Impact Rating Drops

I was a little surprised at the ratings drop for this week’s edition of Impact. I stated in my Impact recap that the show was heavy on the segments but it was not the worst Impact in recent history by far.

Since The Hexagon Circle was launched, I have been keeping track of the ratings data for each episode of Impact that airs. For ratings data beyond that, you have to look no further than the excellent section dedicated to the Nielson ratings data for all major U.S. wrestling television shows at Gerweck.net.

Looking back on that data, Impact hasn’t dipped below the 1.0 mark since November 1, 2007. Going through my archive of recaps, that show featured the semi-finals of the Fight for the Right Tournament, a mixed tag team match and AJ Styles & Tomko defending their tag team titles against the LAX.

On paper, that show didn’t look too bad as the semi-final matches featured Kaz against James Storm and Christian Cage taking on Chris Harris. However, I was intrigued to find that I had written this about that particular show:

Tonight’s episode of Impact reminded me of the old Monday Night Raw’s from the beginning of the attitude era – very heavy on the backstage segments and very little in-ring action.

Sounds a lot like the show from this past Thursday, doesn’t it. I don’t think that the ratings will drop any further than this, but this should give TNA an idea of what works and what doesn’t.

It is no secret that TNA should stick to what they do best – wrestling. They have great divisions to build off of but are always given a backseat to everything else going on. The Knockout matches continually gain the highest ratings week in and week out and are turning me, a non-women wrestling fan, into a huge fan of their work. The X Division has a ton of talent that but they are stuck in limbo as the division doesn’t have any clear focus.

Sticking these two divisions in horribly thought out gimmick and stipulations matches doesn’t benefit either of these divisions. On the flip side, developing some of the characters and giving the divisions the focus and attention they do deserve, I’m 100% positive that it would greatly benefit the company by not only giving them the higher TV ratings that they so desire, but it would push up the pay-per-view buys and merchandise sales.

Until then, Impact will always be stuck in the 1.0 television rating range that they have been for the past several months.