Loads & Loads Of iMPACT! Rating News - Fighting Backstage

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

There is some political behind-the-scenes infighting between members of TNA management regarding the weekly TV ratings for iMPACT! as they still "live and die" by them. On a week-to-week basis, the ratings are still the company's best indicator on how things are going as it usually takes months for them to get the final pay-per-view buy numbers. Anyway, with the ratings largely struggling as of late, people in management have started airing out their frustration by pointing the finger of blame at some of the wrestlers and using them as scapegoats. Naturally, some people are second-guessing Samoa Joe as the company champion (reportedly due to his physical appearance), but others are being used as scapegoats as well.

Here are some ratings figures from the 6/19 iMPACT!. The Motor City Machine Guns vs. Tyson Dux & Daivari World X Cup match lost 82,000 viewers. A segment with AJ Styles beating up Frank Trigg, a Gail Kim video package, and Tenay & West interviewing Karen Angle gained 27,000 viewers. The highlight of the night was Shantelle Taylor vs. Awesome Kong match, which garnered 204,000 viewers to a peak 1.11 rating. The Kaz vs. Alex Koslov match, Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt at the Pink Taco, and a Matt Morgan video packaged, actually managed to hold on to the peak rating and keep it at a 1.11, although they didn't gain any extra viewers. The match pitting Salinas & Jacqueline lost 136,000 viewers, the biggest decline of the show. And the main event drew a substantial amount of viewers for a change. Christian & Styles vs. Team 3-D garnered 95,000 viewers. Overall, the show drew a 1.03 cable rating with a total of 1.4 million viewers slightly beating out ECW in the ratings for the week. Overall, the show did a 0.57 in Males 18-34 and 0.91 in Males 35-49.

The 6/26 iMPACT! drew a disappointing 0.90 rating and 1.2 million viewers after beating ECW the week before. Also, they pushed Booker T vs. Kevin Nash as a big deal with a huge build-up because Nash rarely wrestles on free TV. Despite all the build-up, the match managed to lose 67,000 viewers, which probably isn't going to please certain people within the organization. To show you how wacky (and frustrating for TNA) these ratings figures can be at times, a match featuring four unknowns gained 80,000 viewers. The World X Cup match featuring Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero vs. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino gained those 80,000 viewers. In another interesting note, the Impact wrestling debut of Mickie "Moose" Knuckles managed to gain 266,000 viewers in her "Knockouts Bimbo Brawl" match with ODB, by far the biggest gain of the program. On the flipside, the match between Christian Cage vs. Brother Ray with Cage being put through a glass table was a bit of a channel changer as the segment lost 80,000 viewers. Earlier in the show, Bubba promised something never seen before in the history of wrestling. The match pitting Awesome Kong vs. a plant by the name of Danielle lost 40,000 viewers. The segment featuring an Angelina Love video package, as well as the backstage angle where Frank Trigg got A.J. Styles to come to ringside and Angelina Love & Velvet Sky put a bag over Karen Angle's head lost 53,000 viewers. It was also one of the lowest-rated segments of the year. A Sonjay Dutt-Jay Lethal angle, Booker T backstage promo and another Matt Morgan video feature lost 27,000 viewers. Overall, the show did a 0.34 in Males 18-34, way down from the 0.57 from the previous week. The show also drew a 0.60 in Males 35-49.

Here is a segment-by-segment ratings breakdown for the 7/3 iMPACT!. A match featuring The Motor City Machine Guns lost viewers once again. Their match with Robert Roode & James Storm featuring a post-match attack lost 177,000 viewers, the biggest drop of the show, not to mention the biggest drop for a segment since the 6/5 Impact (Dutt & Lethal vs. Hoyt & Rave with an Ace Young video lost 180,000 viewers). On the positive side, Moose scored ratings for TNA for the second consecutive week. Her match with Roxxi Laveaux, as well as backstage segment with Cornette & Nash segment gained 88,000 viewers. A segment featuring Cornette & Joe backstage, the payoff of the Kurt Angle blind date segment, and the Alex Koslov vs. Rey Bucanero World X Cup match gained 44,000 viewers. The big in-ring angle involving Kurt Angle, Team 3-D, the blonde woman, Karen Angle, Angelina Love & Velvet Sky coming out, followed by A.J. Styles, Gail Kim, ODB and Rhino coming out, gained 162,000 viewers to draw the show's peak rating at 1.04. Things went down from there. The Curry Man vs. Milano Collection A.T. World X Cup match, a Booker T dressing room promo, and the third Matt Morgan video feature lost 29,000 viewers. The Shantelle Taylor vs. Raisha Saeed match lost 44,000 viewers, the second week in a row in which an Awesome Kong-related segment lost viewers. And finally, the main event with Samoa Joe & Nash vs. Roode & Storm with a Sting sighting also lost 44,000 viewers. Overall, the show drew a 0.95 rating and 1.4 million viewers, up from the week before. Despite the 0.95 rating, it was actually the highest number of actual viewers for the show in two months, beating out the number of total viewers the 1.03 rated 6/19 Impact did. The show did a 0.57 in Males 18-34 and 0.67 in Males 35-49.