By Curtis Shanks, PWTorch Specialist

Welcome to the TNA Impact edition of Under the Microscope. We're here to review all those little observations and tidbits you may have missed. This is not a detailed recap of the show, but a review for those of you that saw the show but didn't actually "watch" it. After last week we know that it's playtime, as Matt Morgan is an astronaut, the PJB are superheros, and Mick Foley is a cowboy (bang bang). But what else is there to notice? Let's see what we can spot. Cue the opening pyro.
 
During TNA's intro video, we see the familiar "TNA: Cross The Line" slogan. But in the graphic for that slogan, the words Cross The Line are actually sitting just above the line drawn underneath, not crossing it.
 
On Monday night we saw WWE tout the 800th edition of Raw. In case you lost track, this is TNA Impact number 221, which ties The Lone Ranger in the episode list. This number is of course including episodes seen on Fox Sports or the Internet before the Spike TV deal came along. If you count only Spike editions, we are at 156, which ties The Twighlight Zone and passes The West Wing.
 
On the topic of Raw, the current Kane storyline has him tormenting Rey Mysterio for hiding behind a mask. Luckily for Kane, Mysterio is the only masked wrestler in WWE right now. If Kane were to jump to TNA, he would have to answer to Abyss, Curry Man, Suicide, Super Eric, Mick Foley (Mankind) and Shark Boy. We could bring back X Cup participants Puma and Averno and add them to the mix as well.
 
Did I miss something? I remember TNA standing for Total Nonstop Action, not Tiny Nanoseconds of Action. Last week we saw four matches totaling roughly 18 minutes of in-ring action in two hours. Let's get back to the days of the main event itself lasting about 18 minutes.
 
If you follow professional wrestling closely, you know that the PWI 500 for 2008 was recently released. It is always a great read and interesting to check out the listings. Aside from Kurt Angle at number two, no TNA wrestler cracked the top ten. In fact, the only other current TNA talents to crack the top 25 were Christian Cage at 14 and A.J. Styles, who sits at number 21. Although the case could be made for TNA part-timer Tomko, who was listed at 25.
 
Abyss now wears a prison jacket with inmate no. 03679 listed on it. I haven't found any meaningful inside reference for those numbers, unless you view the fact that David Flair was born on March 6, 1979 as meaningful.
 
In tonight's Rough Cut segment we see a quick quip from Roxxi's trainer, Wagner Brown. While never making to any of the big promotions, Brown is well known on the independent circuit as Slyck Wagner Brown. Brown has held heavyweight at tag title gold in New Jersey Pro Wrestling and has a few WWE dark and jobber matches on his resume as well.
 
I don't know much about Mercedes Steele, Kong's prey tonight, other than that she just signed a TNA contract earlier this month and has wrestled as Lexxus on the New England independent scene. She has teamed with and feuded with Nikki Roxx (now Roxxi Leaveaux) in the indies, so it's fitting that Roxxi is the one who is involved in the post-match angle.
 
Why does Booker T have the exact same untouched veggie trays on the coffee table week after week during his locker room promos?
 
James Storm frequently uses Carlito's finisher in WWE, the Backstabber, during his matches. Tenay and West dance around the terminology by saying "he just stabbed him in the back", but tonight West actually called the move the Backstabber. TNA may have thought the term has yet to be trademarked by WWE.
 
Thankfully, the Terrordome has been renamed to the Steel Asylum. Longtime TNA fans may remember the weekly PPV era when TNA ran shows at the Tennessee State fairgrounds, which was dubbed the TNA Asylum.
 
We are starting to see vignettes for the soon to debut Suicide. Hopefully TNA does not bring in a character named Genocide and form a faction with Homicide, Suicide and Genocide. They could use the DDT (a pesticide) as their finisher. As long as we do not see anyone named Spermicide, I won't complain.
 
We haven't seen much of B.G. James lately. Since TNA's first TV deal in June of 2004 James has wrestled in two one-on-one matches in TNA despite being employed with TNA the entire time. That's right, two. He faced Kip James at Lockdown this year and did a job to Booker T a few months back on Impact. Every other match has been a multi-person match of some sort.
 
Tonight's show is brought to you by the letter X. TNA certainly loves to use the letter X to make everything in their company look cool and edgy. We've seen the factions of LAX, Triple X and S.E.X in the past. There are Ultimate X, Elevation X and Xscape matches. You could watch the Destination X PPV, or the syndicated show Xplosion. And wrestlers compete for the X Division title and the Super X Cup. There's also current Knockout Roxxi Leveaux. And how could we forget former Quebecer Carl Ouellet's two month stay in 2003 when he wrestled as, you guessed it, X.
 
On a non-wrestling note, the Minnesota Twins, the one thing I love just as much as wrestling, just swept the White Sox and moved into first place with three games to play. Let me use this opportunity to wish them luck this weekend in their hunt for a playoff spot.
 
Tonight's notable MIA's: Prince Justice Brotherhood, Jay Lethal, Rhino, Creed, Sabin & Shelley (yet again), Petey Williams, ODB, Taylor Wilde and the Beautiful People.
 
Numbers crunched harder than an unprotected chair shot to the head: Last week Jeff Jarrett explained his TNA vision. A company that features unknowns and gives young guys their big breaks. That is true to an extent, but it's the babyface, fan-friendly explanation. In all reality Jarrett was trying to regain the audience that felt left out and betrayed when WCW was purchased. TNA's debut weekly PPV in June of 2002 featured 3 tag matches and a battle royal. In all, 34 wrestlers competed on that card, 21 of them former WCW talents. It's the same story on the announcing front, as Mike Tenay, Ed Ferrara and Jeremy Borash all appeared in WCW as well. On a side note, A.J. Styles, James Storm, Jeff Jarrett and Abyss (as Justice) are the only people still in TNA who wrestled that night.

Curtis Shanks is a self-described wrestling nerd. Who else would lay claim to keeping up-to-date on the title histories of over 40 independent and foreign promotions? In the words of Adrian Monk, "It's a blessing…and a curse." Curtis encourages anyone with questions or comments to e-mail him at curtisshanks.torch@gmail.com.

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