By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Last Thursday's episode of TNA Impact scored a 1.14 rating off a first hour 1.11 rating and second hour 1.18 rating.

The quarter-hour ratings indicate steady growth throughout the show, starting with a 1.07 quarter-hour rating in Q1 and ending with a 1.21 quarter-hour rating in Q8.

First Hour

The show opened with a 1.07 in Q1 for a show-opening promo by Mr. Anderson and the opening match of Kazarian vs. A.J. Styles.

Again, the strength of current or former Beautiful People members as a TV ratings draw was evident in Q2. The second quarter-hour is typically the least-watched portion of a regular episode of Impact. The segment was also up against peak interest in LeBron James's "decision" special airing on ESPN. Despite those two factors, Q2 increased to a 1.11 featuring Angelina Love in action.

The show increased slightly in Q3 for Angelina Love and Madison Rayne's verbal exchange setting up their Victory Road PPV match and a promo for the Devon vs. Ray vs. Neal match at the PPV.

The fourth quarter-hour then slipped slightly back to the Q2 rating for the first-half of Samoa Joe vs. TNA World Hvt. champion Rob Van Dam.

TNA gave away the big match-up on free TV with no advanced hype and it yielded only a minimal result. TNA is trying to deliver a heavy show for Spike TV each week by giving away PPV-caliber match-ups, but there wasn't as much of a return on this investment as there could have been.

Second Hour

After the 1.11 rating in Q4 to conclude the first hour, the second hour opened with a 1.17 rating in Q5. The segment featured the end of Joe vs. RVD and the ladder match with Doug Williams and Jeremy Buck.

The three-quarter stretch went: 1.13 rating in Q3, 1.11 rating in Q4, then 1.17 in Q5 to begin the second hour.

The sixth quarter-hour then dropped slightly to a 1.13 rating for a video package following a long commercial, then a six-man tag match with Matt Morgan & Beer Money vs. Hernandez & the Machineguns.

After Q6, Impact peaked in the final 30 minutes of the show. That's a strong sign. It started with a 1.19 rating in Q7 for The Pope backstage, Kevin Nash interacting with Hulk Hogan, and Ric Flair and Jay Lethal's very intense, engrossing verbal exchange mid-ring.

The show then peaked again in Q8 with a 1.21 rating for Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Hardy in the TV main event setting up the main event at Sunday's PPV.

We suggest these recent related articles...

TV RATINGS: TNA Impact & ROH TV viewership - Week 19 on Dest. America - Impact surges post-BFG, ROH draws big audience

TV WRESTLING VIEWERSHIP - Week of Sept. 28: Full Break Down of last week's Pro Wrestling TV with DVR viewing

TNA NEWS: TNA announces TV tapings on January U.K. Tour