Impact rating for last week

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

By Dave Meltzer

 

Impact set its all-time record for viewers on Thursday with 1.5 million, garnering a 1.1 rating.

[qdes 0]

I don't believe it

[gWIL 0]

That Vince Russo is really killing TNA.

[razazteca 0]

This means nothing wait 4 weeks to see if Impact can continue getting 1.0+ rating then and only then will if be considered a good thing. At the rate Russo is going he is going to burn through all possible feuds for the year in a 2 month period.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

The ratings mean nothing if PPV buys don't go up, because that's where the money is made. The December PPV was back down to normal TNA levels, and Sunday's PPV might have even gone down from that. Big ratings are great, but they don't mean anything if those high ratings aren't translating into increased PPV buys.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Hard to get excited until we see if this is just a small one week bump, or part of a trend.

[NoCalMike 0]

Actually though, better ratings could always lead to a better TV deal including a better timeslot, and a longer(2 hour) timeslot....which in turn makes the show better, which in turn could help promote PPVs.....

 

It's not worth holding our breaths yet, but if this brings the slightest bit of competition to WWE, then it is a good thing.

[BoboBrazil 0]

It's been proven that ratings and buyrates go up during Vince Russo's reign in TNA. Before when Russo had control TNA was super hot leading into the biggest fumble ever of Raven losing the title match in 2002 or 2003. Buyrates were increasing and the crowd was super hot...

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

It's been proven that ratings and buyrates go up during Vince Russo's reign in TNA.

When?

[BoboBrazil 0]

It's been proven that ratings and buyrates go up during Vince Russo's reign in TNA.

When?

 

 

Back when Russo had the book before up until the Jarrett-Raven title match debacle a few years ago..

[theintensifier 0]

That Vince Russo is really killing TNA.

 

vs.

 

The ratings mean nothing if PPV buys don't go up, because that's where the money is made. The December PPV was back down to normal TNA levels, and Sunday's PPV might have even gone down from that. Big ratings are great, but they don't mean anything if those high ratings aren't translating into increased PPV buys.

 

Winner:

 

The latter.

[Guest LividLiquid]

It's been proven that ratings and buyrates go up during Vince Russo's reign in TNA.

When?

Back when Russo had the book before up until the Jarrett-Raven title match debacle a few years ago..

Just because you say it doesn't make it so.

[theintensifier 0]

Last Thursday night's TNA Impact drew a 1.1 average rating (1.13 to be precise), a notch above the previous week's 1.09 rating.

 

The show opened with a 1.12 rating for Q1, dipped a bit in Q2, and grew with a record peak rating of a 1.24 for the Abyss vs. Tomko main event. It is the highest quarter hour rating for TNA. Last week's Q4 rating was 1.13. The peak rating for the TNA Impact debut in prime time was 1.11. The overall rating is the highest since moving to prime time on Thursday night.

 

The "record ratings" are by a small enough margin not to be celebrated as some sort of major milestone, but any upward tick is better than a downward tick, and the trend is now up after a couple disappointing weeks during the holidays.

 

TNA Impact outdrew UFC Unleashed, which drew a 1.01 rating. It also outdrew the late-night Inside the UFC show, which drew a 0.42 rating.

 

The Hosses = RATINGS!

[Astro101 0]

Any ratings bump is great news. I'm enjoying the product and so are a majority of the fans it seems.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Ratings mean shit. Consumers spend money because of compelling storylines and interest in wrestlers and the matches they compete in. TNA has awful storylines and overhyped "dream matches" that end up with meaningless roll-up endings and no long-term planning. That's why companies like ROH outdraw them and sell more tickets.

 

But the Joanie Laurer Memorial Women's Division might sell some tickets.

 

And the Chris Harris "road to recovery" we've waited for for years.

 

Seriously after downloading that abortion of a PPV, poor Jerry Lynn may be TNA's only true likeable star.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

ratings mean nothing when they're good but when it's a .8 time to break out the eulogies.

[theintensifier 0]

Ratings mean shit. Consumers spend money because of compelling storylines and interest in wrestlers and the matches they compete in. TNA has awful storylines and overhyped "dream matches" that end up with meaningless roll-up endings and no long-term planning. That's why companies like ROH outdraw them and sell more tickets.

 

But the Joanie Laurer Memorial Women's Division might sell some tickets.

 

And the Chris Harris "road to recovery" we've waited for for years.

 

Seriously after downloading that abortion of a PPV, poor Jerry Lynn may be TNA's only true likeable star.

Wow, dude. Tell us how you really feel.

 

I've watched wrestling a couple times with my girlfriend. She always makes fun of TNA the most. Especially during the Rhyno/Christian cage match. She called the ending to a tee.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Sorry, but every week it's "TNA goes up .1!" or "TNA loses .1!" as if that actually means anything for the company's future.

[theintensifier 0]

They've been doomed for failure since the very conception of the promotion in the summer of 2002. They are just delaying the inevitable.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

I believe this is the energy company's first year they can't write off their losses.

 

Which is why they're hot-shotting so many angles at once, despite the TNA nerds cries of "OMG RUSSO SUX BLOWING THEIR LOAD WITH JOE/ANGLE".

 

They HAVE to.

[Chazz 0]

The Russo haters on this forum are truly amazing. He helps to set record ratings for Impact, yet gets bashed for not yet helping PPV buyrates go up. Next thing you know the buyrates will go up, but then the haters will complain that Russo didn't do enough to help with merchandise sales or something equally stupid.

[theintensifier 0]

I believe this is the energy company's first year they can't write off their losses.

 

Which is why they're hot-shotting so many angles at once, despite the TNA nerds cries of "OMG RUSSO SUX BLOWING THEIR LOAD WITH JOE/ANGLE".

 

They HAVE to.

Yes, I realize that. However, if they slow build it, make more anticipation, etc, wouldn't you agree that it could garner more viewers, and in turn higher ratings?

 

And the part where I said they've been doomed since the start is because they make bonehead moves like giving Dusty Rhodes the book, Jeff Jarrett the book and control, bringing in "celebrities", Russo coming back and forth, de-vauling their World title so much, etc.

 

The Russo haters on this forum are truly amazing. He helps to set record ratings for Impact, yet gets bashed for not yet helping PPV buyrates go up. Next thing you know the buyrates will go up, but then the haters will complain that Russo didn't do enough to help with merchandise sales or something equally stupid.

My anti-Russo stance stems from watching him and Bischoff destroy WCW. I always liked WCW more as a kid growing up. I didn't start watching the WWF until the late 90's.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

theintensifier,

 

I feel that i have some knowledge of this subject being that I regularly watched every Nitro live, I own every Nitro/Thunder show on DVD/CD-R, or VHS, attended various WCW shows and PPV events, and was a huge mark for them since I started watching wrestling in 1991.

 

RUSSO HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DEATH OF WCW.

 

By the time Vince Russo came to WCW in October of 1999, WCW was a cancer patient that had about 12 months to live. There was nothing anyone could do.

 

Russo just took the patient out on the town, did some strange things with him, and watched him go.

 

Russo was doomed, as the talent that was there and boring storylines/terrible feuds had crippled WCW. Most of the quality workers were already begging to leave, ratings were on the serious decline, and it was over.

 

95% of what Russo did in WCW was GOD AWFUL and Russo should in NO WAY have ANY positive light shed on him for his WCW work, don't get me wrong. But what was done was already done. Russo just happened to be the head writer for a sinking ship.

 

WCW as a "#1 Company" contender officially died around Sept-Oct 1998, regardless of what people will try to spin.

 

1999 was all downhill. 2000 was the harbinger of death. 2001 was death.

[theintensifier 0]

I stand corrected then. I've always heard, and believed the opposite.

 

Thank you for the insight.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

The cool thing about Russo is, at least for the WCW period, and this may be part of his downfall, is that he always tries to FLESH OUT CHARACTERS and at least GIVE THEM a character.

 

Madusa went from "chick with big knockers" to "WCW, screw you! I am a woman wrestler not just eye-candy! Then she feuded with a writer and dated a 21 year old worker.

 

So he TRIES, there's just not much to work with.

 

The Christy Hemme thing from the PPV was a much more exaggerated thing that he did with Madusa in '99.

 

At least he took this dead characters, i.e. La Parka and Chavo and Vincent and such, and tried to give them life. La Parka's "dubbed over voice" thing gave him meaning to the non-smark crowd. Chavo's AmWay sales was a horrible gimmick, so no dice.

 

In TNA, there's a TON more talent than he had to work with in WCW, at least wrestling wise. He needs to find a proper balance of "SHOOTY ANGLES" and great wrestling to succeed.

 

Fans can always find out what happens on the net or the next Impact episode. It's the match quality that will draw TNA's audience. That's why they're blown their load with AJ's feuds, Daniels X Title escapes, and Joe/Angle.

[theintensifier 0]

What would you recommend they do then?

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Not have a women's division. Women's wrestling doesn't do well in the States and will take up precious television time.

 

Give each feud a sizeable portion of Impact each month. Each personality doesn't need a cameo on every other show.

 

Get an internet TV show to keep your guys with big internet crowds in angles. Keep Shelley, Starr, Lethal, etc. on TV once in a while to develop their characters, 1-2 matches a month, more matches on the 'net.

 

Release Sting. He isn't a draw and doesn't job clean, or in the case against Abyss for the title, devalues the title.

 

Release Jacqueline. Never been interesting nor a draw.

 

Turn LAX face. Actually, more of a tweener group. Do bad things, but not such lame 80's tactics as burning the flag. Gradually have them feud with heels.

 

Keep AJ off the mic. He's over and doesn't need it.

 

Shut Tenay and DW the fuck up. They're worse than a million Michael Cole and Tazz commentary duos.

 

Get Impact to two hours already. 1 hour doesn't work today.

 

Give Angle a lengthy title run. Have him call out people from WWE, ROH, UFC etc. This differs from VKM doing it because Angle is actually relevant in today's wrestling scene. After 3 or 4 months, do a "breakdown" Angle or some such thing to fool the 'net, and every PPV can be "the one where Angle's going to lose", but he just doesn't. Finally, Joe ends it and there's a handshake.

 

Get Raven and his group out of there. Horrible.

 

Sabin's character needs something. He has the talent, and the heel push is slightly working, he just comes off very blah to the public.

 

GIVE LYNN THE BELT, and not just a "token" reign with it. Have him keep putting over his age, how the fans think he can't go, whatever the case.

 

RUN PPVs IN NEW AREAS. Seriously. TNA FANS RUINING A MATCH EXAMPLE #5950: During the X-Title 3 way, Daniels and Sabin are having a nice sequence in the ring. Only thing is, the crowd starts chanting "YOU STILL GOT IT!" like trained seals to Lynn, on the floor, who the camera isn't even on. Distracting the viewer from the work inside. Jesus, lemmings, chant your 2002 chant when the guy does something in the ring...

 

Lynn then wipes the floor with them and the crowd sits there.

[BUTT 0]

Release Sting. He isn't a draw and doesn't job clean, or in the case against Abyss for the title, devalues the title.

Sting offered to do the job for Abyss after they told him that he was losing the title. TNA insisted that the match end by DQ.

[qdes 0]

The Russo haters on this forum are truly amazing. He helps to set record ratings for Impact, yet gets bashed for not yet helping PPV buyrates go up. Next thing you know the buyrates will go up, but then the haters will complain that Russo didn't do enough to help with merchandise sales or something equally stupid.

 

I only care about how entertaining the show is and I can't stand Russos pace where nothing has time to sink in.

 

I don't understand why people are so obsessed with TNA's business decicions when they have absolutely no reason to care.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I've been watching TNA since its fourth show in June of 2002. And I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that this era we're in right now is the most exciting TNA has been since their phenomenal first 18 months. But it doesn't even touch that first 18 months in any which way but the match quality from Joe. Joe/Styles from Sacrifice for the X-Division title is, IMO, their best singles match (I still feel that the 4-team X-Division tag match from April '03 is their best match altogether), but outside of the Joe/Styles/Daniels feud from '05 and '06? TNA doesn't have much of anything to really make me wanna buy a PPV (and I didn't then only due to monetary constraints).

 

The thing that really made the first 18 months work was not only that there was a few old-school voices in the back (Jerry Jarrett, Dusty Rhodes, other elders of the business), but also a few newer voices (Jeff Jarrett, Vince Russo giving ideas to Jerry until he was hired in September/October of '02, and a lot of the younger guys). TNA was great because everybody in the company had something to prove. The X-Division stars needed to prove that they could excel with WCW dead since WWE didn't have a Cruiser division worth watching (never has, and never really will), the younger heavyweights and tag team wrestlers needed to prove that they were able to go toe-to-toe with anybody on the WWE roster and put on matches just as good (if not better), and the older workers needed to prove that they still had it. Jerry Lynn needed to prove that although he was in his late 30's/early 40's, he still had it in him to fly around at breakneck speeds and put on great matches. Jeff Jarrett needed to prove that he could be a believable main eventer (which, ya know, was true for 9 out of those 18 months). And Russo and Jerry needed to prove that despite not having many impacts on the industry after their heydays, they could still write quality television. And there was the key: talent with something to prove.

 

Now? Few in TNA have anything left to prove. The TNA diehards already know what AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Jerry Lynn, Jeff Jarrett, Chris Harris, James Storm, and all of the WWE cast-off's are capable of. We already know what Vince Russo can do and has done for the companies he's worked for. There's almost no passion anymore. And when there's somebody that could easily be made into a viable main event personality (ie. Ron Killings), they're pushed to the wayside. So...what's left?

 

IMO, Russo can do a lot of good for TNA. They just need to put a filter on him, and explain to him that he needs one. They (TNA management, Dixie, etc.) need to explain to Russo - in full detail, if need be - that he has a lot of good ideas and his heart is usually in the right place, but he just doesn't have the overall abilities to make truly compelling television.

 

A list of ideas from the L-A-Z on how TNA can improve their current situation:

• Drop the PPV-a-month route. One of the things that made every ECW PPV special was that they had 2 months in between each show to build to them. That not only cuts losses from having to pay for those 3+ hours of work everybody has to do on a PPV day (12 times a year to 6), but also gives more time to build to each PPV instead of rushing to get a worthy angle or match into each show. This format could have also made the rushed Joe/Angle feud take up 6 months time instead of the 3, and allowed more time for undercard feuds to boil and mean something.
• Right now, Russo is writing exactly how he'd write in WWE if he was there, and exactly how he wrote in WCW: throw everything out there, and see what sticks. The problem is, though, that nothing is sticking too good, and that's because there's little meat to the shit that's being thrown at the wall. I know there's an angle where Eric Young is on the verge of being fired, and I know Bobby Roode and Traci Brooks have been looking to exploit that to their advantage ever since Young defeated Roode over a month or two ago...but why should I give a fuck? Sabin's disrespecting Lynn, who was once a role model of sorts for him during the World X-Cup back in '04, but why is he disrespecting him? WHY the change in attitude? I finished reading Eric Bischoff's Controversy Creates Cash a couple of weeks ago, and one of the things I really liked about it was his method to creating believable and money-making storylines: SARSA (Story, Action, Reality, Surprise, Anticipation). Whether or not you agree with the rest of the book is inconsequential (I myself find most of it to be a bulk of self-serving bullshits, but hey). But using SARSA, it wouldn't be too hard to give at LEAST the titles some decent money-making feuds. I'm not going to give an example as to what (but it would involve Ron Killings kicking Lance Hoyt's ass and sending him into the hospital following a very one-sided beatdown courtesy of some new friends Truth has, then making a quick 4-month run into the main event before getting the title - CLEANLY - off whoever the champ is).
• Overall, I think the presentation of the show needs to be revamped. Right now, it's as if there's nothing but chaos going on in the Impact Zone. That element worked when SEX took over TNA for a month or two back in '03. That element worked especially well during the nWo/WCW feud of '96 and '97. That element doesn't work now, and that element is only there because Russo's pacing is way too fast. This harkens back somewhat to prior statements about how Russo needs a filter, but I digress. IMO, what would truly set TNA apart from WWE would be a reworking of one of Russo's most notorious ideas, and also a little bit stolen from what Bischoff's idea for the revamped Fusient-owned WCW would be: turn TNA into reality TV.

  Hear me out. I don't mean reality TV like Survivor or any other game show-style. I mean like the Real World (although the Surreal Life would be a more apt comparison). Have there be "hidden cameras" all throughout the back so that nobody can say anything without it being aired on TV. Have there be a huge fine/suspension should any worker disrupt the hidden cameras or the cameramen. Also, much like Real World, don't let the workers see any of what's going on. Only have it be visible by the commentators, the people in the truck, the viewers at home, and maybe even people in the gorilla position. This can work to further feuds simply by having somebody walk by the gorilla position and see their partner talking shit about them behind their back, their upcoming opponent, etc. Have a room in the back for interviews (a blend of Real World and old-school wrestling), and have everything that can be explained done so. This could work if further elaborated on, but it could also bomb horribly.

• STOP HAVING THE OUTSIDE TALENT WALK OVER THE HOMEGROWN STARS. Joe/Angle worked because Joe underestimated Angle the first time, the second time Angle underestimated Joe, and the third time we all found out that if the match gone on for just a few more seconds then Joe would have proven himself to be Angle's equal and/or made Angle his bitch. Team 3D destroying The Naturals? In hindsight it was okay because Douglas and Stevens never went anywhere, but at the time it was horrible, maybe because they never went anywhere due to not being given a true chance until it was too late. The biggest stars in the company right now - save for Joe, Styles, Sting, and Daniels - are all former WWE stars. BG James, Kip James, Brother Ray, Brother Devon, Kurt Angle, Christian Cage, Tomko, Rhino...they're all still looked at as WWE stars (though Rhino, I feel, has both been in TNA long enough and has been a big enough part of it where he can be considered true TNA talent). Now, I'm not saying let the homegrown boys walk over them, because that's just stupid. But I'm also not saying push them over the homegrown guys just because they're more well-known, because that can do a huge disservice to the company if continued. Angle they did the right way, IMO, because he's already known as a top wrestler (if his gloried 6 1/2 year run with WWE didn't give it away, his Olympic gold medals did), and TNA had one of their best able to go toe-to-toe with him. But why was Christian so easily able to break into TNA and go to the World title? Why wasn't anybody on the roster besides Jeff Jarrett and his crew against Christian? It would've made more sense to even have guys like Styles, Lynn, Killings, and other TNA faces be weary of Cage due to him being an outsider. If somebody turns Impact on and sees Tomko laying waste to an X-Division wrestler in a one-sided squash match, chances are they're not even going to remember who the fuck Tomko is. But if they see Christian doing the same? Two thoughts are going to go through their heads: the first being why Christian isn't with WWE anymore, and the second being that this X-Division guy must suck if somebody with as bad a win/loss record in WWE as Christian (at least his last year or so with the company) is owning him. And that's WRONG.
• Been said before, and needs to be said again: push for Spike to make the show two hours long.
• Gift us TNA fans with a live Impact now and again. Not every Impact, that'd be preposterous, but once every couple of months a live on would be great.
• Don't get rid of Tenay and West, but do add a heel commentator. The face/face dynamic is pretty lame, so get somebody in there that not only is great on the stick but also is good at being a heel. Remember when Mike Sanders wanted to stop WRESTLING and just do commentary? This job would've been perfect for him.

So...yeah. I started this off with some solid, thought-out ideas...and I just sorta swirled it down in a heaping pile of chili.