Hidden Highlights 01.14.08: Issue #124

Well, it was movement, nonetheless.

(3) Like, whoa!:

As the show got underway, Team Angle was in the back getting ready for Princess AJ’s coronation later in the evening. AJ was rather jumpy since Christian Cage said he was going to murderize him, or some words to the effect. Then, a knock at the door came (we soon learned it was Tomko) and AJ went to hide behind Karen and grabbed her at the waist. When AJ grabbed her, Karen let out this perfect, unexpected yelp. It was so completely natural and in place that it was easy to miss. But considering a segment like that is scripted and she had to know it was going, Karen sounded generally surprised. Not upset surprise, just a little “whoa!” because she was taken off guard.

(2) Under the table:

As the chase got underway, AJ Styles and Jeremy Borash hid at various locales throughout the night. At one point, the two were under a table somewhere out back as the show went to commercial. Did you catch who was under the table with them? It was a cameraman and a boom mic operator! Of course, those guys were following AJ and JB around, so there location would be a dead giveaway if a camera and sound operator were just standing around pointing at a table. This was actually a smart move by AJ to pull those two under the table with them so that Cage would not know they were there.

(1) That’s where that clause went:

After the house shows in Canada, there is some question about what are “TNA Championship” rules, what were “NWA Titles in TNA” rules, and what are generally considered normal championship rules. During iMPACT, Jim Cornette set up a match for the following week with AJ Styles vs. Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe were the winner will get a shot at the TNA Champion at the next PPV. Everyone that is, except for AJ Styles. AJ would have the choice either to take the championship match or “give Kurt Angle two month off” from having to defend the title. Did you see what Jim Cornette did there? He confirmed that TNA does not have a “30-day to defend a championship” clause. If Kurt Angle can go 60 days without defending a title, than it is a non-issue in TNA. That explains why Jay Lethal has been able to go so long without defending his title either. When was the last time Lethal defended his title? On November 11, 2007 at Genesis against Sonjay Dutt? Maybe at a house show recently?

Jerome: Wanting TNA to make sense is like trying to train your cat to do tricks. It is damn near impossible, yet you keep trying to justify it by saying it’s in their best interest to try.

Friday, January 11, 2008 by JP

JP: SmackDown! did something this week that I totally love. Just because two people have a problem with someone, that does not mean they are friends. Rey Mysterio is upset with Vicky Guerrero because he feels she is betraying Eddie’s memory. Chavo Guerrero is upset with Vicky for similar reasons, but also because the whole family is embarrassed by her. And what did Chavo say to Rey? “As much as you try, you will never be a Guerrero.” Just because they agree on one issue does not mean Chavo has forgotten his issues with Rey. It was solid storytelling instead of the lazy we normally see. So nice work to the writers this week… or at least Chavo Guerrero.

(3) Ready to run with it:

Speaking of that opening segment, there was something I caught that I thought deserved highlighting. During Rey’s entrance to the ring, when he got to the steps I saw that microphone was already there waiting for him. Now, I’m sure I’ve seen this before, but it is a nice little kudos to the production folks to get everything in place and put objects in logical yet hardly noticeable places in order to keep the show flowing. This way, too, no one would have to run to the ring or Rey would not have to walk over to the other side and demand a microphone. It was all rather seamless.

(2) William Regal Award of the Week for… CHUCK?!:

This one came as a shock to even me, but we have a winner of the William Regal Award, and that man is Chuck Palumbo. For those who don’t know, the William Regal Award is given to a wrestler for not only performing a wrestling move, but actually doing something a little extra to make it that much more painful. Well, this week, Chuck Palumbo has an illegal hold on Jamie Noble as his hand was deep in Jamie’s mouth and was pulling back. But that is not the Hidden Highlight, oh no! As he was doing so, Chuck also moved his thumb so that it was sticking in Jamie’s eye socket. Now THAT is extra painful, smart, and deserving of the William Regal Award! Congratulations Chuck Palumbo!

(1) The pain is real when you know:

Later in the evening, Domino once again saw singles action as he took on Kane in a short little affair. Part way into the match, Kane hit one of his flying clotheslines and Michael Cole said, “Image what that feels like!” To that, Coach was quick to respond, “I can tell you what that feels like!” What a perfect response by the Coach! He’s been beaten up by almost everyone on the roster, and Kane is one of those guys. He does not have to imagine, he lived it. Coach remembered his history and his character and told that absolute truth about his pain.

You see, this is why I like the Coach. Give Coach a chance and really listen to him and you, too, will be surprised and happy with the results.

Jerome: No one will ever convince me Coach and Cole is a good idea for an announce team. Hey, to each his own but I want JBL and his dated references back. Also, Chuck Palumbo should be honored to be mentioned in the same breath as William Regal since it will likely be the only time in his career unless they have a match down the road.

Hidden Highlights are not just about what was written above, but about what you have seen as well. This article strives to not only spotlight the best Hidden Highlights, but to engage you, the viewers, and make you the best audience in the world.

JP: You may be slacking on the PPVs, but you make up for it everywhere else. So, *GENERAL WARNING*:: some parts of the following Reader Write-in Hidden Highlights may be edited for grammar, spelling, and English translation…

We’ll kick it of with Rick Landis looking for some conspiracies in high places:

On Smackdown, when M.V.P. was talkin’ to the person on the phone. He said he was goin’ to “shatter the glass ceiling”. I remembered one Jim Cornette sayin’ on Impact that he was goin’ to do the same thing. M.V.P. then stated he’ll make an impact, and sorta emphasized the word.

I don’t think that it was just coincidence.

JP: I don’t know about that one. That seems more like a coincidence than anything else. “Impact” and “glass ceiling” are very common words. And both of those words make way too much sense for MVP. Could MVP have been inspired by watching an episode of iMPACT? I suppose it is possible, but we’ll never know. Maybe our next write-in will know. He does not have as much love for Jonathan Coachman as I do, and has a much bigger potty-mouth, but here’s Jadd Naamani:

During the mixed tag with Chuck Pulambo (shoutout to Jamie Noble — that guy is GOLD) and Michelle McCool (who I plan on impregnating someday. No, seriously.) VS Kenny Dykstra and Victoria… Victoria had Michelle in a chin lock or something and Michelle was facing Kenny. All of a sudden you here, “NOBODY LIKES YOU, MICHELLE!!” — I’m telling, you Kenny Dykstra is Hidden Highlight GOLD. He annoyed me when he took it up the bum in the Circle Jerk Squad, but as a singles competitor he’s great. I say 2008 should be the year of the Dykstra.

JP: I totally agree, and Dykstra is picking up so much from McCool. You are right in the area, so you could check out his hometown of Worcester for… uh… the Palladium… and the Centrum… and that frog bar… and uh… hmmmm… tolls… parking… yeah. Anyway, I’m going to skip the rest of yours because they were basically pointing out flaws of the announce team, although I did catch Jonathan Coachman’s “frustrated with frustration” comment and busted out laughing. Sticking to this same SmackDown! (I can’t remember the last time we got so much SmackDown! love) we have Aaron Hussey:

During the Edge/Mysterio Beat the Clock match, I noticed that when he 2:55 to go, he did his standard springboard crossbody into a pin. Only this time, he didn’t jump as high as he usually does, but quickly jumped into a cross body onto Edge. This does make sense, because he had to beat the clock, and couldn’t afford to waste time, especially against Edge, so he had to move even quicker than he usually does.

JP: Makes total sense to me, more than jobbing out your champion on free TV. Marshall Berke takes us a little further back to iMPACT of that week. Just so you know, Marshall, “To whom is may concern” is me: JP Prag. You see, I’ve written or co-written 124 issues of Hidden Highlights—even Issue #73 I wrote the intro for before leaving for Israel for ten days! So, yeah, you can write your e-mail to me. You were saying?:

I wanted to let you know about a Hidden Highlight from the January 3rd TNA Impact! During one of the scenes at AJ Styles grandmother’s house, JB was interviewing AJ’s high school wrestling coach, and at one point, he yells to AJ to come out of his room. But notice what he yells out-he says Allen, AJ’s real first name. Some of it may have been corny, but they tried to add some realism to it.

JP: No, I caught it too and couldn’t agree more. I thought it was great that he called him by his proper name. It’s like when I run into a family acquaintance and they call me ::CENSORED::. It’s weird, I don’t even think about ::CENSORED:: as my name anymore. I mean, my business cards and e-mail all say “JP”, not ::CENSORED::. And yes, I’m aware that saying “JP Prag” is redundant like saying “ATM Machine” or “PIN Number”. The joke is old, so stop using it. Thankfully, Thomas Tremberger won’t try that one with me:

I actually have one-and-a-half hidden highlights, both from the January 7th edition of RAW.

At the conclusion of the Triple H/William Regal match, Regal began to bleed profusely from a series of punches from HHH (which I think should have had a power of the punch line, but it was not to be). In response, JR meant to scream out “Regal’s bleeding” but instead said “Regal’s blading”. I thought this was a fun little slip-up, since Regal was in fact “blading”.

JP: Whoa! I’ll chalk that one up to a Freudian slip there, JR!

The half comes from early on in the match, at ringside the WWE championship was lying at ringside I was confused as to why. That is until the camera pulled back and showed a young Hulkamaniac staring down at his replica belt, pointing towards it. Upon Jericho’s entrance however, it seems like the belt had been returned to its rightful owner who was all smiles. Since the return obviously happened off -camera, you have to wonder who returned it. Cameraman? Security? Referee? Possibly one of the competitors? Just found it interesting to think about.

JP: What is half a Hidden Highlight about that? I gave that one full props, especially because it probably was one of the production people who did it. Sticking with RAW is Adam McCormack:

After Michaels’ match, Jim Ross:

I forget if that was the exact wording, but it was a clever, subtle shot about the Montreal Screwjob, which was a strange way to win a match for Michaels…

JP: Ummmm… I’m not sure what it is with the conspiracy theorists this week, but I’m not so sure about this one. I think this was in actual reference to the match where Michaels won because Mr. Kennedy laid him out. Now let’s take it Sydney, Australia and regular Brett Sullivan:

During Jeff’s entrance he sat on the cage King started to say “Jeff Hardy is used to being…..” then paused before going onto mumble “being in high places” but I’m sure King was going to say “Jeff Hardy is used to being high” before realising that wasn’t the best phrase to use.

JP: Oh man, now THAT is one conspiracy of the announcers this week I can believe!

After Jeff kicked out of the chair shot from Umaga, Orton yelled “Why can’t you just lose!”

JP: See, Orton has improved tremendously, especially in the Hidden Highlights department. I’m glad to see him continuing to do so well.

After Jeff hit the WitW from the top of the cage the look on Orton’s face was priceless it really was a look of “How the hell do I beat someone who would willingly do THAT”

JP: See above, while I move on to Patrick Monroe:

I always like when the product looks less scripted than it really is. On RAW this week, during the JBL/Snitsky vs Jericho match, JBL knocked Jericho out with the bell. The ref immediately DQd JBL and signaled for the bell, and when the bell wasn’t rung, the ref looked puzzled for a second until he though to himself ‘Oh yea, JBL had it’. Even though he saw JBL take it, through all the mayhem he forgot it wasn’t there for the timekeeper.

JP: He also took the bell back, handed it to the timekeeper and said “ring that bell!”

Also, in their cage match, Jeff gave Umanga a jaw breaker of some sorts, but Jeff grabbed his own head in pain. Samoans always have been portrayed as having hard heads.

JP: I think someone else mentioned Samoans having hard jaws, too, but it wasn’t in my inbox. Since I don’t print “lowlight” nor except the terms existence, I’ll instead move on to Jim McDaniel and iMPACT:

Watching TNA Impact! on January 10th……. was it just me or did anyone else find it funny that Kaz had Black Reign/Dustin Runnels rat and called it Marlena, after Runnels ex-wife Terri Runnels name as his valet! Priceless!

JP: Oh, I thought it was a good lark and could feel the Vince Russo writing on the… errr… cage. Although the line about “sure, she looks cheap” definitely cracked a smile on my face. Hidden Highlights Reader Write-in Finalist Trevor Alexander returns to his usual style:

When Booker T. was interviewed they said Sharmell was at a hospital and not a Medical Facility. Nice way to sell the importance of the story and differentiate yourself from the WWE.

JP: They also said it was in Orlando, which means that Sharmell was in such bad condition that she couldn’t even be taken out to be brought back home to Texas!

It was a nice touch to have the camera man and the boom operator hiding under the table with J.B and A.J. when they were hiding from Christian. So it would make sense when they came back from commercial they already had a camera crew there filming them.

JP: And that is the other half to me pointing out the same thing above!

Anyone else notice J.B. was driving with the TNA microphone in his hand.

JP: Yeah, Rick Landis did, but I didn’t bother to print it.

They finally gave Judas Mesias some blood that actually left a stain and not just dribbled off of his face like he spit up his kool-aid.

JP: You’d figure being in Universal Studios that they would have some experienced special effects technicians nearby.

Did you notice that Ms. Brooks was wearing the TNA colors (you can really tell it during her interview where she matched perfectly with the logo in the background and the microphone). Since she isn’t aligned with Robert Roode anymore I guess it makes sense to show her allegiance to TNA. (Now I’ve noticed JB is wearing TNA colors as well)

Ghost of JT: Colors~!

The cover of the Genesis DVD looks like a WCW/WWE reunion show (NASH, STING, BOOKER, ANGLE)

JP: Well, I do miss WCW, although Angle is the odd-man out in that picture.

They’ve stopped making Roxxi Laveaux look like she is a crack head and they are slowly letting her good looks shine through.

JP: I’ve been checking out some pre-Roxxi picture of her and I have to say I like her hair better this way.

Marlena the rat… ring rat… the rat that used to belong to Dustin Runnels (Rhodes) now belongs to another man. Who is said to be materialistic by KAZ … now who in the world could they be referring to. Now who from Dustin’s Golden past could they be referring to.

JP: See above! While you do that, I’ll be taking us way back and time and finishing us off this week with Alex Levine:

I’m watching the Best of Raw 15th Anniversary DVD and they show the Shawn/Marty match when Marty popped out of the crowd and won the IC title. After Marty rolls up HBK for the win, the ref (who I’m SURE that was Bill Alfonso, can I get some confirmation on that?) quickly makes the “hands across the waist” signal for the belt and screams something like “GIVE ME THE BELT”, and runs as fast he can out the ring. He knew that Shawn would be pissed and he somehow managed to stand up, call for the bell, ask for the belt and declare the winner in about 2 seconds, then hightailed outta there so he wouldn’t get his ass whooped– mind you if Beulah could beat him up, who know what HBK would have done….

JP: Hahaha, I cannot confirm that (Cook?), but if it was that was a good call on Alfonso’s part.

Ok, that wraps up this crew. Keep ‘em coming, I’ll keep printing. Oh, and I don’t C&P from the commentary section, so check back to Hidden Highlights in the middle of the week to see what those who were too lazy to e-mail had to add!

Jerome: I’m always impressed by what all these readers notice while watching the shows. Even when helping with this column, I feel like I miss so much. The people who e-mail and point this stuff out are truly great hardcore wrestling fans.

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 [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… readers just like to know!

JP: A special thanks once again to Jerome Cusson for taking time out of his busy TV-watching schedule to watch some more wrestling. Nice work!

Jerome: The second time was much easier than the first. It’s good to see WWE, for the second time, put on a quality wrestling show when I’m co-hosting Hidden Highlights. If this keeps up, I should just be the permanent guest host and watch every week be an awesome RAW.

JP: Errr… I don’t know if I’m ready for that type of commitment, and my calendar is kind of full until after WrestleMania… But we should do this again sometimes, except—you know—keep it casual.

While I check in with next week’s guest co-host, 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.

Thank you for reading the 124th ISSUE of Hidden Highlights! Be sure to drop a line with all the other Hidden Highlights not covered this time around and everything you catch in the week to come.

Until then, you have just experienced the most positive article in all of the IWC: Hidden Highlights!