By Curtis Shanks, PWTorch Specialist

Welcome to TNA Impact "Under the Microscope." This is not a detailed recap, but a review for those of you that saw the show but didn't actually "watch" it. We're here to point out 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. Cue the opening pyro.

Dixie Bollea

The Microscope is all about attention to detail during broadcasts, as evident by past ramblings about various pictures in Mick Foley's office. That setting is gone now, replaced with the lavish desk of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. But there is still a picture present for us to focus on. Most office desks are filled with pics of significant others and family members, but that's not the case for Hulk.

As even non-wrestling fans are aware, Hogan is no longer married, as his divorce with wife Linda was tabloid fodder for months. Hogan looked past the family realm for his one desk picture, as the photo is a shot of he and Dixie Carter. Don't start the rumors, as Dixie is a married woman. It's actually Dixie Carter-Salinas due to her marriage, although Carter-Bollea does have a nice ring to it.

Sweet sixteen

TNA is holding yet another tournament to determine a number one contender, and fortunately more brackets are on the way. The tournament hasn't officially started yet, as we are getting matches to see who is actually in the tournament first. So let me get this straight. Wrestlers are already having matches, with the losers going home and the winners moving on to the next step towards naming a challenger? That sounds like a tournament. Why not just make it a sixteen-man tournament? Guess then you couldn't use a snazzy name like the Eight Card Stud Tournament.

Title or not a title

We've all heard about Team 3D and their proficiency for winning tag titles. Brother Devon reiterated that, mentioning the "World Tag Team titles" they've won in ECW, WWE, AJPW, NJPW, and TNA. All Japan Pro Wrestling should not be on the list, however. AJPW does have two different tag titles, but 3D has not held either one during their careers.

What Devon was likely referring to was the World's Strongest Tag Team League tournament held every year in the promotion. Winning this is more of an accomplishment than an actual tag team title belt, as it's not an honor that can be defended in matches. 3D won the tournament in 2005, joining past American winning duos Terry Gordy & Steve Williams, Ted DiBiase & Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka, and Dory & Terry Funk.

Hot potato

The TNA Knockouts have been keeping nameplate-makers in business lately as ODB and Tara have been trading the Knockout title back and forth. The last three times that title has been defended on TV or PPV, it has changed hands. A title change on three straight defenses is not the norm, but it has happened eight times in TNA history and nine times in the WWE during that same time. Aside from the KO Title, it's happened once before with the X Title and six times with the tag titles.

The Knockouts have a ways to go for the record in TNA, though. From September 2004 through January 2005, the TNA Tag Team titles switched hands during eight consecutive defenses seen on TV or PPV. Follow the bouncing dot to learn the history of the TNA tag titles during that stretch. From the Naturals to Chris Harris & Elix Skipper to Daniels & James Storm to Team Canada to 3 Live Kru to Team Canada again and finally stopping on AMW.

1+1=3

I've pointed out TNA and Kurt Angle's fuzzy math before, as I have a hard time finding all 13 World Titles Angle has supposedly won. Best guess is one IWGP, four TNA, one WCW, five WWE, and two gold medals. If you count the TNA runs, you have Angle winning the first TNA title at Sacrifice 2007 after the NWA split, regaining the title at Slammiversary after it was vacated, a defeat of Sting on Impact, and a defeat of Mick Foley at last year's Slammiversary.

I've always counted those four, which is why I was surprised during Angle's entrance this week. A graphic appeared on his name graphic, stating that Angle was a three-time TNA World Hvt. champion. Take away a belt in Japan, the gold medals, and readjust for TNA's official count and Kurt Angle is only a nine-time world champ here in the States.

For your eyes only

Rob Terry's chance at X gold was never meant to be, as he was bullied out of his contract by Doug Williams this week. But Terry does know the taste of gold, as he took the Global championship from Eric Young at a house show in Wales earlier this week. It made sense from a storyline standpoint, as EY had declared that he would not defend the title on U.S. soil, and Impact and PPVs will not leave the country for the foreseeable future. While this title switch was convenient since TNA was not in the country, non-televised switches are not as rare as one might think.

This is the third live event title swap since TNA's inception. The World Title switched from Raven to Jeff Jarrett at a Border City Wrestling event just before the Spike TV debut by the company in 2005. The tag titles were declared vacant in October 2005, but later won back by the Naturals at an NWA Anniversary show before the next television show. Looking throughout the title histories of WCW and WWE, they were far more likely than TNA to make a title switch behind the television and PPV audience's back.

In the last 15 years, there have been 17 WCW title winners and 14 WWE title winners whose victories were only seen by a house show crowd. That's still not adding in Hardcore Title reigns, as that title switched hands at house shows dozens of times during the 24/7 days. Ironically, the Television Title was the most often switched title in WCW at live events, as it happened seven times after 1995. The most frequent house show swaps in WWE are with the Intercontinental and Tag titles, as each have seen that happen five times in that time frame.

Half of those WWE non-televised swaps happened in the last five years. Mickie James won and then lost the Women's Title on the same night at a house show in 2007. Cade & Murdoch and London & Kendrick swapped the tag titles that same year, with La Resistance and Miz & Morrison starting their tag title reigns at house shows. A house show switch also occurred with the Cruiserweight Title back in 2005, as Nunzio defeated Juventud at a house show in Italy.

A Sting of many hats

I've figured it out. I know what Sting is doing up in the rafters of the TNA Impact Zone. A few quick camera shots to the rafters are all we've seen of the Icon since his farewell speech at Bound For Glory. But he hasn't returned as a roster member. With Sting up in the rafters without explanation, I can only assume that he is the one responsible for lowering and raising the mic the Mr. Anderson uses each week. His in-ring career is over, but he's still gotta make some money to put food on the table for the little Stingers.

Mini numbers crunch

The Royal Rumble is this coming Sunday, and WWE is hyping it with their own numbers crunch seen across their shows this week. I did a numbers crunch last year at this time all about the Rumble and participants with TNA experience, but I still felt the need to throw out a couple of interesting numbers this year. With the additions of Hogan and Flair, they join Lex Luger and Jim Duggan as the only Rumble winners with TNA experience. Ric Flair is the second (Bob Backlund the first) person with TNA experience who was eliminated first in a Rumble.

If you watch this year's Rumble match on PPV, pay attention to the #21 entrant. Eleven of the past 19 wrestlers who drew that number have appeared in TNA before. Looking at eliminations, the eighth man eliminated is the one to watch this year. Of the past twenty wrestlers eliminated at that spot, 14 have some type of TNA experience.

Numbers crunch - The following contest is for...nothing

A.J. Styles seems due for some vacation time, as Ric Flair urged the current World champ to take some time off and enjoy the Nature Boy way of life. A day off is rare for Styles, as this was the first Impact or PPV of 2010 where he did not defend his title. But non-title matches are a routine occurrence with all the television time devoted to wrestling...

Champs are routinely booked to loose in multi-person matches where they don't actually take the pin. So we'll just look at matches where titleholders were in one-one-one, non-title matches (two-on-two matches for tag title holders). The TNA females reign supreme here, as Knockout and Knockout Tag champs are a combined 16-1 in non-title matches since the start of 2008. World Title holders are also booked to look strong, as they occupy the next three spots on the list in winning percentage.

WWE Title: .758 (25-8)
WWE World Heavyweight: .647 (22-12)
TNA World: .643 (9-5)

Going down the rest of the list, we can see that some secondary champs are still booked to look strong in non-title situations, while others can't even break even with their win-loss records.

TNA Global: .600 (3-2)
TNA Tag Team: .583 (7-5)
ECW Title: .571 (24-18)
WWE Women's/Divas: .542 (13-11)
WWE Tag Team: .508 (30-29)
WWE Intercontinental: .489 (22-23)
TNA X: .462 (6-7)
WWE U.S.: .382 (21-34)

If we look at both companies overall, TNA has a better record for booking their champs to win in non-title matches. Overall, their titleholders are 41-20 (.672 winning percentage), while all of WWE's titleholders are 157-135 (.538 winning percentage) in non-title situations since 2008.

Curtis Shanks is a self-described wrestling nerd who, contrary to popular belief, does have a social life. Feedback is welcome! Send comments to curtisshanks.torch@gmail.com.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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