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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. Cue the opening pyro.

Are we forgetting anyone?

As is customary with a post-PPV show, we get a highlight video recap of everything that went down at Bound For Glory last Sunday. Well...almost everything. Of the nine matches on the main card, eight were given time during the show-opening recap. Of course we saw the highlights of Ultimate X, Full Metal Mayhem, and the World title match. But what was left out?

Only the Sarita and Wilde vs. The Beautiful People KO Tag title match didn't get any love during the look back. TNA must have realized they had nothing in store for the teams this week other than a backstage spaghetti fight. I like spaghetti, and I love females. But what we saw later in the show did not make me desire either of those any more.

Retro Joe

It's almost as if we're going back in time and showcasing what put TNA on the map - The X Division. The young guys are getting pushed, the X guys have a presence throughout the show, and we're getting Joe vs. Daniels vs. Styles again. But there was something else that made me think of the X Division of old. After a month of Samoa Joe having less and less paint on his face, he was finally back to what I consider normal this week. As Joe made his way to the ring with Kevin Nash, it was a refreshing sight to finally see him without a spec of paint on his face.

No worry, Saeed will be fine

Cheerleader Melissa won't be working overtime now, as it appears the Raisha Saeed character has been written off TV and we'll only get Alissa Flash. Kong showed her dominance once again, as we got a cool looking spot of Saeed being powerbombed through the stage. Even though Saeed looked a bit shaken up, she will be okay and should be appearing as Alissa Flash in no time at all.

How do I know this? As the medic runs over to tend to the injured Saeed, I could faintly hear the conversation between the two. It was hard to make out the exact words, but in a nutshell the trainer asked "Are you okay?" with Saeed replying in her normal speaking voice that she was. Maybe it was just my loud TV that picked it up, but that should have been edited out to keep with the realism. Although the chance of hearing spots called and in-ring communication is one of the only good reasons to continue watching WWE Raw these days, as it is the only live show.

The British Invasion continues

WWE's loss is TNA's gain, as Nigel McGuinness makes his TNA debut under the Desmond Wolfe persona this week. If you've been following the story on PWTorch, it's been a hectic month for Nigel. He left ROH after agreeing to a WWE deal, failed the pre-screening test, and is now under contract with TNA. He just missed on his chance to be a WWE superstar, but has been fairly close to the big leagues before.

Nigel was formerly a regular in the WWE developmental territory Heartland Wrestling Association, although he was never under a WWE contract. He managed to win the HWA Heavyweight title on two separate occasions (once in 2003, and once in 2004), along with two runs with the tag titles. He also introduced the HWA European title to the promotion in 2003, although the title was later retired within the next year. Outside of developmental territories, Nigel has been in a WWE ring once before. The September 5, 2005 edition of Heat saw Danny Basham defeat Nigel (appearing as a jobber, but still using the McGuinness name).

With Nigel's TNA in-ring debut soon to come, TNA furthers their reputation for using former ROH World champs in their promotion. Of the eleven individuals to hold the ROH Title, eight have had a match in TNA - Low-Ki, Xavier (only one match), Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, C.M. Punk, Homicide, Nigel and Jerry Lynn. Only Jamie Noble, Bryan Danielson, and Takeshi Morishima have been top dog in ROH while never lacing up the boots in TNA.

Impact Ultimate X, Part Deux

It hasn't even been a week since we saw the Ultimate X match at Bound For Glory, but we are getting another one this week. This will mark the 18th Ultimate X match, but only the third seen on free TV. The first was in November 2004 during the Fox Sports days, with the match airing on The Best Damn Sports Show Period. The second (and only other one on Impact) was in 2005 and also took place the week after the BFG PPV. The match was a rematch from the PPV (Petey vs. Bentley vs. Sabin) for the shot at facing the X Division champion. But, that post-BFG match was under different circumstances that this week's Impact treat.

At BFG, Petey Williams won the match, but not in the prototypical way. Despite some great highspots, the match was marred by technical problems as the X repeatedly fell off the wires and onto the ring canvas. The match was stopped at one point in order to replace the X onto the high wires, but to no avail. Petey was finally declared the winner after the X once again fell, this time into his arms. The rematch on the next Impact gave us the same winner, but this time no malfunctions with the high-rise structure.

Not only do the announcers put over the fact that it is rare for the Ultimate X to be shown on free TV, but also the fact that it is a tag team match rather than a free-for-all. Of the previous 17 Ultimate X matches, only three were under tag team rules. The first saw Styles and Daniels defeat LAX for the tag titles. LAX defeated Triple X for a tag shot in the second (a match which was technically shown on free TV, but only in replay form a month later). The third gave us the six-man tag match of 3D and Johnny Devine defeating The Guns and Jay Lethal.

Can I hold your title? Please?

After last Sunday, the British Invasion are your new TNA Tag Team champions. With Rob Terry the third man in the Brit faction, I was curious to see if the Freebird Rule was in effect and Terry got a title reign for hardly any work. The TNA website only acknowledges Magnus and Williams as champs, so no Freebird Rule here - Terry is still not a champ.

In TNA's past, there have been plenty of instances of three man combos holding the belts. The three reigns of Triple X and the two reigns of 3 Live Kru did qualify for the Freebird Rule. All three members were recognized as champs and able to defend the belts. There was no such luck for Team Canada. Only Eric Young and Bobby Roode were recognized as champs during the two tag wins by that faction. Maybe there's something to Eric Young's theory that TNA has something against foreigners.

Numbers crunch - Who's got the experience

Last month, we compared the rosters of the four main wrestling shows by looking at the average ages of all the roster members and surprisingly found that ECW had the veteran show. But that doesn't mean ECW is the most experienced show. In order to look at what show has the best veteran presence, we'll look at pro wrestling experience instead. So what show's wrestlers have the most experience in the ring.

To compare average experience, we'll look at the date a wrestler made his debut in any of the major promotions (WWE, WCW, ECW, or TNA). Since the exact day can be hard to pinpoint (especially with guys like HBK or Sting), we'll look at the total number of months since an individual made their debut. If we start out comparing WWE vs. TNA, they are neck and neck in the experience category. TNA's current roster has been competing for 74 months (six years, two months) on average. The average wrestler in WWE has 73 months (six years, one month) of experience. But how does each of the individual shows fare when looking at average experience per wrestler?

Smackdown - 6 years, 9 mo.
TNA - 6 years, 2 mo.
ECW - 6 years, 1 mo.
Raw - 5 years, 5 mo.

If we break apart the male and female rosters, we find that TNA ranks differently compared to the WWE shows. Looking at just the male wrestlers, TNA has the most-experienced roster (92 months), taking the number one spot from Smackdown. But aside from ECW, which only has Katie Lea Burchill and newbie Rosa Mendes, TNA's women's division has less experience than either Raw's or Smackdown's division. Raw's divas average 35 months of experience, while Smackdown's divas average 50 months. The average TNA Knockout? She has only 21 months of experience on the national wrestling scene.

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.

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

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