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 The Mafia is aligned with half the roster, Universal Studios was the sight of a riot, and everybody is afraid of Hernandez's chain. But what else is there to notice? Let's see what we can spot. Cue the opening pyro.

I believe we have solved a question posed a few weeks ago before Impact even gets under way this evening. I mentioned Mick Foley referencing the TNA Board of Directors in the July 30 Microscope, and we were able to figure out who all of those individuals were (most of them actually work for Spike TV, not TNA) except for one individual. I asked, "who the heck is fish?" That was the one name Foley listed who I was unfamiliar with.

As I tuned in to Impact this week, the end credits to UFC were running before Impact began. There was the man who is no doubt the "Fish" Foley was referring to, Scott Fishman. Viewing the UFC credits, we find that Fish is the Spike TV "Executive in charge of production." No idea what that position entails, but with the way things are in TNA right now I'm not sure what anybody's job is exactly.

The FFG has returned, as Christy Hemme returns from her neck injury to face Sojourner Bolt this week. The return was nothing special as it was not built up or treated like a big story, but I'm not complaining since this is only Christy Hemme we're talking about.

Hemme has not been seen since she was pulled from her match at the January Genesis PPV. She was scheduled to challenge Awesome Kong for the Knockouts Title for the second consecutive PPV, but a throw-away tag match was instead shown due to the injury. The last we saw of Hemme on our TVs was the Christmas Day Impact from last year. She has picked up right where she left off, as the match from that show was also a Hemme vs. Bolt one-on-one contest.

I'm sure most of you will agree when I say "I miss the Rough Cuts segments." They were a great way for a wrestler to build their character and made them almost seem more human and likable in the over-the-top world of professional wrestling. While those segments have been M.I.A., the Mike Tenay sit-down interviews have replicated a small portion of the Rough Cuts segments.

Tenay has interviewed Kevin Nash and Bobby Lashley the last few weeks in an empty arena. While the interviews are just prolonged promos, and involve a lot more storyline aspects than the Rough Cuts segments did, they are still different than most of the promos seen in WWE and TNA. The delivery in those interviews doesn't seem forced or over the top. It's a refreshing change to hear a wrestler simply discuss what is going on in a speaking voice, rather than grabbing a mic and yelling during a two-minute backstage segment.

The X Division is once again absent from this week's show, but they are taking baby steps. During the Rhino-Jesse Neal match, Tenay and West hype the return of the Steel Asylum match this Sunday. They discuss the participants, and even mention that Consequences Creed was just featured in an article of Geek Magazine.

Geek Magazine, actually referred to as Geek Monthly, is a magazine geared towards, well, geeks. The mission statement listed by the magazine is "...dedicated to anything and everything that geeks like you obsess about; the latest toys, anime, TV shows, movies, games, and DVDs." Looking at a preview for the latest issue, Creed is featured in a story discussing his favorite '80s cartoon characters. I believe the magazine has the wrong member of Lethal Consequences if they are looking for a piece dedicated to references and topics from the '80s.

The debate is on, as Team 3D discusses how The Steiner Brothers and Harlem Heat were two great tag teams, but they are still the greatest ever. The statement is apparently not just an opinion, but a fact as reference is made to the fans voting Team 3D the greatest tag team. I'm not sure if I missed something, but I'm not sure what vote they are referring to.

TNA did hold fan voting in a number of categories for their year end awards in 2006 and 2007, including best tag team. But the winner those two years were Styles & Daniels and The Guns. No Team 3D. I could not find if TNA held the same voting awards last year, or if 3D won the vote. Maybe a reader out there can clarify if 3D were the 2008 TNA Tag Team of the Year. The only other thing I could think of was the yearly awards given out by Pro Wrestling Illustrated, which are determined by fan voting. 3D won the yearly voting only once - in 2001. However, the two teams 3D are feuding against and supposedly better than, The Steiners and Harlem Heat, have both won that distinction on two different occasions.

Kevin Nash and Mick Foley had a great in-ring confrontation this week, and it's no surprise the topic of money was discussed. As the crowd is heckling Nash, he let's it get the best of him and tells the fans "you don't even make $6.50 an hour!" If that is true, there are a lot of cheap and unlawful employers in the Orlando area. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the current U.S. minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Not quite as much as Nash's downside guarantee, but still more than the $6.50 he is assuming.

Geek Magazine wasn't the only "nerd" topic discussed this week. Kevin Nash makes reference to an appearance he did (without the Legend's belt sadly) at Wizard World, a comic book convention. Wizard World was once known as the Chicago Comic-Con, until it was purchased by Wizard Entertainment, a distributor of comic books. The event is now referred to as Wizard World Chicago. But this isn't Nash's only experience with Wizards.

In Nash's early days in WCW, he portrayed the infamous Oz character. Nash was not alone, as he was accompanied to the ring by Merlin the Wizard. Merlin also went on to bigger and better things than sorcery, as Merlin was later known as Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan wrestled with WCW throughout most of the mid to late '90s, even getting a tag title reign with Cactus Jack during his tenure.

At the end of the Foley and Nash segment, the two discuss the fact that the table set up for the contract signing was still intact - a shock for a wrestling show. Kevin Nash replied "I don't get paid to go through tables." While the quote seems like a normal heel remark for Nash's character, it may be in reference to one of the interviews he's done lately.

Nash took part in a nearly hour long (and highly recommended) interview with Newsday a talked about many topics - hardcore wrestling included. Nash spoke down about the inclusion of props and violence in wrestling, saying he'd rather tell a story in the ring. Nash referred to the old-school ECW as "pornography" as well as calling Mick Foley's dive off the Hell in a Cell "the worst thing to happen to wrestling."

Nash also talked about guys like Abyss, and the style of matches they wrestle in TNA. "Every time I see it, I go back there and shake my head and I go 'I don't get it. I don't know why you would do this to yourself' and I state my opinion. I say it's wrong." Obviously there was some truth to Nash's statement about table spots.

Numbers crunched harder than an unprotected chair shot to the head: Last week we analyzed TNA's "Less Talk, More Action" slogan by looking at just how much action (official matches) we've seen so far this year. We looked at just how much wrestling we get on a per-show basis, and even on a per-match basis. But that wasn't enough. After receiving a few e-mails inquiring about how the WWE shows stack up in those same categories, we'll look at just how much wrestling we get on TV each week across the board.

Looking at all the television matches seen through the end of last week, and rounding each match to the nearest half-minute, TNA is dead last if we look at wrestling on a per-hour basis. Only 14.7 minutes of each hour are spent watching an actual match Thursday nights on Spike. Throwing ROH into the equation, we find that they are the leaders, delivering 30.4 minutes of matches every hour. Second is Superstars (25.9 minutes), next is ECW (21.7), followed by Smackdown (19.9), and Raw (16.0).

While ROH leads on a per-hour basis, they don't have the highest average time if we break it apart by matches. That distinction goes to Superstars, which has an average match time of 8.3 minutes. The rest of the list is easy to predict here, as it is ROH, Smackdown, ECW, TNA, and Raw in succession going down the line. Superstars also leads in another category - percentage of matches lasting ten minutes or longer. Just under half (49.1 percent) have reached that milestone. Looking at the other shows, ECW is next (35.7 percent), followed by Smackdown (35.2) and ROH (31.2), with Raw (18.9) and TNA (17.5) at the bottom of the list.

ECW gives us a lot of lengthy matches each week judging by these numbers, but they also feature the highest percentage of matches that are less than three minutes. Due to ECW being the place to build stars with squash matches vs. jobbers, 28.6 percent of their matches don't even hit the three-minute mark. Raw is close to ECW in the quick match category, sitting at 28.3 percent. In fact, Raw is the only one of the six weekly wrestling shows on TV to feature a higher percentage of short matches than matches lasting ten-plus minutes.

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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