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 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.

Forgotten Street Posse

There are plenty of fan signs every week in the wrestling world. Some are generic, "Wrestler A Sucks, Wrestler B Rocks," while others are creative. But some are just plain confusing and obscure. The fan sign behind Foley and Abyss during the opening segment falls into this category. Of all the names from wrestling past, this fan decided to use his poster board and Sharpie to declare "We Want Pete Gas." The "We" part of the sign let's us know that there are many fans who demand Mr. Gas. Although if there were just one, an "I Want Pete Gas" sign could hold a very different meaning.

For those unfamiliar with Gas, he was a part of the Mean Street Posse stable on WWF television from 1999 to 2001. Pete Gas formed the group with Joey Abs and Rodney, and were most notable for their ring attire of sweater vests and khaki pants. The group was aligned with Shane McMahon when they first debuted, but were released within a couple of years. None of the three members have done much since their WWF run aside from a Pete Gas appearance during the battle royal on the Raw 15th Anniversary show.

Friends Forever

Even though Kurt Angle was lobbying for a shot at A.J. Styles's TNA title, the two were forced to team this week in the main event. It was mentioned on more than a couple of occasions that this was the first time those two would be tagging together. It wasn't until the ring entrances at the end of the show that Mike Tenay clarified that this was their first time as a "two-man team." The two have been on the same side before in other situations.

Looking back through Impacts and PPVs, I can find four instances when A.J. and Angle tagged together. June 2007 saw them form a three-man team with Samoa Joe on Impact. In November 2007, the two teamed for a four-on-four Impact match, while the next week saw a five-on-five match with A.J. and Angle once again on the same side. The final instance was the Destination X PPV in 2008, when Tomko joined the fold for another three-on-three match.

Styles and Angle were not just thrown together as a team, as there was a storyline associated with their pairing. For those that don't remember, A.J. was Christian Cage's idiotic lackey, but ended up in a tug of war between Cage and Angle to see who would get him on their side. The Angle Alliance was formed, only to see A.J. and Angle feud after the Karen Angle "marriage." TNA was wrong in saying that Kurt Angle and A.J. Styles have never teamed, but would have been correct in saying that this was the first time they have teamed when neither one portrayed an idiot on TV.

Shhhhh. I see a promo over there

TNA has a reputation for picking up wrestlers cast off by WWE, but that reputation might not be exclusive to people. It looked as though TNA picked up an old WWE camera for the Foley and Nash backstage promo this week. I've long applauded TNA for eliminating the invisible camera problem seen far to often in WWE. But there was a WWE feel during the promo between Foley and Nash because of the fact that the camera was never acknowledged. It wasn't exactly an invisible camera, but there was no JB, no Lauren, and no direct acknowledgement that their talk was being filmed. As long as we don't get an ECWesque Zack Ryder dream sequence on Impact, I'll keep the complaints to a minimum.

Hi there. Gotta run

After a failed WWE run, Tomko is back in TNA. Tomko was a big piece of TNA during his first run and is a big acquisition for them. But you would never know it by watching this week's Impact. For those that missed the quick promo, Tomko basically said, "Hey, I'm back. Should be cool. Gotta go."

Tomko has been rumored to be the individual who attacked A.J. Styles leading into the last PPV. But with the five-second promo introduction, TNA has eliminated any chance of a big mystery reveal. The who-done-it storyline may have been abandoned, as no mention of A.J.'s attacker was made during the last two Impacts. They may still reveal Tomko as the culprit, but it will lose much of the Impact since he's already been introduced for his return.

I'm sure he'll be fine

Speaking of unresolved storylines, what happened to Abyss this week? After a DQ finish in a tag match versus Raven and Stevie, the action continued as Abyss was hung up on the ropes via an electrical wire. We got a good view of a choking Abyss gasping for air before we went to commercial. When the commercial ended, Abyss, Raven, and Stevie were gone and it was time for a new storyline. So what exactly happened? There was no mention of Abyss's condition the rest of the show, as we were to just assume that he escaped and was okay. If past Impacts are any indication, the segment concluded with 146 guys in Security shirts running out to break up the attack.

A gift for you

The TNA referees have been given more authority lately, and have been laying down the law by kicking out valets and getting DQ-happy in matches. But that doesn't mean they aren't biased. During the six-man street fight this week, it looked as though ref Andrew Thomas was a fan of D'Angelo Dinero. As 3D set up for the diving headbutt, Thomas ran across the ring and grabbed a kendo stick. He ran back to his original position and literally dropped the weapon into the hands of Dinero. Dinero popped up and used the kendo stick to thwart the headbutt attempt. Shane Sewell may be gone, but the TNA refs are still clamoring to be part of the action.

A true first time pairing

The pairing of Kurt Angle and A.J. Styles was hyped as a first time team this week, but the same was said for their opponents - Daniels and Desmond Wolfe. While A.J. and Angle have actually been partners before, I could not find any instances of a Wolfe/Daniels team before. Wolfe is new to the TNA roster, but the two have wrestled at the same time in ROH. I can't find an instance of those two teaming together during that time, but they have been opponents before. Three times in 2006 a DVD release featured Daniels and Wolfe on opposite sides of the ring. Daniels is probably relieved the two paired up this week, as Nigel won all three of those bouts in ROH.

I'll see you out there

We've looked at the history of the four wrestlers in this week's main event, but there was one other noticeable tidbit for the two first-time teams - nobody used the same entrance as their partner. The first team saw Daniels enter through the face tunnel and Wolfe through the heel tunnel. Their opponents followed suit, as A.J. used the face tunnel, while Angle used his rising from the middle of the stage approach.

Numbers crunch - World champs and tag champs, the best and the worst

The past couple of weeks, we've looked at every single title run in the big four promotions since 1990. We looked at overall trends two weeks ago, and how certain individuals have fared overall last week. But what if we were to look at specific titles? There have been dozens of different titles during the last twenty years, but two things are consistent across each promotion - World Titles and Tag titles.

Looking specifically at World Titles, 82 individuals have enjoyed a run since 1990. To find top and bottom performers when it comes to average duration of a World Title run, we'll look at the individuals with three or more to their credit since 1990.

Best average duration:
Shane Douglas - 218.5 days
Hulk Hogan - 174.2 days
Raven - 155.7 days

Worst average duration:
DDP - 9.7 days
Jeff Hardy - 16.7 days
Mick Foley - 27.5 days

Interesting to note is that all six of those individuals have been a part of TNA at some point. If we were to look just at tag title runs, 254 different individuals have held a major tag title since 1990. The best and worst average reigns for individuals with three-plus runs give us a shocking result for worst tag champ in the past twenty years.

Best average duration:
Bret Hart - 163.0 days
Ted DiBiase, Sr. - 137.0 days
Mike Rotundo - 137.0 days

Worst average duration:
The Rock - 4.8 days
Ron & Don Harris - 12.7 days

The Rock is a five-time tag champ, but only had runs of eight, one, six, one, and eight days for a grand total of 24 days. Hard to believe that the most electrifying man in Sports Entertainment could also be called the worst Tag Team champion of this generation.

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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