By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

TNA Impact last Thursday, July 5 officially scored a 0.99 rating off a first hour 0.92 rating and second hour 1.05 rating.

The show followed a familiar live Thursday night pattern of starting slow in the new first hour timeslot, then building an audience during the second hour. Compared to last week, the first hour showed a slight improvement, but the second hour dipped below last week's second hour.

The key to the flat rating is Impact did not get a significant top-of-the-second-hour bump, only scoring a 1.00 flat rating in Q5. Impact stayed at a 1.00 in Q6 before reaching a 1.06 in Q7 and peaking for the night with a 1.15 rating in Q8 for the final Roode-Aries confrontation leading into Destination X.

First Hour Break Down

Q1: Impact opened with a 0.91 rating, which rounds to a 0.9 rating that Q1 has registered over the last four weeks. The segment featured Bully Ray and Joseph Park's latest in-ring confrontation, plus one commercial.

Q2: Impact dipped to a show-low 0.89 rating for a video package on the Styles/Claire/Dixie "scandal" storyline, an unannounced TV Title match, one commercial, and the start of Chris Sabin's speech. (This followed the live summer pattern of Q2 being the lowest-rated quarter-hour in the new timeslot.)

Q3: Impact increased to a first-hour-high 0.97 rating for Sabin's speech and Roode's interruption, one commercial, and an X Division qualifier between Flip Cassanova and Dakota Darsow. (This was the highest-rated Q3 during the summer run.)

Q4: Impact dipped to a 0.90 rating for the Knockouts tag match of Tessmacher & Tara vs. Gail & Madison, but two commercial breaks dragged down the rating. (Other than Week 1 of the timeslot change, this was the lowest-rated Q4 of the summer run.)

Second Hour Break Down

Q5: Impact increased one-tenth to a 1.00 flat rating for the latest confrontation between A.J. Styles & Daniels revolving around the Claire scandal. There was also a backstage segment with Hulk Hogan, one commercial, and the first-half of an X Division qualifying match between Kenny King and Lars Only. (Other than Week 1 of the timeslot change, this was the lowest-rated Q5 of the summer run.)

Q6: Impact stayed at a 1.00 rating for the second-half of King-Only, one commercial, a video package on Aries training for Destination X, Aries and King backstage, and ring intros for the Jeff Hardy vs. James Storm main event. (This was tied with last week for lowest-rated Q6 of the summer run outside of Week 1.)

Q7: Impact increased to a 1.06 rating for the full Hardy vs. Storm main event, with one mid-match commercial. (This was the highest-rated Q7 of the summer run.)

Q8: Impact increased to a show-high 1.15 rating for the final Roode-Aries confrontation with Hogan in the background, plus one commercial before the segment. (Last week's Q8 scored a 1.16 rating to claim top-rated Q8 of the summer run. Q8 summer progression - 1.01, 1.09, 1.11, 0.97, 1.16, 1.15.)

Caldwell's Analysis: A lot of highs and lows on this week's show. Most notable is a solid ending to the show for the final Roode-Aries confrontation, which is an encouraging early sign for potential PPV business. The show remains inconsistent, though, and TNA is still struggling to get the audience to tune in one hour earlier for the new first hour.

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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