Hidden Highlights 03.17.08: Issue #133

Posted by JP Prag on 03.17.2008

Does Hidden Highlights have a touch of the Irish for Saint Patrick’s Day? No! We have a touch of the Canadian with special guest co-host Stephen Randle and an important sign getting on TV, Hernandez pulling off a crazy move, Finlay and Mr. Kennedy playing up their history, CM Punk finding something familiar in his hometown, Christian Cage going to the wrong locker room, Victoria thinking she’s been cast for Rocky 7, and more!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #133

Hello everyone who is working from home this week and is celebrating a birthday on Wednesday by going on the Family Feud, 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: I am so far behind on life. Damn having to work on client site on a Friday, it threw me off for days! Snow didn't help much either, but what can you do. Still, we have too much to get to for me to ramble forever, so please welcome our guest co-host this week. He's sort of Editor of Wrestling Zone and more famous for being Canadian in his Monday morning news report The Wrestling News Experience, Stephen Randle! Randle?

Stephen: Well it's gre—

JP: That's quite enough of you, we have huge stuff to cover here!

Stephen: What could be more important than me?

JP: THIS:















































Special thanks to reader Brian Cramer and 411mania's own James "JT" Thomlison for sending in screen captures (as well as 411mania's own Randy Harrison for pointing it out).

But more so, thanks to 411mania's own Brad Borchardt for being the man holding the sign. Nice work, keep it up!

Stephen: Brad, don't you know you are supposed to suck up to me, not JP. He's second banana. I mean, a SATURDAY morning news report? Ha! I laugh at your lowly status.

JP: Lowly? How many signs have YOU gotten on TV?

Stephen: Well, I don't know if it was on TV, because I was at the same event live, but I did see a "411>Dorkboy" sign the last time Raw was in Toronto. Which was… too damned long ago. How long? Well, Evolution still existed and the main event was Kane vs Snitsky in a street fight. Curse you, He Who Shall Never Be Named, Whomever You Might Have Been, If You Ever Really Existed, for preventing WWE from running Canadian shows until now!

Okay, I'm back, just had to get that off my chest. Also, at Summerslam in Toronto, two readers hunted me down and requested a photo op. Really, that's when you know you've made it.

JP: Thanks, but unless the readers are my lovely lady kind, I'd rather they not hunt me down. With that, let's get on with the Hidden Highlights!



Sunday, March 9, 2008 by the Readers via JP

JP: The only thing we got was this message from Randy McCray:

This isn't just a moment, but a person. I wanted to point out that at Destination X, Hernandez showed, once again, why he is becoming one of the best big men in wrestling. Find a clip of his Top Rope, No Hands, Lands On His Feet, Plancha. Not to mention that LAX is one of the greatest tag teams of all time.

JP: Well, I'm not going looking for clips for you, but I do have to say that I stand by my statement in the Hamilton Ave Journal that Hernandez is the biggest marketing opportunity that TNA already has under roof.

Stephen: You fool! You've overlooked the greatest marketing opportunity of all time: Curry Man hats!



Monday, March 10, 2008 by Stephen Randle

Stephen: Hey, it's a three hour Raw as we head into WrestleMania, full of classic matchups from WrestleManias past. Like… Undertaker vs Mark Henry. Yep. But hey, at least we nearly had a brawl between the entire locker room and Mayweather's posse. If it had really gotten out of control, it would have been my vote for Promo of the Year.

(3) We do continuity:

Okay, I know we give WWE a hard time about continuity and remembering things that happened last month, but how about a promo that not only remembers things that happened nearly four months ago, but also nearly two whole years ago, too? I'm talking about Triple H's "serious" promo, where he pointed out that not only has he not had a one-on-one title rematch (or any title rematch, actually) against Randy Orton since the infamous "three title matches in one night" at No Mercy, which is technically the due of the dethroned champion. But, there's more, because he's also never had another one-on-one title match with John Cena since Cena beat him at WrestleMania 22. And between those two matches, Triple H has received exactly… zero one-on-one title shots, and only one actual title shot, a triple threat match involving Cena and Edge at Backlash 2005. Nearly two years, no World title shots, for someone who is billed as the greatest Superstar in the business today. No wonder he's pissed and believes that he's due.

(2) Nobody's a bastard anymore:

Hey, did anyone happen to notice who Finlay's opponent was on Raw? Why, it was Mr. Kennedy, of course. Why is that important? Well, Finlay is currently embroiled in a storyline where he's defending Hornswoggle, his son. Of course, as we all know, Vince McMahon was deceived into believing that Hornswoggle was his illegitimate son, the climax of an angle that began last summer. Also during the summer, Mr. Kennedy was among a number of WWE Superstars suspended for violating the Wellness Policy and getting "outed" in the Signature Pharmacy scandal. Again, you might say, why is that important? Quiet down, I'm getting to it. So, before Mr. Kennedy was suspended, in fact literally the week before it occurred, the entire "Who is Vince's son" angle was leading up, fairly obviously, to a completely different bastard son than Hornswoggle. Who, you may ask, (because you might have just started watching wrestling last month)? Why, one Mr. Ken Kennedy was set to be Vince's progeny. His suspension changed everything, and thus, here we are today, with Kennedy now in the role of "guy Finlay beat the crap out of with a shillelagh on Raw". In a way, Mr. Kennedy is actually the most important factor to the entire storyline, because without him, none of the past few months would have happened.

Okay, I lost where I was going with this, but it seems like a Hidden Highlight to me.

(1) I would have left it on:

Just a quick one, while participating in a scripted weigh-in segment for a likely scripted match, Floyd Mayweather still managed to take the whole thing seriously enough to remove his bling before stepping on the scale. Because really, that stuff would have added at least another ten pounds to his weight, which would at least have made it… um… still a pretty huge weight differential. In other news, I weigh thirty-five pounds more than Floyd. Of course, I'm about a foot taller than him, too. Is that good or bad?

JP: Well, Mayweather is in tremendous shape while you are… how shall I put this…

Stephen: Hey! Balloon is still a shape!



Tuesday, March 11, 2008 by Stephen Randle

Stephen: ECW this week featured a major announcement regarding WrestleMania, a tag title match, and a Money in the Bank qualifier. I can't believe people think nothing happens on this show.

(3) The first sign of evil:

No, it's not Mike Knox's spectacular handlebar moustache, although kudos to him. As a lead-in to a commercial break, the cameras went to Big Daddy V and Matt Striker preparing for their upcoming match with CM Punk. In fact, the camera caught Striker in the midst of his own preparation, removing his tie from a clothes hanger. Something about Matt Striker being the type of person who irons his tie, then hangs it on a clothes hanger, probably with a coordinated shirt and pants combination, seems to fit perfectly with his uptight teacher persona. Or maybe it's a sign that I should start taking care of my ties.

(2) Homefield disadvantage:

Speaking of the three-boobed wonder, did it occur to anyone when the last time CM Punk fought Big Daddy V in a one-on-one match? Well, I may have missed something, but it seems to me that it was at No Mercy, which took place… in Punk's hometown of Chicago. And this match also took place in… Punk's hometown of Chicago. Quite a coincidence, wouldn't you say? What's a bigger coincidence is that, in both matches, Punk failed to actually pin the big man, as at No Mercy, Matt Striker interfered for a disqualification, and this week on ECW, Punk managed to escape with a count-out victory after dumping V to the floor, which apparently somehow stunned him long enough for a ten count. Whatever the case, it's a nice little historical fact for you all. Well, not so nice for Punk, but at least he came away with wins both times (and seemed happy enough to get them, no matter how).

(1) How weak is Colin Delaney?:

Okay, so we know Colin Delaney's best quality is his ability to get the crap kicked out of him and look like a complete wuss. So, how would he continue to play that character now that he's discovered his hardcore roots thanks to Tommy Dreamer? Well, how about this: during the match, Delaney donned an authentic Chicago Bears football helmet. You know, the kind that those big linemen use to drive into each other a hundred times a game every Sunday, right? Okay, so when The Miz whacked the helmeted Delaney in the head with a trash can lid, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect Delaney to remain standing, perhaps even laugh at Miz's poor plan. But no, this is Colin Delaney, the weakest wrestler in the entire world, so despite being better armored than your average wrestler, he still got knocked loopy by the shot. Tell me that somebody else noticed that.

JP: I'm sure somebody did! Check the commentary section! Aside from that, since I travel for a living I have to coordinate all of my shirts and pants and whatnot before I go. Because of that, I feel a certain kinship to Matt Striker and his tie-ironing self.



Thursday, March 13, 2008 by JP

JP: Over in the land of iMPACT, the fallout from Destination X was on hand and the build to Lockdown in Lowell, MA was on hand. Will I attend the show in person? I suppose it is a possibility. I do enjoy to be surprised, and TNA did a good job of it this week with both Curry Man and the Rock & Rave Infection picking up victories. Have to say, I did not see either coming!

(3) Add another one to the pile:

As you know, here in Hidden Highlights, we've been watching Jim Cornette's office very closely as new pieces are added. This week, when Team 3D came into the office to cause some trouble, I noticed a new little item off in the corner. Sitting there was a coat rack with a fedora laying on top of it! Now, I've never seen Cornette wear a hat, but why not? And you never know when you'll need a coat in Florida.

(2) Where is this place:

Early in the evening, Christian was walking around backstage looking for partners and came to find Rhino. The first thing that Rhino said was, "I think you are in the wrong locker room." Of course, in the kayfabe land of TNA, there are separate entrance ramps for the heels and faces, and thus separate locker rooms. So in a very subtle way, Rhino was letting Christian know that he still sees him as one of the bad guys, no matter how current circumstances may have worked out.

(1) Follow the pain:

In another surprise win, Black Reign and Rellik (that's killer spelled backwards) actually won a match beating the currently being punished Motor City Machine Guns. Late in the match, Chris Sabin took a flying leaping kick at Black Reign, who was standing on the ring apron. As Black Reign went tumbling to the outside, I noticed an interesting bit of lighting. There was a spotlight on Regin as he continued to tumble to the outside ring apron. Nice work by the production crew to stay on top of reign and keep him well let as he fell down.

Stephen: Wait, wait, wait, wait…. Rellik is "killer" spelled backwards? That's genius!



Friday, March 14, 2008 by JP

JP: In case you haven't read it, be sure to check out Brad Borchardt's SmackDown! recap.

Stephen: Are you giving him plugs because he got your sign on TV?

JP: Damn straight! Let that be lesson the rest of the writers on this site.

Stephen: And all these years I've been giving free plugs out of the goodness of my heart. How dumb am I?

(3) Out of commission:

In a strong contest, MVP was able to successfully defend his United States Championship again Batista in a No Holds Barred match. Midway through the match, the two spilled to the outside and began to brawl over the announcers table. They must have knocked something out of place because sure enough when the camera panned behind the table, the middle monitor had been knocked out of commission. As a matter of fact, it was just showing a test pattern. Guess it does get a little violent out there.

(2) Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!:

Little know JP fact: while I was living in Philadelphia they were filming Rocky VI and I had the opportunity to be an extra by running the steps. Do you remember at the end of the movie they showed all those people running up the stairs? That could have been me embarrassing myself!

Why do I bring this up? Well during the diva's challenge with nothing on the line, Victoria made a quite spectacular ending. After she crossed the finish line (after a few extra seconds celebrating before it), Victoria screamed "Yeah Adrian!!!!!!" like in Rocky! I cracked up and hit the floor laughing so hard. I think Coach picked it up too because he was laughing plenty, but definitely did not comment on it. Nice little touch by Victoria to just makes us laugh a bit more. I hope she wins this competition to show the WWE that we are sick of generic blonde bimbos. Well, at least me.

(1) Open up and say "Ah!":

It's time, once again, for the William Regal Award for the week. As you know, the William Regal Award is given to a wrestler for doing a little something extra to make a move look just a little more painful. And this week the winner is………

THE BIG SHOW!

During his match against Shannon Moore and Jimmy Wang Yang, Show had Moore in a vice-grip like maneuver, crushing Moore's head. At the same time, Show stuck his thumbs into Moore's mouth and started pulling back outward to dish out just a little more pain. Nice work by Show to… errr… show how smart of a wrestler he can be.

Stephen: Frankly, I'm shocked that Victoria wasn't the first one voted off, due to being the most evil one in the contest. I suspect Sforcina spent about five thousand dollars in text messages to rig that vote.




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: Yeah, I did this section a little early last week so some people were left out. Luckily, e-mail is eternal. 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 all of last week and Nick Noel:

According to Wikipedia, Johnny Devine was fired by Alex Shelley for refusing to edit German snuff films. Not too sure about that authenticity though, but it does sound very TNA/Russo-ish. I didn't really follow TNA at the time, so whether Paparazzi Productions is still in business is beyond my scope of knowledge. Although, again according to Wikipedia, it was never "officially" disbanded.

JP: Ha! I forgot that was the reason Devine was fired. But yes, Paparazzi Productions never was disbanded or ended, Alex Shelley just stopped making movies to hang out with Chris Sabin. Nothing wrong with that.

RAW

Regal References History, Tongue In Cheek – While Regal was on commentary talking about Batista, he dropped in the line that Batista "evolved" on RAW. Nice mention of Batista's history in Evolution as well as showing that RAW is the dominant brand. They create other brands' stars, a perfect stance for RAW's GM.

JP: It's like you read my articles before I write them. I made sure Sforcina knew that was an awesome one he didn't get.

A Two For One! – Then, in the same segment, after Umaga gave Super Crazy the Samoan Spike, he brought up his taped thumb in the classic Umaga pose, then proceeded to turn it into Batista's "thumbs down". All the while the camera man got the perfect shot of him with the Wrestlemania Logo in the background. Two Hidden Highlights in one! Three in the one segment!

JP: Like I said, already covered. Kid, you definitely have to write in sooner so I can group these together!

This Could Just Be a Coincidence – But it just "happened" that the small V-cut in the neck of Jeff Hardy's shirt was the perfect size to show off the Hardyz Pendant he always wears. And I do believe that according to JP's very own Hamilton Ave. Journal the Hardyz Pendant is one of the top best-sellers (No. 3), so it may not be just a coincidence.

JP: And a plug in there, too, for me! That is pretty awesome. Although now I don't know if the readers at home will believe you are a real person or just another made up character in the pantheon. Heck, I'm quite sure that some people don't think JT is real to this day!

Stephen: It's really more that we hope he isn't real.

ECW

Which Show Are We Watching? – For a SD! Superstar, Kane is fairly heavily featured in the ECW opening credits (I double checked, he's still listed under Smackdown! on WWE.com). Nothing says "C-Show" like promoting other brands stars in your opening montage!

JP: Or the fact that Armando Estrada named the Great Khali as a participant in the 24-man battle royal for WrestleMania instead of someone on the ECW roster?

Stephen: Plus, on Smackdown they named three more participants, Kane, Jamie Noble, and Chuck Palumbo. Not an ECW name to be found in there, either. I'm holding out hope for Colin Delaney vs. Chavo Guerrero.

JP: I was actually running the list of mid-card faces left that could do this, and it seems like Colin Delaney is in the top 5. Others include Tommy Dreamer, Jim Duggan, Cody Rhodes, Hardcore Holly, Val Venis, Festus, Jesse (I guess), Paul London, Brian Kendrick, Shannon Moore, Jimmy Wang Yang, Kofi Kingston, Balls Mahoney, and Stevie Richards. If I were to bet, I'd say Tommy Dreamer or Kofi Kingston. Unless they want to have the Miz win, take the title from Chavo (heel vs. heel at WrestleMania? I don't know about that.) and have Morrison win the Money in the Bank match to create tension between the two… no, no, that's a bit Russo-booked.

TNA

Robert Roode LIVES His Performance – During Roode's speech at the start of the show, you could see his right hand holding the microphone shaking, either from the passion and intensity in his words, or the underlying fear of Booker T. Or because he's still not entirely comfortable giving a promo, but I'd prefer not to believe that.

JP: Or he had too much Red Bull. My hands shake for a while after some of that stuff.

EXCUSE ME? – But during the "Unlikely Alliance" promo, was Samoa Joe eyeing Crystal up and down and then proceed to give a sly BLOWJOB hand movement with a *literal* tongue-in-cheek? Seriously, blink and you would have missed it.

JP: I blinked, but that is hilarious!

Kevin Nash Is So Lazy – That when he was giving the "Wolfpac" hand signal to the fans at ringside he didn't even raise his outside fingers. He looked like he was trying to make a shadow puppet duck.

JP: I knew I should have tried to flash Nash the Wolfpack sign when I saw him at the airport a few weeks back!

Oh Wow! – Curry Man's mask had the Fallen Angel star painted over the left eye part of it! CHRISTOPHER DANIELS IS BACK! LET THE RUMOUR-MONGERING BEGIN!

JP: Oh, you were on a role of original ones and then it was right back to ones from last week!

SD!

Even The CW Hates Cruiserweights – Because the description of Smackdown! reads "A weekly competition of heavyweight champion professional wrestlers". No wonder WWE dropped the Cruiserweight Title.

JP: The official last piece of WCW is now gone. What is left over from the WCW acquisition now? Shannon Moore, Gregory Helms, Jamie Noble, Chuck Palumbo, Chavo Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Finlay, and Torrie Wilson? Wow, and they are all on SmackDown!. I think I just started liking SmackDown! a little more. Speaking of people who like SmackDown!, Ricky Homzy had a live report from last week:

I'm back with some more hidden highlights from this week's ECW/Smackdown! tapings in Cleveland, OH. Since it was so close to home for us (20 minutes North), my friend Mike acquired tickets for us via his cousin. The tickets were 3 rows off the floor, half way between the ramp and the ring. Unfortunately, we were on the same side of the arena as the main camera, limiting our visibility. Had I known they were going to show us during Batista's entrance I would have had a "My sign is a Hidden Highlight" sign. Who knew? Ah well, plenty of highlights this week.

JP: Do you realize that if you had brought your sign, we would have had a sign on RAW, ECW, and SmackDown! this week. Let this me a lesson to you all: never forget your "My Sign is a Hidden Highlight" sign at home!

From ECW:

In the opening tag match, Tommy Dreamer had John Morrison trapped in the tree of woe and subsequently setup to deliver a running dropkick. Before taking off, Tommy did his 'beat chest while yelling E-C-W!' taunt. The highlight, is that the Miz, instead of letting Tommy finish his taunt and hit Morrison with the dropkick, went to take a shot at Tommy. While it didn't work out in the short run, it was heads up thinking by The Miz.

JP: Miz has been real good at taking shots and missing them in recent weeks, but his push towards "reality" cannot be ignored.

Even though it wasn't shown on TV, James Curtis had a full fledged entrance with a theme song AND a Titantron video. The video consisted of three clips; Two of Curtis doing poses in the ring, and one that showed his logo. Interesting that they'd go to the trouble of making a video for him when it isn't going to be shown on TV.

JP: I love live Hidden Highlights that you can't get anywhere else. Anyway, Curtis is signed as a developmental talent and is expected to be on the main roster one day. Maybe they are working on his video, adding more clips as they go.

From Smackdown!:

At the end of the six-man tag match, Festus did his usual conversion back to being docile. C.M. Punk, in total confusion over what happened, started waving his hand in front of Festus' face to check for signs of life. Twice actually. A perfect reaction if ever there was one, and I absolutely laughed my ass off at it. It was one of the funniest things I've seen in wrestling for sometime. Highlight of the show for me, up until what happened after the show went off the air. But I'll get to that later.

JP: Oh, I teaser! I like it!

I know you always like to talk about items in the background of a backstage scene, particularly in the GMs' offices. When Jamie Noble entered Vicky's office, you could see a picture of Edge, the Batista cover of the current issue of WWE Magazine, and a picture of Edge and Vicky hanging on the wall behind them. Later in the segment, you can see two more pictures of Edge and Vicky together, sitting on the table next to Vicky's wheelchair.

JP: I've actually noticed all of those pictures before, but the change was she didn't have the Batista cover on her wall. It looks like with Batista representing SmackDown! Vickie has lightened up on him.

Lastly, the entire sequence of events that occurred after the show went off the air was HH gold. Kane and Batista came out to back up the Undertaker. I believe Edge and the Rmy scrambled back to the ring during their entrance, though I'm not sure. In any event, we had Batista, UT and Kane in the ring on one side and Edge and the Rmy in the ring on the other side. One of the Edgeheads immediately went after Kane and got a chokeslam for his trouble. The other Edgehead took a bit more time to consider things and then ran into a Batista spinebuster. Now alone in the ring, Edge had a perfect "Oh shit, what the hell do I do now?" look on his face while trying to figure out what to. Edge's pantomime of being in thought (Maybe I could, no that won't work. How about, nah...) was absolutely terrific and combined with the look on his face was absolutely hilarious. After weighing his options awhile Edge decides to try and forge an alliance with Batista, suggesting what they could do and offering a handshake. Batista accepts, causing Edge to become all smiles and giving Batista the double thumbs up. Batista returns the smiles and thumbs up at first but then changes to thumbs down. Edge ends up taking a Tombstone from UT after some shots from Batista. UT and Kane leave together, and then Batista follows in turn. Pretty much the entire time the faces are leaving, the Rmy is checking on Edge. Once the faces are gone, the Rmy decides to perform CPR on Edge, with one pressing down on his chest, the other delivering mouth to mouth. Needless to say, this wakes Edge up pretty quickly and he was none too happy with the Rmy let alone being Tombstoned. They get up and as he's leaving the ring, Edge insults the Cleveland Browns for good measure. No matter, we're playoff bound next year for sure. Especially since we signed away your Pats' number 3 receiver Donte Stallworth.

JP: You need a QB that can actually throw the ball to make a receiver as good as Donte Stallworth worth it for you.

Meehan: Just a reminder for you kids at home: Pats fans are heels.

JP: Damn straight!

Stephen: Finally, something we can all agree on.

And one slightly retro HH from the Tuesday Feb 26th episode of ECW:
This occurred in the mixed tag match featuring Kofi and Kelly versus Santino and Layla. Whenever Kelly Kelly was on the ring apron waiting for a tag, she was jumping up and down, cheering Kofi on, yelling at Kofi and just showing complete enthusiasm for and focus on the match. There wasn't a single second that she wasn't doing something out there that showed nothing else in the world mattered more at that moment, than the match.

JP: And that is how it is supposed to work. Never forget where you are and always react. Nice work by Kelly Kelly who has shown some true selflessness and works hard to get others over, not just herself. Trevor Alexander? He's always about getting himself over:

The hallway Finaly walked down for his confrontation with JBL was green. Nice little touch there.

JP: I wonder if they are going to do anything special with Finlay tonight?

C.M. Punks expression when the bell rang and he realized Festus was behind him was priceless

JP: Everyone loved that one! It's a hit! Not as much of a hit as Alex Levine:

All these weeks now, why not one mention of the correlation of Tommy taking Colin under his wing, becoming his mentor-- and there's Colin always with his suspenders...

JP: I assume you are talking about how Tommy used to wear suspenders when he was the pretty boy gimmick and was trying to prove he could be extreme? Otherwise, I have no idea what you are getting at here. Thankfully, Rick Landis makes much more sense:

During the Edge vs CM Punk match on Raw, there was ECW referee Scott Armstrong. Since Smackdown/ECW have a contract to share talent, it makes since to have a referee from one of their brands.

JP: now that is a good little detail to have. I always go nuts when an inappropriate ref is in the ring for a match. Well, it was nice thinking about this week for a second, but Neeraj Angal returns from his far away work trip to bring us some stuff he's been collecting:

So, from two weeks ago on Raw:

In the opening segment, Randy Orton said to both Trips and Cena, "...and there's nothing either of you can do about it." Cena looked at Trips, and you can catch him mouthing "Yes, there is", to which Trips replies "Sure" before they proceed to lay into Orton. I love the off-mic conversations that performers have between them in promos, or even in the ring, and try to catch as much of it as possible. It adds to the subtlety which I love so much, and this was a classic example.

JP: That is was! So subtle that in two weeks no one mentioned it except for you!

Another example was when Vince was out and JBL came out to tell him Hornswoggle was not his son. Vince said a lot of things along the lines of "are you sure?" or "do you have any evidence?" off-mic to JBL during that segment. I thought this was awesome, as Vince did not want any more of his dirty laundry out in public and wanted to save some face after a possible MAJOR screw-up.

JP: If only we knew what the "deal" was between Finlay and Vince?!?!

Also, as Vince was entering the ring to deliver his apology, there was a sign in the front row that said "Roosterless Coward!" Classic! (p.s. JP can explain the reference to the uninitiated...)

JP: I believe it is because Vince loves the cock!

And on SmackDown:

We always give examples of the awesomeness of the E's production department when it comes to matching sound-bytes to video clips, and here's another: in the SD opening video, the words "breaking rules" are matched with a clip of a particularly gruesome kiss between Edge and Vicky Guerrero. That is definitely breaking all sorts of rules of nature, I'm sure.

JP: I wonder what Vickie looked like three children and 20 years ago? I bet she was quite the looker.

When Big Show was beating on those jobbers (whose combined weight was less than that of Big Show - some competition), he was beating Bearded White Guy in the corner with the "boxing" strikes. What was great was that Big Show made sure to strike with an opened hand, despite winding up like a punch. Now that's following rules for you. Also, finishing with a (perfectly illegal) punch to the head was a good idea considering the Mayweather feud.

JP: They still haven't explained what type of contest Big Show and Mayweather are having at WrestleMania. Is Mayweather coming out with gloves? Are punches legal? I don't know!

Kudos to the two jobbers, too. After the match was over, they stayed down and did not move AT ALL during the ENTIRE time that Big Show was in the ring, delivering his speech. This really helped sell the beating. Also, Big Show saying "cucarocha" with the ridiculous accent and facials made me crack up.

JP: That is true. I always think it's a little insulting to your opponent to start moving right after the three count. If a finishing move is that devastating, you can stay down for a few more seconds!

The slow-mo-in-air replay of Palumbo's SUPER overhead suplex on Noble made that move look like gold.

JP: Production strikes again!

It was not exactly hidden, but I liked the fact that Michelle McCool waited until Chuck was on his bike to enter the ring after the match with Jamie Noble. It helps with the continuity and shows that she hasn't forgotten the beating.

JP: And the fact that she is quite scared of him! I think the time he almost punched her and put his fist through the wall would cover that quite nicely.

In the segment where Vickie, Teddy, and Eve Torres (I think it was her, I'm not sure) [Editor's note: It was Maryse] were interrupted by Batista, he paid very little attention to Eve [Maryse] the entire time he was trying to convince Vickie that he was the right man to represent SD at WM. As soon as Eve [Maryse] spoke up for him, he looks at Teddy ever so briefly and they exchange a look as if to say "Hey, she's not too bad." "No, not at all." That was good work on the animal's part. I'm actually quite a fan of Batista's out-of-ring work; he pays a lot of attention to details.

JP: Just the knowing look of "holla holla" that Teddy gave him made that segment for me! All right, finally back to this week with Tim Schmidt:

On Raw when Jillian is getting spun around by the U.S. Express, her shoes are seen flying off her and onto the floor.

JP: I hope the Iron Sheik got a good paycheck for that "match", he certainly needs it!

On ECW when Collin attempts the Dudley Dog he gets thrown to the outside. The camera has a perfect view of his head just missing the padding on the outside. That had to hurt!

JP: Where was his helmet when that bump happened?! Jumping back to RAW, Tony Berardini writes in with:

Okay I can only give you half of the highlight since I was not able to make out who said it. It was on the 10th of March 3 hour Raw. I watched the Mayweather segment on youtube since I missed the show and found quite a bit of Hidden Highlight goodness.

After Mayweather had ran off with his "injured" elbow and the "legit" brawl started Shane McMahon was knocked to the ground, somebody, not sure who, said to get up and then helped him up, right after he got to his feet Shane was heading for Mayweather's posse and the same voice said "C'mon Shane your tougher than all of them." Whoever said it was clearly trying to get on his good side and talk him up.

JP: From all accounts, it appears as if Hardcore Holly was the first person up the ramp and was right there for everything, so I'm giving it to him! I'm just not sure who William Gugenheim would give it to:

On Impact this Thursday (3/13) there was a backstage interview with the Rock and Rave Infection where they were wearing their guitar hero controllers and then when they cut to the crowd they show Joel Zumaya, pitcher for the Tigers. The Hidden Highlight is that a year or two back Joel missed some playoff games with an injured wrist because he was playing too much Guitar Hero.

JP: Hahahaha! I'm quite sure that was totally unintentional but that is definitely an awesome Hidden Highlight! Whoever thought baseball contracts would not have to specify video games guys aren't allowed to play during the season? Finishing us off this week is Jim McDaniel and a classic Hidden Highlight from a source we have not tapped—AWA reruns on ESPN Classic:

Not sure I've seen a Hidden Highlight from the old AWA reruns on ESPN Classic, but I found one that caught my eye recently. After Larry Zbyszko defeated Chuck Torres, he had a great rant which involved him walking around the ring insulting fans and making challenges. All the while, Larry Nelson is still holding onto the mic! You couldn't tell right at first, then you started seeing another hand on the mic Zbyszko was holding and then you could see Nelson getting lead around the ring. Priceless interaction between the two!

JP: That is classic Larry Zbyszko in full heel mode! Most fans nowadays have no idea how good he is. And remember, he is once again the AWA champion!

Stephen: I miss seeing the Living Legend on Impact. Mostly because now I'll never find out if there is a Hawaiian shirt so outrageous that it will actually cause your eyes to bleed spontaneously.

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, it wasn't very green in here today, but it was certainly filled with maple leaves. Thanks again to Stephen Randle for bringing the goodness this week!

Stephen: A pleasure as always. And remember, for more of my wacky antics and cries for attention, check out the Wrestling News Experience, each and every Monday right here on 411. Now then, with that out of the way, let's get pissed!

JP: Well, it isn't much of a holiday for a sober Jew like me, but it is St. Patrick's Day around here.

Stephen: Screw St. Patrick's Day, it's a Monday, and I'm Canadian. That's all I need.

JP: I'd hate to see what boxing day is like.

Whether you like Randle's news report or not, 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 133rd 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!