And finally, it's interesting to note that the whole business of pulling the stump out and tapping the ball on it is actually complete rubbish, you just need to remove it from the ground.
no, it says in any of the ways stated in (1), above, the most likely, and only feasible way, is by someone also holding the ball (with ball touching stump).
Just re-read, and I didn't quite understand your original post. If you were implying that you didn't need the ball to be involved, I think you do. If you were actually referring to the nature of the breaking of the wicket (with the ball), then what I put above is irrelevant!