Hidden Highlights 10.13.08: Issue #163

Posted by JP Prag on 10.13.2008

Triple H learns all of Jeff Hardy’s secrets at No Mercy, Chris Jericho does a little foreshadow with his shirt, John Morrison knows where everyone is looking, James Storm proves he knows how to cheat effectively, Kizarny brings back the old days of kayfabe, and more!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #163

Commentator: Previously, on Hidden Highlights…

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Commentator: Everyone's obsessions with the minutia of ECW caused some people to go too far.

Abrupt: I was wondering if the part in ECW where Miz & Morrison start chanting "nerds" may have had something deeper involved in it. I mean, Mark Henry has some thing for comic books. Matt Hardy blogs more than just frequently. Miz & Morrison seemed to be walking closer and closer towards the ring and shaking fists towards that direction as they chanted it. Perhaps Ortiz and Bourne weren't the actual targets...?

Jamal: Come on man, get it together! Maybe it's me showing my age here, but the "NEEERRRDDDSSSS!!" is from one of the greatest 80s flicks of all time, REVENGE OF THE NERDS!

Abrupt: I just wanted to think that there was a deeper meaning to it. I mean, I for one sort of shivered while reading some article where the world's strongest man compares various WWE stars to some Marvel super heroes in-depth.

Commentator: Meanwhile, Matt Striker caught other people's attention with his musical repertoire.

Rev Darth: I think Striker is probably a Motorhead fan. He named a few older Metallica Albums (Ride the Lightening for starters) on the 30/09 show while talking to JR.

Nick: For what it's worth, the majority of Striker's entrance themes have also been metal/hard rock, so those are probably his favorite musical genres.

Commentator: Will musical taste be Matt Strikers only means of staying in Hidden Highlights this week? Or does the color commentator of ECW have something much more special up his sleeve.

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Commentator: And now, 411mania.com proudly presents…





JP: Hello everyone whose two weeks off the road is coming to end with two weeks on the road, 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!


SmackDown – Retro 1 Week

JP: I'd like to kick it off this week where I ended last week: with SmackDown! We actually ran out of room, but there was a little moment that I felt was worth touching on. Out back, Jesse and Festus were sitting in the locker room still wearing the "My Moving Company" outfits. As they were sitting down, JR made mention that Jesse and Festus had finished their tough job of getting everything to MyNetworkTV. But what caught my attention was that the duo were both covered in sweat! So even though they really didn't do any moving, someone thought enough to wet these guys down to make it look like they had done a bunch of work. Good job to whoever decided to add that bit of detail.


WWE No Mercy

JP: Hey, they buyrates may be down, but that doesn't mean that there aren't Hidden Highlights to find at the PPV, as Tim Halliday points out.

Tim Halliday: In the Hardy vs. HHH match, early on Hardy went for a cover while he was on his back and HHH was on his stomach. Hardy hooked the leg with his left hand and cradled HHH head with his right arm. This looked like a very strange pin. As the match came to an end, Hardy went for the same pin again and HHH gave him a crucifix for the win. It goes to show you, you got to get up damn early in the morning to out smart the GAME!

JP: Just to clarify for everyone further (because I had to do a lot of work to make your grammar make sense), Triple H was paying attention to how Hardy does pins and adapted his style during the match. It was a nice show by Triple H that a simple mistake like doing the same thing twice can cost you the match.


RAW

JP: Over on RAW the next night, we had one of the most funny moments of the year with the Great Khali hosting the Kiss Cam.



But did you happen to catch what was happening in that clip around the 1:05 mark? That sign in the audience said, "JT is a Jabroni"! I have no idea if that was intended for Hidden Highlights own JT, but either way it gave me a good laugh.

Ghost of JT: Hardy har har har! So funny!

JP: Of course it was! But, what would be a much better sign would be this one:




RAW

JP: The Great Khali and the audience were not the only goodness on RAW as Hidden Highlights Hall of Famer Chris Jericho showed that he deserves him place.

pupil of MATTitude: I was just watching the main event from Raw this week and saw another classic Jerricho HH.

As you know Y2J was special referee. When Batista lifted JBL up and dropped him on his knee. As this happened, Jericho winced and flexed his left leg. Why? Because it was the exact same move that Michaels had used on Jericho the night before on the ladder, on the left leg.

Classic Jericho to sell from the night before, obviously still in pain and recognizing how JBL must be feeling following the move from Batista.

JP: Jericho has had some weird sympathy for JBL recently, especially considering that JBL cost him the title for so long!


RAW

JP: The pupil was not the only one who noticed classic Jericho moments, as Mysty Glyttyr caught one, as well.

Mysty Glyttyr: My friend Catherine got me started reading this column every week, and I finally have something to contribute!

JP: My Catherine? From Canada? Who went to teach in Korea? Where is that girl?

Ghost of JT: Give it up with her, will you?

JP: I give it up with no girl!

Jeff Small: Oh, we already knee that.

JP: Hey, I'm not the one who keeps ending up at g—

Mysty Glyttyr: This is my first write-in and I'd like to get to it!

JP: Right… right… do tell!

Mysty Glyttr: Thanks! While Jericho was talking about being in charge for the night, I thought his outfit was a little odd, what with the black-and-white striped dress shirt under his suit. This turned out to be a little bit of a foreshadow for later that night when Jericho became the guest referee, though. Maybe Chris had been thinking about it all day, even when picking out his clothes as the general manager.

JP: It's been a while since we've had a really good clothing Hidden Highlight. Girls, we need more!


RAW

JP: But thankfully we have another one from Mysty Glyttyr herself.

Mysty Glyttyr: During the Rey/Matt vs. Henry/Kane intros, when Kane came out the camera cut a couple of times to Rey standing in the ring where Rey had his hands on his head (as though to keep his mask in place). He lowered his hands once, like he was trying to show he wasn't afraid, but the closer Kane came to the ring, his hands went back up to show that he's really nervous about keeping his mask in place while Kane is around.

JP: I wonder why, then, Rey had been wearing these backless masks? Does he think a slip looks sexier?


RAW

JP: Another man in the cruiserweight division also tends to give us some goodness as Aaaaaa Pappy picked up this week.

Aaaaaa Pappy: On the way down the ramp Mickey James grabbed Jamie Noble's hand and raised it up. Jamie looked at her and had this "Wow a girls touching my hand" look on his face!

JP: Jamie is always doing tons of little things, but he wasn't the only one when he made an appearance on ECW this week.


ECW

JP: Like just mentioned, Jamie Noble made an appearance on ECW when he came in to the office of ECW GM Teddy Long. Teddy was talking to his assistant Tiffany who was just about to say something about Halloween when Jamie came in. But much to Tiffany's credit, despite the interruption she actually continued her thought and left Teddy know that Halloween is her favorite holiday. Nice work by Tiffany to not just let the line trail off and actually work to finish it in the moment.


ECW

JP: The main event of ECW was another one of those Survivor Series previews where CM Punk, Evan Bourne, Ricky Ortiz, and Kofi Kingston teamed up to take on The Miz, John Morrison, Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes. When the Miz and Morrison came out for their entrance, Morrison stopped at ringside and said to his opponents in waiting, "What? I've got great abs!" Classic John Morrison to take people looking at him to be checking out his abs.

Oh, and I was thoroughly amused with the story that the glue he used to bedazzle his abs caused a rash. That was just too funny!


ECW

JP: During the aforementioned match, Evan Bourne was the face in peril. CM Punk started a clap on the outside, and the whole audience started to get into it. They got into it so much that they were stomping the floors and hitting the rails. Now, I don't know if this was an actual decision to do this or if it happened organically, but the camera started to shake all around with the intense stomping and clapping going on! Either way, the effect was quite the same with the camera looking like it was being shaken with all the excitement.


iMPACT

JP: Over on iMPACT, the TNA World Tag Team Champions Beer Money fought in a non-title contest with Abyss and Matt Morgan. During the match, chaos was ensuring and the referee was busy admonishing Morgan to stay out the ring. While that was happening, some classic double-team heel maneuvers were happening behind his back. At the time, Robert Roode was the legal man, so James Storm clapped his own hands together loudly to make the referee thing a legal tag happened while he stayed in there. Nice work by James Storm to do that extra little thing to successfully get away with blatantly cheating.


iMPACT

JP: Also on iMPACT, Karen Angle hosted her show (which had a revamped set and music) where she talked with Mick Foley. After the segment, Mike Tenay started going through some of the points that were not in the video and mentioned that Karen was stepping away "to focus on her family" for a while. This looks to confirm that Kurt and Karen are actually getting a real life divorce and that Karen is leaving the company! It was just a slight nod to the rumors, but it looks like they are true.


SmackDown

JP: At the end of the week was the second ever episode of SmackDown on MyNetworkTV. And with the show Jeremy in Palmdale caught something interesting.

Jeremy in Palmdale: About an hour and 7 minutes into Smackdown a promo was ran for a superstar who is coming to the show, "Kizarny". The Hidden Highlight comes within the character, during the promo he spoke with z's in the middle of words, or "carny speak". This element of the speaking was used heavily in wrestling (and may still be) to keep kayfabe. So in essence, the character of Kizarny is a tribute to wrestling's carnival influences.

JP: I have to be honest, I hadn't even thought about the idea that Kizarny might be a nod to kayfabe and carny talk of the old days, but I think you are on the money there!


SmackDown

JP: Around the same time on the show, Shelton Benjamin was having a non-title match with R-Truth. As Shelton was laying in a few moves to R-Truth, R-Truth made a quick escape to the corner. As Shelton was heading that way, the referee was in the way and Shelton actually yelled at him, "Get out of my way!" It was great to see Shelton react so naturally to what was happening in the ring, and I'd like to see more of that from him in the future.


SmackDown

JP: At the beginning of SmackDown, though, Vickie Guerrero was in the middle of the ring and once again confined to a wheel chair and neck brace. She then introduced the Big Show and was clapping for his entrance. As she tried to turn to watch the Big Show come out, Vickie actually grabber her neck, winced in pain, and then turned facing straight ahead again. That was a very smart sell by the biggest heel in all of the WWE and shows that she is just as good at Hidden Highlights and following the little details.


Well everyone, that wraps up this week's show. Thank you for reading the 163rd 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!