Hidden Highlights 04.21.08: Issue #138

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #138

Hello everyone eating lots and lots of matzos, and welcome back to Hidden Highlights!!

Hidden Highlights, they 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. William Regal may bend his opponent’s hand backwards just a little bit harder to dish out the pain. Christian Cage may reference a piece of obscure history. Tazz may bring realism to the product by describing an abdominal stretch in detail. The camera operator may take a low shot looking up at the Great Khali to make him look like a true monster. These are all examples of what Hidden Highlights is about.

Every week this article spotlights Hidden Highlights from the biggest shows on television (RAW, ECW of SciFi, iMPACT, SmackDown!, and a PPV or television special if there is one), delves into the past to find the ones never recorded before, and goes beyond to small shows, live events, tapes, and the indy scene to see what no one else sees. This article may have an author, but it is just as much written by the readers and true fans of professional wrestling—those who love what they watch and want to tell the world what they have found.

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.

JP: It’s Passover, high school Spring Break, and the weather finally turned warm here in New England. That can only mean one thing: Monday flights are impossible to get. So the good news is that despite running way behind on life, I get to sleep two more hours on Monday than usual! But not if I don’t finish this article, and hand it over to our guest co-host.

The problem is, my guest co-host flaked out on me. And he was the backup because the real one had technical difficulties. Yeash. Well, it is now an hour before deadline and I’m re-writing the article to not include him, so let’s get on with the Hidden Highlights!

Sunday, April 13, 2008 by JP… LIVE!

JP: Once again, special thanks to the folks at Midway games (makers of the TNA iMPACT Video Game, coming to you this September 2008) for arranging everything and TNA’s Public Relations Manager Steven Godfrey for being so accommodating. In case you missed it, Jeff Small and I attended the event sitting about, oh, right here:

Thanks to JT for the screen cap!

Wow, I’ve been doing a lot of thanking. Enough of that, let’s see what I found. Like all live events, you get two bonuses!

(5) You are all my friends:

After JB’s hyped the crowd for 15 minutes or so, they let us know that the X-Division X-scape match, Curry Man came out dancing and the PPV got underway. Since Curry Man was first out, he had to stand in the ring as everyone else made their entrance. But as each face came out, Curry Man was standing in the ring, cheering them on, and doing all their signature hand movements. So Curry Man really likes everyone… except Johnny Devine.

(4) Got a light?:

Later in the night it was Cuffs in Cage, a match it took me about 5 minutes to figure out what you were supposed to do to win. But that’s beside the point, because what I want to show you happened before the match got underway. The Rock ‘n Rave Infection had already made their way into the cage and Eric Young’s music hit, except he was being beaten up in the back. While that was going on, Lance Hoyt started making motions for a light from anyone at ringside. But someone did have a lighter and they threw it into the ring! If that was not enough, Hoyt caught the lighter, lit his cigarette, and was smoking it through all of the other entrances. Nice of Hoyt to stay involved that entire time, even if it was not for something so good for you.

(3) I gotta go real bad:

After Cuffs in a Cage came to an end, the ring crew started coming in to unlock people. I have to compliment all of the wrestlers for staying in their various characters, such as Scott Steiner hitting on the female grip and showing her his muscles while still attached to the cage. But the real winner in the group was Homicide. As he was being unleashed, he was dancing around almost as if he had to go to the bathroom real bad and screaming at the woman to let him out. Then, as he was finally free, he tried to pick a fight with everyone who was in his way as he quickly tried to exit the ring.

(2) Ba ba ba bummmmmmmmm:

Later in the evening, it was the cream of the crop of the Knockouts division fighting as Gail Kim and ODB took on Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed. As Kong made her entrance, it was the first time I got to experience her music live. Well, it sounds really cool on TV, but the effect in person is something else. The bass on her music is so loud that with every one of those “foot steps” the whole arena shook and I could feel it through my entire chest. Now that is an effect that sends a message: this woman is huge!

(1) OH MY GOD!!!:

I mentioned this one at the Live iMPACT tapings, but I really enjoy pointing out how involved Mike Tenay and Don West stay with the match. They aren’t just talking; they are moving around and making all sorts of motions. But nothing compares to when Christian Cage did a cross-body block off of the top of the cage and onto his opponents below (obviously before the ceiling fell). I looked over at Don West and he jumped out of his seat and was standing up screaming and his head off, and pumping his hands. Now THAT is a reaction of someone in the crowd, and Don West reacts like he’s just watching the show in the audience, which is very refreshing.

On a side note, someone left a microphone on too close to Don West and we could hear him over the PA most of the night. It wasn’t super loud, but when something big happened you could hear him yelling out his approval.

Monday, April 14, 2008 by JP

JP: RAW hailed from London, England which meant that every Brit on the roster needed to fight, except half-Brit DH Smith. Anyone remember that he won his premier match against Carlito? Right after Carlito finally agreed to that contract extension, to boot. Well anyway, the show featured a great match between William Regal and Randy Orton. And you would think that a match involving too Hidden Highlight machines like that would take all three spots, but it actually took up zero! I decided to leave that to the readers and just enjoy that almost everything they did counted as a Hidden Highlight.

(3) What did you call me?:

This one was so subtle and small I don’t know if anyone picked up on it, especially since it consisted of one word. At the beginning of the show, JBL came in to berate the hero of the evening RAW GM William Regal. As JBL was giving his speech, he at one point called Regal “puppet”. Now, this is an insult that Regal uses, especially when he is a heel and especially when he is demeaning someone. With JBL using it on Regal, it more made JBL the heel and established Regal as the good guy. On top of that, JBL did not over-pronounce the word to make it know; he just used it in the middle of a sentence and did not skip a beat to point it out. That made it very subtle and very effective.

(2) All mine baby!:

After a hard fought and surprisingly fun match, Chris Jericho (now tweener-heel?) defeated Umaga by rolling him up out of the corner and using the ropes. After the pinfall, Jericho ran outside and Lillian Garcia handed the Intercontinental Championship over to him. Once Jericho got his hands on it, he hugged it closely like a child who almost got hit by a car. He knew that he was so close to losing the title that he was holding on to it for dear life.

(1) No mean no!:

Earlier in the evening, Mickie James challenged Beth Phoenix for the WWE Women’s Championship. Right before Mickie was able to pull the last second victory, Beth Phoenix had caught her in a reverse double underhook, getting ready to set up for her finishing move. Mickie knew she was in trouble, and knew what was coming next, especially after having escaped the double chicken wing earlier. Once she was locked in, Mickie let out one word that said it all: “No!” She said it with such sadness and distress, weeping a little while doing so, that I just felt ripped in half about how hard she had worked and how she was going to lose it all. That made the win just a few moments later even sweeter and Mickie had really sold me that she was doomed and there was no escape for her.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 by JP

JP: ECW featured the swan song of Joey Styles and the addition of Mike Adamle to the broadcast team. Let’s just say that he could use some more seasoning and being out there with someone like Tazz will teach him a lot about calling a wrestling match. My favorite thing was when Adamle called a move during the main event a Figure Four and Tazz said, “Not quite.” What else did Adamle say to entertain me? Glad you asked!

(3) That’s an interesting tag team name:

In the main event, Adamle thought he’d be cute and give things a lot of his special names. Calling the Miz “Michael” was interesting, but what I liked was that he called the Tag Team Champions “M and M”. Of course, Adamle has gross lack of knowledge of wrestling history and probably doesn’t realize that Morrison was in a tag team called “MNM” and he was the N called Nitro. Ah well, maybe that little snafu will lead to Miz and Morrison getting a lady “N” to make their group complete.

(2) The ultimate record:

Earlier in the evening, there was a big 8-man match that featured a whole bunch of kids, including on Elijah Burke. During the match, Adamle started talking about Elijah’s amateur boxing record and it almost sounded like he knew what he was talking about. But what was interesting is that he said Burke’s record was 103-3, and event talked a little about the “three loses”. The thing is, WWE has always said his record was 98-1 (although his WWE.com profile says 103-1). So what is the truth her? What is Elijah Burke’s record? The story I’ve heard is the one loss came via DQ, so who knows? Probably not Adamle, though.

(1) I like that dance, dance, dance:

Enough Adamle, let’s talk about the other coffee break of the show with the Diva Dance Competition! Yes, the ladies came out where the only professionally trained dance (Layla El) gets booed while the second to worst “dance” (Kelly Kelly) picks up the easy victory. So is Maryse’s character that she is so hot that she doesn’t care? Or does she in real life think she is so hot that she doesn’t have to try. Well, that’s beside the point, because the Hidden Highlight goes to Lena Yada. As Kelly Kelly was making her way into the ring, I glanced over at Lena and noticed that she was dancing a little to Kelly’s music. Guess she liked the song!

Thursday, April 17, 2008 by JP via the Readers

JP: I was watching iMPACT in the background while working on the first draft of this article, so I was not 100% paying attention. What I saw looked pretty fun, and I like the way they did the X-division title change. But since I didn’t take any notes, I don’t have anything to contribute. Luckily, Nick Noel (in a preview of things to come) wrote so many that I have a bunch here and more to spare in the Write-in section.

(3) He really is sweating bullets:

Samoa Joe Defends – “This belt will be defended by the sweat on my brow…” while there is a whole bunch of sweat on his brow! An un-anticipated Hidden Highlight, but one none the less.

JP: I like that they are still in the process of removing Kurt Angle’s name from the private locker-room and putting up Samoa Joe’s name.

(2) Only needed during camping trips:

ODB’s Flask Is For Wrestling Only – Because when we were in the Knockout’s Locker Room she was hanging out up the back, drinking straight from a HUGE bottle.

JP: Yeah, I saw that, too. And who was in the chair getting their hair done as Jim Cornette was yelling at them?

(1) Don’t even think about it, guy!:

Tomko Takes A Swing – After grabbing the belts back from Kaz, he aimed a HUGE boot to the head of Kaz, causing Super Eric to point an admonishing finger in his direction mid-interview.

JP: I’m surprised Kaz didn’t just try to unmask Super Eric so he could revert to Eric Young right then and there.

Friday, April 18, 2008 by JP via the Readers

JP: Once again, I was totally lacking paying attention skills during SmackDown. I mean, I even started reading about the history of Tanukis during the main event. My mind is a little frazzled right now. What can you do?

(3) Rosey is a man?:

Well, sometimes timing helps, and that is the case for first timer Matt Egbert:

On the 4/18/08 edition of Smackdown, Victoria (one of my all-time favorite divas) and Cherry faced off in a surprisingly decent little match. I’ve always admired Victoria’s underrated in-ring skills, as she always adds a touch of presentation that seems to be lacking from most women wrestlers. Of course, after tonight, not only do I admire her talent, but also her taste in movies. At one point during the match, when Cherry is sent to the mat, a tear strolls down her cheek. Now, normally, since this is her first match, she has every right to be nervous. Heck, I’d probably cry as well if Victoria was about to beat the crap out of me. Well maybe I’d smile, but that’s not the point. Victoria has always been good at hidden highlights, and she proves her worth once again with this gem: “Are you crying? There’s no crying in wrestling!” Now, you may not recognize this, but its from the classic 1992 film “A League of Their Own”, starring Tom Hanks as a drunken has-been who agrees to coach a female baseball team. When one of the team members starts crying, he smarts off with “Are you crying? There’s no crying in baseball!”

I don’t know how many noticed this or not, but it was a true hidden highlight in my book, and proves why Victoria is so great at what she does.

JP: Of course Victoria is a Hidden Highlights machine! And yes, I am quite old enough to have seen a League of Their Own. If you haven’t, go out and see it, totally worth it! An amazing cast for its time, too.

(2) Layers of thought?:

Chris Jacobs got in some late ones that I have just got to put to use:

Another HH was Matt Hardy (giving some explanation to why MVP attacked him. Yeah he said MVP was jealous, and most people in a feud may just leave it at that, and call it good, pat themselves on the back because someone is jealous of them, but then he gave good reasoning. He was jealous of Matt’s popularity when they were a team, and he slowly became nervous of Matt’s abilities. They worked well because the team was doing good, and Matt wasn’t getting a match for the US Title. Once things started falling apart for the much worse, and Matt and MVP lost the titles, then all of a sudden Matt has a reason to go for the US title. The jealous/nervousness of MVP caused him to attack Matt and put him out of action. Therefore Matt didn’t use the line of Jealousy to make himself sound better, he went into deep description that actually makes sense.

JP: Some of this feuds have actually been gaining a little depth. In particular, the Batista/HBK feud is a very nice shades of grey storyline. I’d like to see more of it!

(1) Watch those shoulders:

In an early jump on something wonderful, Rachel Pritchard chimed in with:

On the MVP/Dreamer match the referee actually left the ring to count the pin – so he could get a better view of Dreamer’s shoulders! Good work on making things look legit there, ref!

JP: I’ve noticed that a few times recently, but I’m glad to see refs doing more and more smart things.

And don’t worry, baby, we’ll have plenty more time with you… right down there.

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: Boy you kids yack a lot… but that’s what I like about you. 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 off this week a true fan of Hidden Highlights Luck Quackenbush:

I was the one who had the Hidden highlight sign in Albany last weekend. Thanks for the post. A better shot might be at the very end of this past weeks HEAT. Literally the last like 3 seconds where Burchill raises his hands you can get a pretty clear shot at it. Keep up the good work man.

JP: And thank you for bringing the sign. Everyone, keep it up!

Ghost of JT: JP, you’ve been on TV three times in the past two weeks and you didn’t have the sign, so how can you ask them?

JP: Seriously, I am a mark for myself, but that might be too far. Of course, if I ever get around to designing those shirts, everyone can start wearing the “My Shirt is a Hidden Highlight” greatness! I know Chris Jacobs will wear one:

Miz and Morrison vs. Yang and Moore, there was a moment when Miz had Moore (I believe) in a front face lock, and backed up to his corner. Morrison went for the tag on the shoulder, but instead raised his hand up that was holding the tag rope, and raised his tagging hand up also, looked at the ref and verbally announced he was tagging. Not real hidden, and obviously those two don’t care about the rules, BUT they do these little things to be arrogant pricks (which is a good thing), and in “realism” terms if they blatantly play by the rules, then when they cheat behind the ref’s back, MAYBE he will more than likely not question the dirty act as much, because as we all saw earlier, they are playing fair, lol.

JP: I agree, they are doing so many little things in a match that it is hard to keep track of them all, but it is still good to point out what we can.

Just a small HH from the production crew on ECW. During Kane’s promo the backlight was black and red lighting behind his head, and when Kane mentioned the Undertaker, and the camera panned out, the space between the brothers was pitch black, and then when Undertaker was in the screen, Kane still had his black and red, and then black and that dark blue-ish purple color was behind Undertaker. Over the years Kane has been the firey monster that walks through Hellfire and brimstone, and Undertaker is the cold as ice deadman. It was a nice little touch of lighting to show the two sides of the brothers, and then the dark black space that connects them is just as dark as the souls it connects.

JP: Doesn’t anyone remember that Undertaker set his parents house on fire with Kane inside because he wanted to?! Undertaker is not to be trusted!!! But I trust Bill Bumgarner more than that as he prepares for his week on Hidden Highlights with some Lockdown (sorry, I covered it all for a change):

This was the first TNA pay-per-view I’ve ever been lucky enough to see, and I wasn’t disappointed. But while I was awed by the antics of the X-Division, the raw talent of the Knockouts, or the joy of seeing Joe win the title from Angle, I didn’t forget to look for Highlights. The best I found are below.

– Anatomy of a Cage: One of the more often-used camera angles during the show put the crossbeam running horizontally through the middle of each wall of the cage at the exact same distance from the top rope as there was between each rope. Some would say this is detrimental, as it might make the cage look shorter, but I prefer to think of it as emphasizing that cage and ring are one object.

JP: Of course, I have no idea since I had the same angle all night!

– Flying the Colors: In the BG James/Kip James match, both men were wearing DX colors. BG was wearing the black “LockDown” T-shirt with the green shamrock logo, and Kip was wearing green trunks with black kneepads; a nice nod to their past and reminder that they were once teammates and the best of friends. (As a semi-related side note, Kip’s trunks appeared to be the exact same shade of green that his old “Ass Man” trunks were, though these obviously lacked the lips plastered all over them.),

JP: And more so was the DX chip that Kip did. Thank goodness he turned on him again at the end of the match.

– Just before the “Cuffed in the Cage” match, when Eric Young was laid out by Black Reign and Rellik, the ref forced Kaz to leave the backstage area and go down to the ring by saying, “You gotta go! They’ve cued your entrance! You gotta go!” It was a good way to show that the match was important to Kaz and the ref didn’t want to see him lose by forfeit.

JP: That is the type of “backstage” blend stuff I like to see, not shwork nonsense.

– At the end of “Cuffed in the Cage”, it appeared that Kaz punched one of the Rock ‘n Rave Infection in the gut as Kaz and Eric left the cage, but I can’t be 100% sure because the broadcast glitched at that moment.

JP: I know Homicide was trying to punch people, so I could see Kaz going for it, too!

– During the Knockouts tag match, Kong and Saeed were announced first. This is unusual, as Kong is the Knockouts Champion. Even in matches where the title is not on the line, a reigning Champion is almost universally announced last so as to give the opponent top billing and show that both are important to the match and the company. Why TNA did this I can’t begin to speculate, but it’s worth noting all the same.

JP: Actually, its not so universal anymore. I watch when champions come out a lot and it is more 50-50 at this point. But I agree with you; I’d rather the champion always come out last because they are the most important. Almost as important as Soul:

I have a short hidden highlight, but I do find it to be classic. On the 4/11 Smackdown! show, there was the clip from the WWE “dirt sheets” in it, both Miz and Morrison bicker about who should be Shannon Moore. The Miz states that he could not be Shannon Moore, because “I’m the chick magnet, he wears make-up” now fast forward to the match, the Miz begging off Shannon, slingshots him to the second rope, begins to club Shannon in the head, as the ref. begins to give the five count for the break, the Miz distracts the ref. long enough for Morrison to kick Shannon in the head, now here is the hidden highlight. Wang points out to the ref. that Morrison has broken the rules, after the ref. checks in with Morrison, you can see that Morrison wipes his boot on the apron, as if to get off Shannon’s make-up, and leave no evidence of the crime committed. Classic.

JP: Wow! That was a cool Hidden Highlight a week in the making! But sometimes a Hidden Highlight takes a year to come to fruition, like Smithy84 points out:

I’ve been waiting a year for this (yes, I am that devoid of a life).

So yeah, my hidden highlight (one year on) is that TNA redesigned the entire look of one of their most unique and trademark PPV’s, for one year only, just to put over one match, and unless i’m mistaken, nobody caught it. Go me!

JP: It’s funny because Csonka and JT were both asking me before the show if it was the stupid cage again or the good cage. I forgot that it was last year that the cage had the tubes, so I went with Small’s answer of “yes”. Little did I know that small thinks every piece of metal looks stupid! Except his big yellow truck; he likes that one. And I like to read a whole bunch of Hidden Highlight from Nick Noel:

RAW

Paul London Gets Distracted – As Paul London came out for his tag team match, he got all excited over the guards for the KOTR chair. He was like “Whoa, check those guys out!” then he turned around and seemed to think “oh yeah, meant to be wrestling” and ran down to the ring with Kendrick.

JP: Maybe he thought they were real people!

Paul London: Comedic Genius – During the said tag team match, London gave Carlito an inverted atomic drop then grabbed his own crotch and grimaced to mock Carlito’s pain. More Paul London!

JP: Wish I could oblige, but he keeps going against Vince’s rules and getting demoted.

ECW

Kofi Is A Happy Man – Just before the opening 8 man tag, everyone is facing off in the ring making mean faces. All except Kofi Kingston, who’s just smiling away. Way to stay in character, Festus style!

JP: I really don’t know what people have against Kofi? I like his music, his gimmick, his in-ring style, and his look. Yes, he needs some seasoning, so why not let him get it in the ring?

Tazz Explains In-Ring Psychology – It was great to hear Tazz school Mike Adamle on the virtues of three tag team partners work on the same body part. It plays up his wrestling background and helps the new announcer understand more about wrestling at the same time as the fans.

JP: Tazz is going to schooling Adamle for a long while to come! Why would you give someone who doesn’t know wrestling, wrestling history, move-sets, or people’s names a play-by-play job? I mean, is Josh Matthews so busy?

Domino Stays In The Match! – Unlike the rest of his partners, Domino was right into the 8 man tag, cheering on his team mates, hurrying the ref, and playing to the crowd all at the same time. YAY DOMINO!

JP: I could hear him yelling for his teammates, too.

Punk Covers – Shannon Moore slingshot himself over the top rope, but went so far he missed Shelton Benjamin and CM Punk. So Punk throws himself across at Benjamin to knock the pair of them over as well. Nice way to keep the whole thing rolling.

JP: Pun intended?

Knox Knows – As Mike Knox goes for the cover on Colin Delaney, he drops down and then spins to face the hard camera! Nice awareness from Knox.

JP: See, the drugs could have been someone else’s? I mean, does someone that roided up have all that awareness?

TNA

Super Eric’s Mask – It’s slowly getting more and more elaborate. Horns and all.

JP: Yeah, I wonder where that thing is going. Maybe to Zilon?

Cornette’s Office – Probably one you’ve already mentioned, but how many people other than Jim Cornette can get away with big wrestler plush toys on his office shelf? There was a Sting, and at least 2 others. He also has (what I’m assuming to be) a James Storm beer bottle!

JP: When I saw the office live, I had JT take a few pics but they did not come out, unfortunately! It’s hilarious looking at everything in the office. Not as hilarious as looking at TyNick85 place, though:

First of is a Raw Hidden Highlight.

Through out the show, a crown, cape, throne and royal guards were waiting next to the entrance in order to hype next weeks 3 hour King Of The Ring Tourney (BTW, I’m Rooting for Mr. Kennedy to win, because King Kennedy sounds AWESOME!) Anyways, as I was saying, the royal guards stood at the entrance through out the show, So you’d think with these new, odd people standing there the whole time, someone would notice. But I only saw Paul London make any reference to the guards, as he came out, he looked at the guards and went “whoa” then was like, “whatever, lets do this” to Kendrick, I liked that because its not every day those guards are there, you might as well acknowledge them!

JP: Seems to be a popular one today! And as for Kennedy? Well, how many more major angles is he going to be given before they get screwed up? Kennedy needs some rebuilding time before a big win like that.

I also loved the Promo between Will Regal and Jericho seconds after the fore mentioned kiss [Editor’s note: There was a Todd Grisham joke about Mickie James kissing him], Regal is focused for his match with Orton, and really doesn’t care what Jericho wants, in fact, he finds his annoying, and the longer he talks to him, the worse things get for him, way to use the power Regal!

JP: Regal said at the beginning of the night that he was going to take back the power, and that was a good follow-up just shortly later in the night.

And now, a retro highlight, in the build to No way out, Kennedy faced Flair in a career threatening match, although we all know how that turned out, the build up promo cards that ran on the brands was a little different for this match. Instead of the normal PPV theme color background, this match’s card had videos from Flairs career playing in the background, a hidden highlight because the video had a red Hue, so it blended in with the rest of the cards, a small way of say, “this could be his last match” even if it wasn’t.

JP: That was a little tough for me to follow, but I’ll take your word for it. This one from Marshall Berke is a little more straightforward:

This Hidden Highlight was from the April 11th Smackdown match between Matt Stryker and Finley. When Stryker was thrown out of the ring and Hornswaggle was going to throw the fake water on him, he yelled out after he threw away the umbrella “Get out of here Sky Low Low!”. It shows how Stryker’s is a student of the game, knowing about the legendary midget wrestler.

JP: Well he does have his Masters degree, as he was so apt to remind us. But being a smart guy myself, I can relate. I can also relate to the ladies. Why don’t we begin with the lovely, vivacious, and sexy Rachel “Sealed with three kissed” Pritchard.

Ghost of JT: Begin? Oh no, JP is going to explode!

Firstly, in the LAX interview Homicide says that Hernandez wanted to ‘storm the ivory tower with some Machetes’ – machetes? Like the old LAX member Machete? Hm? Hmm?

JP: Wow, I forgot that there used to be all of these old members of these groups. For a while during the PPV era, everyone was in a three or four man team!

Matt Morgan had a couple. In his promo he said he ‘isn’t just another prototype’. Now, why would he say that? Well, Morgan is an OVW alumni as is a certain Mr. Cena, who wrestled under the name ‘The Prototype’ there. Subtle barb, perhaps?

JP: It wouldn’t surprise me since he is Jim Cornette’s protégé and he really would barb someone in his class who made it so far before him.

Later on, in the main event, Morgan actually made an effort to hide from the referee after kicking Storm’s face off. Good to see someone actually do that instead of standing around looking guilty.

JP: That also helped Booker T not realize what was going on!

Finally, Jim Cornette had another – he actually ASKED for his music to be played after the whole ‘stripping the tag team titles’ debacle, which isn’t great in itself but it’s a refreshing change from seemingly magical music cues.

JP: I like when the music plays and then the person goes, “Wait! I wasn’t done talking!”

Over on Smackdown, I have to give some love to Cole right off the bat. Jericho is making his way to the ring and Cole says something a long the lines of ‘What a treat for us tonight, the eight-time intercontinental champion from Raw’. Nice to see that someone still cares about the brand extension enough to try and make Y2J’s showing up a big deal. Of course, it does beg the question why nobody batted an eyelid at HBK showing up last week, but hey.

JP: Did you notice that Regal had to make a deal with Vickie Guerrero to get the Batista/Michaels match to happen? I’m glad that had to be negotiated!

Well, finishing us o—

Ghost of JT: Wait? That was it?! You were surprisingly well behaved…

JP: No, I was normal.

Ghost of JT: Let me take a look at this e-mail. Who is next? Catherine Semerjian?! No wonder you were so well behaved! She’s your gi—

JP: Enough out of you, Ghost, the lady would like to speak:

I just had to write in about something I noticed on Smackdown this Friday. Yet again it’s about John Morrison, but the man is a machine when it comes to hidden highlights. He’s gotten really good at staying in character and talking a lot during his matches. At one point while he was beating on Shannon Moore, he looked over at Jimmy Wang Yang and yelled: “Yeah, you like that moustache of yours, huh? That’s the reason you’re still a virgin!”

JP: Glad to see that you are as much a mark for Morrison as I am. Just another thing we have in common.

Ghost of JT: ::Sigh::

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: Well, thanks to… errrr… me for doing a good job this week. And Ghost of JT for taking some out-of-character lines. When you wake up at 4am EST on Mondays, you can’t sit around all night waiting for things to show up (even on the one week I get to sleep a couple of hours later because flights aren’t available. Too many late nights this weekend. I’m not built like I used to be!). The show must go on and I must go to bed!

If you want to read more stuff that only includes me talking to myself, 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 138th 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!