Hidden Highlights 11.17.08: Issue #168

Posted by JP Prag on 11.17.2008

Coming to you live from Melbourne, Australia: The NFL provides several wrestling related moments, Batista is dressed for the future, Finlay uses Matt Hardy as a doormat, Eric Young moves homes to show his allegiance, Jeff Hardy runs a theme with his hair color, and more!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #168

Commentator: Previously, on Hidden Highlights…

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Commentator: The WWE got away with showing the WWF, but only in the far far past…

August: The old WWF logo has never been blurred out, only the Attitude era logo.

BillyB: The reason they blur out the scratch logo and not the classic logo was a result of the settlement with the World Wildlife Fund. For some reason they got a pass to keep using the old one.

bluedragonx: The reasoning for that was the old logo looked more like "WF" and not "WWF" The scratch logo however looked more like "WWF" which is when those sad pandas got involved.

Commentator: Whether the ‘F' got out or not, the scariest moment of the week was seeing Christopher Daniels with hair.

Seth R.: Daniels looks like Lou Merloni the Red Sox analyst

The Gr8est 1 !!!: GOOOD DAWD Daniels with hair scares the living crap outta me!!!

Commentator: That was not the only thing that bothered this commenter, though.

The Gr8est 1 !!!: How can you have no love for Subway????

What is happening to this world we live in today!!

Commentator: Still, there were those who never quite get the reason for Hidden Highlights, nor understand what they say.

Stenographer: One may post the exact same thing two weeks in a row in the commentary section, but that does not mean it will be posted. But just for the record…

Guest#3214: That ding you heard wasn't the blade; it was a piece of the thing that Jericho used to hit Batista with. He bladed when he was holding his head after being hit. To make that loud of a sound the blade would have to have been huge…

Commentator: With those things behind us, JP has left for Australia, but not before getting through as much wrestling as possible…

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





JP: Hello everyone who is completely messed up on what time zone they are in, 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!


Classic Hidden Highlight

JP: We'll kick if off this week, a little over 11 years ago with Kirk M!

Kirk M: This Hidden Highlight is actually for the 10.27.97 edition of Monday Night RAW, which is currently being shown on WWE 24/7 as part of the Monday Night War episodes.

Early on in the show, the returning Jeff Jarrett is being interviewed by Jim Ross. During this interview, the ending of the Shawn Michaels vs. Double J match for the Intercontinental title is shown, where the Roadie accidentally trips up Jarrett allowing Michaels to hit the Superkick for the pin.

Later in the night, the Roadie, now known as the Road Dog, and his new partner Billy Gunn get involved in the main event between the L.O.D. and Los Boricuas (yes, that was the main event, despite having Bret Hart vs. Shamrock for the WWF title earlier in the show). Amazingly enough, the finish comes when one of the Road Warriors reverses a Los Boricuas Irish Whip and Road Dog accidentally trips up the Boricua, allowing L.O.D. to get the pin. Maybe someone in creative decided to reuse that finish when going through clips of Jarrett's run while preparing the JJ interview. Maybe it was a coincidence. Or maybe it was actually very clever to show that Roadie/Road Dog hasn't learned from his mistakes in the two years that had passed.

JP: Oh that BG James, he never learns his lessons. I think I saw him do this again to Jeff Jarrett in Year 2 of TNA! But man, I wish I could get WWE 24/7 Classics on Demand. Then again, it's not like I have time to watch the current wrestling product, nonetheless the ones from forever ago. Still, the Monday Night Wars series alone makes it worth it.

Just as an FYI and a nod to the Hamilton Ave Journal, revenue for WWE On-Demand services was flat this year compared to last year. Despite expanding availability, the WWE did not gain many subscribers. That's probably why you are starting to see it advertised more; the WWE needs they need to grow it in order for it to be more profitable and it is not growing very organically.


Sunday Afternoon Football

JP: In more proof of why I won't create sections in this article, we have two in a row that just make me smile. First up in Sunday afternoon NFL action…

Jim McDaniel: I've got a Hidden Highlight from NFL game over the weekend that could tie in with Monday Night RAW. On several big defensive plays, Ike Taylor of the Pittsburgh Steelers gave the "You can't see me" move! Priceless!

JP: A lot of football players are big wrestling fans, so it could be a reference. But man, I miss old John Cena's Word Life and Untouchable days…




Monday Night Football

JP: Just because we cannot get enough football in a wrestling article, here's another one!

Peter Rybak: In the 3rd quarter of the Cardinal-49er game on 11/10, a 49er got called for unsportsmanlike conduct against the Cardinals. When they showed the replay Ron Jaworski saw the acting of the Cardinals receiver to get the penalty. He then said that his acting was so good he could move down the dial to wrestling. Nice little shout out to RAW.

JP: Hahaha, that is a good one! Monday Night Football had a 8.7 rating compared to RAW's 3.1 rating, for anyone interested.


RAW – Retro 1 Week

JP: Back a couple of weeks ago RAW had a 3-hour show to celebrate their 800th episode (that happened 6 weeks prior). But because it was so long of an episode, people are still catching up now!

B: On the Raw 800th Celebration show we saw Vladimir Kozlov versus Bret "Hitman" Hass. On commentary Jerry Lawler laughed like he always does and said how good the impression was, but then turned and said he hoped Kozlov "destroys this imposter." Just goes to show that Lawler never did, and never will, like Bret Hart, even if it's just an impersonator. On top of that, what better time then an anniversary show for a subtle reference to a long running feud from Raw's early days.

JP: I was actually impressed with a lot of references that were being turned around to the past. It was like they were finally allowed to acknowledge the things they knew, especially the stuff that happened to them. Heck, Michael Cole talked about getting spit and thrown up on! Good times…


RAW

JP: RAW this week began with Batista coming out to let everyone know he was upset at losing his championship and he intended to win it back that night. When Batista first appeared, I was miffed that he was already dressed to wrestle since he had no match (he was just coming out for an interview). But then as he talked it occurred to me that he was dressed to wrestle because he intended to invoke his rematch clause and did not want to wait! Since he thought he was going to get the match, it was actually smart of him to be dressed to wrestle and not one of those non-kayfabe moments that I always dread.


RAW

JP: The WWE only gets over to the UK a couple of times a year, so they feel compelled to give them some high profile, special treat matches. This past week saw one when D'Lo Brown squared off with Mike Knox (who, judging by commentary and WWE.com may now be part of the RAW brand). After Mike Knox knocked D'Lo loopy, he went for a pincover on the veteran. It was then that Mike Knox did something very smart: he hooked the far leg that was close to the ropes and took D'Lo's far arm and put it back around D'Lo's head. Sure, the man may have been knocked out, but Knox was not taking any chance that D'Lo might try to grab the ropes.


RAW

JP: Later in the evening, Chris Jericho came out to gloat about his win last week. In his speech, Jericho stated that he was a 5-time World Champion. Unless I've been asleep for a few years, I felt like this was something I missed. Having seen Jericho pull a stunt like this before with Goldberg (win 1 vs. Fake Goldberg, win 2 a no contest that Jericho said he won, win 3 was totally phantom, win 4 vs. another fake Goldberg), I did a little research. This is how what I found:

(1) Jericho defeated Triple H for the WWE Championship on an episode of RAW. The decision was reversed 18 minutes later.

(2) Jericho defeated the Rock for the WCW Championship and lost it back to the Rock 2 weeks later.

(3) Jericho defeated Rock in the tournament for the Undisputed Championship and was the de facto World Heavyweight Champion.

(4) Jericho defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin in the tournament for the Undisputed Championship and was the de facto WWF Champion.

(5) By winning the tournament, Jericho was the first ever Undisputed Champion.

(6) Won the World Heavyweight Championship in the Championship Scramble.

(7) Defeated Batista in a Steel Cage for the World Heavyweight Championship.

My current guess is Jericho is counting 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 to make his total of 5. Or he is counting (which was my first guess), 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. Either way, Jericho has found a way to up his count!



RAW

JP: Jericho was not the only braggart on RAW as then Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella came out to let us know his status vs. the Honk-A-Perfect-Mountie-Meter. Of course, his forward progress wouldn't last too long vs. that record.

Tim Halliday: Santino's match on Raw (which he lost) lasted just a little longer than Honkey Tonk Man's loss to the Warrior at SummerSlam.

JP: See! Another time Santino lasted longer than the Honkey Tonk Man!




RAW

JP: In quite an odd moment of the night, Priceless members Cody Rhodes and Manu came out to interrupt the match between Randy Orton and Batista. Cody Rhodes then said he wanted to take on Batista and match was on. Late into the contest, Rhodes managed to knock Batista down and was going for the pin cover. When he did so, though, Rhodes foot slipped under the bottom rope. The referee then stopped the count and told Rhodes that he needed to get his foot out from underneath the bottom of the ropes!

Can I tell you how much I love the referee enforcing that rule? Way to often people have their feet under the ropes, which is totally against the rules. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing a referee pick up and enforce this point without it being a major storyline part of the match (like Sid vs. Chris Benoit).


ECW

JP: On ECW this week, we were treated to a six man tag featuring Cryme Tyme and Tommy Dreamer (Yonkers and Brooklyn, never!) vs. John Morrison, the Miz, and "The All American American" Jack Swagger. As Cryme Tyme was making their entrance, I got a good look at JTG's glasses. Using either a white pen or white out, someone had written "Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo" all over them! It was quite hilarious and a dedication to the gimmick, so kudos for whoever took the time to set those shades up!


ECW

JP: In one of those not-so-Hidden Highlights but still totally awesome moments, Finlay was taking on Matt Hardy for the ECW Championship in the main event. Hardy had been knocked down to his back so Finlay thought it was prudent to head over to the corner and attempt a move off of the middle rope. As Finlay made his way over to the corner, instead of stepping or leaping over Hardy (like we see many high flyer do when they execute a move off the ropes), Finlay instead literally walked right on Hardy's chest. That served a great purpose of doling out extra damage to Hardy while he was on his back and helped make sure he would stay put when Finlay went to execute the move (which didn't work, but it still counts!).


iMPACT

JP: Over on iMPACT, Turning Point was behind us and the push towards Final Resolution began. That included a Knockouts tag match featuring Awesome Kong and Rhaka Khan vs. Roxxi and Taylor Wilde (who has stars and stripes on her entrance video… so weird for a Canadian). But it wasn't the ladies who took my complete attention during the match; it was referee Slick Johnson! For the first time in a long time Slick was wearing pants instead of his shorts/soccer outfit style. I wonder if someone finally put the kibosh on his gimmick, especially since Shane Sewell is the referee with a story and they wouldn't want to distract anyone?


iMPACT

JP: Speaking of Shane Sewell, he was the referee for the X-Division title match pitting Sheik Abdul Bashir vs. Eric Young. As Eric Young was making his way down the ramp, I noticed that David Penzer said that Eric Young was "now residing in Nashville, TN". This little announcement is actually a double Hidden Highlight. First, it shows that Eric is no longer the comedy or scared guy and can let you know where he's from (not an undisclosed location). But "now residing in Nashville, TN" show that Eric (a Canadian) is firmly behind TNA and the Originals because that is where TNA's corporate offices are!


iMPACT

JP: Later in the evening, "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner came out to face Rhino when Kurt Angle decided to join Don West and Mike Tenay on commentary. When Angle was setting up, Tenay got audibly upset that there was no chair for Kurt and said on the headset, "Someone get a chair for the Olympic Gold Medalist!" Over the past few months, Mike Tenay has been dropping little hints that he sides with what is now the Main Event Mafia, and I like that he put in another subtle one here. Instead of just blatantly saying, "I agree with the Main Event Mafia and the young guys in back are punks!" Tenay has actually been dropping subtle clues like this one in his speech. It is a much more effective way to go about doing this without tipping his hand, something that a person in real life would do. I hope they keep up the little tensions between Tenay and West because it works with the angle but never let them really get involved and truly take sides. Keep the announcers where they are, but let them disagree on this interesting storyline.


SmackDown

JP: And we'll wrap it up this week with a little SmackDown that I have not seen yet courtesy of Hawkeye!

Hawkeye: Last week, when Jeff Hardy came out with half his hair dyed one colour, half another, split up the middle, I immediately thought of Two-Face from Batman, but I wrote it off to me being a Batman nerd. This week though, Hardy came out wearing "war paint" that was roughly applied and smudged with a lot of dark around the eyes, similar to Heath Ledger's Joker. On top of that, he had purple and a little bit of green in his hair. To be fair, he's certainly worn face paint and coloured hair many times before and it could be a coincidence, but it seems to me that Jeff liked The Dark Knight. Also, for this specific match, there are certainly easy comparisons to draw between Undertaker and Batman (lots of black, a creature of the night, big trenchcoat instead of a big cape etc...).

You could take it a step further and say Jeff's been aping The Riddler for years with the whole "enigma" thing, but that seems like pushing it to me.

JP: I don't know about your step further, but the fist two make sense. I could see Jeff Hardy running a theme of his face paint and hair for a few weeks and chalk it up to his "art".

You know, I think about how Roxxi wanted to shave her hair off because the dye stripped her hair and I have to wonder how Jeff Hardy has gotten around that? I have to image that his hair is destroyed from what he's done to it, but yet it's still around with very little split ends.


Well everyone, that wraps up this week's show. Thank you for reading the 168th 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!