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 Booker makes title belts in his spare time, Velvet Sky hates Rosie O'Donnell, and Sabin and Shelley are still alive. But what else is there to notice? Let's see what we can spot. Cue the opening pyro.

After the opening video package, we get an obligatory title for tonight's episode, "Hit Man for the Mafia." TNA uses episode titles on most of their shows and one of these days we will see one of the titles I've been hoping for. You know, titles like "The X Division Title Means Something Again" or "We're gonna try the Whole Great Wrestling Matches Thing Again."

In case you're not keeping score at home, here is the current tally in the Main Event Mafia feud. The five guys in the MEM are running away with it, despite the fact that there are currently nine guys siding with the youngsters (excluding tweener Christian Cage). World Title runs stand at 33-4, tag titles are at 40-9, and average wrestling experience sits at 19 years vs. 8 years. If the X Division title still meant something, the youngsters would be running away with that one, though. They have a combined 18 X titles while the MEM sits at one - Kurt Angle's reign when he held all of the TNA titles.

During Samoa Joe's opening promo tonight he references what the young guys have gone through. He mentions that Ultimate X and Lethal Lockdown matches were on them, not the Main Event Mafia. But the Lethal Lockdown match was actually a brainchild of Sting from a storyline standpoint, something Joe obviously forgot. Sting left TNA but was goaded into coming back due to Jeff Jarrett and Paparazzi Productions spying on him in his personal life. He said he would come back, but only for one kind of match - a War Games Match. This type of match was of course utilized in WCW and renamed into Lethal Lockdown in TNA.

The Motor City Machine Guns may be finally getting that long-awaited push. They are currently involved in the veterans vs. youngsters feud and have a tag title match at the next PPV. It has now been a full year since Sabin and Shelley were in a two-on-two tag match on a TNA PPV. In case you forgot, that was last November when the Guns defeated Team 3D at Genesis during the 3D vs. the entire X Division storyline.

If you listen to the commentary of Don West you've no doubt realized he has trouble remembering the names of wrestling moves. Most of the time West will not call the name of the move, but describe the action itself. (He just picks him up and slams him down to the mat!) On the rare occasion he calls a move, it's still a crap shoot of whether that name will be correct. During the tag team ladder match tonight, Brother Ray hit Abyss with a side slam, or a Bookend/Rock Bottom. Don West miscalled this tonight, as his description of the move was a choke hold.

The veterans vs. young guys feud has many different aspects to it. I'm fine with the references of the youngsters lack of respect and the veterans trying to keep their spots. But the storyline of A.J. Styles and the young guns berating Sting for the perks in his contract make the youngsters seem nothing more than jealous. Sting has more days off and first class flights. In my opinion, if the opportunity is there, take it. If my employer offered me more days off with the same pay and a limo ride to and from work every day, I would take it. My peers at work may be jealous, but who cares? I'd take that deal in a heartbeat.

This Sunday, TNA will be presenting their Turning Point PPV. While not presented as one of TNA's big PPVs, there is some history associated with the event. The event was previously held every December until being moved up one month this year and giving the December spot to the more aptly named Final Resolution PPV. The first event in 2004 is notable for the AMW vs. Triple X cage match main event which featured the amazing tight rope huracanrana by Elix Skipper off the top of the cage. In 2005, Samoa Joe bested A.J. Styles to win his first title in TNA, the X Division championship. Match number two of the Joe vs. Angle feud was featured in 2006. And last year TNA gave us Feast or Fired, but didn't give us Scott Hall, as he was a no-show for the main event.

During Kevin Nash's promo tonight he says "I've been a five, six time world champion. I've lost track of how many times I've been world champ." Here at the microscope we aim to please, so we'll remind Mr. Nash. Right now his World Title total sits at six: one reign in the WWF as Diesel and five WCW title reigns.

Sting will be defending the World Title this Sunday vs. A.J. Styles. Hard to tell what way the TNA bookers will go, but if history is any indication, A.J. will defeat Sting. Sting's first two title reigns in WCW lasted a total of 322 days. Excluding his current run, his nine title reigns since then have totaled only 150 days, or an average of just over two weeks. Sting will hit four weeks this Sunday, so he is due to drop the title any day now if the trend continues.

Are we supposed to believe that wrestling personalities can do a complete 180 degree turn without a reason? A few months ago, A.J. Styles was the bumbling idiot lackey of Christian Cage. He befriended Karen Angle, much to the dismay of Kurt Angle, and was portrayed as an innocent, not-too-wise character. A few months later, A.J. has simply dropped the persona and is now portrayed as a leader in the feud versus the Main Event Mafia. Now we are seeing the same turnaround with Eric Young. The same guy who was scared of his pyro and dressed up like a superhero is now just another normal wrestler. I understand TNA suffered from some outlandish silliness in the past, and I appreciate the new serious direction with characters and storylines. But give us some type of reasoning as to why their IQ suddenly doubled and all references to their idiocy are suddenly dropped.

Sometimes there are little things on Impact that the Microscope fails to pick up. Fortunately there are other pwtorch.com readers out there who have their own microscopes tuned up for TNA. Scott Steiner returned during the main event last week and laid out the youngsters with his lead pipe, but Microscope reader Cody noticed an interesting observation during this angle. He noted that when Steiner was taking out the babyfaces, he had at least two opportunities to take out Petey Williams but neglected to do so. Petey also did not lay a hand on Steiner, but instead brawled with the other MEM members. The importance of this is that before Steiner's injury, he took Petey under his wing and transformed him into a mini Steiner clone. Nice catch on that one Cody.

Our bleep counter for tonight's show sits at eight, even without a Roxxi promo. In case you're wondering, there were two from Scott Steiner, three from Samoa Joe, and one each from Booker T, Rhino, and Kevin Nash.

Numbers crunched harder than an unprotected chair shot to the head: If you've followed the Kurt Angle-Jeff Jarrett storyline, you know by now that one aspect of the feud was Kurt Angle's out-of-character interview in which he shot TNA down for their over-use of gimmick matches. There is an overabundance of gimmick matches in TNA, and the ones that are featured can be pretty ridiculous. So far this year we've seen the Terrordome, a Fish Market Street Fight, and a Black Tie Brawl & Chain match.

But what do the numbers say about TNA and gimmick matches? TNA PPVs this year have featured a total of 79 matches, 33 of which would be considered a gimmick match. Only 19 of their PPV matches this year were traditional one-on-one contests without a gimmick attached. By comparison WWE has held 83 PPV matches this year, of which 24 could be considered a gimmick match. The number is a little watered down, as seven of those matches were at this year's One Night Stand - a PPV with a gimmick match theme.

While you're less likely to see gimmick matches in WWE, you are more likely to see one-on-one non-gimmick contests. This year alone, 48 of WWE's 83 PPV matches fall under that umbrella.

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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