Preliminary reports indicate that last night’s episode of TNA iMPACT! did a 0.5 rating while WWE’s three-hour Raw drew a 3.1 rating.
The number for TNA is disappointing, to say the least. It lends credence to my earlier thoughts that maybe the company is hurting itself by replaying the show on Thursdays, taking away a sense of urgency for fans to catch the show on Mondays. It doesn’t help that the show was taped this week and many fans read the spoilers. WWE also cut into their audience by beginning at 8 o’clock.
For WWE, the number is also a bit disappointing but still good considering the company was coming off a less-than-stellar pay-per-view. The sad part is that even though this show featured some very solid wrestling, WWE brass might use this as more evidence that the guest hosts are drawing ratings and that heavy ring action isn’t the right way to go. Hopefully they don’t really believe that, though.
