Hidden Highlights 12.01.08: Issue #170

Posted by JP Prag on 12.01.2008

A fire breaks out at Survivor Series, John Morrison matches his clothes to his friends and enemies alike, referees already change their stripes, Dixie Carter forgets to sign the Turkey Bowl check, Edge supports Vickie Guerrero to the end, and more!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #170

Commentator: Previously, on Hidden Highlights…

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Commentator: JP had made it back from land down under, but not without some controversy.

Jamal: I'm disappointed that there were no Nathan Jones or The Bushwacker jokes in this column! You call this Australian themed?!!?

navigationfan: While The Bushwhackers were portrayed as Australians once, please believe that they are both most definitely New Zealanders!

I hope I never see Nathan Jones and The Bushwhackers in the same sentence again haha - and that includes this sentence!

Commentator: But that was not the only controversy, as playing with a little person seems to be the question of the hour.

Mathew Sforcina: Maybe he created a Hornswoggle CAW to use...

sky_queen3: Or maybe he had a hack?

DS: If Hornswoggle isn't a playable character in the SD vs. RAW 09 game, why does the kid in the advertising video hint at selecting him?

Commentator: Of course, the big revelation was "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and his love of Mellow Yellow.

What the "F": That Dusty Rhodes commercial was awesome! Does anyone know if these cans are still out there for collectors? If so where at?

Brad K.: Dusty Rhodes + Mello Yello = AWESOME!!!!

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





JP: Hello everyone who wishes that turkey only came in dark meat, 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!


ECW – Retro 1 Week

JP: We'll kick it off this week with something left off of last week (because we are cool like that).

Wojcik: On this past Weeks ECW, during the DJ Gabriel match, Grisham refers to Gabriel as Jake Gabriel (FCW Name) and then a moment later asks Striker if he knows what the "DJ" stands for in Gabriels name.

JP: I think Grisham has spent some time in FCW with Josh Mathews (one of the most underrated announcers today) as well, so he may have been mixed up. Of course, Todd is usually quite good with the on-the-spot quick reactions…



Ghost of JT: Ah… Byte This!, the show that got my foot in the door at 411mania. Good times, good times.

JP: Really?

Ghost of JT: Of course not! I hated recapping that show but I was the only one who applied to do it! Hidden Highlights saved me from that oblivion!

JP: Don't remind people of the times you and I worked as a tag team over 70 issues ago; it'll again start that war about what type of format is better and that is one road I'm not going down again!

Ghost of JT: Then isn't it your fault for leaving this conversation in here if it does start up?


WWE Survivor Series

JP: We'll move ahead this week to a PPV I should have been at except I was on an airplane flying over the Pacific Ocean. Oh, and Small totally dropped the ball on getting tickets.

Mark Guglielmo: I doubt too many caught this, but during R-Truth's entrance in his classic SS match, Striker made a comment along the lines of "...he's killings the crowd with his rapping..."

Of course R-Truth's name is Ron "The Truth" Killings, so there ya go!

JP: Actually, I think someone one-uped you on this one…

Pure Dynamite: Matt Striker - 'R-Truth made a kwik killing there'. Brilliant! Refers to BOTH his previous names.

JP: And when you need one more…

Jay Carroll: During Survivor Series, after R. Truth's entrance, Matt Striker said something that didn't quite make grammatical sense to me, he commented on R Truth's entrance-rap, and said "R Truth making a quick KILLINGS with his words"

Hmmmmmm.

JP: Just for the clarification, Hidden Highlights Grand Wizard Matt Striker was able to make a reference to two of R-Truth's previous gimmicks, those being K-Kwik when he was in the WWE and Ron "The Truth" Killings in TNA. Not too shabby, Mr. Striker.


WWE Survivor Series

JP: All right, Pure Dynamite, you won the right to get in on another one!

Pure Dynamite: As somebody charged Morrison in the turnbuckle, Miz yelled out, "He's coming John, he's coming!" This allowed Morrison to get out the way. Even if Miz yell was inaudible, it doesn't matter because as Morrison's partner it makes absolute sense that he would do that.

JP: Agreed, the Miz stayed actively involved in the match and reacted to what was going on, just the way we like it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, but the Miz has made amazing strides since being with John Morrison and is easily one of the best well-rounded wrestlers on the roster. Are there people that are better mat technicians? Of course! Can some people talk better? A few. Can others pull off some crisper Hidden Highlights? Yes, otherwise we wouldn't have an article. But there are very few who have the ability to put all of those things together into one package, and the Miz has become one of those elite few.


WWE Survivor Series

JP: Of course, the Miz was not the only thing going on in the Classic Survivor Series matches.

Dan Rigby: Everybody on Team Orton was wearing an outfit that was some combination of black and gold - apart from Cody Rhodes - who was wearing his normal blue trunks - an indication that he does not trust Randy after his attack on Ted Dibiase, and so would not be seen to be following him by wearing the unofficial uniform of Team Orton?

JP: Oh, we'll be talking even more about outfits later in this very issue. It's a Hidden Highlights tradition!


WWE Survivor Series

JP: At first, I didn't feel bad for missing Survivor Series because I was doing something so cool, but this one almost made me feel awful about missing it!

Seth R.: I was at Survivor Series last night about twenty rows up and directly across from the ramp. Well during the casket match, as the Big Show tried to escape the big wall of fire came up. Right after it stopped I saw about five men running and stomping right behind the second V in Survivor Series, As it turns out, the fire wall started a fire on the mats right behind the ramp!

JP: I was at WrestleMania 24 when—a few rows away from where I was—the pyro burned a few people. I'm glad to see that this time no one got hurt, but that just shows you how much can go wrong at these events. Good thing that didn't happen at RAW/ECW the next night in Providence because we have some STRICT fire regulation codes about indoor fireworks after the Station nightclub fire.


RAW

JP: Jumping ahead to RAW this week, as promised we get to talk about clothes! I know you've missed it. And of course this one comes in the form of John Morrison and the Miz (and more specifically John Morrison). Although the two mentioned in on ECW during their promo, the Miz and John Morrison have matching tights of a sort. Miz had grey board shorts with red piping and designs while John Morrison had red pants with grey piping and designs. Now, while this is nice unto itself, you also had to look at what Shawn Michaels was wearing in the match featuring him teaming up with Rey Mysterio against the Miz and John Morrison. The color scheme of his pants consisted of generally red pants with various patterns in grey (among a few other colors). The point being that John Morrison's pants not only matched his partner, but also were an homage to Shawn Michaels—a man he has recently been imitating in moveset and attitude. In other words, John Morrison's pants were a double Hidden Highlight!


RAW

JP: In order to help promote the Intercontinental Championship DVD, the WWE began a tournament on RAW for someone to face William Regal for the title at the next PPV. As one of those early qualifying matches, Kofi Kingston took on Kane in a physical matchup. Late into their contest, Kane was on the outside and Kofi Kingston thought he would launch himself off of the top rope to take Kane out. When he attempted to do so, though, Kingston lost his footing and his right foot became loose. Looking like he might just plummet downwards, Kofi Kingston showed some amazing pure athleticism by regaining his balance on just one foot and using that foot to launch himself to the outside. This was one of those amazing moments of pure muscle that is often nice to point out. These men are still athletes, and this was a moment that proved it.


RAW

JP: Although I was watching the Intercontinental Championship Tournament, the former Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella was in competition with the returning Goldust.

Chris Jacobs: Does anyone remember the electrocuted stuttering Goldust? When Randy Orton and Batista fried him in the electrical box. He used to kinda stutter, or basically have a seizure when he would talk.

JP: Of course! Howard Stern and company still do the quotes of it to this day.

Chris Jacobs: Ok, well look at Goldust at the 9:40 mark, when he has Santino in the reverse chinlock:



Santino scotches over to the ropes, and as soon as he gets a rope break, that seizure comes back to Goldust. I laughed pretty hard at that, just because he looked so retarded like the rope break actually shocked him so much it caused his brain to crash for a second.

JP: Although Dustin Runnels is not always the most motivated person in the ring, he always plays his characters to 110%. I'm sure he was trying to incorporate issues with Goldust's past into the current incarnation, and this little bit worked perfectly!


RAW

JP: Despite the Intercontinental fun, what would RAW be without a triple threat match for the number one contender spot for the World Heavyweight Championship? Nichole wouldn't like to think of a world without it… or without me for that matter. I just can't let the ladies down!

Nichole: On tonight's RAW, when Orton is doing his demonic pushups (lol) getting ready to finish Batista, you see him glance over to make sure Jericho is still out of commission. I thought this was a small but great touch.

JP: That it is! Though you do know that I look much better doing the doing demonic pushups than Randy Orton anyday!


ECW… then SmackDown

JP: As ECW got on the air this week, something was quite apparent immediately: the new referee program is already in effect. In case you missed the news, in order to cut back on cost the WWE is sending out one crew of refs to all shows, rotating the refs on a weekly basis. Well, on ECW this got confirmed as referee Charles Robinson was in there wearing a RAW style referee uniform. This was the story all week as he also appeared on SmackDown wearing the RAW referee uniform. So it looks like the ECW and SmackDown style referee uniforms are dead and that refs will be wearing just the traditional shirt from now on.


Cha$e

JP: You may also be aware that ECW was followed up by the new SciFi show Cha$e where people run around a real life game-board trying to collect dollars and stay "alive". This week, ECW SuperStar Ricky Ortiz was one of the people chasing the contestants, but that didn't mean he couldn't sneak a little something in.

Jeff Murphy: On Cha$e on the 25, when they show Ricky Ortiz chasing someone, in the back pocket of his hunter suit is his Ricky O'Rally Towel.

JP: Oh, it would have been great if after he caught someone he took the towel out and whipped it around!


iMPACT

JP: Over in the land of TNA, it was Turkey Bowl time where the winner would receive $25,000 and the loser would have to wear a turkey suit. The eventual loser Alex Shelley was in the second match versus Cute Kip and Consequences Creed. Although Don West and Mike Tenay picked up on this in the finals, they never notice that during this match that Shelley immediately turned on his own Frontline partner Consequences Creed. Shelley did not even bother to try to ask Creed to team up against Kip, but instead immediately started working with Kip with no consideration to Creed. I like that they are continuing to push the idea of Shelley not being on board with the rest of his team by just his little actions and movements alone, nonetheless what he says during interviews with Chris Sabin.


iMPACT

JP: In the only non-Turkey Bowl related match of the night, Christy Hemme took on Raisha Saed trying to secure a shot against Awesome Kong. Late into the match, Saed hit her curb-stomp like maneuver on Hemme, crushing her face first into the mat. When she did so, though, she did not just leave well enough alone but actually rubbed the soul of her boot into the back of Hemme's neck and shoulder blades, inflicting a little extra damage.


iMPACT

JP: Like mentioned above, the Turkey Bowl was set up so that the winner would receive a check for $25,000. Before the final match, Jeremy Borash showed the check to the crowd, which was made out to "Cash". But when he did so, I noticed something was quite missing: the signature! So good luck to Rhino cashing that check since no one bothered to sign it! Luckily, Dixie Carter doesn't sit too far away in the iMPACT Zone, so maybe he was able to go over to her during the break.


SmackDown

JP: Finishing us off this week is a little bit of SmackDown I picked up while writing this very article! At the beginning of the show, Edge and Vickie Guerrero came out to congratulate themselves on all that was accomplished and to dress down Jeff Hardy. As Vickie was trying to speak, the crowd was booing loudly (as expected) and she had to give her trademark "Excuse me! Excuse me!" line. When she did this, you could just barely pick up Edge off mic yell at the crowd "Excuse her!!" I thought this was a great little moment from Edge where he added to the gimmick and still made it about Vickie Guerrero. Nice work by the returning Rated R TV-PG Superstar!


Well everyone, that wraps up this week's show. Thank you for reading the 170th 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!