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 the fans showed up for one match, Gail Kim is missed, and if you talk to the wrestlers the matches actually mean something. But what else is there to notice? Let's see what we can spot. Cue the opening pyro.

To open tonight's show we get the final second round match in the tournament for the vacant X Division title as Eric Young faces Alex Shelley. Both Shelley and Young are members of the Front Line faction, which would create a bit of interest in their match up. However, TNA makes absolutely no reference to this fact. The match was treated as simply Wrestler A vs. Wrestler B. The Guns have been somewhat apathetic towards the Front Line's mission, so some intrigue could have been built towards a match up with Eric Young.

Along with no build for a situation with Shelley and Sabin facing off with a fellow Front Line member, there was no immediate build towards the finals this Sunday aside from a single sentence. I have no problem with the Bashir-Sewell storyline, but we transitioned too quickly from the Sabin vs. Shelley hype to it. Aside from two partners facing off, we now know that either Shelley will win his first title in TNA or Sabin will become a five time X champ, second only to A.J. Style's six reigns.

There is a bit of build towards tonight's Kurt Angle-B.G. James match. James has been missing from TV in recent months due to his role as a backstage agent with TNA, but has suddenly resurfaced due to his friendship with Jeff Jarrett. Aside from a real life friendship, the two have quite a history in the ring as well. When James debuted in WWF it was as The Roadie, the assistant to country singer Jeff Jarrett. The two also feuded in the USWA after leaving WWF together as well as in TNA.

Kong's squash victim tonight is Madison Rayne, who is currently a tag team champion in the women's promotion Shimmer. She and her partner Nevaeh won a tournament last fall to become the first tag champs in the promotion's history, and currently defend them in various promotions across the country. Madison Rayne is just a jobber name created by TNA as she has wrestled on in the indies under the name Lexi Lane as well as her real name, Ashley Lane.

As Matt Morgan faces Robert Roode, Tenay tells us to join TNA Mobile to learn of interesting developments that took place at the New Japan show last weekend. For those of you who are curious, this is in reference to Team 3D winning the IWGP Tag Titles as well as Shelley & Sabin winning the IWGP Junior Hvt. Tag Titles.

The current world champ in NJPW has a TNA connection as well, as it is former TNA talent Hiroshi Tanahashi. The belts that 3D now hold are the same titles that Tomko held in Japan with Brute Bernard (A-Train). Remember the non-TNA title Tomko used to carry around during his allegiance with Christian & Styles? This is the first NJPW title for the MCMG, but they have held gold overseas before as they were the tag champs for the Zero-1 promotion in Japan.

With the loss of their tag titles tonight, Beer Money's reign ends at 143 days (tonight's show was actually taped three weeks ago). This longevity is good enough for fifth place for longest tag title run in TNA's history. First place belongs to AMW's 250 day reign in '05-06, followed by A.J. Styles/Tomko, LAX, and the Naturals. This title change also gives Consequences Creed his first major title. This now leaves Sonjay Dutt, Jimmy Rave, Matt Morgan, Shark Boy, and Alex Shelley as the only regular members of TNA's male roster who have yet to hold some sort of gold in WWE or TNA.

It's been a while since Black Machismo has thrown out a few 80's references in his Randy Savage channeling. We get a few tonight however, as Lethal references the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase, the Mega Powers and Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson. Along with being Mark Henry's manager and the Rock's father, Johnson & Atlas were the first black tag team to win the tag titles in WWF when they defeated the Wild Samoans. The Mega Powers were the infamous team of Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, although the titles eluded them.

The build and hype for the Angle-Jarrett showdown this Sunday has been well done. I disagree with a few of the tactics they've used (Jarrett's daughters), but overall the storyline has had a great build and progression, including tonight's show-ending segment. But did you know there's a world title match on the same PPV? Aside from the hard sell of the lineup by the announcers and the show ending video package, there is no hype for the Rhino vs. Sting match in three days. I understand the Jarrett-Angle saga is main event caliber, but the World Title should never take a backseat and be forgotten on the last show before a PPV.

Numbers crunched harder than an unprotected chair shot to the head: last week we looked at all the Impact main event matches from 2008, so this week why not add in the three WWE shows for comparative purposes? So what else do the numbers say about wrestling shows and main events?

Let's look at the individual leaders for main event matches on each show. John Cena heads Raw with 20, The Undertaker leads Smackdown with 17, and C.M. Punk tops ECW with 18. With Punk also main eventing Raw and a couple of Smackdowns, he leads the way with 28 total WWE TV main events. Number two on that list is definitely a shocker. Chavo Guerrero has 26, as he has been in plenty of main events with La Familia on Smackdown and as champ on ECW.

Of course not every show ends with a match, as many times an in-ring segment takes top billing. All four wrestling shows aired 52 episodes this year, so who is best with ending the show with an actual match? ECW is number one with 47, followed by Raw's 43, Smackdown's 40, and last place - Impact's 36.

Curtis Shanks is a self-described wrestling nerd. Who else understands what Matt Striker is talking about all the time. Feedback is welcome, as comments, suggestions, questions and car insurance quotes can be sent to Curtis at curtisshanks.torch@gmail.com.

We suggest these recent related articles...

10/5 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Natalya vs. Paige, Owens vs. Cara, Stephanie McMahon, Sasha Banks, Xavier Woods

COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: The History of Foam Hands in Pro Wrestling

9/28 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Kane's Split Personality, Divas Revolution, Heyman & Big Show, Reigns vs. Wyatt