By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

The Thursday, September 23 episode of TNA Impact scored a 1.01 overall rating. The first hour scored a 1.01 rating and the second hour scored a 1.02 rating.

The second hour rating was the lowest in three months dating back to the June 24 episode scoring a 1.00 second hour rating.

Looking at the quarter-hour ratings, Impact peaked with a 1.06 rating in Q4 for the Beautiful People (Velvet Sky & Lacey Von Erich) vs. Hamada & Taylor Wilde.

Also worth noting is Impact's quarter-hour ratings steadily declining from Q6 to Q8.

The sixth quarter-hour scored an above-average 1.04 rating, then slipped to a 1.03 rating in Q7, and the show finished with a 1.00 rating for the Sabu vs. Styles main event and Abyss's show-closing promo standing over Jeff Hardy.

First Hour Break Down

Impact opened with a 1.00 rating in Q1 for Abyss vs. Rob Terry in the opening match.

Impact then declined to a show-low 0.97 rating in Q2 for Rob Van Dam's in-ring promo making his Impact Zone return. Also involved in the segment were Eric Bischoff and The Pope.

Impact increased slightly to a 0.99 rating in Q3 for Jeremy Buck vs. Chris Sabin promoting their tag title feud. Also in the quarter-hour was a backstage interview with The Pope.

There was a pop from Q3 to Q4 with the aforementioned 1.06 rating in Q4 for the Beautiful People match and TNA setting up the top-of-the-second hour main event match.

Second Hour Break Down

Impact declined from a 1.06 rating in Q4 to a 1.00 rating in Q5 for Samoa Joe vs. The Pope, complete with outside interference from Nash, Sting, and Jarrett.

The second hour then peaked in Q6 with a 1.04 rating for Mr. Anderson and Kurt Angle's in-ring verbal confrontation.

From there, Impact slipped to a 1.03 rating in Q7 for the beginning of the A.J. Styles vs. Sabu ladder match main event.

Impact then closed with a 1.00 rating in Q8 for the end of the match, complete with outside interference from Fortune and EV2. Q8 then finished with the Abyss-Jeff Hardy segment bringing out RVD leading into Reaction.

Caldwell's Analysis: The show was steady throughout without too many highs or lows, although the "low of the show" for RVD's big in-ring return promo is concerning. It's either an indictment of the booking or RVD's perceived star power. The possible explanation is the return promo wasn't hyped for later in the show and happened rather abruptly in the first 30 minutes of Impact.

Overall, though, Impact was right at that same 1.00 level with the show going backwards rather than moving forward. Impact doesn't seem relevant at the moment. The answer isn't finding another short-term storyline twist that will last one month before TNA is back to the same ol' same ol', but to come up with a vision for what exactly TNA is doing and carry that out for weeks, then months, then years.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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