Hidden Highlights 06.30.08: Issue #148

Posted by JP Prag on 06.30.2008

Mark Henry doesn’t give up on trying to pin Triple H, ECW becomes the home of tri-branded battles, The Beautiful People don’t waste their time beating down Karen Angle, SmackDown’s taping schedule forgets the supplemental draft, and more!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #148

Hello everyone who has people sleeping your bed so you are sleeping in the guest room, 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: Sometimes, the weeks cannot get crazier… unless they do. Between being in so many different states, flight delays, client needs, interesting calls, house guests, e-mail crashing, and much more, my brain is whirling. Plus, there was a whole WWE draft and a supplemental draft, which I need to fully digest and think about the impact.

But some people have things even crazier happen to them, much like this week's guest co-host. He holds the distinct distinction of being one of the few people EVER to be fired from 411mania.com. Since this is the world of positivity, though, that means he deserves at least a 1 of the many chances Scott Hall got. Please welcome back to the pages of 411mania Bill Bumgarner! Bill?

Bill: Thanks for having me here, JP. I've been a fan of this column for a long time, participated in some of your Reader Write-In segments, and it is truly an honor to be here this week.

JP: The pleasure is all yours! I kid, of course. I've enjoyed your write-ins in the past and always like to mix things up a bit (hint hint, wink wink). For now, let's get on with the Hidden Highlights!



Monday, June 23, 2008 by JP Prag

JP: Usually, whenever there is a three hour RAW, I am not scheduled to do it. So for a nice change of pace, I was scheduled for RAW and it was the 2008 draft. Now, what is there more to say about the draft? Or about McMahon's accident? Actually, here's something: Is OSHA going to appear on RAW on Monday? Perhaps a whole stable of OSHA wrestlers who want to make wrestling safer by taking out "high risk" talent like Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, and Paul London. Yeah, that'll sell tickets.

But I will give some credit to Joey Styles and the staff of WWE.com. They have updated all of the rosters and put the champions in place (the number one champion on RAW is ECW Champion Kane while ECW only has Matt Hardy and the United States Championship [although the Miz and John Morrison's WWE Tag Team Championship should be on the ECW pages and not the SmackDown page]). Part of me wants them to not fix the title situation and to leave it a mess for a while. Have everyone on RAW fighting for the ECW title and send Triple H to ECW as part of the SmackDown/ECW talent exchange (now that the RAW/ECW talent exchange appears to be delayed).

(3) What are you doing here:

Many times here in Hidden Highlights, we have pointed out production grips and producers ability to disappear into the background and not be noticed. That is why this week I was shocked to so blatantly catch a member of the production crew (he looked like a producer) during the John Cena vs. Edge match. About halfway into the match, a member of the crew walked by the camera through the crowd, about five rows back. I figured he must have been going to set something up, but what it was remains a mystery to me as nothing really happened until later in the night.

(2) Don't give up:

Earlier in the evening, the WWE Champion Triple H took on Mark Henry for a draft pick. About halfway through the match, Henry hit a Vader Bomb on Triple H (a Hidden Highlight unto itself that the announcers called it that). After attempting a pin, Triple H got his foot on the rope breaking the count. Henry, to all his credit, then dragged Triple H into the center of the ring and attempted another pinfall. I thought this was a great touch by Henry. People give up on pin attempts to quickly, but Henry knew that Triple H was in trouble—after all, he had to use the ropes—so be made a second pin attempt. Good work by Henry to not just accept the break and to make it happen again.

(1) The bias is not so blatant:

Later in the evening, the WWE Tag Team Champions the Miz and John Morrison took on the one-night reunited Hardyz for another draft pick. This Hidden Highlight is not for one thing, though, but for the commentary by Tazz during the entire match. As the contest went on, Tazz was offering little helpful tips and hints to the ECW stars, sighing with relief when they kicked out, and many other subtle movements. Not once during that match did he do something blatant like, "Oh, I'm really pulling for the Miz and John Morrison". Instead, he just let his slight mentions reveal his bias while pretending he was impartial all along. That is why Tazz has won the Larry Zbyszko Award and the Chris Jericho Award. That's right, Tazz, you are the first person to win two awards in one night, nonetheless one match!

Bill: I wish I could have something to say about the wrestling here, but I'm still digesting the Draft. So much went on in so little time that it's a tad difficult to pick up when you've been away from the WWE for a while. But everyone played true to form and made the evening feel as dramatic, climactic, and special as it should have been.



Tuesday, June 24, 2008 by Bill Bumgarner

Bill: This week on ECW on SciFi, Mike Knox gets a win, Hornswaggle works in some shenanigans, Kofi goes over Shelton, and the Night Of Champions pay-per-view will go as scheduled despite the roster changes brought on by the Draft. But what else happened to make the show that much more enjoyable? Let's find out.

(3) The Long And Short Of It:

When Teddy Long opened the show by speaking about Vince McMahon's accident and his condition, he did so very briefly. He said that this was due to the wishes of the McMahon family, but if you recall there were a lot of complaints about all the screen time that the "Death of Mr. McMahon" angle got. It looks like the writers are paying attention and giving this the time due when it's due, but without inundating the viewers with replays of the accident every time they come back from a commercial. Kudos to them for apparently listening to their audience.

(2) Battle Of The Brands?:

In this week's main event, SmackDown!'s Mark Henry took on RAW's Kane, who also happens to be the ECW Champion and we had Big Show, also from SmackDown!, joining the commentary team. This in itself is a Highlight because all three brands were represented in one match. Furthermore, as of the supplemental draft, Mark Henry is now officially on the ECW roster, making this a true tri-branded match. This shows that the Brand Extension is really just a name. The WWE is one unified company with three shows, and, intentional or not, this match proves that.

(1) A Semi-Joyful Not-Quite Debut:

My top pick of the night goes to Matt Hardy. It was obvious he was at home in tag-team action and obviously enjoyed working with CM Punk, but he seemed a tad put out by the fact that he wasn't teaming with his brother Jeff (who was drafted to SmackDown! from RAW right before Matt was taken from SmackDown! to ECW). But that's only half of the Highlight here. The rest of it comes from quite some time ago, when Matt and Jeff reunited to take on Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro (who we now know as John Morrison) at December To Dismember in 2006. While this match marks his debut as a regular ECW roster member, that pay-per-view a year and a half ago marked his first actual step in an ECW ring. The icing on the cake here? John Morrison was involved in both matches. This is probably completely coincidental, but it's worth noting anyway.

JP: If you want to take it to the next step, last year's draft included Bobby Lashley being drafted to RAW and subsequently being stripped of the ECW Championship. Meanwhile, Chris Benoit was drafted to ECW (after losing to ECW's Bobby Lashley earlier in the night to be drafted) which eventually led to a match of CM Punk vs. Chris Benoit at Night of Champions for the vacant ECW Championship. Benoit did not make the show due to becoming a murderer and John Morrison (then Johnny Nitro who was drafted to ECW in the supplemental draft) replaced him, defeating CM Punk for the title. So there you have the semi-complete inter-tangled history of everyone in the ring, with a little bit left out.



Thursday, June 26, 2008 by Bill Bumgarner

Bill: iMPACT! this week had some surprises (Team 3D using a glass table) and a bit of the usual (Kong destroying people). Of course, there were also a few Highlights thrown in.

(3) Does Nash Worry About Gas Prices?:

During an interview segment, Jeremy Borash asked Kevin Nash if he "had enough diesel left in the tank" to face Booker T later on in the evening. The Highlight, of course, is that, in the WWE (back when it was the WWF), Nash went by the name "Diesel". Borash has been around more than long enough to remember such things, and he never hesitates to add his knowledge of the past to his segments for that extra little touch. (There's a reason I've been a fan of both him and Mike Tenay since WCW.)

(2) We're Better Than You:

When The Beautiful People attacked Karen Angle, they did so quite briefly and with little effort (more or less hitting her a few times, shoving her down, and putting the paper bag over her head). This matches their character perfectly. They see themselves as above the rest of the women in TNA and thus did not see Karen as worth using enough of their energy on for a proper beat-down.

(1) Lights, Camera, Action, Massacre, Emotion:

I mentioned Mike Tenay earlier, but he also takes my top HH for this week. After Brother Ray got himself disqualified by using the kendo stick on Christian Cage, Tenay put as much disgust into his voice as he possibly could. When Brother Devon and Tomko were bringing out the glass table, he gave off the feeling that he saw it, but still couldn't believe it and hoped they wouldn't actually use it. After they set it up and Cage went through, the disgust was back again, but this time there was also sadness mixed in. Even after the commercial break when they recapped what went down, that sadness was still there as they showed the video. Tenay also went the extra mile and tried to act like he was still upset but trying to be more upbeat as he went onto his next topic. I've always considered Mike Tenay to be among the best commentators in wrestling today, and this is but a small example of why.

JP: Both Mike Tenay and Don West are highly underrated by the IWC. When Tenay is let loose like he was during the World X-cup match, you suddenly realize how much this guy knows and how dedicated he is to the craft and are of professional wrestling.



Friday, June 27, 2008 by JP Prag

JP: With so much happening in the past few week unrelated to the PPV (Money Mania, The Draft, Mr. McMahon's accident) that it was up to SmackDown to give the final push and remind everyone that Night of Champions was this Sunday and that there is a card! Well, sort of. We don't know who Jericho's opponent is, we don't know who DiBiase's partner is, and last I heard they decided to pull the Diva's title match from the show. And what about the intrigue of where the titles may end up, nonetheless CM Punk holding a little briefcase? It all could be quite interesting, but the WWE looks to have been a little busy this month to remember that.

(3) Conspiracy Theory:

After JR joined the announce booth at the beginning of the show, Triple H than came down to do his own welcome to SmackDown promo. During his speech, Triple H began to talk about seeing familiar faces, notably Jim Ross. He then said to JR, "If I had to pick one guy to bring over here with me, it had to be you." Did you catch that little nuance there? Not "it would have been you", but "it had to be you". It seems to me that Triple H was in the meeting to decide the talent to be moved in the trade, and agreed to go to SmackDown either for or with Jim Ross. It seems to me that Triple H used his position to make that move happen as well.

(2) Forgot to update the tape:

Later in the evening, the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championships Fit and Hornswaggle Finlay took on Edge and Vickie's children Kurt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. During the match, Mick Foley tried to make JR feel better about his position by letting him know that he'll enjoying watching Finlay on SmackDown. Of course, this episode of SmackDown was taped before the supplemental draft, so Foley did not know that Finlay was going to SmackDown (not that that much matters with the talent exchange, but still!). And I guess no one went back to overdub it, which was one of the main reasons Michael Cole and Tazz were originally on SmackDown. The two lived near Stamford and used to do overdubbing on Thursday morning for anything that had changed and needed fixing. JR, meanwhile, took a demotion so that he could leave Connecticut and move back to Oklahoma, so you know there is no chance of him coming up to Hamilton Ave on a Thursday morning to do some overdubbing work.

(1) A nickname for everyone:

Also during the evening, the SmackDown and ECW Divas were in action as Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool, and Cherry took on Victoria, Natalya Neidhart, and Maryse. Late into the match, Maryse and Cherry were in the ring and Victoria—as I always like—was cheering her on. It was then that I caught Victoria go, "Come on Maryse! Come on Frenchie!!" Where did that one come from? Hahaha, I have to give Victoria credit for giving Maryse a nice little nickname based on her home of Montreal, Quebec and just slipping it in to the middle of their match.

Bill: Wow; I didn't think it was politically correct to say "Frenchie" these days. I have to admit, I don't enjoy watching the WWE Divas nearly as much as I do the TNA Knockouts, but girls like Victoria can make it worth your while with wrestling talent, mic skills, good ring presence, and a terrifying image. (Please tell me I'm not the only one who wants to see a Victoria/Kong match somewhere down the line.)




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: People are starting to trickle back. Where have you been? 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 this week with Alistair McGeorge:

On the 21/6 episode of Smackdown, during Charles Robinson's match with the Great Khali (which I think Robinson sold very, very well in, incidentally) there was one thing that I guess could be a HH. Anyway, Khali hit the Brain Chop as usual, but Robinson, instead of falling back like everyone else, actually flopped forward. For someone known as the Little Naitch, I thought this was a nice little move to pay homage to that friendship and his nickname.

JP: We actually covered this last week, but you did write in before it was posted so I thought it was worth a second look. But not a third, so no one else write in with it. Luckily, Trevor Alexander returns with something else entirely:

Was that a dig at the King when Cole said there was an article on WWE.com about Victoria and Mickie about when they were high school and how they were wild at prom and whatnot. Do you know what else they were back then, jailbait.... jail bait joke plus Lawler = awkward.

JP: Oh my gosh, yes! And I am so glad you wrote in about this one. I ran out of room to cover it myself, but man that was a good dig. As you may remember, Lawler has met several of his girls while they were very young, especially the Kat who he met when I believe she was 17. One of my all time favorite Hidden Highlights was during a match featuring some diva action Lawler actually said, "I like them young! The younger the better!"

Jerry Lawler doesn't drink, doesn't gamble, and doesn't do drugs. But man, that guy has a vice, and that vice is the young ladies. But I did like his incredulous tone with Michael Cole when Lawler said, "What are you implying?!"

So one year after the Benoit DMS which caused Vince to cancel the Who Killed Vince angle had an attempt on his life again (I'm guessing Shane, Steph, or Linda trying to stop Vince from giving away the family fortune).

JP: At least this time he was talking right afterwards and could not feel his legs. Still, as I mentioned above a lot happened around this time year last year that seems to have been thoroughly forgotten!

Not that hidden and I'm sure you'll get this a million times but Vince calling out to Paul added some realism to the bit, those of you that don't know, Paul is HHH's real first name.

JP: I actually couldn't understand the name he was calling out, but I like that Triple H was the first one to run over to try and help out, doing a bit of "breaking kayfabe" for minute. Just one of the many little details that people like first timer Maurice Green picked up on:

I noticed that when Jericho came out for his promo. His entrance no longer says "Save.Us", it has now changed to "Save.Me". nice touch of continuity there from his promo the week before saying that he is trying to save himself.

JP: That is a very nice touch. I'm glad production got on top of that, but I would not be surprised if Jericho asked them to do it. Another first timer Or Alboher from my secondary backup homeland of Israel (my first backup is Canada because I have family there and it is easier to get to, but I do have automatic citizenship in Israel should I choose to stay longer than my last visit) had the same one:

When Y2J came out they showed his code on the screen, but instead "save us" they wrote "save me". I know Jericho is the king of hidden highlights and that is exactly why. He is no longer here to save us, but to save himself from HBK.

JP: Or just in general. Heck, we have a whole award named after him and Tazz won it tonight! Oh, and he's in the Hidden Highlights Hall of Fame. Yeah, that about covers it except for another first timer and the man wrapping us up this week Daniel Leyvadiaz:

I like the fact that right after JR was drafted to SmackDown! he and Mick were the commentators for the Edge/Cena (Edge representing SD/Cena representing RAW) match. At one point JR himself mentioned that he didn't know why he was calling the match. Since he had already been drafted to SD it should have been Mick as the color commentator and Michael Cole as the lead commentator calling the match. But the crafty WWE producers decide to leave Good 'Ole JR's mic on to make us further believe that no one really knew who was going to be drafted where before the show began. Kudos to the production team for pulling a fast one on us!

JP: I agree, it was a great touch to show they had to "stick with the original plan" because they didn't know what was happening. It kept up during the week because some people were already scheduled for shows and had to show up (although they didn't explain that on TV, I just assumed so).

Bill: Yeah; J.R.'s a Highlight machine for sure. People complain about him a lot, but the man's been around a long time and knows what he's doing. A lot of the in-ring veterans (Piper, Hogan, Duggan, etc) are treated the same way by many fans, and it saddens me to see that. But I digress; I'm sure Ross will be every bit as entertaining on SmackDown! as he was on RAW, and might be just enough incentive to get me to switch over from CSI on Fridays.


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 for making your one night return with Hidden Highlights, Bill. How do you think it went?

Bill: I think it went rather well, and I really am honored that you decided to let me co-host this week despite me not being a staff member. If you ever want me around again, just drop me a line and I'll bite. .....Say, didn't you used to have a ghost or something hanging around here?

Ghost of JT: I don't make appearances just because you ask!

JP: Yeah, it usually happens when a lovely lady drops by and the Ghost thinks he can cut in on the action.

But if you are looking for an article without a ghost, 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 148th 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!