Hidden Highlights 08.18.08: Issue #155

Hidden Highlights
By JP Prag

Issue #155

Commentator: Previously, on Hidden Highlights…

Commentator: With the relative peace with the new format continuing, even the hardest naysayers were getting close to the positivity.

Methoes: Slightly better. This week I managed to read through the whole column.

Commentator: This allowed everyone to get back to the true business at hand: dissecting Hidden Highlights even more.

Mike: It wasn’t sweat that Alex wiped off his hand it was spit. Right before he reached out to shake hands he spit into his own hand then wiped it off.

Ghost of JT: Yeah, I saw him spit into his hand, too, but I thought that was lubricant! I mean, that’s how I wash my hands…

Commentator: But where there is peace, there is always a new danger looming on the outside. Will this new exterior threat mean anything to the article and the readers, or is it all hype and a desperate ploy for attention?

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

JP: Hello everyone who has had something dear to them stolen recently, 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 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!

[BONUS] Purely coincidence?

JP: Let me tell you a little story: As you know from reading The Hamilton-Ave-For-All Special News Report, Jeff Small and myself attended TNA Hard Justice this weekend and got to go to the media-only pre-release party for TNA iMPACT the Video Game. Media was represented from several outlets, including ESPN, Maxim, IGN, UGO, and other wrestling news sites. We were trading stories on what everyone does and writes and several times throughout the weekend when talking about Hidden Highlights more than one person said, “Man, that Hidden Highlights is a great idea! I’ll have to steal it!”

Of course, when you hear something like that you take it as a joke and let it slide right off your back. But, when just two days later another site launches a similar concept article with your exact same wording in it (but does an incredibly poor job of executing the concept), you have to believe that is more than just a coincidence.

Well, as a certain site owner said to me, I can’t prove anything. But I don’t believe in coincidences when they involve a difference of two days. I will put this out there: what was done was not just an insult to me, but it was an insult to JT, every guest co-host we have ever had, Larry, Ashish, 411wrestling.com, and—most of all—you readers. As you know, your write-ins and continued participation are what has helped build and shape this article. That someone can just come in and think to lift all of our hard work in order to boost dying hit rates is plain disgusting.

But frankly, there is nothing to worry about. Hidden Highlights is still the most positive article in the IWC and will continue to bring the goods for a while to come. The best way to defeat any would-be competition is to focus on our product and continue to make it better and interesting. So don’t even worry about them, don’t bother patronizing them to tell them to screw for trying to steal your work, and continue to enjoy whoever you enjoy in this little world of ours. But most importantly, remember to bring one of these to your next event:

Slimmer: Bottom Line: No one will ever… and I do mean EVER… bring a “My Sign Is [CENSORED]” sign to a show.

JP: Damn skippy! Speaking of which, I did see someone at Hard Justice with the sign, but he was only holding it up before the PPV and I was not able to grab the camera quick enough. But I did notice you changing t-shirts all night? So whoever you were, thanks for the effort, and we’ll get you next time!

[SmackDown – Retro] He touched me in my no-no place

JP: Ok, now let get on to the real show where we left off last week with some SmackDown!

Bobbay: On Smackdown during MVP’s promo he poked the Diva in the boob! Like it was nothing but she slightly reacted but then had a look of like, “WOW MVP TOUCHED MY TIT!”

JP: Well, for the record that is Diva Search Winner Eve… and MVP did spend quite a bit of time in jail…

[TNA Hard Justice – LIVE!] Catty, all the way

JP: As mentioned above, Jeff Small and I were LIVE at TNA’s Hard Justice in Trenton, NJ. From the VIP box we got quite a view, and that included TNA’s Beautiful People Angelina Love and Velvet Sky. After they and partner Awesome Kong lost their match to Gail Kim, ODB, and Knockouts Champion Taylor Wilde, the video package went to Lauren talking with Team 3D up in the rafters. But back in the arena, I watched the Beautiful People as they slowly made their way up the ramp, and they stayed 100% in character complaining and saying the other people cheated and it wasn’t their fault all the way. Nice work by the two who knew that they weren’t on camera but still fully kept up the act for the live crowd—even though 90% of the live crowd couldn’t see them either!

[TNA Hard Justice – LIVE!] You’re in my sun

JP: Speaking of Team 3D, later in the evening they took on the team of Christian Cage and Rhino in a New Jersey Street Fight. As the combatants split into fighting pairs, they went to two separate parts of the arena. Because of this, they put the house lights on so the cameras and audience could follow the action. But I looked down at Mike Tenay and Don West and noticed something interesting. The producer who works next the announce position was actually using her own paper’s to shield Mike Tenay’s monitor so he could see in it and not be blinded by the light! And poor Don West was forced to cover his monitor with his own papers! It never occurred to me that the house lights would interfere with the announce team, so this was an interesting moment to catch.

[TNA Hard Justice – LIVE!] Go for it

JP: During the stipulation filled night, we easily got match of the show with AJ Styles taking on Kurt Angle in a last man standing match. In TNA, a last man standing match means you pin your opponent for a three count, get away, and then the referee has to make a ten count. That means, a wrestler really needs to score a 13-20 count in order to win. Part way into the match, Kurt Angle went for a pin on AJ Styles and AJ was able to kick out at two. Then, without missing a beat, Kurt again attempted the pin cover, also resulting in a two count. I thought it was incredibly smart of Kurt to immediately go for another pin cover. Since he knew that a pin would not win, he went for a second that would wear down AJ even more. And should AJ fall prey to the pin, then he would be in an even better position. Wrestlers do not go for a second immediate pin quite often enough, and this time it made perfect sense.

[TNA Hard Justice – LIVE!] Nothing to see here

JP: After the match, Sting came out and attached AJ, which led to a conversation between Kevin Nash and Sting out back (more on that later). As they were filming the screen with Sting and Kevin Nash talking, other people were dragging AJ to the back through the stage right entrance. From my vantage point, I got to see something quite interesting. AJ was dragged to the back right where Sting and Nash were talking, so they all had to pause there and wait until the cameras were off and AJ could walk to the back. It was one of those funny breaking kayfabe moments that no one was meant to see but really shows you how these telecasts are put together.

Also right after that Booker T came out and gave AJ a handshake and hug! It’s always funny watching what is going on behind the curtain.

[TNA Hard Justice – LIVE!] Chicken wire

JP: For those watching the PPV live and at home, it was quite obvious that things were running behind. By the time the AJ/Kurt match ended, it was already 10:30pm and a cage still needed to be put up. So while the viewers at home were watching video packages and walking, I was watching the cage be put up. Now normally when the cage is put together they do a great job to anchor it and hold the pieces together. But due to the limited construction time, the guys actually used plastic zip lines to tie the sides of the cage together and put it in place! So a steel cage was being held together with what you use to tie your wires together behind your TV.

If this was not enough, the cage was not exactly stable. So when Booker T was in the corner trying to climb out, a whole bunch of grips actually ran to the same corner and held the cage in place as he climbed! In all honesty, this was one of the least-safe moments I have seen in wrestling and it is kudos to the production crew for doing anything and everything possible to keep the wrestlers safe with the limited amount of time they had.

[RAW] It’s all about the Kidz

JP: Jumping over to RAW this week, I felt compelled to give some love to everyone’s favorite General Manager Mike Adamle. Out back, Adamle had called Kane into his office to tell him that the burlap sack was going to be opened that night. One of the reasons he gave was that kids were going back to school soon and he didn’t want them imitating Kane and bringing sacks to their school. Later in the night, Michael Cole reiterated the same thoughts and said that Adamle did not want kids to be scared of the burlap sack.

But why would Adamle care so much about kids? Why because of the WWE Kidz Initiative, of course! As a member of management, Adamle’s job would include changing RAW to TV-PG and pushing through the kids initiative, so I like that this was his motivation to take away Kane’s bag.

[RAW / CLASSIC] Look out behind you

JP: Although this one did not happen on RAW per se, we’ll give it them!

Jim McDaniel: This one comes from the Monday Night Raw WWE/24 highlight of Tito Santana and Ivan Putski winning the tag belts from the Valiant Brothers. After the match, I caught Ivan looking over his shoulder to see where the Valiant Brothers were so that they couldn’t be “Pearl Harbored” after the match. Great way to sell what heels the Valiants were in those days by celebrating with one eye on your defeated opponents.

JP: “Pearl Harbored”? Are we still using that term, Benedict Arnold?

[RAW] JBL just earned a dollar

JP: Also on RAW, JBL and CM Punk met in the middle of the ring for a drinking contest (which I think was a draw since it was zero-to-zero at the end). After CM Punk refused the drink, JBL began to dress him down and talked about CM Punk’s view of the world. The word he chose is escaping me because I can’t prove it exists, but it sounded quite smart. Check out the video at the 8:56 mark:

Whatever JBL said makes him sound like $1 million, or at least $1 for the word.

[ECW] So long suckah!

JP: There was one big one for ECW that I wrote down, but someone else caught it for me anyway!

lwcmvp: On ECW, Todd Grisham said about the New Talent Initiative “Some of these new athletes are never heard from again”. A HH because 2 members of the NTI (Braden Walker and James Curtis) were released last week.

JP: Haha, yes, I did enjoy that little dig that Grisham was able to get in. You hear that people: it’s time to transfer all of your Coach love to Todd Grisham!

[iMPACT] I can’t head you!

JP: Over on iMPACT, Mike Tenay let us know that cameras followed Sting and Kevin Nash backstage at Hard Justice and they were going to show some exclusive footage. When they did show it, something caught my attention… specifically my ear. If you noticed, the volume for Sting and Nash was very low and you would have trouble hearing them. That is because they only microphone near them was either built into the camera or was standing overhead by a grip. I really liked that this segment had poor audio quality. If we could hear both perfectly and it was obvious they were on wireless mics, it would make the segment feel less organic. Instead, the moment had a “we just caught them this way” feeling, like it was totally unplanned. Overall, it was a nice backstage effect that I would hope TNA would do more of in the future.

[iMPACT] That’s pretty lazy

JP: During a rare in ring appearance, Kevin Nash teamed up with sort-of protégé Samoa Joe to take on Team 3D. A few minutes into the match, Brother Ray caught Joe sleeping and elbowed him in the corner and knocked him off the ring apron. But instead of just pulling himself off the ground and back up on the ring apron, Samoa Joe actually took the time to walk over to the steps, walk up and then head back to his corner. Boy, that was really lazy Joe!

[iMPACT] Who is… who?

JP: Also on iMPACT, many matches were hyped up, but one that was surprisingly done so was TNA Knockouts Champion Taylor Wilde vs. Christy Hemme. It is rare that Hemme wrestles, so it seemed worth the watch. All of a sudden as the match got underway, I noticed that there was an odd black flash on the screen. So I slowed down the playback and paused right on the frame. What I saw was a plain black screen that said, “WhoIsSuicide.com”.

Kudos to TNA production for the viral/subliminal marketing! For those not in the know, Suicide is the character you play in the storyline mode of the TNA iMPACT Video Game. Want to read more about it? Check out The Hamilton-Ave-For-All Special News Report from last Tuesday to get the scoop!

[SmackDown] Brian Pillman reincarnated

JP: Oddly enough, for the second week in a row JR has called The Brian Kendrick “some type of loose cannon” during this matches.

Rell the Wrestling Fan: When Kendrick beat Super Crazy and was parading around in the ring JR said he was a “Loose Cannon” (Loose Cannon the name of Brian Pillman’s WWE DVD).

JP: Ah, so you think this is more like some marketing ploy to remind everyone to buy the DVD? I suppose it could be true, or perhaps The Brian Kendrick does remind JR of Brian Pillman backstage?

[SmackDown] The biggest conspiracy

JP: This one arrived literally at the last possible second (actually a day late but I was working on the article), but it was so well thought out that I had to include it here.

Dave Legg: I hope what follows isn’t too much of a conspiracy theory for you. My Hidden Highlight is:

The SmackDown production team for putting HHH over for the entire middle hour of Smackdown.

Wacky, huh? Bear with me.

So, we start the show with MVP’s midcard feud (the obligatory most interesting piece of the SD! midcard for the last 18 months now, baring injury). Then there’s a bit of foreshadowing as Vicky G has a backstage chat with Victoria.

But wait a minute, Victoria’s wearing a low cut top, and the segment ends with a sweaty, roaring image of Triple H bursting from a woman’ tits. After the Trips video package we get a Divas match, proving that HHH’s pheremones are so powerful, women fight in his wake…

JP: This is a bit much for me to swallow, but do go on!

Dave Legg: Cue Brian Kendrick, squashing a jobber. Remember on RAW when Hunter berried London and Kendrick. Yeah, remember who Trips used to berry on RAW before they arrived? That’s right, Kenny Dykstra, who gets pinned in about 1 minute. See Kendrick, that’s how you work a squash – you shit upon the remains of a wrestler whose career already lies broken at your feet.

JP: This part I can believe because I knew Triple H was going to destroy anything Dykstra has going for him, which is nothing.

Dave Legg: But this only shows that the bigger man will win. So then the headline match is Vladimir Koslov vs. Festus. The Irresistible Idiot vs. the Immovable Iron-Skull. Which Vlad wins with a very calculating headbutt, basically killing his opponent right at the point where Festus figured he was going to hit a power move. So we get it rammed down our throats that a canny big man can beat a savage, ignorant even bigger man, if the canny big man has courage as well as ring smarts.

BAM!

Then the show whips its focus back to Edge, and suddenly all that HHH-building stuff in the middle feels insignificant compared to the real SmackDown! main event.

So nice try by the production and booking team to REALLY make HHH feel like he mattered on SD! But Edge is the SmackDown! main attraction, hardly a year after moving from RAW!

Edge…Michael O is right, he is a magnificent bastard.

JP: I thought it was more interesting that they were pushing “Triple H in Action Tonight!” like it was the most amazing thing in the world. But I get your point; Triple H and production used a good portion of the show to try to build him up as the main attraction. But on SmackDown, Triple H is below Undertaker in the face category and Edge in the heel, so what does he do? What does he do?

Well everyone, that wraps up this week’s show. Thank you for reading the 155th 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 [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. The best of the best will be featured among the top 15 next week.

In the meantime, 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.

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