Hidden Highlights 01.05.09: Issue #175

Posted by JP Prag on 01.05.2009

The Undertaker shows respect to Harley Race, Jerry Lawler is confused by the paternity of Sim Snuka, Matt Striker remembers a bit of Paul Burchill’s pirate history, a fired wrestler dominates TNA’s clip show, Ezekiel Jackson applies extra pressure to Festus, and more!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #175

Commentator: Previously, on Hidden Highlights…

---

Commentator: Most people seemed fine with the overall selections for Hidden Highlighters of the Year, but there has to be some dissention…

Maryse Can't Wrestle: What about Melina and Mickie James crying?

Maybe it was because you never include them in this column.

Stenographer: Uhhhh… Mickie James has been mentioned or kudoed in Issue #174, #162, #158, #153, #150, #149, #148, #146, # 145… should I keep going? How about Melina? Issue #174, #172, #171, #145, #144, #142, #137… it just keeps going! Maybe you just need to deal with the fact that Maryse was a better Hidden Highlighter than them this year. Not that they aren't good, it's just Maryse was better.

Commentator: Of course, not all confusion came from the awards.

T-mac: "Ghost of JT: Errrr… so what?

JP: I think T-mac is either trying to say ODB is (a) planning a swerve, (b) is too drunk to care what is going on, or (c) too dirty for Brother Ray to want to shake her hand. Then again, he did drink from her flask!"

No I was pointing out a Junk Grab! I thought the subtle grab was funny.

Ghost of JT ERRRR..that's what!

Ghost of JT: Hey! Don't write lines for me! Nobody can do that!

JP: Errrr….

Mathew Sforcina: Ummmm…

JT: Yeah….

Ghost of JT: Anyway… what I was trying to say is that next time, just put in your explanation. Nobody here understood you meant that. This is Hidden Highlights, and the devil is in the details.

---

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





JP: Hello everyone that needs vacation to extend a few more days (and may get at least one), 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 up to 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 it off in our favorite place: the deep deep past. And that will come courtesy of Alex Levine!

AlexXx: I was recently watching the Ric Flair DVDs with the full retirement celebration. As Undertaker entered the ring, he was passing by Harley Race, and I could swear that as he ducked into the ring 'Taker slightly bowed or bent at the knee in front of Harley. It was just such a quick momentary lapse, but I think it speaks volumes and more than qualifies as a HH.

JP: Being their live, you'd think I would have caught that. Then again, I was quite swept up in the moment.


iMPACT – Retro 1 Week

JP: Sticking in the past, we've got a little iMPACT!

Donners: I loved the reactions when Angle started going into his over-the-top praise of Nash. Foley could be seen laughing, and Nash had a little smile and ducked his head, as if he was modest.

JP: I just loved when he called Nash a wrestling purist. That had to be the funniest little dig going!


RAW

JP: During RAW this week, the potential members of The Legacy had to win their matches to possibly be included in the group. This included the newly christened Sim Snuka who was taking on "Super Haas" Charlie Snuka. I caught something quite interesting from Jerry Lawler, but it looks like I'm not the only one.

Justin Lake: After Sim Snuka defeated Super Haas, The King made a comment on how he could see the resemblance between Sim and his father, The Superfly himself. I found this interesting, considering Sim is actually Jimmy's adopted son.

JP: I was busting out laughing at that comment, too! But he also repeated it later in the night during Manu's match, so that makes it even better. Guess the people in the back aren't listening as much to the announcers anymore.

Take for instance Michael Cole who insisted not just once, but several times that Dolph Ziggler is undefeated in the WWE. Forgetting the fact that he is Nicky from the Spirit Squad, Dolph Ziggler lost his first match on RAW to Batista! It was only a few weeks ago.

This happened recently, too, with Todd Grisham insisting that Evan Bourne was undefeated when he, too, lost his first match on ECW to Shelton Benjamin (he was also "Matt Sydal" for that week, but he was "Evan Bourne" the next week). But what made that one even better was four weeks later Evan Bourne lost a match to Mike Knox. I'm begging announcers to read "Online World of Wrestling" before they make such announcements of undefeated streaks… or at least review their own programming.


RAW

JP: Ok, I can't be all mean to Michael Cole (though I'll consider it for Todd Grisham). I actually do like him quite a bit and when he's allowed to go and show off his wrestling knowledge he's quite good. Sometimes, though, he's able to slip a little something in.

TheShawn: Michael Cole: "At least Melina can pull off that split in her entrance!"

Santino: "Ahh haha so you remember!"

Continuity folks. Congrats Cole!

JP: Congrats indeed. The other announcer I was impressed with this week was Jim Ross who not only used the word "wrestler" or "wrestling" about 40 times, but actually talked about how many wrestlers in the early 1900's got their starts taking on all comers at the circus. Now that is continuity!


RAW

JP: Also on RAW, Rey Mysterio came out to participate in the ten-man tag match featuring way too many people than I want to list. Besides, they are hardly important to this Hidden Highlight. When Mysterio started his entrance, he went off to stage right and set off the fireworks with his left arm. Then, as he was crossing the stage to go set off the other side, I saw that Mysterio was grasping his left arm elbow, selling the injury from a couple of weeks prior! It's one thing to sell an injury in the ring, but Mysterio was actually selling it just from raising his arms during his entrance. That is nice work there!


RAW

JP: The main event of the evening was a Fatal Four Way (Elimination Style, hence, not so fatal) between JBL, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, and Chris Jericho. Late into the match, JBL and Orton were in the ring and it looked like Orton was about to set up for the concussion kick. JBL realized what was about to happen, but managed to skedaddle out of the way to tag HBK in. As he was doing so, though, JBL actually covered up his temple with his forearm. Just because he was moving, JBL did not want to take any chances and actually protected himself just in case. It was a nice little detail to show he didn't know that he was going to get away and that he was thinking (as a character) that he could still get hit.


ECW

JP: Back in the land of extreme (gosh I missed saying that last week), the ECW Champion Matt Hardy took on old rival Mark Henry in a non-title affair. During the match itself, Mark Henry did something simple and effective: he just stepped on Matt Hardy's chest and stood there. If I was the size of Mark Henry (and not the size of Rey Mysterio with less bulk), then I would do the same thing. But that was not the Hidden Highlight, oh no! When Henry did step on Hardy's chest, Hardy actually spit straight up into the air like a geyser! The impression was that Henry's weight was so much it literally forced the spit out of Hardy's mouth. It was a great little visual that got the point across perfectly.


ECW

JP: Much to my delight, we finally got a Paul Burchill appearance, although this time on ECW as he took on DJ Gabriel (Gabriel is British? I thought his accent was French or Swedish or something? We'll see when he talks again). As the match was going on, future Hidden Highlights Hall of Fame member Matt Striker started talking about the history of Burchill, including some of his ancestors. One of those ancestors, according to Striker, was actually a famous pirate! This, if you do not remember, was actually a direct reference to Burchill's old gimmick of being a pirate! I loved the little reference and am still upset that Vince McMahon couldn't take 2 hours on a plane to watch Pirate of Caribbean so that he could get the joke. Ah well…


iMPACT

JP: Though TNA iMPACT was a clip show this week, they actually did a clip show right to make it more interesting (except for putting 1-2 commercials in every single match! That is just sickening). Instead of putting together everything we've seen, they showed a bunch of PPV matches and filled it in with current storyline commentary from various wrestlers and personalities. Although at times it looked a bit choppy, all together the show came together well and make it a unique episode of iMPACT.

And as part of that uniqueness, I caught another from April's Lockdown… which is quite amazing considering I was there live and already have about 10 different things I wrote down. Anyway, during the main event match pitting then champion Kurt Angle against Samoa Joe (which came off much better on TV than live), Kurt Angle got Samoa Joe in the ankle lock for quite some time. Joe, though managed to reverse it into several other moves that eventually ended in a cross-face. I notices something interesting during this cross-face; Joe actually took the leg that had been picked and moved it underneath and behind his other leg to not only give it a rest, but to keep it out of the reaching distance of Kurt Angle. I thought this was a very smart thing to do to protect his leg, even though it make the hold of the cross-face quite a bit more awkward.


iMPACT

JP: The end of iMPACT had a regular clip show put to a music video done by the ever wonderful Dave Sahadi. But something quite interesting caught my eye as I watched the whole thing: there was no one person who appeared in more clips than Curry Man! It looks like Curry Man was in the most memorable moments in TNA this year. It's a shame he had to get a shot at the Fired Championship.




SmackDown

JP: Over on SmackDown, it was the night of tag team matches, including Jesse and Festus taking on The Brian Kendrick and Ezekiel Jackson. Part way into the match, Festus appeared to have injured his leg and Ezekiel Jackson came in to capitalize. Jackson managed to get Festus into a decent leg lock, but then he did something a little more. In this leg grip, Ezekiel actually used his free hand to twist Festus' ankle a little bit, almost like in an ankle lock. It was a great moment of dishing out a little extra pain in a relatively simple move. So yes, in other word:

Ezekiel Jackson wins the William Regal Award for the week!


SmackDown

JP: Later in the evening, the camera came over to Tazz and JR at the announce booth. That is when I noticed something quite interesting with the two—both were wearing matching red handkerchiefs in their jacket pockets! See: even the team of Tazz and JR know that matching outfits help make a tag team!


SmackDown

JP: Finishing us off this week (shame on you for not writing in more), the main event saw the WWE Champion Jeff Hardy team up with the ECW Champion Matt Hardy to take on Edge and the Big Show. During the match, the Hardys took a flying leap at the Big Show on the ring apron, knocking him down to the floor where he tended to his knee. After that happened, the team managed to knock Edge to the outside, where the Big Show caught him. After Show made the save, you could see how confused Edge was by his placement. Just at the edge of the camera, you could see Big Show explaining the full story of how the Hardys hit him in the knee and that's why he was down on the floor. You could also see Edge arguing the point, saying that is not where he should be. In other words, the dissention of the team was going on on the outside and just at the edge of the camera range (and hardly the focus). That made the whole moment very smart and a nice look at how Edge and The Big Show get that you are always supposed to be reacting and acting while out there.


Well everyone, that wraps up this week's show. Thank you for reading the 175th 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 Thursday 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!