By Curtis Shanks, Torch specialist

The summer vacation is over, the bags have been unpacked, two weeks worth of wrestling has been DVRed, and the viewing process has begun. While I had planned to view the last two Impacts in an abbreviated DVR fashion to quickly catch up, I found myself reeled in and watching them under the familiar Microscope.

Sacrifice and the two Impacts that followed from May 28 and June 4 are a distant memory to many, but we'll still take a look at some of the little tidbits you may not have noticed from those shows.

Starting with Sacrifice, the very first match was a six-man tag featuring the mish-mash tag team of the MCMG and Sheik Abdul Bashir. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for the pairing other than the fact that they are all heels. But there was a common thread between them. The Guns of course reside in the Motor City, Detroit, Michigan. During his time in WWE as Daivari, Bashir was billed as being from Detroit along with Muhammad Hassan. The location was fabricated by WWE, as Bashir is actually from Minnesota and TNA now announces his location as Tehran, Iran, but there are other Detroit ties in TNA.

With its current roster, TNA could create an entire Detroit faction. Along with Shelley and Sabin, roster members Kevin Nash, Rhino, and Scott Steiner are all billed from Detroit as well. Add former TNA wrestler Rick Steiner into the mix, and you could have an entire Motor City Arsenal.

Sacrifice and Extreme Rules were the last two PPVs presented by TNA and WWE. When it comes to title defenses, the two shows were polar opposites. There were a total of five title changes at Extreme Rules, four involving a World Title. Sacrifice gave us four title defenses (World, X, Knockout, and Legends), but not one title change. This was only the third time there have been at least four titles defended on a TNA PPV without a title change. The other two were Genesis 2007 and Against All Odds this past February. AAO actually featured all five TNA titles on the line without one single switch taking place.

The May 28 episode once again featured some great commentary from Don West in his new heel role. But he may have been hinting at a future TNA acquisition with one line he delivered. Mid-match, he used the phrase "Good Night, Irene." Good Night, Irene was a song from the 1930s, which was later remade in 1950 by The Weavers. The '50s version spent 25 weeks on the Billboard best-sellers chart, even reaching the number one slot. There have been many versions remade since then by the likes of Jimmy Buffet, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, and Van Morrison among many others.

While West could be a huge music fan and was referencing one of the many versions of the song produced, he could also be quoting the catch phrase of a former WWE announcer. Taz used the phrase on Smackdown almost on a weekly basis. We've seen Taz references with the towel Samoa Joe wears on his head, so this could have been another reference to the man we'll see in TNA once his no-compete clause expires. Don't be surprised if you hear West utter "off the chain" in the coming weeks.

Lethal Consequences and the Guns are still obsessed with the question "Who is Suicide?" Lethal, still in retro mode, compares the Daniels-Suicide saga to a name from WWE past, asking "Who is Kim Chee?" Kim Chee, the handler of Kamala, was portrayed by wrestler Steve Lombardi. Lombardi could be considered the original "shapeshifter." Along with Kim Chee, Lombardi also portrayed The Brooklyn Brawler, Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz, and even Doink the Clown on some occasions. Lombardi is portraying a different character these days, as he currently works for WWE as a backstage road agent.

TNA has a reputation for opening their PPVs with their X Division spot-fests. These matches are full of cool moves, lack selling, and are usually forgotten by the middle of the show. But what about their TV shows? With Kiyoshi and Bashir taking on Daniels and Suicide to open the June 4 episode, we've now seen 14 straight Impacts where the first match features the X Division. While they've mixed in Beer Money and Rhino to face the X Division guys on a couple of instances, the last opener we saw on Impact without an X Division wrestler was February 26 when a Knockout tag team match was the first contest on the show.

Mick Foley is beaten down and tired, so he plans to defend the TNA title only once a year after Slammiversary. It is referenced that he wants to do away with the standard 30-day defense rule associated with TNA's titles. WWE has referenced the same rule in the past with their titles, but it isn't a rule that is explained very well. Does this include house shows? Title defenses happen on house shows all the time, but those match-ups are never mentioned in the TV world. If we are only talking about TV and PPV, the 30-day mark without a title defense is exceeded on a routine basis.

The last time we saw the TNA tag titles defended was at Lockdown, a streak of 50 days without a defense as of June 9. The World, X, and Knockout titles weren't defended on TV between Lockdown and Sacrifice, a span of 34 days. WWE is guilty too, as it has been a while since we've seen the Unified tag titles or the Women's title defended on TV or PPV. It's been 49 days for the Women's Title and 63 for the tag titles.

I am a fan of how TNA has eliminated the "invisible camera" problem we see every week in WWE. The camera is acknowledged, as Jeremy Borash or Lauren are in every backstage segment with a mic in hand. But there was a problem during the segment where Kevin Nash was in Mick Foley's office to ask for more money to compete against Samoa Joe. JB is close by with the mic as Foley speaks, but never even approaches Nash. Yet we hear what Nash is saying loud and clear, even though he spends the entire segment six feet away from Foley, JB, and the mic.

I've pointed out in the past how the TNA entrance tunnels work and can add a bit of intrigue to the show. Babyfaces on the right, heels on the left. It's been interesting watching which side someone in the tweener role will use each week. TNA will usually follow through, as someone will switch entrances after an all out heel/face turn as well. But sometimes it's hard to guess for the at-home viewer. The camera operators apparently have the same problem.

One week after the heel attack on Jeff Jarrett, Eric Young is called out. As his intro music plays, the camera shot focuses in on the heel entrance, only to pan left as he enters through the babyface entrance. Mick Foley is in the tweener role right now, actually acting a bit more heelish as of late. But he is still officially a babyface if you judge it solely on which entrance tunnel he uses. The MEM security is another interesting situation. Two weeks ago they entered on the heel side with the MEM before being fired, only to be hired by Foley and enter through the babyface side with him last week. Everyone in the tweener role should just eliminate the guessing and use the old Kurt Angle entrance and come up through the middle of the stage.

Of course, I couldn't look back at the past two weeks without turning on the name-drop counter. May 28 saw six name-drops from Sting, while the June 4 episode gave us seven. But Jeff Jarrett takes the cake. As he enters into a feud with EY, we will be hearing "Eric" quite a bit in the coming weeks. Last week, there were ten instances from Jeff during their in-ring confrontation. The bleep counter was running as well, as we got totals of two and seven, with last week's episode once again inflated by a profanity-laced Knockout beating backstage.

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.

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