Hidden Highlights 01.08.07: Issue #71

This week JT gets to pick our Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights of the week.

JT: A pretty brief version this week. Apparently, there was a hefty amount of mail regarding something I’m not tou—

JP: Stop! You’ll get your chance later. So, *GENERAL WARNING*:: some parts of the following Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights may be edited for grammar, spelling, and English translation…

JT: Kicking us off this week is Bram V., who managed to make it home just in the Harry of time:

JP: …JT? Harry of time?

JT: Yeah, Harry of time. You know how people always say the Nick of time, I just picked a different name. Harry. The Harry of time!

JP: …that is by far the single stupidest thing I have ever heard you say.

JT: Oh, please… …we all know you’ve heard me say stupider! Now back to Bram:

I got pretty lucky tonight. I was out for most of the night, so I couldn’t watch Raw like I had planned to (what can I say, I’m a sucker for celebrities getting their asses kicked). When I did get home, it was just in time to catch the main event and a Hidden Highlight. When Johnny Nitro was walking to the ring, Lillian was doing her usual thing, the camera was focusing on Nitro, and I noticed that as Lillian said his name, he mouthed it along with her! I’m always to busy watching Melina to notice what Nitro does during their entrance, but I’m pretty sure he’s never done that before. It makes sense though, given his Hollywood Celebrity gimmick, because we all know how much celebrities love hearing their own name.

JT: Excellent catch. You know, it doesn’t surprise me how often Nitro finds his way into this column. I’m certainly not ready to christen him the next Shawn Michaels, but he has proven that he has the personality to have staying power if he really wants it. Funny you mention always being glued to Melina, I think most of us have that problem. Fact is Nitro is always doing little things like this and that is why he has so much potential. Also from last night’s RAW is 411’s own Daniel Wilcox:

This is from last night’s Raw and the match between Kevin Federline and John
Cena. Two weeks ago, Sly Stallone did that interview, and in it he said K-Fed wouldn’t stand a chance against Cena in this match. The HH is K-Fed wearing the boxing robe, plus the gloves and the helmet! K-Fed is showing that not only will he beat Cena, but he is also gonna do it Rocky style as a dig at Stallone!

JT: As soon as I saw him come out, I immediately thought of that interview with Stallone. Apparently, someone in the wardrobe department would like us to believe that K-Fed watches the product, even if he’s not a part of the action. The sparring gloves were a nice touch as well. Speaking of promo work, Susan D. caught something from RAW as well:

During the DX in-ring promo this week, there was a point where HBK made reference to Flair’s beatdown by Rated RKO. As he is doing this, Triple H walks to the ramp side of the ring and looks down. He looks there because he’s visualizing the exact place where Flair got beatdown. A little later, HBK talks about how HHH got beatdown on the announce table. Again, HHH walks to the announce table side of the ring and looks at the table, re-visualizing the attack. A nice job by HHH to show just how deeply affected he was by both events.

JT: First of Susan, glad you like the column. Triple H has been a beast at cutting a promo for years. He’s so good at it in fact, he doesn’t even have to be TALKING and he heightens the enjoyment, as evidenced here. Plus it really goes along with the whole schtick they’ve been selling about Flair being such a mentor to them, and here he is, re-visiting the spot where his good friend was beat down. Motivation? Oh you bet. Joe K. caught one regarding the finer points of fashion… okay, so maybe he just likes staring at Diva hotness:

Did you notice on RAW that Melina and Victoria were both wearing the same brand jeans/pants during their segment? (AppleBottoms…I believe it’s rapper Nelly’s
line, don’t hold me to that, though) No wonder Victoria didn’t attack Melina. Plus, let’s not go into the fact that I had to check out both women’s curvy posteriors (sp?) to make this connection.

JT: Usually we’d be talking about how this was great coordination between two people—

JP: And how matching outfits rock! Like with Torrie, Carlito, and Flair all in red!

JT: …yes, that too. But what I was going to say was that they I have to assume that since they travel so much on the road together, the women probably do the women thing – a.k.a shop together. Probably got them the same day at the same store. Nice catch Joe, you perv. Chris A. actually wants to vent about ECW, and since he was quite observant in doing so, we will make an exception and let him have it.

*sets up soapbox for Chris*

Hey, got a couple of little observations from the intro to the ECW main event this week… I think the director was asleep at the switch or something. First, during RVD’s entrance, the camera cut to a crowd sign, as they often do; only this one said, “RVD NEXT ECW CHAMP — OR IT’S TNA TIME!” The camera focused on this sign a good 5 seconds or so; it might have been an attempt to say, “Hey, we’re not afraid of TNA”, but, given WWE’s history of not acknowledging TNA and the other screwup (which I’ll get to in a moment), I’d sooner say that the director saw a pro-RVD sign and homed in on it, not really paying attention to it.

The second screw-up came during Lashley’s entrance. Ever since ECW was revived, they’ve been very careful not to show any part of the Smackdown set, to try their best to make it look like a separate show. That kinda went down the tubes tonight, as several shots during Lashley’s entrance showed a good portion of the Smackdown entrance ramp. Fortunately, the actual entryway (with the Stark Fist Of Doom(tm)) didn’t make it on camera, but still, you’d think they could frame their shots a little more carefully, especially since they’ve been so careful to do so far.

JT: Well, Chris, I gave you the floor, and that’s about as far as I can go. You know the rules around here. I will say that those are nice observations and your argument does make sense. Jordan L. chimes in with both an ECW television show and a SvR video game HH!:

Hey guys, it’s Jordan from WWE vs. TNA. At the end of ECW yesterday, when RVD was getting medical attention, if you listened carefully, you could hear him asking, “Did I win?” But not only this, it sounded as if he wasn’t fully aware of what was going on, like he really got knock loopy.

JT: I’d like to think that he really got knocked loopy (and he may have a little), but the fact is he knew what the outcome of the match was going to be, so I doubt he got THAT knocked that he went into full “Wrestling is real!”. I will however give him full credit for throwing that in. I’ve mentioned before that the completely unnecessary touches are some of the best ones.

Also, just wanted to say this random but oh so important tidbit, while playing SVR 2007 season mode, I formed a tag team with RVD. He sent me a voicemail and it mentioned “smoking the competition.” Coincidence? I think not.

JT: See, this is what’s funny. You know damn well that everyone involved in this game knew about this and actually encouraged him to say it. That’s the thing with RVD; Vince and the entire planet is – no, was – fine with it… as long as it was out of the public eye. He got away with it for years, and only when he got popped publicly did it become an issue.

JP: Out of the public eye? He was in High Times Magazine for crying out loud!

JT: Well, regardless, nice catch Jordan; RVD smoking jokes never get old! Onto TNA, Josh L. chimes in right on cue… er… because he decided to… or… something. At any rate, he’s our only HH for TNA this week! But it was a mouthful!

Just making another one of my sporadic visits to being you another HH but first I wanted to get some input on something real quick. I couldn’t help but notice that the Paparazzi Championship segment came right after the VKM in-ring segment this week and it got me wondering. What do you guys think Kevin Nash thinks of Russo’s/VKM’s taunts and insults towards his longtime buddies Triple H and Shawn Michaels? I mean, he’s still friends with the two of them to the best of my knowledge and it got me wondering about backstage heat. Anyway, I don’t expect you guys to post this part on HH but I wanted your input on the matter. If you have time to respond, cool. If not, I understand you guys have some hectic ass schedules so it’s all cool. Anyway…..

JT: Silly Josh, you know us posting it is the only way you’re going to get a response! I blame JP mostly. See we originally split the duties, and while my half of the emails were handled in a timely and organized fashion, his were stockpiling. So then I had to not only do mine (which I was still completing with ease) AND start picking up the slack for him, which eventually came overwhelming; I said something, he threw a hissy, and we decided from that poin—

JP: ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT. I think he has heard enough of your wives tale and blatant lies for now, sheesh. Want to answer his question?

JT: More than happy to. Now, I’m sure I’d know more, but I haven’t heard a lot of shoot interviews from either party; mostly because SOMEONE (who shall remains nameless but has to read this because he’s the approving editor of the wrestling zone and will thus see this) hasn’t sent me the 283 shoot interviews he said he would. However, I know enough about it I think to provide a somewhat decent response. The thing to remember Josh, is that Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels are best friends. They talk to each other at least once a week; Hell, Big Kev introduced HBK to his wife. They both understand that this is just a business. If you recall, when DX was going after WCW, Kevin Nash’s name was left out of a lot of those promos, and in turn today, it’s not Kevin Nash saying a word. It’s the other two guys being bitter assholes. The one’s who think they should have never been let go. Nash on the other hand gets it. He knows he was entirely too injury prone (and well, INJURED), and basically did not meet the requirements of life on the road in the E, thus was let go. To go even farther, let’s look at the fact that everyone talks about how he was the lowest drawing champion ever. What does he do? Make fun of himself in TNA by saying he was in fact the HIGHEST drawing champion in WWE history. What else has he done in TNA? Made fun of his long list of injuries by pretending to milk them. Fact is, Nash doesn’t take himself NEARLY as seriously as VKM obviously do. On the other note, Shawn has shown more than enough times that he doesn’t take himself (wrestling wise) too seriously since he found God and returned to wrestling. Thus, neither men will ever put what’s going on in this business above the other’s friendship. As for HHH, I’d assume his thoughts are pretty similar. Basically, all three men are friends, and all three know this business better than most. They probably joke about it over the phone. JP?

JP: Ummmmm… I have no insider connections, so I have no idea what Nash is thinking. Not sure why you plugged me in here at all. My guess is that Nash is really only paying attention to what Nash is doing and not much else. I’ve been amazed in the past by how much wrestlers/management are unaware of the products they are involved in (see: Sting not knowing Kurt Angle was a special ref, Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan not knowing what happened in Montreal Screwjob, Linda McMahon at the stockholders meeting insisting the brands are completely separate and distinct, etc…). Now back to Josh.

During JB’s interview with Gail Kim, did you notice that he made his best efforts to keep his eyes fixated towards her face and nothing else? On one hand, of course Gail Kim IS an extremely attractive woman so it would be a challenge for any guy. But it also speaks a level of professionalism for JB since he’s working for a ‘professional’ wrestling company and also it highlights, pun intended, the fact that TNA’s ‘Knockouts’ are just plain gorgeous and it’s hard to keep your concentration when in their presence. I know it’s a pretty minor HH this week but still I thought it was interesting. Keep up the good work, guys!

JT: No, you’re absolutely right. And here’s the thing, it’s very rare to see it. You don’t see many women being interviewed in the E, and if it is, it’s Todd Grisham (who keeps the same level of professionalism as JB). Usually we see the women interviewing and the wrestler either too serious to focus on her, or ogling her. JB acting this way helped sell how serious this break up is. After all, these guys have been one of the hottest tag teams in wrestling for years now. JB has a job to do, and it’s only made harder by Gail Kim’s hotness – and yes – the knockouts are indeed gorgeous. Even Tracy, fuck anyone who disagrees. If you spend five minutes within five feet of her and think she isn’t attractive, I’ll give you $100 bucks! Speaking of which, Cook, you need to get on that scientific dissertation about how camera lenses somehow cast a magic spell of funny-face onto her, because …damn. Josh?

SIN Tonight, Repent Tomorrow…..

JT: Had to throw that in there. You end all of your emails with it, and I have no idea if we’ve ever mentioned it… that’s all I’ve got… other than I do… Oh, I do.

JP: Oh please. You work for a bail bond company and have a beer or two at night.

JT: TRYING TO CONNECT WITH THE PEOPLE HERE IF YOU DON’T MIND! Don’t listen to him, Josh… it’s more like 3 or 4 beers.

JP: Well, if you don’t mind, I actually do have another take on Josh’s write in that isn’t about you finding another dude to drunk dial.

JT: Had to bring that up again.

JP: You bet. The way I saw it, by focusing on Gail he was not looking at James Storm who was obviously just standing off to the side (in non-kayfabe). That way, he could be surprised when Storm showed up and not look like he was already waiting for him to show up. It’s an actor’s thing.

JT: And you are an actor?

JP: Actor, writer, AV genius, consultant to the stars, entrepreneur, and all around lady killer.

JT: Well, at least one of those things has got to be wrong. Nothing for SD this week, so shame on all of you! Heading us into our Classic/Other section is Patricia M., who caught one from an unlikely hero!:

I just picked up the Roddy Piper DVD and I noticed something during the backlot brawl with Goldust. Before there is a match between Piper and Valentine where Piper lost 50% of his hearing in that ear. And during the brawl I noticed that Goldust was beating away at the ear. Why would he have done this? Well if you just lose your hearing you will be off-balance. So Goldust would have wanted Piper staggering around to throw him off his game plan.

JT: I think we’re all thinking the same thing right about now… who in the heck’s idea was it to put a Goldust match on a Legends DVD??? Just kidding, Dustin. That is an excellent call though. Against a man like Piper you definitely want to do anything in your power to gain the advantage because you know he’ll be doing the same! That was all for this week, and did anyone notice that three girls emailed us, and JP didn’t say a word? It’s like his mind was somewhere else (foreshadowing!)

JP: I was just being loyal to my lovely Catherine.

JT: And Katie?

JP: I’m loyal to them all, JT. Loyal to them all.

Do you have a Hidden Highlight from this or any week in history that you would like to share? Please e-mail JP..erT…er…us at [email protected] 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… we just like to know!

JP: So I got this e-mail from 411mania’s own Daniel Wilcox, writer of Schmozzes and Screwjobs:

I just received feedback from Floyd Hartlett, the guy who argued that Maven was eliminated from the 2002 Royal Rumble in your column. As well as telling me that he watches gay porn, Floyd provided this link to YouTube – [Link withheld]

He will probably send you the link along and totally have a go at you (JP) for being wrong and if he asks for a written formal apology to be included in your next column, that was my idea. Sorry.

JP: It’s ok, Dan. For those looking for a good laugh, check it out here (it’s actually Floyd’s friend because Floyd “is a bit camera shy” according to this chap):

JP: Horse racing on a cued up video, that’s classic. Man, I’ve never heard a drunken Brit sounding like such a douche. Oh wait, yes I have. From Floyd himself:

If you have the audacity to try to claim I’m wrong again, without even having the decency to watch the footage yourself first, by God you shouldn’t be writing the damn article. I’m seriously fucking pissed off now because of what you said, especially since I knew I was right and you were basing it on a memory you knew wasn’t necessarily accurate anyway.

But I digress, an otherwise great column as always! I’ll look forward to next week’s issue, where you will no doubt have written in an apology at the bottom. Good day, gentlemen.

JP: And that was the short version. Floyd had many more things to say, but that is for my personal enjoyment.

Now for the hard part.

I’m sorry.

Sorry that you are still wrong!

It didn’t happen, no way, no sir, nadda!

What, how can I say that?

Because as a writer, I know how to make a good joke never end. And pissed off readers, as Larry will tell you, make for great entertainment. JT?

JT: Ten foot pole… not touching.

JP: Well, that’s too bad, because reader Bram wants to:

The other thing was some information I found concerning Scotty 2 Hotty winning the 2005 Royal Rumble. It turns out that that isn’t the first time Scotty had that problem. In 2002, he was attacked by Kane before he could reach the ring, although in that case he did eventually make it in.

JP: And that is what Billy said:

This is a response to Floyd from your last column. If I remember correctly Scotty eventually did make it to the ring in the 2002 Rumble match and was eliminated by DDP I think.

JP: Well there’s another one for you. Never-ending!

JT: Much like you hitting on all the women that write in that want nothing to do with you.

JP: Enough of you and your man-loving drunk dialing, take us home!

JP: Are those the little pillows that you throw at Geoff, Larry, and Cook at your slumber parties? Oh yes, I love new running jokes.

Thank you for joining us for THE 71st ISSUE of Hidden Highlights! Be sure to drop us a line and let us know what you think and all the other Hidden Highlights we missed. Plus, we want to hear your Reader Write-ins for all the moments you see this and every week.