By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

TNA Impact Wrestling on Thursday, April 12 leading to the Lockdown PPV officially scored a 0.98 rating off a first hour 0.91 rating and second hour 1.06 rating.

The first hour rating was easily the lowest of the year and tied with the Thanksgiving 2011 episode for lowest first hour rating of the last 16 months. Beyond Thanksgiving 2010, which was way off the radar, the previous first-hour low was also a 0.91 rating in August 2010.

Impact started dreadfully with a 0.83 rating in the first quarter-hour, which was easily the lowest of the year. The previous low was a 0.99 rating in February. In 2011, the lowest Q1 rating was a 0.90 on Thanksgiving.

Impact did not creep above the 1.00 ratings benchmark during the first hour, with the peak rating being a 0.98 rating in the second quarter-hour. Impact then peaked with a 1.14 rating in Q6 following a 1.11 rating in Q5. Impact dipped below a 1.00 again in Q7 before closing right at 1.00 for the Storm-Roode final promo segment to hype Lockdown.

First Hour Break Down

Q1: Impact opened with an off-the-charts low 0.83 rating for a Bischoff Family segment to open the show, plus one commercial break and the first-half of Mr. Anderson vs. Gunner. (down 29.5 percent vs. 2011-Q1 average)

Q2: Impact reached a first-hour peak with a 0.98 rating for the second-half of Anderson-Gunner, one-and-a-half commercials, backstage segments, and the Motor City Machineguns in the ring for a promo setting up Lockdown. (down 15.2% vs. 2011-Q2 average)

Q3: Impact dipped down to a 0.92 rating for a segment featuring Austin Aries vs. Daniels and one-and-a-half commercial breaks. (down 21.1% vs. 2011-Q3 average)

Q4: Impact stayed close to even with a 0.91 rating for backstage segments, one commercial break, and the set up for the ODB/EY wedding. (down 19.1% vs. 2011-Q4 average)

Second Hour Break Down

Q5: Impact topped 1.00 for the first time with a 1.11 rating for the ODB/Eric Young wedding, plus one commercial break at the end of the segment. (down 9.9% vs. 2011-Q5 average)

Q6: Impact peaked for the night with a 1.14 rating for A.J. Styles vs. Bully Ray, one commercial following a Hulk Hogan tease, and Hogan naming the stipulation for Eric Bischoff's team at Lockdown. This was the only quarter-hour of the show that was anywhere close to the corresponding 2011 average. (down 1.7% vs. 2011-Q7 average)

Q7: Impact dropped again to a 0.97 rating for a Knockouts tag match of Gail Kim & Madison Rayne vs. Velvet Sky & Mickie James, plus one commercial. This was the lowest rating of the second hour, but nearly better than everything in the first hour. (down 14.9% vs. 2011-Q7 average)

Q8: Impact closed with a slight uptick to a 1.00 rating for the Storm-Roode final face-off before Lockdown, plus one commercial. (down 15.1% vs. 2011-Q8 average)

Caldwell's Analysis: A very rough night last Thursday. If this keeps up, there should be concern. Impact has been see-sawing a bit as of late, so there aren't too many conclusions to be drawn just yet after one really bad show. The main issue is that TNA is well-behind 2009 and 2011 ratings at this point.

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