Hidden Highlights 03.23.09: Issue #186
Posted by JP Prag on 03.23.2009
Shawn Michaels hangs out at the Guerilla Position, The Bella Twins take their flower power in different directions, Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle send a special message to their former employer, Tazz finds a vintage insult for Michael Cole, and more!
Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag
Issue #186
Commentator: Previously, on Hidden Highlights…
Commentator: It was a week of miscommunication, and more importantly miss translation.
tdn: Primo means cousin in Spanish, not first. Often used as a slang word when referring to someone else as well.
gambler: "Primo" actually means cousin in Spanish, which makes even less sense than "first".
SteveB: "Primo" actually means "cousin" in Spanish. It may also mean a "prime" number or "raw" if used as an adjective in describing a material.
JP: My bad! I was thinking of something totally different, but yes, naming your child "cousin" is a bit of an odd one!
Commentator: Spanish was not the only bit of confusion.
Adam!: Foley's son's name is actually Dewey.
supa sta: Foley's son is Dewey, not Huey.
Ghost of JT: Where is Louie?!
Commentator: And to clear up the confusion, there were some explanations.
supa sta: Spine to the pine- the wood under the ring is pine.
Jeremy from Palmdale: But also, the Rock called his Spinebuster "the Pinebuster" as a tribute to Pat Patterson's life long battles with plurals. This sounds stupid but Foley said it in his first book.
Stenographer: And then JR used the phrase on SmackDown this week! Suddenly after one week in Hidden Highlights it's the phrase of the millennium.
Commentator: And now, 411mania.com proudly presents…
JP: Hello everyone who it took you 5 days to realize you were sick (including though your own birthday) because you've been so crazy busy, 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 this week with a bit of the way past between a TNA star and a UFC new age hero.
neverAcquiesce: I was watching the Angle/Lesnar Iron Man match the other day and Kurt Angle had a jaw-dropping Hidden Highlight. After hitting a missile dropkick (!!!) he ran to cover Brock who was by the ropes. Lesnar's left arm was dangling perilously close to the bottom rope so Angle stretched out with his free left arm to trap Brock's to his body.
What's great is that this didn't lead to a fall. Kurt could have easily left Brock's arm alone and let him reach for the ropes to break the pin since he knew he wouldn't be getting a fall here, but he didn't. In the kayfabe Angle is trying to gain falls anyway he can so trapping the arm gives him a better chance, and at the very least forces Brock to expend energy kicking out as opposed to simply grabbing the rope. Kurt Angle is God.
JP: I do enjoy when wrestlers work to keep people away from the ropes and this was another great example!
Classic Hidden Highlight
JP: Sticking in the past, we get something—shall we say—vintage?
Rosie: Back for some more Classic Hidden Highlights for you!
Well, I say "classic", maybe this one should be VINTAGE!
At the 2005 Royal Rumble during the Undertaker/Heidenrich Casket Match, while discussing 'having ever been in a casket' Micheal Cole states he hasn't. To this, a few beats later Tazz said, "When you do you'll make a lot of people happy."
VINTAGE INSULT!
JP: That is quite cold indeed!
ECW – Retro 1 Week
JP: Moving closer to this week, we can actually track Tazz's comments through time.
Guest#6150: The tag team match between Carlito & Primo and the Miz & Morrison:
JR: "The San Juan southpaw finally able to tag in his orange and black clad younger brother Primo!"
Tazz: "There's nothing wrong with orange and black"
Orange and black being Tazz's colors when competing.
JP: I certainly caught on this one. Who cannot blame Tazz for defending the orange and black?!
ECW – Retro 1 Week
JP: Sticking with ECW's past, we get one from the Hidden Highlighter of the Year 2008 (and perhaps 2009).
Ariel Cardona: Matt Striker, Mr. Hidden Highlight himself, offered us another one: during the match between The Miz and my countryman Primo (great match, BTW), Striker brought another obscure reference, unknown for most WWE fans, but very familiar with WWC fans (Carlos Colón's promotion) in Puerto Rico. Primo (when he was known by his "real" name, Eddie) was billed as "El Joven Maravilla (The Young Wonder)" Eddie Colón. It's great that Mr. Striker does his homework so good.
JP: Boy, I'm getting quite the Spanish lesson in this issue. Next week, we learn some French
Actually, the joke I really wanted to use was this one:
JP: Right, I've gotten who you are, just not too sure who Mike is?
MikeFine: Ya dawg, he's looking me.
JP: MikeFine? What are you doing here? You hate wrestling!
MikeFine: And gambling, ya. Don't forget the time you made me go to a casino without telling me.
JP: Time? I did that to you like 15 times!
MikeFine: Damn!
JP: All right Mikey Fine, people can find you at your website: MikeFine.com. It's all about content and not about layout, right?
MikeFine: Ya!
JP: Thanks much, now back to the show!
Riverbottom Nightmare: Got a nice highlight for you. During the Divas' tag match on Raw this week check out when Melina raises the belt when she enters the right. In the background notice that Mickie is eyeing the belt the entire time. This really hammers home that the title is never far from her mind even when she's not in the title picture.
JP: Glad to see that Mickie is still playing it up, and more importantly that she still has a little bit of that craziness left in her!
RAW
JP: Also during that same entrance time, something else came up.
Brian T: I was watching a little bit of RAW when I saw something funny.
When Beth and crew made their entrance for the six diva tag match I noticed that Beth gave her Slammy Award to Santino to carry, but Santino turns around and gives it to Rosa Mendez to carry. I just sat there laughing and just thinking "wtf man!?"
JP: The man knows how to delegate!
RAW
JP: Aside from the divas fighting, the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels teamed up to take on JBL and Vladmir "I'm in the de-push part of my career" Kozlov. After stealing the pin, Michaels ran way to behind the entrance area, but came out to attack the Undertaker at the exact moment he turned around. And how did Shawn Michaels know when to come out? Because right behind the entrance is the Gorilla Position where he could actually watch the show on a screen. So you see, it was actually really smart of Michaels to run backstage so he could watch what was happening out front in a kayfabe and a reality standpoint.
RAW
JP: Michaels wasn't the only one playing smart as a man on commentary (not named Matt Striker) had something interesting to add.
Eddie Chicago: During the 3/16/09 Raw, while Hornswoggle was on commentary and wheezing and making random noises. Lawler goes, "What's the matter Hornswoggle, you have walking pneumonia?" An obvious reference to Good Ol' JR's bout with walking pneumonia from this past week.
JP:You weren't the only one who picked up on that one!
The Jeremy: On RAW, Christian, Finlay and Hornswoggle joined Jerry "The King" and Michael "The Vintage" on commentary. During the match, Hornswoggle was snarling, growling, and grunting and Cole remarked that it sounded like Hornswoggle has a cold. This prompted Lawler to ask Hornswoggle if he had walking pneumonia. Over the previous weekend Jim Ross, the longtime partner of Jerry Lawler, was hospitalized and diagnosed with walking pneumonia.
JP: I wonder if Cole set up the comment or Lawler just ran with it all on his own?
RAW
JP: Later in the show, MVP, CM Punk, and Kofi Kingston teamed up to take on Money in the Bank opponents Shelton Benjamin, Mark Henry, and Kane. After the face team won the match, the trio was celebrating in the ring and putting their arms in the air. As this was happening, MVP kept on stepping in front of his partners and making himself the focal point of the adulation. See, even as a face MVP is still acting like a conceited jerk, and that's what I like about him most.
ECW
JP: Over in the land of extreme, the pretty ladies were back!
Rachel Pritchard: Thanks for putting me over so much last week!
JP: For you darling, anything!
Rachel Pritchard: In actual news, I was watching ECW this week and noticed Katie Lea during the Burchill/Finlay match. She sold her role perfectly, keeping as far away from Hornswoggle as she could all the way through, even going so far as to keep glancing up at the ring at the end of the match as she tended to her brother. It seemed to me that she was doing this all the time, even when the camera wasn't really focused on her. Good job by her, I thought.
JP: It's a shame that Katie Lea has not been given much of a chance to show what she can do in the ring. Paul Burchill, too, seems to get two week pushes before he is forgotten. The guy is too talented to be wasted so.
ECW
JP: Keeping with ECW's theme of divas this coming week, we'll stick with it for this one.
Rachel Pritchard: Striker put Joey Styles over by saying 'I wish someone was here to scream catfight'. God, I love Matt Striker.
JP: Matt Striker sure is getting a lot of play in this issue!
ECW
JP: I have one more lady related to comment, but let's stick to Matt Striker for a bit.
The Jeremy: On ECW Todd Grisham said that when he thinks of Evan Bourne he thinks of the Berlin song "Take My Breath Away". Striker followed that up by calling Todd Grisham "Iceman". Striker of course pointed out the source of these references, that being the epic movie "Top Gun".
But the Hidden Highlight is Top Gun is about fighter pilots and several of the vignettes that they used for Bourne were fighter plane oriented. Also in WWE Magazine this month, there is an interview with Evan Bourne, Bourne is dressed like a fighter pilot and positioned in front of a fighter plane. In the preview for the interview it says "ECW's flyboy Evan Bourne goes all Maverick on us….." Maverick was the call sign of Tom Cruise in Top Gun.
JP: And what about Hot Shots: Part Deux?!
ECW
JP: Back to the topic on hand is the one I would have written anyway if Labosonic had not written it in.
Labosonic: During the ECW Live version of the Dirt Sheet, the Bella Twins were in the ring with the Miz & Morrison. Obviously, one of the twins prefers being with winners (i-e Mizorrison) and the other one prefers the brothers from Puerto-Rico. They both chose to have a flower on their hair: Brie (also called Twin A by the Miz during the segment) is the one being hostile to the greatest tag-team of the 21st century is wearing green trousers and having a black flower in her hair. Nikkie is wearing green trousers too but they are a bit brighter and having a golden flower on her hair. Color mismatch for twins disagreeing: typical hidden highlight.
JP: Typical, but still awesome!
iMPACT
JP: Jumping ahead to iMPACT, not only was the Main Event Mafia having some in-fighting, but so was TNA Management.
The DaGreene: Jeff Jarrett came in to talk Mick Foley. He was getting frustrated, so he smacked the wall. The Hidden Highlight: the picture he hit was that of Mick Foley.
JP: That took some really sharp eyes to catch that one. Tickle me impressed!
iMPACT
JP: What led up to that moment, though? Jeff Jarrett and Mick Foley teamed up to take on Main Event Mafia members Sting and Kurt Angle. During the match, Jeff Jarrett delivered a very interesting move to Kurt Angle: the Pedigree! But not only that, he used the pedigree as a transition move! That could not have been more of clear message to the WWE and Triple H. Jeff Jarrett as the founder of TNA and Kurt Angle the defector to TNA were letting the WWE know that they were thinking of them, and what they were thinking was not very nice.
Well everyone, that wraps up this week's show. Thank you for reading the 186th 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 lookforme@mikefine.com 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!
Uhh...it's GORILLA position, not "guerilla" position. It was named after GORILLA Monsoon, an old time wreslter & commentator in the WWWF.
Posted By: guest (Guest) on March 23, 2009 at 12:28 AM
JP: Later in the show, MVP, CM Punk, and Kofi Kingston teamed up to take on Money in the Bank opponents Shelton Benjamin, Mark Henry, and Kane. After the face team won the match, the trio was celebrating in the ring and putting their arms in the air. As this was happening, MVP kept on stepping in front of his partners and making himself the focal point of the adulation. See, even as a face MVP is still acting like a conceited jerk, and that's what I like about him most.
***
If you remember back at the No Mercy PPV, MVP had a confrontation in the ring with Cody Rhodes, Ted Dibiase, & Manu. As MVP walked away from a fight, CM Punk and Kofi Kingston - who were feuding with 'Legacy' at the time - came out and convinced MVP to join them in their efforts against Legacy, only to leave him high and dry.
So aside from being Money in the Bank opponents, MVP also had that bit of history to not be friendly with his partners in that match.
Posted By: Townie (Guest) on March 23, 2009 at 05:49 AM
didn't Sting & Kevin Nash do the wolfpack handshake on impact this past week?
Posted By: James Mack (Guest) on March 23, 2009 at 08:04 AM
Mick's youngest son's name is Hughie, his oldest son is Dewey.
Posted By: JOEY THUNDER!!!! (Guest) on March 23, 2009 at 09:20 AM
Lose the fanboy chit-chat between highlights.
Posted By: Get to the Point (Guest) on March 23, 2009 at 09:41 AM
That Michaels/Taker interaction was all kinds of awesome. Taker didn't head to the back cos he knew it could be a trap. And Michaels knows Taker's victory routine and that he'd look over his shoulder, giving the Showstopper the perfect moment to pounce.
And reading further into it than the E prolly even wants, maybe Taker thought Shawn's new outlook on life would preclude him from doing something so dastardly while Michaels shows that that is indeed not the case.
Posted By: neverAcquiesce (Guest) on March 23, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Mick Foley's son who was born in 03 is named Huey. Dewey is the oldest. He has gone on record to say if he ever has another son he will name him Louie. AS you all know he loves him some disney and pooh....
Speaking of him, I get to work a show with him in May in Michigan. I am actually looking foward to it...
Posted By: Deadpoetic (Guest) on March 23, 2009 at 11:54 AM
After Shawn "I was always jealous of and felt threatened by Bret Hart and The Rock" Michaels superkicked Undertaker, he reminded me of a a muppet when he was dancing around and pointing to the fallen Undertaker.
Posted By: Chico (Guest) on March 23, 2009 at 12:36 PM
VINTAGE HIDDEN HIGHLIGHT!
Posted By: Michael Cole (Guest) on March 23, 2009 at 01:23 PM
I dont really know if you'd classify it as a hidden highlight, but I was watching Wrestlemania 2000 the other night and noticed something about the announcing during the Chyna & Too Cool v. The Radicalz match. During the match, Jerry Lawler never mentions his son, GrandMaster Sexay, which I thought was odd. Not only does he not mention him by name, but never refers to him at all. In fact, Im pretty sure he doesnt even respond when JR references him. I know that in the beginning of Brian Lawler's career, Jerry didn't publicly acknowledge that GMSexay was his son, but I just thought it was weird to ignore his in ring action all together.
Posted By: Faythe (Guest) on March 23, 2009 at 02:05 PM
At the 03/23/09 RAW, during the UT/HBK promo, the UT claimed at WM he has taken 16 souls. Considering he's faced Kane at WM mult. times, that would mean he's only claimed 15 souls.
Also, HBK destroyed the 16-1 tombstone and buried it, rather than his 17-0 tombstone. Made no sense, considering he is trying to end the UT's undefeated streak.
Also, a small hidden highlight, Finlay, during RAW, was on the HEEL 4-man tagteam, while MVP was tagging with the FACES. Interesting, and a continuation of his 'face turn'.
Posted By: The Shawn (Guest) on March 24, 2009 at 10:53 AM
An interesting follow-up to Finaly teaming on the heel team was last week on commentary he asked why none of the guys would turn on each other. Kinda odd,c onsidering Finaly's supposed to be a face.
Foreshadowing, perhaps?
Posted By: Guest#9022 (Guest) on March 24, 2009 at 02:07 PM
ON the 3/23/09 edition of Raw, during the Flair/Jericho segment, as Jericho was assaulting Flair behind the commentator booth on the table there were three copies of SVs.RaW09. little bit of product placement.
Posted By: Guest#6821 (Guest) on March 24, 2009 at 02:29 PM
At the 03/23/09 RAW, during the UT/HBK promo, the UT claimed at WM he has taken 16 souls. Considering he's faced Kane at WM mult. times, that would mean he's only claimed 15 souls.
---
Actually at Mania 19, he defeated two peoples so it is 16
Posted By: Guest#8289 (Guest) on March 25, 2009 at 02:35 PM
