By Curtis Shanks, Torch 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 Kip James is a victim of the rough economy, the Brits are in line for some title shots, and Eric Young can be more than just comic relief. But what else is there to notice? Let's see what we can spot. Cue the opening pyro.

This week's show starts with a promo video for the main event, rather than a recap of events from previous weeks. The video package is well done as usual, but TNA could still improve with their timing. This is the type of video that should have been shown last week to hype the next week's show. TNA does a good job of hyping the show to keep viewers tuned in, but they do nothing to promote the next episode other than the simple advancement of storylines.

Last week's announcement that we would see Sting vs. Angle and a Samoa Joe first blood match was the first time I can remember TNA hyping a future episode rather than the current one. With all the gimmick matches and marquee match-ups, it's a mystery why they are never announced until the show goes on the air. If the Styles-Daniels match-up two weeks ago had been announced the week before, who knows how many more viewers would have tuned in to see that match-up.

Mick Foley appears likely to drop the World Title at Slammiversary, as it is unlikely that he will continue as champ only to defend the title once a year. While his current TNA title reign is not exactly historic or monumental, a personal milestone has already been set. Last Friday marked the 48th day Foley has spent as World Champ in TNA. While 48 days is not much to brag about compared to some other lengthy title runs we've seen in the past, it did give Foley a longer heavyweight title run than all three of his previous reigns in WWE combined (47 days).

With Foley's history of short world title runs, this may be the real reason he wants to remain champ as long as possible and only wants to defend the belt on a yearly basis. This is his first taste of a decent title run, and he'll do whatever it takes to prolong it for as long as possible.

Our opening contest this week (the 15th in a row with an X-Division wrestler) featured all of the tag team gold in TNA. Team 3D are the IWGP and TNA title holders, while Alex Shelley holds the IWGP Junior Hvt. tag titles along with Chris Sabin, who was ringside. LAX were the other tag champs on the TNA roster as they held the IWA tag belts in Puerto Rico, although the belts were never defended in TNA, only mentioned on a couple of occasions. LAX can no longer can claim that distinction, however, as their titles were vacated three weeks ago after the neck injury suffered by Hernandez.

During our opening match, Don West is in all-out heel mode as the question of "who is Suicide?" is discussed. West has had a reversal in his opinion, as he proclaims "I don't care who Suicide is, as long as it doesn't turn out being Glenn Gilberti." Gilberti was best known for his days in WCW as Disco Inferno, and later just Disqo (a play on the name of rapper Sisqo). After WCW ceased operations, Gilberti joined TNA in 2003 and wrestled under his real name.

He had mild success in TNA, including a World Title shot vs. Jeff Jarrett and some time spent with the S.E.X. faction. He later formed the New York Connection, teaming with Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger. After leaving TNA, he returned for a one-off squash match in the fall 2007 - a loss to Abyss. After then spending time as a road agent in TNA, he was released from his contract in November 2008.

West and Tenay also spend time putting over the King of the Mountain matches at Slammiversary. They hype the fact that the X-Division match will be the first KOTM where the X Division title is on the line. We have seen six KOTM matches in TNA history, with five for the World Title. The only exception was the final Impact show before Slammiversary 2008, when a World Title shot was on the line. That match could technically be the first X-Division KOTM match, as Kaz defeated Chris Sabin, Johnny Devine, Christopher Daniels (as Curry Man), and Jimmy Rave.

We got two first blood matches this week, as Samoa Joe faced both Scott Steiner and Booker T in succession. While there was one great finish and one weak finish in those matches, both were something I can't recall seeing as an ending for that style of match. The great finish was Samoa Joe obliterating a garbage can which contained the head of Scott Steiner. The weak finish was the pipe to the chest of Booker T that apparently caused internal bleeding. Say what you want about the finishes, but they were both something new and something you would never predict before the fact. That's one thing I appreciate in TNA. Things can be hit or miss, but at least I don't see most of them coming.

Shane Douglas made his return to TNA after taking some time off to "battle personal demons," as Mike Tenay put it. It's been a couple of years since we've seen The Franchise in TNA. He was involved in a storyline with The Naturals in 2006 and early 2007, and spent time before that as a backstage interviewer. While we saw plenty Douglas on our TV during these times, it's been since May 5, 2004 since we've seen him in an official match in TNA - more than five years. He was victorious in that match, as he defeated Michael Shane in singles competition.

There was no Sting name-drop counter this week, as we didn't hear much of him on the mic, but Mick Foley and Jeff Jarrett are gunning to fill his shoes. In their two face-to-face confrontations this evening we got ten "Micks" from Jarrett and fifteen "Jeffs" from Foley. While the broken-record name dropping can get annoying, it was funny to hear Foley mix it up a bit and refer to Jeff as "Jeffrey" on a few occasions.

Numbers crunched harder than an unprotected chair shot to the head: title changes are still big news in professional wrestling today despite the large amount of titles available to competitors (five in TNA and nine in WWE). Titles change hands almost on a monthly basis, as TV shows, PPVs, and even house shows can see new champions crowned. But where are you most likely to see a title swap in each of the two major promotions?

Since TNA abandoned their weekly PPVs and went to a weekly TV show/monthly PPV format along with WWE, there have been 229 title changes between the two promotions. In TNA, 66.7 percent of those changes have occurred on a monthly PPV with 30.4 appearing on free TV (the remaining percentage are house show changes). WWE is more apt to swap a title on TV, as they sit at 54.4 percent for PPVs and 41.3 percent on one of their TV shows. The percentage can vary in the two promotions when you look at what type of title changes hands, though.

Looking at how many times a title change occurs on a monthly PPV vs. TV, TNA (81.3 percent on PPV) and WWE (79.6 percent on PPV) are close when it comes to World Titles. The similarities stop there as TNA has more PPV changes when it comes to tag titles (62.5 percent vs. 29.7 in WWE) and main secondary (X, Intercontinental, U.S.) titles as well (68.2 percent vs. 39 in WWE).

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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