Ratings from TNA's first head-to-head showdown with WWE

[TNABaddboi 0]

Per PWI, which reported Impact's rating was "shattered" by the HoF:

 

Faced with competing against the WWE Hall of Fame inductions of Eddie Guerrero, Gene Okerlund, and Bret Hart in Hart's first WWE-related TV appearance since 1997, TNA Impact's rating fell to a 0.6 this past Saturday 3/31. The show scored a 0.7 among Males 18-49, a .0 7 with Males 18-34 and an average audience of 664,000 viewers.

 

Impact had been averaging a 0.9 the past several weeks, so the wrestling audience was divided in a big way by the Wrestlemania festivities. Spike TV sources also indicated that they felt college basketball coverage on Saturday was a factor as well. In the case of WWE hurting the rating, the silver lining here is that it was a one time occurrence, especially with TNA moving to Thursdays in a few weeks.

 

And per the Torch, which reported the rating was "solid" considering the competition:

 

TNA Impact on Saturday drew a 0.57 rating, solid considering it went head-to-head with WWE's Hall of Fame show on USA Network. It drew a decreasing audience for the first three quarters hour, dropping 20 percent over the first 45 minutes, then rebounded nearly back to the starting audience level in the fourth quarter hour.

 

Thoughts?

[Guest El Satanico]

That's not so bad, and probably better than many seemed to expect.

[Dangerous A 0]

I don't think it's as bad as it could've been and it's not the be all end all, but one thing I read from that is TNA is very much not ready to go head to head with WWE in a monday night timeslot.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

What did the HOF get?

[Guest El Satanico]

They aren't ready for head to head, but it's hard to use this as proof. If it was just a typical hall ceremony, then fine.

[2GOLD 0]

If I had known the Bret speech was going to be that badly butchered, I would have watched IMPACT.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

No its not fine. They should not be losing to any HoF ceremonies if they ever hope to compete with the real WWE.

[claydude14 0]

Should be interesting to see how the replay did last night. I watched the HOF over my usual Impact viewing and caught Impact last night. Real solid show, too bad it had to go against the HOF. Hopefully TNA keeps that style of Impact going.

[Dangerous A 0]

In the latest Observer, they said that the 4/13 thursday debut show will have only 2 matches because they want to give Joe vs Daniels and Sting's TV in ring return a lot of time.

[bob_barron 0]

No its not fine. They should not be losing to any HoF ceremonies if they ever hope to compete with the real WWE.

 

Yea, they should've beaten the inductions of Eddie Guerrero and Bret Hart.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Spike TV sources also indicated that they felt college basketball coverage on Saturday was a factor as well.

 

That would be a nice excuse... if the games on Saturday weren't finished before Impact started.

[Dangerous A 0]

Spike TV sources also indicated that they felt college basketball coverage on Saturday was a factor as well.

 

That would be a nice excuse... if the games on Saturday weren't finished before Impact started.

 

Exactly. I hate that excuse. Just like when people tried to cite SNME's low number because of the the tourney when it was only the first weekend rounds and those rounds produced some of the worse ratings numbers ever for the tournament this year.

[what 0]

No its not fine. They should not be losing to any HoF ceremonies if they ever hope to compete with the real WWE.

 

The return of Bret Hart was, of course, going to fuck up TNA. Anyone who thought otherwise is an idiot. The TNA fanbase which consists mainly of die hard wrestling fans are going to be the exact type of people who'd watch the Hall of Fame.

[Placebo Effect 0]

Even I, a diehard TNA fan, switched over to the Hall of Fame a few times. Never for more than a few minutes, but I switched over nonetheless.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

...I was drinking beer and watching porn with friends instead of Impact or the HoF.

[reign 0]

I tried flipping becasue Spike is channel 38 and USA is conviently channel 39 on my cable but everytime HOF went to commercial TNA was likewise on commercial. If they could've somehow pull of not getting beat to commercial in this instance it would've been a great night for wrestling but it sadly did not happen.

[hyperchord24 0]

I don't think it's as bad as it could've been and it's not the be all end all, but one thing I read from that is TNA is very much not ready to go head to head with WWE in a monday night timeslot.

I don't get that feeling at all from this piece of evidence. The return of Bret Hart to WWE TV in any form is too huge for TNA to compete with.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I expected HoF to get more viewers, but TNA cannot hope to compete if they're losing to a worked sport HoF ceremony, regardless of who is in it. This shows me that TNA is long ways off before legitimizing themselves as true competition to WWE.

[luke-o 0]

Im also a believer that Bret's speech was going to be the ratings beater, impact could have had the best show ever, Bret returning to WWE is a huge thing.

[Jebus 0]

...I was drinking beer and watching porn with friends instead of Impact or the HoF.

 

You say that with so much pride...why?

[Dangerous A 0]

What did the HOF get?

 

 

1.8 according to the Torch.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Damn that ratings powerhouse from taking all of Impacts ratings.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

...I was drinking beer and watching porn with friends instead of Impact or the HoF.

 

 

Totally not gay.

[bob_barron 0]

This shows me that TNA is long ways off before legitimizing themselves as true competition to WWE.

 

Everyone knew this before the HOF ceremony.

 

So this proves nothing.

[luke-o 0]

1.8 according to the torch

 

you've got to be shitting me.

[claydude14 0]

Any word on the Impact replay?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

This shows me that TNA is long ways off before legitimizing themselves as true competition to WWE.

 

Everyone knew this before the HOF ceremony.

 

So this proves nothing.

 

Everyone except TNA. Didn't they want to run head to head against Raw?

[luke-o 0]

Any word on the Impact replay?

 

from tnawrestlingnews.com

 

The 4/3 Monday replay of TNA iMPACT! drew a final 0.5 cable rating with a 1.5 share.

[Bruce Blank 0]

So "Solid" is some sort of code for "Well we all thought it'd do shitty, shity, shitty" and it only did "shitty, shitty"??

 

right

[The Thread Killer 0]

I expected HoF to get more viewers, but TNA cannot hope to compete if they're losing to a worked sport HoF ceremony, regardless of who is in it. This shows me that TNA is long ways off before legitimizing themselves as true competition to WWE.

 

That argument doesn't make sense, dude. We're talking about the first time Bret Hart appeared on WWE television since the Montreal Screwjob. I watched the HOF instead of TNA that night...and I don't even watch WWE, and I'm a TNA fan! I am surprised ANY wrestling fans watched IMPACT. If it was just a bunch of people like Tony Atlas getting inducted, I could see your point...because watching actual matches is better than watching speeches...but come on. I think you are seriously underestimating the appeal that Bret Hart's appearance had. You can't use this rating to judge how TNA and WWE would do head to head.

 

And guess what? If and when TNA and WWE go head to head, TNA is going to get slaughtered. Nobody with any sense could deny that. The point is to watch how TNA does over time against the WWE, if they ever compete. If TNA went head to head with WWE, and started to draw away fans...ANY fans...then that would show that there are SOME people out there who are looking for some kind of competition. Remember, when Bischoff decided to go head to head with RAW, people thought he was insane. The change came over time...it's not like Nitro debuted and everybody switched on the first week...and WCW probably offered a superior product back then to TNA now.