Hidden Highlights 02.02.09: Issue #179

Posted by JP Prag on 02.02.2009

Randy “The Ram” goes to a place with some class while his signature moves begin to invade popular culture. Also, RVD uses his one time deal to go after an old enemy, William Regal wins the William Regal Award, Matt Striker thinks of Tommy Dreamer in a box, Earl Hebner doesn’t draw attention to his ear, Tony Atlas sneaks in a punch, and more!

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #179

Commentator: Previously, on Hidden Highlights…

---

Commentator: A new conspiracy seemed to be coming up through the ranks.

Jamal: WWE always promotes ROH. I wonder why? Remember when Matt Hardy made his big return in 05? He was caught yelling audibly on camera "RING OF HONOR!!!" Then, on that week's episode of "Byte This!" They allowed him to go into a long diatribe about how everyone should visit the Ring of Honor show that weekend.

Commentator: But where one conspiracy begins, another one has to end…

Cathy K: The monitor's not confusing. Think about it - back in the days when Hornswoggle hid under the ring, he'd pop up at just the right moment to do something funny to help the match along. He'd have to have a monitor so he knows when it's the right time to come out. I guess it would have also been useful for the Bella twins, so that one twin knows when to be in place ready to make the swap (not that their matches were ever long enough to get bored waiting). I guess you'd wonder why they have it set up when no-one's under there, but maybe they just do it every week so it doesn't get forgotten when it is needed.

Not confusing, just careless.

Ghost of JT: It just seems odd that it has never been spotted before until it was on a show that would have none of those things.

Commentator: Of course, every once in a while these pages are greeted by a real voice from the past, not just the "Ghost" of one.

JT: JP, there's nothing hidden about a bunch of hot Cancunian (you like that one?) women. Asshole.

---

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





JP: Hello everyone hopefully celebrating an Arizona Cardinals victory, 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!


RAW – Retro1 Week

JP: Because we'll never get too far until we start going backwards, let's get back… to the future! Errr… no, I mean past. This is Part 3 and we are going to 1885 because of lightning bolt. And then we'll use a train with multi-colored logs to get back. You'll see!

Ryan: Another highlight from Raw I noticed was when Cryme Tyme was talking about Obama, The Miz said that he was a Republican. It was said so quick and subtle that I had to give the man props.

JP: I had a good chuckle out of this one, too. Besides, it had to be the Miz who said that because John Morrison is NOT a Republican. If anything, I'd say he's closer to a Green Party type guy, but I believe in this election he was firmly in the Obama camp. Me? Bob Barr and the Libertarians all the way! I believe in change, and real change will come when we stop voting for the one mega-party of the Rebublicrats.


RAW – Retro 1 Week

JP: We're getting close to 88 miles per hour!

Arby: On Raw during the contract signing, even though there are two contracts JBL signs the one that Cena signs. This is what should happen and JBL is smart enough to know both men sign the same contract.

JP: The second one was for informational purposes only!


RAW – Retro 2 weeks, 1 week, and the Present

JP: This one spans a while, but it works perfectly together.

Dubhagan: On the January 12th edition of Raw, Rosa dresses up as one of the paparazzi and attacks Melina. The next week, Melina comes out without paparazzi.

Townie: I like that one.

Then this week when Melina's paparazzi returned, Jerry Lawler mentioned on commentary that security identified each of the paparazzi before allowing them on the stage.

JP: This all works so well together! The first week was the problem, the second week was the shut down, and the third week was the increase in scrutiny. Remind you of anything? Think: liquids in airports. Maybe that only stands out to me because I took 147 flights last year, but going from being able to take anything through, to a complete shutdown, to shortly thereafter having a new "secure" measure (3.2 oz or less!) seems to fall right in line with that train of thought.


The Wrestler

JP: On Saturday, I finally got to see "The Wrestler" with 411mania's own rag magazine extraordinaire Jeff Small. It was a good movie, but as someone who follows the backstage stuff nothing was a surprise at all. But the audience in Bellingham, MA filled up with old people and middle age couples was absolutely shocked at the gore of the indy scene, the drugs in wrestling, and the continual self destruction of Randy "The Ram". So for me, it was a wider acceptance and understanding of things we have known about for years (and already seen in a couple of other documentaries) with no true shock.

But even while watching "The Wrestler" I was able to catch a funny little one that tickled my fancy. When Randy "The Ram" went to the strip club for the first time, he was outside talking to the bouncer who wanted a hookup for painkillers. For just a few seconds, you could see the main sign for the club, and on that sign it proclaimed "Ass with Class".

That was too funny not to pass up!

Jeff Small: I can't believe you really look for those things in real life.

JP: I can't turn it off! Besides, it was near your hometown, so I thought you'd appreciate it.


Attack of the Show

JP: With "The Wrestler" firmly in my mind, I watch Friday's episode of G4's Attack of the Show, which saw Olivia Munn (and then Kevin Pereira) jump into a giant chocolate pudding pie.



Did you see what happened at about the 2:21 mark? Kevin actually did the Randy "The Ram" elbow pad pat before attempting the dive off the top rope. So you see, "The Wrestler" is already affecting culture outside of the wrestling world!


WWE Royal Rumble

JP: Jumping in to real wrestling (is that an oxymoron?) this week, we had the WWE's second biggest PPV in the Royal Rumble!

gerad: During the beginning of the Phoenix/Melina match, the crowd started a Santino chant. If you look close you can see him turn to the crowd and give a somewhat subtle throat-cutting gesture to get them to stop. Strangely, the crowd stops! Then when he turns to them and starts clapping for Beth, the crowd starts clapping and cheering for her! Throughout the match Santino did a lot of little things to add to it, but those two really stuck out in my mind.

JP: Santino is becoming one of the heels that's going to have trouble getting heel heat. The crowd is getting behind him so he may have to turn face or face the "no reaction" when people want to laugh at him but can't because he's a heel.


WWE Royal Rumble

JP: Now that we've got everything else that happened at the PPV out of the way, let's get to the actual Royal Rumble match!

AndreFan: I was watching the Royal Rumble when I noticed something interesting. Hornswaggle came in and was doing his usual antics, and Kane went to chokeslam him. He got away and as he was rolling out of the ring, he happened to be right by The Undertaker. Right as he was leaving the ring, Undertaker kicked at him! It was very quick and the camera had just the right shot. It was pretty funny.

JP: Hehehehe, and that kick served a dual purpose as the Undertaker was sticking up for his brother. It reminds me a lot of this one…




WWE Royal Rumble

JP: Because I can never get enough of Hidden Highlights nor the lovely Cathy Kershaw, I decided to combine the two! Or rather, she decided for me.

Cathy K: When RVD makes his entrance at the Royal Rumble, he jumps up on the ring post and the first guy he knocks down is Kane. Here's the history:

RVD's first appearance on WWF was as part of the Invasion angle in 2001, where he and Tommy Dreamer interfered in a Lance Storm/Mike Awesome vs. Chris Jericho/Kane tag match, the result of which was Kane getting laid out by a Van Daminator. They were then on opposite sides in Alliance vs. WWF. Of course they tagged together in 2003, but that ended badly - Kane nearly set RVD on fire and comprehensively ruined his shit over the course of the short feud.

RVD has more history with Kane than with anyone else in the Rumble ring - and he hit him first. There's no way in hell that's just a coincidence.

JP: I honestly had not even thought of that, but you are most likely right. I can see RVD thinking of that history and putting it together for this one shot deal.

Oh god, I really shouldn't have mentioned RVD in this article. I know what's going to happen in the commentary section below!


WWE Royal Rumble

Cathy K: I thought it was cute that Rey Misterio dragged R-Truth into place for RVD to go for a splash, since they also have tag team history. Although much happier history, hence helping out.

JP: Now if only someone would hold a steel chair or a garbage can in place for RVD! Where's Bill Alfonso when you need him?

Cathy K: And then there's Dolph Ziggler - crashes into Kane, turns round, hand out, not milked up but you can still just hear him say "Hi, I'm Dolph Ziggler" in the face of impending doom. It's a lame gimmick but, bless, he really does make an effort with it.


WWE Royal Rumble

JP: After all of that fun, the Rumble itself was run my Stephen Randle's favorite wrester Randy Orton.

Kev: At the end of the Royal Rumble, when Orton points at the Wrestlemania sign he is waiting for fireworks to go off, when they don't he moves to another part of the ring and points, still no fireworks, at this point a ref walks behind him and says something to him, he is then clearly embarrassed and pissed off and yells "What?" then proceeds to climb the turnbuckle and point and hey presto! Fireworks!

JP: Hehehe, even the pyro guys were against Orton. I'm glad Randy was able to make his little goof work into the segment itself.


RAW

JP: Geez, we've already gone through 10 and have not even got to this week's RAW yet. Looks like a bunch are about to be skipped! OK then, it's going to be just one for RAW!

Rey Mysterio and William Regal had a match to determine who would go on to the Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship at No Mercy. Not going too much into this history of this match from WCW, Regal was able to get Mysterio down to the mat and began to twist his head. As he did so, Regal also stuck two fingers into Mysterio's mouth to dish out the extra pain, and also used his remaining fingers to cover up the two that were in Mysterio's mouth so the ref could not see it!

So yes, William Regal not only got a double Hidden Highlight out of this, but he also win the William Regal Award for the week!


ECW

JP: Over in the land of extreme, Tommy Dreamer was once again on the losing end of his match with Mark Henry. During the match, Matt Striker started talking about the history of Tommy Dreamer and his style and said that Dreamer had always been "a man in a box". This was a direct reference to Tommy Dreamer's theme song in ECW "Man in a Box" by Alice in Chains in the original ECW.



Nice work by Striker (per usual) to get that goodie in there.


iMPACT

JP: Three left? Would you believe that I could easily fill them up with iMPACT? Well this special Main Event Mafia edition did provide a ton of moments, and some interesting guest appearances.

PhiDelta: On the 1/29 edition of iMpact, the Main Event Mafia took over the show. They had a bodyguard who was one half of the world renowned tag team of TNA's earlier days. It was none other than Big Tilly of Phi-Delta Slam. Sharmell even mentioned him by name.

JP: I remember Phi Delta Slam, but I don't ever remember them being "world renowned"! Nice try there, Tilly!


iMPACT

JP: Sadly, the Main Event Mafia could not stay in charge forever.

The DaGreen: During the team 3D vs. Angel match I noticed Earl rubbing his neck and scratching his ear. I didn't pay much attention to it till I watched it again. He was actually adjusting his ear piece. Way to go Earl for not wanting to draw attention to it and making a casual act to fix it.

JP: Got anything else involving Earl Hebner?

The DaGreen: During the handicap match of Booker T vs. Rudy Charles and Andrew Thomas, when Booker drags Andrew over and lifts up his had to make the tag to Rudy, Rudy smacks his own hands together and looks to Earl as if to say "What kind of tag was that? No way it's legal!!"

JP: I just really liked before the match when Sharmelle was interviewing the referees, Andrew Thomas began his response with, "Well Mrs. T…". That was too classic!


SmackDown

JP: Closing out the week, Hark Henry and the Undertaker fought in a match that very much reminded me of another match I once saw…



Anyway, Mark Henry was able to counted the Old School with a slam. Afterwards, Henry distracted the referee for a second while the Undertaker writhed in pain in the corner. While he was there, you had to watch real closely but Tony Atlas actually walked by, punched the Undertaker in the head, and kept going! It was so fast that Tazz and JR completely missed it, but it was truly a great heel manager moment that deserves some props.


Well everyone, that wraps up this week's show. Thank you for reading the 179th 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!