking about the advantage Batista has by being the only competitor to have experienced the Elimination Chamber previously, Cole said that the other five men could watch the tapes but that until they've been in there, he imagined that there's nothing like it. The highlight for me were those two words "I imagine", since Cole has to lump himself in with the other five because he's never been in a Chamber match either. A lot of announcers would tend to forget a little detail like that and it shows how much Cole has grown since his early days as a play-by-play man.

(2) I guess it's cause he's the champ:

During the tag match with Kane and CM Punk taking on Chavo Guerrero and Shelton Benjamin, I noticed something with all of the introductions. Kane and Punk came out first and both of their names were listed with the Smackdown logo next to them. Out comes Shelton Benjamin and he has the Smackdown logo next to his name as well. I figured that they were just ignoring the ECW aspects of the guys due to the "talent-sharing" that goes on, but then here comes Chavo Guerrero and lo and behold, he's the ECW champion so he has the ECW logo next to his name. It would have been easy to gloss over that and just have him with the Smackdown logo like everyone else in the match. Way to put over the champ, guys in the truck!!

JP: I talked about this one a couple of weeks ago, too, except it was in reverse when dealing with SmackDown! guys on ECW. At the time, only CM Punk got the logo when he went over to SmackDown!, so maybe the champ gets to keep his brand's logo? But then what about the Miz and John Morrison who are SmackDown!'s tag team champions despite being on ECW. I'm so confuzzled!

(1) I guess someone didn't get the memo:

During The Undertaker's entrance leading into his match against Big Daddy V, the camera crew got an interesting shot of fans using what looked to be their cell phone cameras to take video and pictures of the entrance. This one might be a little bit of a reach, but it made me laugh to see that footage make it through the post-production, when just a few weeks back the WWE made a big stink about cracking down on that type of thing happening in the crowd to keep the lid on leaks from the taped shows like Smackdown and ECW.

JP: When (if?) I finally get some time to watch this show, I'll have to check out if the camera fan is missing as the match goes on.




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: Why waste write-ins in the comment section? Send them in and I'll print them right 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 it off with regular Chris Jacobs who still doesn't seem to get I won't print anti-Hidden Highlights because there is no such thing!:

[On last week's SmackDown!], the Rated Rmy was working over the arm of Yang, (excuse me for not knowing the names), R-1 tagged in R-2, R-1 pulled up Yang's arm for the double team spot of spread the ribs, partner coming in kicks the ribs, but R-2 knowing they have just worked a lot on the arm, instead of kicking the ribs, as R-1 is holding Yang's arm up (to open the ribs) R-2 punches that exposed arm instead of kicking the ribs, and goes right back into work on the left appendage that is hurting.

JP: Hopefully this type of work from the former Major Brothers will convince someone on the writing staff to not have tag teams lose to one person. A guy can dream, can't he?

I think Estrada wears one watch in US time, and one in Cuban time so he is still on the same time frame with his friends and family, lol

JP: Errrrr… Cuba is pretty much on EST time, but I guess Estrada could be in another US time zone. Moving to another time zone we have Marshall Berke:

The hidden highlight I wanted to let you know about was during the DX reunion match. When Triple H and Shawn Michaels were talking and just before HBK made his wardrobe change, he was so unready to be doing DX in the beginning, that he even had to change his wristbands/sweatbands from HBK to DX.

JP: Oh yeah, I was impressed with the complete transformation. Triple H and HBK have totally different gimmicks when they are doing DX and go back and forth between them quite well. It reminds of when the Big Show was a face on SmackDown! and a heel on RAW. That guy is way more awesome then he ever gets credit for. Sticking with the past, Bryan Drawbaugh can't believe something was missed. Shocked, he says, even flabbergasted!:

For the 2/ 5/08 ECW on SCIFI
I am shocked that no picked up on this During CM Punks match with Chavo, I noticed something written on his taped fist. After looking for a while I noticed it said Saints, part of his stable's name in ROH. I got to believe this was a nod to Ace Steel who got released from his WWE Developmental Contract just one day prior.

JP: And I am shocked how much I had to fix your grammar to make that very interesting point legible. But when I did, it was an interesting one! Much like this one from Chris Anderson:

Not sure if you noticed but a great little "highlight" from Curry Man in his match with Shark Boy vs. Rock and Rave from 2/7/2008. After Curry was playing the face-in-peril role, he went to get the hot tag and proceeded to fan himself off as he made the tag. Not only was the tag hot but the wrestler is hot... spicy and tastes great. Just awesome.

JP: Hehehe, as much as I miss Christopher Daniels, Curry Man surely is interesting to have around for the Hidden Highlights perspective.

Randy: Agreed. Everyone loves a little Curry now and again. He's one of the best things going in TNA and it's so funny to try to reconcile the Curry Man character with the usual Fallen Angel character that Daniels plays.

TJ McAloon sees things from that perspective all the time:

The crowd in Austin was booing JR when he came out for RAW. Sure this wasn't on camera any time, but he comes out to OU fight song. You're in UT country when you come to Austin, and we hate those damn Sooners.

JP: I hate those Sooners, too, and I don't give a rat's about college football. Go Pats!

Randy:Um, they lost. As much as it pains me to say it, they lost.

JP: Shut up man! The wound is too fresh!

Did anybody notice the fan in the yellow shirt during the Rumble? Seriously if you get a chance to re watch it, just look for the skinny white kid in the yellow shirt he's by the entrance way. He made the Rumble very entertaining, well aside from that Cena guy coming back haha.

JP: Anything in particular you'd like to point out about him? I mean, this is a written word article. Hard to picture with that description.

Randy: Skinny white kid in a yellow shirt? Did he have a big round head? I think Charlie Brown made an appearance at the Rumble!!!

JP: I used to sympathize with Woodstock when I was younger, but as time has gone on I've thought that bird gets way too much leeway. Ah well, Christopher Alden brings the written and visual evidence:

Hey, I missed my chance to write to you this week, so I was glad someone else caught the "Ass Cream" thing. Unfortunately, Nick Noel didn't quite follow it all the way. You see, not only did the canister have "Ass Cream" written across it in big, bold letters... but it was identical to the can of ass cream that Bubba Ray Dudley pulled out of Chris Jericho's bag when the Dudleys stole Jericho & Christian's gym bags! Don't believe me, take a look here:



Apparently, Vince McMahon and Chris Jericho shop at the same drugstore... who knew? At least we finally have the answer to Bubba's question, "What do you do with ass cream, might I ask?"

JP: Unless Vince stole it from the Dudleys before not renewing their contract. The conspiracy all comes together now! Actually moving us on to this week is Tim Schmidt:

As Hornswoggle hit the ring, the camera is on a guy with those Jeff Hardy sleeve things. The guy tries to start a "Horny" chant, but no one joins in and he quits after yelling about five times.

JP: Not every chant works! Although, at an original ECW show I did get a "He f****s chickens!" chant started. True story! With another true story is Peter Rybak:

Just a quick Hidden Highlight. During the Cena/Henry match on the 2/11 ep of RAW, I noticed that when Mark Henry had Cena leaning on the ropes he was measuring Cena with a punch. Not only was Henry's fist closed, but he also had the knuckle on his middle finger out. I liked that he did this to inflict a little more pain to Cena than a closed fist would do.

JP: Does Mark Henry win the William Regal Award?! Well, he would, except that is not a "wrestling" move. But good work by Henry anyway! And finishing us off this week is Amit Mistry:

A couple more I saw this week. The Jericho/JBL match seemed to be full of them. First, JBL threw his towel at Jericho when he entered the ring.

JP: Well, he is a mean guy.

One time when Jericho went for a cover near the ropes, he hooked one leg and grapevined the other with his legs.

JP: Hey, I wrote that!

And JR mentioned that Jericho might be smaller than JBL, but he isn't afraid of bullies in the ring or out of the ring. Not sure if he was referring to JBL and his supposed antics in the locker room or Jericho beating Goldberg in a backstage altercation, but either way I found it amusing.

JP: I'm going to assume it was about JBL's reputation, eh? Besides, even Jericho said that that story has been blown waaaaaaaay out of proportion. See: In Defense Of… Goldberg (Part 3 of 2).

Also, during the Melina/Maria match, the production guys stayed with a tight shot and didn't use the hard camera very often which helped to cover for the girls wrestling ability. Good decision on their part.

JP: Although there were some damn hard shots in that match!

From ECW last week, when Michelle hit a running corner body splash (thank you Wikipedia) on Layla, the way she hit and the way she had her arms was very reminiscent of how Taker does his. True it is a very common move, but I found it interesting.

JP: I'll let the commentary session take care of comparing Michelle McCool to the Undertaker.

And from Impact last night, when Karen was walking into the ring for the vow renewal, I think it was Tenay who was saying something and he said "brainchild" and at that exact moment the camera cut to Kurt's daughter for a couple of seconds.

JP: I can't believe Karen yells at Borash like that in front of her little girl! Does Dakota know what's even going on?

Randy: I can't believe that Karen shrieks like that period, and it just leaves me to hope for the sake of Kurt and their neighbors that she's not loud when things um... make their way to the boudoir at the Angle abode. You think that yelling at Borash would scar that kid for life, imagine having to hear that kind of screaming going on. There wouldn't be enough brainwashing that could remove that.

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: Thanks again to the always hard hitting Randy Harrison. We have fun and these pages, and this dude does get that!

Randy: Again, thanks for having me. I always enjoy any foray that I can make into the wrestling zone. I keep trying to get my foot in the door to get in on the zone full-time, but Larry stopped answering my calls and now when I dial him up it says that the number is no longer in service. He wouldn't have changed the number to get away from me would he? WOULD HE? Oh yeah, by the way, I also filled in on Larry's 4 R's column, doing the ECW R's this week. I'm just saying.

JP: I know, I know. We only mentioned it THREE times!

Speaking of other articles, be sure to catch my very own Saturday morning news report The Hamilton Ave Journal: the only wrestling news report focused on the business of wrestling.

Thank you for reading the 129th 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!