Hidden Highlights 07.14.08: Issue #150

Posted by JP Prag on 07.14.2008

It’s the season premier, 150th issue spectacular, and early three year anniversary of Hidden Highlights! There’s a new format, new surprises, and new logo, but we still have things like Jillian Hall giving an extra point to Kelly Kelly, Mike Adamle heading back to the original ECW, Alex Shelley not able to keep his clothes on, Mr. Kennedy keeping Domino away from the ropes, and more!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #150

Commentator: Last season, on Hidden Highlights…

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JT: I'm leaving Hidden Highlights… FOREVER!

JP: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Ghost of JT: Don't worry, you'll have me now!

JP: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

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JP: Ogre, you are the first guest co-host ever in the new incarnation of Hidden Highlights.

Jordan "Ogre" Williams: Yo.

JP: Ummmm… that's not exactly a response to the question.

Jordan "Ogre" Williams: Shut up cracker!

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Andy Clark: Andy Clark… will… NOT… DIE!!!

Steve Cook: Nobody gets that joke anymore.

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Larry Csonka: Now that you are on your own, JP, I have that news slot for you that we talked about four months ago. The Hamilton Ave Journal is a go!

JP: Uh… yay?

Larry Csonka: And it's on Saturday morning! Isn't that great?!

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JP: Now that Chris Jericho has been retired for three years, we can add him to the Hidden Highlights Hall of Fame. I mean, it's not like he's going to decide tomorrow to return to wrestling!

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JP: Enough of the Meehans and Randles of the world; we're going to have a contest to see if one of you readers can be guest co-host for a month.

Brandon Metheny: I won!

Daniel Wilcox: But you didn't make the deadline the second week, which paved the way for me!

Michael Bauer: And me!

Mathew Sforcina: And me! Plus I got to set up the love story between the Stenographer and the Ghost of JT.

Stenographer: I had forgotten that you made me into a girl so long ago…

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JP: For one week only, our special guest co-host is LIVE at WrestleMania… JT!

JT: Sorry I'm late. I got lost following a [CENSORED] at a [CENSORED] bar.

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JP: We've been having a great run, with so many different types of guest co-hosts. We had newbies…

Chris Lansdell: Maybe this will lead me to having a better news slot than you some day!

JP: … MMA Zone guys…

Randy Harrison: Sprawl and Brawl, I'm taking you down, grrrrrrrrr!!!!

JP: … Music Zone guys…

MSD: I'm even higher than my writing would have you believe.

JP: … and Semi-retired Sports Zone guys.

Randy Isbelle: Just because we do not write articles for three months…

Jason Goodman: … does not mean we are retired! Yeash!

JP: We've even had fans be guest co-hosts…

Nick Noel: I'm Australian, live in Virginia (now Colorado), and I like mini-golf.

JP: … and my close friends and real world journalists…

Jason Clinkscales: I did not give permission to use my likeness here. You'll be hearing from my attorneys.

JP: But really, we've done it all. That's why you are the last guest co-host EVER in Hidden Highlights.

Jeff Small: Does that mean I can post YouTube video of the Great Khali doing the chicken dance?

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Commentator: And now, 411mania.com and Midway Games, makers of TNA iMPACT the Video Game, proudly present the Season 3 premier of…





JP: Hello everyone doing things on your own from now on, and welcome back to Hidden Highlights! If you've never been here before, let me tell you what we are doing in these pages.

Hidden Highlights 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. The Miz may hold his opponents hands down to make a pin attempt better. Charles Robinson may let a little tear shed from his eye every time someone mentions Ric Flair. Mike Tenay may tell you about the 17 year history of a visiting wrestler and make them sound huge in one sentence. These are all examples of little things that make the product far better.

Every week this article spotlights the Top 15 Hidden Highlights of the week, whether the be from television (RAW, ECW of SciFi, iMPACT, SmackDown!, and a PPV or television special if there is one), the past, small shows, tapes, or the indy scene.

This article may have an author, but it is also dependent upon the readers and true fans of professional wrestling—those who love what they watch and want to tell the world what they have found. The Top 15 are chosen from what I see and what readers write-in. Whatever is the best is what you'll see!

And who am I? Well, 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.

Now let's get on with the Hidden Highlights!


(15) Get my point

JP: Let's kick things off with a William Regal-esque moment from Jillian Hall. Early in the night, Mickie James teamed up with new RAW Diva Kelly Kelly ("We have contracts?" Yes, and the Miz owns yours, in case you forgot) to take on the team of Jillian Hall and Layla El (Layla and Kelly just can't get away from each other). During the match, Jillian and Kelly were in the ring and Jillian was pulling Kelly's arms backwards. But as she was doing so, she actually took the point of her shoe and was pushing it into the small of Kelly's back. Now that is a way to dish out some extra pain!


(14) Punk gets his moment in the sun

JP: But RAW certainly did begin with a bang, starting out with the new World Heavyweight Champion and leading into many of his potential challengers working their way down. But as they did so, James Shury caught something subtle.

James Shury: During the opening segment CM Punk got to publicly acknowledge that he did to Edge what Edge had done to other people therefore that made it ok in his book and he had no sympathy for the Rated R Superstar. It's something that a lot of people were saying and I think even the announcers might have mentioned it but I felt it was important for Punk himself to acknowledge it.

JP: It probably was best that Punk at least say it is what he did, although it proves Chris Jericho's theory more. I hope those two end up feuding just on the basis of Jericho saying the fans love one opportunist and not another!

James Shury: Ironically, probably the best way the WWE put Punk over was something really subtle. Also during the opening segment both John Cena and Batista shook his hand and told him he deserved to be World Heavyweight Champion. To me this doesn't mean much because I don't think much of Cena or Batista.

JP: That's not nice!

James Shury: However a lot of the WWE's casual audience and the people filling the arenas think a lot of Cena and/or Batista and seeing them put Punk over in a small way might just be enough to get a few fans who don't know much about Punk to pay attention to the new guy and that maybe he is a good choice for champion. Not everybody watches ECW, ratings show that, so this is a nice little way to shine some spotlight on the new World Heavyweight Champion.

JP: That's a good point. I wasn't thinking about it much because I am familiar with CM Punk, but a lot people don't know who he really is. Just shaking his hand and saying a couple of nice words probably helped him out quite a bit.


(13) Underlining my point

JP: Also during the same segment, Punk had come out to show Vickie Guerrero his new World Heavyweight Championship. And did you happen to catch what Punk did? As he held up the title, he used his fingers to continually underline the nameplate that had his name on it. As covered thoroughly last week, Punk made it a point to get his name on the title before the night was through, so this was another example of Punk wanting to see his name on championship gold. Besides, the ECW title does not have a nameplate, so Punk was really desperate to make that happen.


(12) That came out of left field

JP: And now for your uncomfortable yet random Hidden Highlight of the week, we've got Chris Jacobs!

Chris Jacobs: HH comes from Bulletproof Monk.

JP: You know this is the Wrestling Zone, right?

Chris: Give me a minute, I'll make it related!

Right after the scene about 10 minutes in when Sean William Scott arm flips a cop and un-cuffs himself in the subway, the scene changes to Chow yung-fat (sp?) reading a newspaper by a news stand with guys in suits watching him. If you look behind his head on the upper left of the screen you notice a WWE magazine with non other than Trish Stratus on the cover. Actually I own the same edition, I remember the pose, and the full poster of her in a bikini standing in front of the engine of a train in the middle of the magazine.

JP: Of course you would remember that! If anymore is more of horn dog around here than me, it'd be you.

Ghost of JT: But not by much!


(11) Was that an innuendo?

JP: Speaking of horn dog moments, take this for what you will.

Ghost of JT: Oh I can't wait!

JP: Over on TNA iMPACT, Taylor Wilde had upset the Knockouts Champion Awesome Kong and walked away with the title and the $25,000 in cash. Out back before the match, Taylor was being interviewed by Lauren. Towards the end of the interview, Lauren touched Taylor's arm to say good luck to her. Taylor looked generally surprised by the contact, and then awkwardly touched Lauren's arm back and said thanks. The moment was just so interesting because the physical contact came out of nowhere, and Taylor looked to just be sending it back as a joke than more of sincerity.


(10) Another coincidence?

JP: Last week, we talked about during the draft that all of the draftees were from the show that lost.

Jamie: Yeah, but there was another oddity.

JP: What's that?

Jamie: I noticed in almost all the matches that the referee was from the show that won the match. For example when a RAW member won a RAW referee was the official.

JP: That's pretty weird. Maybe the referees were in there as a reminder about where the draft was supposed to come from? Perhaps it was a foreshadow; then again, there were few enough matches for it to be a coincidence.


(9) Take off a little more

JP: This is one that I found a little off. On TNA iMPACT, the second round of the World X-cup continued as Team TNA leader Kaz took on Team Mexico leader Ultimo Guerrero (and kudos to Mike Tenay for translating this week to "The Last Warrior"). During this match, I guess Alex Shelley got a little worked up because all of a sudden he just ripped off his shirt. Not that he was ever going to storm the ring or anything, but I guess he just got so nervous that he started perspiring under the hot lights and had to take his clothes off.


(8) Together again

JP: In another off moment of the week, I have one that stretches from ECW to SmackDown. On ECW, the WWE Tag Team Champions the Miz and John Morrison came out together to Morrison's music. But on SmackDown, the two came out separately to their own music. I was wondering if this is because there is more time on SmackDown so they feel they can do more individual entrances? Or are the SmackDown and ECW teams divergent enough that they do things slightly differently? It could explain why some people on ECW and SmackDown get the other brands logo and some people don't.

Trevor Alexander: When Steven Richards was introduced for his match he had a SmackDown graphic. As far as I know he is still a ECW wrestler but when Matt Hardy came out he had an ECW graphic. Make of it what you will.

JP: I have no idea what to make of it!


(7) That old arm of mine

JP: As many of us know, Finlay was moved over to ECW to fill in that veteran role that Chris Benoit was supposed to play. Jim McDaniel points out why that was such a smart move.

Jim McDaniel: My Hidden Highlight comes from ECW on 7/8. During the Finley-Miz match, the Miz (who's in-ring work has really improved) really worked over Finlay's left arm pretty good, making using it painful and difficult at best. Finlay really pays attention to detail in regards to the arm during the match, favoring it and using it minimally. After the match was complete, the ref went to raise his left arm in victory and Finlay wouldn't let him and grimaced at the slight touch by the ref. Great sell job on the injury and kept it up during the post match celebration.

JP: Exactly my point! The Miz's in-ring abilities and Hidden Highlights abilities have greatly improved, as you said, and with a teacher like Finlay will only get better.


(6) Who told him that?

JP: We'll do a string of commentary related ones starting with everyone's favorite: Mike Adamle! When ECW kicked off, Adamle said he was with the "human suplex machine, the Tazz". Ignoring the "The Tazz" stuff since I think he's doing it as a joke now, I found it interesting that Adamle would go with Tazz's nickname from ECW. When Tazz premiered in the WWE, he was called the "human wrecking machine", supposedly a step up from a suplex machine. Tazz was never called by his ECW nickname in the WWE, so it was quite odd that Adamle went with that one to introduce his partner.

Adamle also called Finlay "Dave Finlay", another name he's never been called in the WWE. Adamle sure likes to come up with stuff no one else says!


(5) Cole in a hole?

JP: When it comes to commentary teams, Shylo Elliott does his research.

Shylo Elliott: Last week on RAW, when Jerry Lawler was asking Michael Cole if he ever blogged, Lawler said something to the effect of Michael Cole blogging from a war zone. According to Wikipedia, Michael Cole in his previous career spent nine months covering the Yugoslavian civil war. Lawler's comment was a rib on Cole's past.

JP: I didn't interpret it that way. My thought was that Lawler was making a comment about the likes of Geraldo Rivera and other journalists who are now blogging from war zones. I'm quite sure that Lawler has a very limited understanding of blogging and just goes by the words he hears on the news. Then again, I could be wrong, so we'll take your interpretation for now.


(4) That's nice of you

JP: Michael Cole's replacement on SmackDown Jim Ross had a moment that I liked during the show. When Charles Robinson came out to referee a match, Jim Ross said that it was good to see Charles Robinson back. This was in reference to the Great Khali squishing his face in a few weeks backs. I'm glad JR mentioned that and remembered the history. It was a nice touch that is often ignored for main characters, nonetheless background characters.


(3) Ouch

JP: During the RAW main event, I caught an interesting sign in the crowd. Obviously playing off of John Cena, the sign said, "Nick Hogan can't see me!"

Ghost of JT: Oh that's just cold.

JP: Of course, it would be nicer if the sign were this:








(2) Do that pin right

JP: Over on SmackDown, Mr. Kennedy got his returning match against the man by himself Domino (seriously, they haven't even changed his music of graphics yet). After fishing off Domino, Kennedy rolled him over, but did so towards the ropes. Kennedy realized this immediately and not only hooked both legs, but also pulled Domino's arm close to his body so that he could reach the ropes. If that was not good enough, after the bell rang and Kennedy started to get up, Domino started to move his hands towards the rope. Kennedy grabbed his arm again and put it close to his body, just in case Domino grabbed the ropes and started to complain to the ref that he had them earlier. That was a real smart post-match move by Mr. Kennedy.


(1) Conspiracy

JP During the main event of ECW, "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas took a heel turn (sort of) and attacked Colin Delaney to help the ECW Champion Mark Henry destroy Tommy Dreamer. Now you may be thinking to yourself how to Tony Atlas and Mark Henry end up working together. When did they get a chance to conspire? Well, you need look no further than the General Manager of ECW: Teddy Long. Do not forget that Teddy Long used to be Mark Henry's manager fighting racial oppression on RAW. If Henry did not go down with injury thanks to Chris Benoit, they may have overcome that oppression. Teddy Long and Mark Henry have a long history, and it would not surprise me if Teddy, Henry, and Atlas planned the whole thing out beforehand. After all, how do you explain Teddy putting Atlas in the main event at all leading to the perfect execution. It was a little too convenient.


Well everyone, that wraps up this week's show. Thank you for reading the 150th ISSUE of Hidden Highlights!

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. The best of the best will be featured among the top 15 next week.

In the meantime, 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.

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