Kurt Angle Really Lashes Out At TNA, Latest WWE/TNA Ratings, More
Here is a breakdown for the latest WWE and TNA television ratings courtesy of The Wrestling Observer & Figure Four Newsletter:
TNA iMPACT! on 9/18 drew a final 1.1 cable rating with 1.5 million viewers. The show did a 0.92 in males 18-49, 0.69 in people 18-49, 1.03 in males 18-34 and 0.67 in males 12-17. Quarter hours were: 0.92, 1.11, 1.21, 1.18, 1.07, 1.16, 1.06 and 1.18.
ECW on Sci Fi on 9/16 drew a final 1.2 cable rating with 1.6 million viewers.
WWE Monday Night Raw on 9/15 drew a final 2.6 cable rating, which was the lowest non-holiday rating for the show since October 27, 1997. No word on total viewership at this point.
WWE Friday Night Smackdown on 9/12 drew a final 2.5 broadcast rating with an estimated 4.2 million viewers. The show ended up having a bigger audience than Raw.
Kurt Angle was interviewed this week by the UK Sun and spoke at length about what he feels is wrong with today's TNA product. The highlights:
TNA Gimmicks and Match Stipulations: "Being in TNA is exciting and frustrating at the same time. We've been doing a good job but what we need to do right now is to simplify things. We get a little bit too complicated with our gimmick matches and run-ins. I've spoken to the bookers, writers and owners of TNA and said: "Listen. Wrestling is very simple, keep it simple."
TNA's "King of the Mountain" Match: "You have to put the belt on the hook, but before you do that you have to pin somebody. If you get pinned then you end up in the penalty box. When you get out the penalty box you're still eligible to win as long as you pin somebody and then put that belt up on the hook. It's like holy s***, it's too f***ing confusing."
Why TNA Overindulges in Gimmicks: "TNA do it because we want to be different from WWE and innovative. But what happens is sometimes we are, but then sometimes we are too old school. Let's face it, a tar and feather match today wouldn't go over too well. But we've actually done that. That's a 1960's match, this is 2008. We're in an MMA world. Fans want to see mano a mano. One on one. Let's go at it. We call ourselves Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. We say: "TNA ? we are wrestling." No we're not. We're f***ing gimmick matches."
TNA Protecting Talent: "At the last PPV, No Surrender, we had a triple threat main event between me, Christian Cage and Samoa Joe. We had a great match, but Samoa Joe won because Jeff Jarrett came in and hit me with a guitar. I would have won if Jeff didn't do that. I believe that Joe should have kicked my ass and Christian's ass and won straight up and then afterwards Jeff could have come in or even waited until the next night on TV and attacked me. I'm trying to make our younger guys more popular. I let AJ beat me the last four times we wrestled for a reason. To make him a bigger star. I wanted Joe to beat me and Christian at the PPV to make him a bigger star. But what's been happening is we have run-ins to create the wins, so I get protected. I don't want to be protected and I don't need to be protected. I'm having a real struggle with it. We need to back up and realize who we are and what we're trying to get across. We have the best wrestlers in the world, WWE can't compare. But how do we use them to our advantage? By simply wrestling, because that's what they're good at."