By Curtis Shanks, PWTorch Specialist

Welcome to the TNA Impact edition of Under the Microscope. 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. We're here to point out all those little tidbits you may have missed, make some random observations, or use a little research to dig deeper into what was on the show.

After last week's show, we know that tournaments are everywhere in TNA, Eric Young supposedly looks like Homicide now, and Daniels still remembers the X Division's glory days. But what else is there to notice? Let's see what we can spot. Cue the opening pyro.

Let's get this party started

TNA took an interesting approach to open this week's show, as we joined a match already in progress. I like the explanation as to why this happened (management decided to let the teams get started early rather than a fight breaking out backstage) and I appreciate the effort for something different. However, there were a few reasons as to why this fell short.

TNA at times suffers from presenting matches where the rules aren't quite clear to the viewer. This week added to that, as we started off with a match, but didn't quite know the rules. Was it one-fall to a finish or an elimination match? They should have better explained what was happening, as it seemed more like a DVR error that cut off the first part of the show rather than a fresh approach to open the episode. Who knows, maybe the first half was just awful and TNA decided to not even show it to us.

TNA has used the half-dark/half-televised approach with a match before. In April 2006, the first Impact in the new Thursday timeslot opened mid-match. We were treated to a bloody Christopher Daniels right off the bat, as he ended up losing his X Title to Samoa Joe in the match. It was a great marketing strategy for TNA. Impact's new time slot meant that the show immediately followed UFC. TNA was trying to gain new viewers who just watched UFC and didn't have time to change the channel. The hope was that "real" fight fans would see the realistic style of Daniels and Joe and want to stay tuned. (Caldwell's Note: And the very next show, they inexplicably and infamously started the show with Team Canada, killing all of their momentum.)

Strike two, Mr. Young

In the half of the opening match that we did see, we saw that World Elite stole a win away from the Mafia. Kurt Angle and the Mafia are not happy with WE, despite their working agreement in the past few weeks. But Angle should have been upset with Young last week. During the Styles-Williams match for entry into the PPV title match, Angle explained how much he wanted Doug Williams in the match with him rather than Styles. He explained that his worst nightmare would be both Styles and Sting in the match with him, since they would team together to take him out. Styles won the match, and we later saw Sting win his match as well to confirm Angle's nightmare situation. Angle should have been upset, as it was Eric Young that caused the DQ finish that allowed Sting entry into the title match with Angle.

Kurt, Matt, Matt, Kurt, A.J., Kurt, Matt...

Our four combatants for the World Title met in-ring this week for some promo time. Many things were discussed, including how Sting has "lost a step" and is "passing the torch." Those things are apparently true...if we are talking about the Sting name-drop counter. There were only three instances of Sting addressing his opponents by name during the promo. The torch may have been passed as Kurt Angle and Matt Morgan both surpassed Sting this week despite having the same amount of promo time. Angle tallied up a respectable count of ten, while Matt Morgan took the cake with an annoying twelve "Kurts" during his time on the mic.

However, the overall winner was not even in the segment with those four. I'm tempted to listen to the Spanish broadcast of Impact to create the Hector Guerrero "Esse" counter. Hector said "Esse" fifteen times during his confrontation with the World Elite members later in the show. It's not exactly a name, but I think Sting would still be proud.

A brother from a different mother

As Jay Lethal jobs yet again, this time to D'Angelo Dinero, Tazz discusses an off-camera discussion he had with the Black Machismo. Tazz mentions that Lethal continually called him Muraco, an '80s reference to "Magnificent" Don Muraco. Muraco was a notable name during his wrestling career, as he held the WWF Intercontinental Title twice as well as the ECW World Title on two occasions. Muraco was also the first ever King of the Ring in WWF, as he won the first tournament in 1985. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004 to top off his career. If you're not familiar with Muraco, there is basically zero resemblance to Tazz. For the record, Muraco is listed as 6'3" while Tazz is only listed at 5'9".

All aboard!

Dinero's finishing move got a name this week, as the announcers referred to it as the DDE (D'Angelo Dinero Express). The name is a play off his finisher from his WWE days. During his time as Elijah Burke he used the same finisher, although it was then called the Elijah Express. Not very inventive, as the initials have just been switched around for the new gimmick. Thankfully, we didn't see the move performed by former Road Warriors manager Paul Ellering, the tag team of Public Enemy, or the combo of Chuck Palumbo and Shawn Stasiak (Perfect Event). I don't know if I could get used to the PEE as a finisher.

The wait is over

Madison Rayne's mystery partner is revealed, and it is a familiar face as Roxxi makes her return to TNA. We haven't seen Roxxi since March, as she last appeared at Destination X in a six-woman tag match to open the PPV. The return was supposed to be a surprise, which is why one fan's sign intrigued me. As Roxxi makes her entrance, a front row fan is shown holding a sign that says "Roxxi Rules." Apparently the poor guy has been sitting in the front row with that sign for six months waiting for one of his favorites to return to the ring. I guess there's hope yet, as I may hold on to my "Trytan Rules" sign for a bit longer.

If Kurt Angle can do it, so can I

Did I miss some house show title changes? As Mick Foley vs. Kevin Nash is hyped for next week, the voice over guy mentions "The Hardcore Legend" Mick Foley and "Twenty-time World champion" Kevin Nash. Twenty? Last I knew Nash had only six world title runs in his past. The twenty is more than likely in reference to total titles, not heavyweight titles.

- WCW World Heavyweight (5 times)
- WCW World Tag Team (9 times)
- WWF Heavyweight (once)
- WWF Intercontinental (once)
- WWF World Tag Team (twice)
- TNA Legends (twice)

That gives us our total of twenty, but some of those titles don't even have "world" in the official name. I guess 20 sound a bit better than six on the marquee of Nash's comic book autograph signings and gets him a bit more cash for his appearances.

A five star match...out of a possible 100

The Guns were out on commentary this week (one of the highlights of the show), but weren't quite into it the entire time. Video games became more important during a couple segments, as their monitors were equipped with game play from the TNA Impact video game. From their game choices, we see that The Guns are a fan of the squash match. The on-screen graphic we saw over Alex Shelley's shoulder gave us a game match-up of Shark Boy vs. Scott Steiner. Of course, it could be a dream match-up for all we know. The Shark vs. Steiner contest is one that we have never seen in TNA before.

Real vs. Fake

Unfortunately, Tara faced off against Cody Deaner this week in an MMA match. To ease the pain, The Guns were given time to announce during this "match." Midway, Shelley asks "Is Ikuto Hidaka gonna make an appearance in this?" Hidaka is a Japanese wrestler who got his start in the Battlearts promotion, which portrayed a sort of shoot-fighting style. After fighting an MMA style in Japan, Hidaka made his way to ECW in the U.S. His run did not pan out, as he botched moves routinely and was a jobber during his entire stay. He has seen success since returning to Japan, holding tag titles in the ZERO-1 promotion as well as Pro Wrestling NOAH.

Six Million Dollar Baby

We see a bit of security cam footage this week of Bobby Lashley in the gym, as he is attacked by Rhino while working out. The segment was a little corny, but my main focus was on the movie poster adorning the wall of Lashley's gym. There was no real reason for the poster, as it was a promo poster for the 2004 movie "Against the Ropes."

The movie starred Omar Epps and Meg Ryan, and told the real-life story of Jackie Kallen, one of the first female boxing managers. The movie did not do well, as it grossed roughly $6 million at the box office. I couldn't find a tie between the movie and pro wrestling other than the fact that famous announcer Michael Buffer made an appearance in the film. Of course, a boxing movie without Michael Buffer is sort of like a WWE movie without a monetary loss.

Numbers crunch - Blow out the candles!

This week is a little misleading, as it is more of a research crunch than a numbers crunch. It was birthday time for me earlier this week. I know many of you could care less, but it made me wonder about wrestlers and their birthdays. I didn't have quite the excitement that Vince McMahon did a few weeks ago. Pinning the current World champ is quite the present for a 64-year-old. Wrestlers don't get many days off during the year, birthdays included. So what wrestlers have made some type of wrestling history on the birthday?

A wrestler's birthday falls on a PPV Sunday or a Monday Raw on many occasions, but they are still expected to show up and do their job without any mention to the at-home viewer. Guys like A.J. Styles (King of the Mountain match) and Randy Orton (WrestleMania Money in the Bank match) have been in big matches on their big day, but they didn't really make history.

The list of wrestlers that won a title on their birthday is a short one. C.M. Punk won the IWA-Mid South Heavyweight title on his birthday in 2002. If you're looking at major titles, Chris Benoit and Sabu were the only two I could find. Benoit won the WWE tag titles with Chris Jericho on May 21, 2001 (34th B-Day) and Sabu won the ECW tag titles with Rob Van Dam on December 12, 1998 (35th B-Day).

The Undertaker hasn't won a title on his birthday, but #26 was special for him. March 24, 1991 saw Undertaker defeat Jimmy Snuka at WrestleMania for victory number one in his unbeaten WrestleMania streak. John Cena has put in the most work for a birthday boy, as he faced Shawn Michaels in their classic one-hour Raw match in England on his 30th birthday in 2007.

Bill Goldberg's 32nd birthday also made some history, but it was not a day he would like to remember. December 27, 1998 saw Goldberg lose the WCW title to Kevin Nash at Starrcade. This match was historic as it was the first loss of Goldberg's WCW career, ending his infamous streak at 173 victories

Curtis Shanks is a self-described wrestling nerd who, contrary to popular belief, does have a social life. Feedback is welcome as comments, suggestions and questions can be sent to Curtis at curtisshanks.torch@gmail.com.

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