by Lee Stevens, PWTorch specialist

Thank you for joining me as we put Smackdown "Under The Microscope." For new readers, this is not a complete recap of the shown. This is a closer look at the broadcast, from what was heard to what was seen and anything that crosses my mind during the broadcast. We could go back into wrestling history or we could go in a completely random direction which has nothing to do with the business. I will be serious when needed, but in most cases, let's just have some fun.

Welcome to the neighborhood

The first Smackdown after the draft featured several new faces in the opening to the show. Rey Mysterio, C.M. Punk, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, Melina, and Kane all had prominent spots in the beginning montage. I appreciated that they updated the start of the show so quickly after the reshuffling of the roster, but before the new owners could move in, the past residents still hadn't moved out all of their belongings. Big Show, Triple H, and Maryse all came to the ring with the Raw logo beside their name.

I thought the announcers did a decent job of clearing up some of the potential confusion by insisting that it could be the last time we see these superstars on Smackdown because of the draft. For long-time viewers, I'm sure they were quite used to seeing everyone on every brand, so it wasn't much of a problem. For newer viewers, they didn't have any history with brand confusion, so again, no problem.

My only concern is that with the draft, this was a prime time to have clear-cut roles defined for at least the next few months. After this crossover week, I hope they choose that route at least for a brief time. I'm sure that many were bothered by any mention of Raw this soon after the draft, but it's been that way for much of the year since the last draft, so I didn't expect too much this soon.

How much is enough?

Answer: 7

At least that would be the number of leg drops offered up by Matt Hardy to his brother Jeff before Jim Ross cried out "Enough!" Good intensity from Matt again as the brotherly feud will apparently continue despite the draft.

And now we will list every person alphabetically

The latest WWE fact celebrates that more people attended WrestleMania 25 than attended the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Madonna's concert in Miami, the NFL Super Bowl, and the NCAA Final Four. Taking a closer look at the numbers reveals a different story.

-- The All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium featured 55,632 spectators watching baseball's best including Alex Rodriguez.

-- Madonna's concert at Dolphin Stadium had 47,998 fans watching the woman who allegedly took batting practicing with Alex Rodriguez.

-- Last year's Super Bowl was played in front of 70,774 people, but this is where it gets tricky.

-- The two semi-final games for the NCAA Final Four had 72,456 fans, which is just short of the 72,744 in attendance at WrestleMania 25. However, according to the official box score of the final game with Michigan St. vs. North Carolina in "First Blood" match, the official attendance is listed as 72,922. Perhaps they brought their own chairs or some of the extra fans sat on the bench or on Jim Nantz's lap. Since the graphic listed the achievement as having more people in attendance than at the Final Four, I will assume they meant the semi-final games and wish them a hearty congratulations.

Plus, this feels too much like math class, so let's move on, shall we?

Do you have Le Paradise by Le Dashboard Light?

During Maryse's match with Gail Kim, the subject somehow turned to the Divas Champion's social calendar, leading into the line "French Canadians like karaoke." Maryse is from Montreal, so the French Canadian part is accurate and although there's no evidence of her love of the amateur singing technology, she does have some musical experience. She appeared in Timbaland's video for "Throw It on Me," along with fellow divas Ashley, Kelly Kelly, Brooke, Torrie Wilson, and Layla. She also made a special guest appearance on Chris Jericho's show "Redemption Song" and she was joined by Candice Michelle, Mickie James, and Eve Torres.

As for karaoke, it was originally designed in Japan and its popularity developed in that country. The man who invented a karaoke machine never patented it, so instead of Daisuke Inoue getting the credit, Roberto del Rosario, a Filipino inventor held the patent for the technology. Finland holds the record for the largest number of people singing karaoke at one time, with 80,000 people singing "Hard Rock Hallelujah" on May 26, 2006. China holds the mark for longest non-stop rally of karaoke for 214 hours, 20 minutes, and eight seconds in December of 2007.
My friend Otis holds the record for most times someone has told him "Listening to you doing both sections of 'Summer Loving' isn't as funny as you think." That record grows every Friday night.

Back to school

Todd Grisham correctly referred to John Morrison as the "former film student at Cal." Morrison attended U of Cal at Davis studying both film and geology. He took a turn from both careers and later auditioned for "Tough Enough." After failing to make the second season of the show, he was accepted to the third edition of the WWE reality show. His former tag team partner "The Miz" was on the following year.

Weighing in at none of your business, from Clarksville, Tennessee

The sign of the night comes from the fan proclaiming "Pat Summitt--the next Divas Champ." For those of you not familiar with Summitt, she is the Head Coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers and she was won more games than any coach in NCAA basketball history, women or men. She has won eight NCAA Titles, 14 SEC Championships, and 13 SEC Tournament Titles. She's held the title of Coach of the Year for the SEC and NCAA seven times, but as of this writing, she has never held WWE gold.

What's up?

R-Truth wasn't the only one rapping on the campus of the Univ. of Tennessee. This footage is of Men's Coach Bruce Pearl keeping it orange, yo.



Word to your Assistant Coach.

Lee Stevens examines Smackdown and Raw with "Under The Microscope." You can leave comments below or e-mail him at GLStevens.Torch@gmail.com

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