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 Jarrett is thinking of going to the dark side, Phi Delta Slam are getting a push, and Samoa Joe is now a kidnapper. But what else is there to notice? Let's see what we can spot. Cue the opening pyro.

We get the obligatory Mafia promo to start the show this week, but things have been mixed up a bit. Interrupting the Jarrett-Sting exchange is not Foley, Styles, or Joe, but the Motor City Machine Guns. Alex Shelley gets some promo time with the "big dogs" and goes after Mick Foley, referencing last Thanksgiving being the worst day of his career. Shelley was the loser in the annual Turkey Bowl and was forced to wear a turkey suit (damn that was compelling television) by Mick Foley.

Unlike WWE, TNA did not show us a recap video of what Shelley was talking about to drive the point into our heads. Not giving us a recap video was exactly what they should have done, as logically the production team should not have a recap video of that instance ready to show just in the off-chance that it is mentioned on a show. Shelley challenges Mick Foley to a handicap match later in the show - Foley vs. The Guns.

After the segment, JB is backstage with Foley and says "I did not see that coming." I did see it coming (without spoilers) and JB should have too. At 2:06 this afternoon, I received a TNA Mobile text hyping the show. The text described Mick Foley in a 2-on-1 First Blood match with Sting as the special enforcer. I'm guessing those are the "tweak" Foley was talking about adding to the match. With all the time JB spends hyping TNA Mobile to the viewers, you'd think he was aware of some of the content sent out. The show seems built around what is going to happen with The Guns and Foley, but text subscribers are already aware of the answer. Not a good way to build up a show throughout the night.

After a brief ring introduction at Destination X, we see another appearance from Navy vet Jesse Neal as he is backstage with Rhino this week. For those of you who are curious, Neal is a trained wrestler as he has been studying at the Team 3D Academy referenced in the Rough Cuts segment. We've seen Neal twice with his hat on, perhaps to hide the funky haircut and mohawk he has sported during his wrestling career. While Neal is a contracted wrestler (he recently signed a two year deal with TNA), there is truth to the Navy history he described during his promo with Rhino.

Neal is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, joining in 1998 and serving before starting his wrestling career in 2007. Neal was stationed on the U.S.S. Cole when it was bombed by a terrorist group in Yemen. Sixteen shipmen were lost that day, including the life of his best friend. Neal states on his MySpace page that he is dedicating every match to his friend's memory and when he makes it big the memory of his friend will be his main focus. There are a lot of young talented wrestlers out there vying for the few TV spots available, but I hope this guy can realize his dream and make it as those are the stories like to hear about.

Professional wrestling is filled with stories we hear over and over again, and we get one of the more famous one's as Mike Tenay sits down for an interview with Sting this week. Sting tells the story of Mick Foley losing his ear in a match vs. Vader in Germany. Sting recalls that he was there watching the match backstage, and remembers Gary Cappetta coming backstage with Foley's ear that he had lost during the match.

Cappetta has a long history of ring announcing in the professional wrestling world. His first big break came when he was hired by Gorilla Monsoon to do ring announcing duties in the WWWF. He stayed with them for eleven years, departing following a dispute with Vince McMahon. Cappetta spent time in Verne Gagne's AWA, then Jim Crockett Promotions before he signed on with WCW in 1989. He announced for WCW until his retirement in 1995, giving way to Dave Penzer, who is the current ring announcer for TNA. We all know retirements don't last forever in the wrestling world, and Cappetta is no exception. In the past few years, he has been seen as a backstage interviewer on many ROH DVD releases.

As last week's show ended, Samoa Joe teased a chair shot to Sharmell. Calmer heads prevailed and Joe ended up carrying Sharmell out off the arena as the show faded to black. There was no explanation as to what was happening, just the shot of Joe leaving the arena. You'd think that qualifies as a cliffhanger storyline, but that does not seem to be the case. Nothing is explained until the half-way point when JB gets a promo from Booker T backstage before his match. Even then, nothing was really explained except for the fact that Sharmell is spooked and not talking. If you end a show with an unanswered question, it would be nice for that question to be answered on the next show, or at least mentioned in the first hour. Apparently Joe simply dropped Sharmell off outside and left the arena for the evening.

There are a lot of similarities between WWE and TNA, but there is one area where the two promotions are taking opposite approaches - tag team titles. WWE is soon to have four TV shows with six hours of programming, while TNA still has just one two hour show. After last Sunday, WWE is down to one tag team championship as the World and WWE tag belts were unified. TNA has four different tag titles mentioned on their show. I know the difference, history, and importance of all the belts, but a lot of casual viewers may be confused by the influx of tag titles.

Beer Money are the TNA tag champs, 3D are the IWGP tag champs, The Guns hold the IWGP Junior tag titles, and LAX are the reigning IWA tag champs in Puerto Rico (they have not been shown with the belts, but the title change was mentioned last week).

Shelley and Sabin are backstage, and they are promising victory in their First Blood match vs. Mick Foley, even volunteering to put their tag titles on the line. A victory by The Guns seems like a pretty safe bet given the history of blading for the three individuals. Mick Foley's history is a given, as there are dozens upon dozens of time we've seen Foley wear the crimson mask. Shelley and Sabin are a different story, however.

According to Internet reports, The Guns drew a lot of flack from TNA management after the Against All Odds PPV in February 2008. The Guns and Jay Lethal faced off against 3D and Johnny Devine in a street fight for the X Division title. Shelley and Sabin were booked to blade during the match, although in a victorious effort. They reportedly refused, and were taken out of the last part of the match with Lethal being prominently featured and winning the X Title in the end. Either Foley is adding to the roadmap that is a veteran wrestler's forehead, or Shelley and Sabin have had a change of opinion.

Once again, I did not catch any bleeps. Nor did I catch any "Jarrett as the founder of TNA" mentions tonight, but the name-drop counter was in full swing. Even if you've never seen Impact, you knew just who the participants were in the opening promo. Sting said "Jeff" ten times, but others took part as well. Jeff Jarrett threw in five "Stings," one "Scott" and one "Alex." Steiner joined in the madness with two "Stings and five "Jeffs." That's a lot of name-dropping for ten minutes of TV time.

Alex Shelley came out to interrupt the last part of the exchange, but did not take part. During his promo he referred to Sting and Jeff only once each by name. Even more intriguing is the sit down interview Mike Tenay did with Sting. Sting talked for roughly five minutes, but not once did he say "Mike" when talking to Tenay.

Numbers crunched harder than an unprotected chair shot to the head: You don't need the Microscope to realize that last Sunday was the biggest night of the wrestling year, WrestleMania. Mania is a WWE event and this is a TNA column, but I would be remiss if we didn't look at the history of WrestleMania as it relates to TNA.

In the 25-year history of Mania, 313 different people have competed in some type of match (dark matches excluded) on the PPV. Many of them only took part in one of the many battle royals or multi-person matches in the PPV's history, such as the diva match last week or the 15-team battle royal at WrestleMania XIV. Of those individuals, 68 have stepped foot inside a TNA ring, whether it be as a main roster member, a one-week appearance during the weekly PPV days (Randy Savage, Bart Gunn), or simply as a jobber (Mr. Kennedy, MVP).

Of the 68 talents with Mania matches and TNA appearances, ten have had five or more Mania matches. Jake Roberts and Randy Savage lead with eight, while Kurt Angle and Roddy Piper trail closely with seven Mania matches each. TNA has a reputation for picking up WWE cast-offs, evident by the number of past Mania competitors who have appeared for the promotion.

I count nine of those wrestlers who actually made their Mania debut after appearing in TNA, not the other way around. Those wrestlers are Jimmy Yang, Mr. Kennedy, C.M. Punk, MVP, Sabu, Sandman, Monty Brown, Umaga, and Gail Kim. That number could grow next year as former TNA wrestlers R-Truth (Ron Killings), Evan Bourne (Matt Sydal), and Low-Ki (wrestling in FCW as Kaval) are under WWE contract and awaiting their Mania debuts.

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 and questions can be sent to Curtis at curtisshanks.torch@gmail.com or in the comments section below.

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