Quarter Hour ratings
1.53
1.52
1.41
1.42
1.43
1.35
1.37
1.23

Impact opened at 1.5 and closed at 1.2.

That means that of the 2.1 million people who tuned in at 9 PM, over a half million of them gave up on the show at some point.

Reaction did 900,000 viewers this week, 1 million viewers less than the average for Impact over two hours. (And that is the show where you are going to explain everything?)

Maybe the decline in ratings was due to the promo overkill?

hahaha what a great spin

in ring action took the ratings down,sports entertainment got them in

If they didn't like it then why did they watch over 30 minutes of talking? And that isn't including the commercial breaks inbetween it all. It was good that's why. Some of the best talkers in wrestling history doing what they do best for over half an hour and they were the highest rated segments.

Well, people tuned in to see the aftermath of the PPV, the new heel group and Jeff Hardy's first heel promo?

The fact that the show's rating declined throughout the show, tells you that the audience didn't like what they saw and tuned out. If the promos and show was that good, how come people tuned out?

because not every segment can be about the main event storyline,some segments will fall, that happened in attitude era aswell

i see your point about the main event not getting viewers back,but overall it was a great night for TNA spearheaded by a crash tv format

yopu have roh and wwe for plain wreslting,why do you want tna to go the same way too? try something different

Um Vince McMahon hates wrestling as much as you.

Serious question to the two Russo fanboys - why do you watch wrestling when you have no interest in the in-ring product? If all you care about are storylines, why not watch TV shows written by real writers and acted by real actors? Obviously storylines are very important in wrestling, but if every show was 95% promos and angles, I wouldn't watch. What would be the point? I watch Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire and Fringe and Rubicon for interesting characters and engrossing storylines.

What you (and Russo) don't seem to understand is that the matches are supposed to be a big part of the storyline. People want to see their favourite wrestlers get revenge on their rivals, or climb the ladder and win the title. Angles and promos are supposed to build up to those moments.

As good as a Ric Flair promo might be, it's not like he's Robert De Niro.

Dark Matches:

* Brian Kendrick defeated Neicko, who was a student of Booker T's.

* Stevie Richards beat Okada.

Xplosion:

* Magnus comes out with Chelsea to take on Orlando Jordan. Jordan wins with a sleeper.

* Kazarian beat Rhino.

iMPACT:

* Ric Flair is backstage talking to a woman. Matt Morgan comes in and asks if Eric Bischoff is really making Mr. Anderson wrestle with a concussion. Morgan says it's not right. Flair says in his day they were men and took care of their business.

* Robbie E. defeated X Division Champ Jay Lethal in a non-title match. After the match, Cookie sprayed something in Lethal's eyes after the match and Robbie hit his finisher.

* We see Tara attacking Mickie James at catering. They brawl all over the place. Madison Rayne comes to help Tara while The Beautiful People show up for Mickie. Sarita also comes out also and they brawl into the iMPACT Zone. Ric Flair and his security come break things up. Tara hits Flair and he goes nuts. Mickie slaps Flair and he flops. The brawl continues and Mickie, The Beautiful People vs. Madison, Tara and Sarita is set for later.

* Backstage segment with Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair. Bischoff says Hulk Hogan is away working on major deals. Bischoff threatens security with firing them. A TNA trainer comes in and talks with Bischoff about making Anderson wrestle with a concussion. More concussion talk and this isn't cool.

* A casket is brought to the ring before The Pope comes out. Pope cuts a promo on Abyss, who shows up in the crowd. Abyss says Hogan and Bischoff told him to take care of Pope. The Last Rites match is on for Turning Point.

* Tommy Dreamer comes out with EV 2.0 and says Rob Van Dam hasn't returned their calls or anything. RVD comes out and Dreamer wants to end the beef. RVD says he doesn't know who he can trust. It ends up with RVD and Raven getting into it. Fortune comes out and Flair laughs them off. Fortune vs. EV 2.0 is announced for the PPV. The winner gets to pick an opponent to be fired. Raven and RVD vs. AJ Styles and Douglas Williams is announced for tonight.

* The Motor City Machineguns beat Generatio Me and Ink Inc. in a Tag Team Title match. Team 3D come out after the match and puts over TNA's tag teams. They talk about retiring and want to go out with the best, against the Guns. Guns accept the challenge for the PPV. It's Guns vs. Team 3D with the belts on the line.

* Matt Morgan talks more to Eric Bischoff about concussions and Mr. Anderson. Bischoff says it's a great idea but Morgan disagrees.. Anderson vs. Jarrett is still on.

* Sarita, Tara and Madison beat The Beautiful People and Mickie James when Sarita pins Velvet.

* Matt Morgan tries to talk with Mr. Anderson backstage.

* AJ Styles and Douglas Williams beat Raven and RVD when Williams pins RVD. Ric Flair busted Raven with the TV Title during the match. After the match, RVD and Raven had words.

* Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Jarrett in a Chain Match. Jarrett comes out and calls Anderson to the ring. Matt Morgan comes out instead and says it's up to them to look out for the next generation of wrestlers safety. Jarrett says it's all about survival in TNA and tells Morgan to leave. It's going to be Morgan vs. Jarrett in a Chain Match now. Jarrett gets the win with The Stroke. Morgan attacks Jarrett after the loss but Fortune comes out and beat down Morgan.


Sounds pretty interesting. Not sure what to make of all the concussion talk but at least it went somewhere and maybe we will see Matt Morgan start to break away from Fortune. Ric Flair getting beat up by 2 women also sounds good.

I think the team 3d angle is intruiging since it's apparently already been confirmed they've signed a new multi-year contracts.

so obviously i would assume some kind of shenanigans at the end of the inevitable match with the MCMG which would then lead to a heel turn.

Impossible to judge until from the spoilers,but it appears to be a huge letdown after the last two episodes,which I found impressive.

Matt Morgan turning babyface is rushed IMO and certainly didn't help his progression 12 months ago.Not only that but what's all this about him suddenly developing a conscience,refusing to wrestle somebody with a concussion? He viciously sidelined Hernandez and has spent the last six months attacking nearly everybody! Not sure if how it transpires,but jobbing to Jeff Jarrett - the 43 year old glorified mid carder - doesn't sound too promising.

Why book another Last Rites (casket) match? The last one,held outside of Orlando,evoked the notorious "Fire Russo" chants and was simply pathetic.Not only that but the gimmick match is archaic,boring and trademark WWE,and it doesn't suit the Abyss character.

No mention of Jeff Hardy or Kurt Angle?


I've no idea why anyone thought this was a good idea. As you've pointed out:
1 - It's rushed. Build up the dissension slowly, string the audience along and then people might tune in to see whether Morgan is going to turn.
2 - It's out-of-character. Again, with the right build-up it may have worked but it's a complete change of character overnight.
3 - It doesn't suit him. He's a very entertaining heel, why turn him face? He's the last person in Fourtune I'd pick to turn face.


Again, agree wholeheartedly. I thought TNA was going to promote "realism"? It's a cartoon gimmick match that won't convince anyone to buy the PPV.

On top of that we saw the return of the catering table brawl (remember when they used to do one a week?) and another Fourtune vs. EV2 match, this time with a stupid stipulation to it.

I would like to congratulate TNA for making a serious issue in 2010 into a storyline instead of copying oold ones from 1996.


Wrestlers turn face/heel all the time. I dont see why its such a problem this time.

He goes from being just a guy in a big stable to main eventing Impact. Morgan is going to get a big push and be a top babyface alongside Pope and Joe. Sounds good to me.

Jarrett beat a guy who jobbed to Kendrick a month or so ago and apparently he did it via a low blow so it doesnt seem like a clean win. Anyway. 43 year old Jarrett can still go just as well as a guy 15 years younger.



I didnt watch TNA when they had the first "last rites" match or whatever it is called. How is it so bad?

I think the Fortune vs EV2 match was good at BFG and will probably be more than watchable again. I dont see a problem with the stip other than its obvious EV2 will lose.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoID=13764308



The Morgan turn isn't too bad in general - just very rushed IMO.Like most things in TNA.

Your making it sound like they have turned him in just 1 week. Maybe they could bully him into staying with Fortune or The Immortals. Just because he got a beatdown doesn't mean he is out of the group completely. There is another set of spoilers online which has a few things changed slightly and as far as the main event goes it doesn't even mention Matt Morgan getting beat up after the match.

That is the problem when your audience is made up of smarks. It's only done to make themselves feel better and try and attempt to be superior to the casuals in attendance. Your average smark or infact just call them marks cause that's really what they are, are the kind of people who will pay a ticket to see a wrestling show but just sit in silence and not join in on any booing or cheering. They don't seem to want to enjoy themselves or have fun or be seen to have fun. The only time they come to life is when a small group decide to make silly chants, chants that the casual fans won't 'get' and all that does is brings the atmosphere down in the arena and ruins the match for people who just want to go an enjoy themselves.

You need some fun on a show. No one should EVER take any kind of casket match seriously. It will never be taken seriously. Your not supposed to take it seriously. That is what a gimmick match is supposed to do, add some variety and fun. But all those people that want to chant things like Fire Russo, keep chanting it because their precious professional wrestling is nothing but a TV show and every TV show needs a writer. The show ain't gonna write itself and there is no booker in history that was 100% consistent. Everyone had faults.

But when someone does a complete 180 over the course of one show, it doesn't work. It's so much more effective to build it up over time.

The whole thing smacks of poor planning, and a desperate need to turn someone face to even things out a bit. If they had planned this whole thing more effectively, they could have kept Morgan out of Fourtune and then had him step up to the plate to lead the charge against the big heel faction.

Plus, as I said, Morgan works so well as a heel that I don't see the logic in it. Why not turn AJ, or one of Beer Money?

Next weeks spoilers.

Impact

* Abyss vs. The Pope went to a no contest after Abyss attacked fans. Pope challenged Abyss to a match where his congregation would be lumberjacks. Abyss accepted.

* Eric Bischoff came out in karate gear with Ric Flair. They announce that Matt Morgan is not an Immortal and not good enough to be with them. Mr. Anderson must pin Bischoff tonight to get a shot at Jeff Hardy tonight. Bischoff gets into it with a referee and kicks him in the head, fires him and leaves.

* Backstage segment with Brian Kendrick and EV 2.0. Rob Van Dam comes in and argues. Fortune comes in and tells EV 2.0 to finish each other off. Rhino goes to hit the Gore on Styles but accidently hits RVD.

* Sarita beat Velvet Sky.

* Segment backstage with Fortune.

* Mickie James and Ink Inc. defeat Tara and Generation Me. The heels attacked the winners after the match.

* Jeff Jarrett comes out and cuts a promo on Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe. Jarrett finishes but Joe comes out and attacks him. Jarrett’s security comes out to stop him but Joe takes them out.

* AJ Styles defends the TV Title against Rhino and RVD in a three-way and wins. RVD and Rhino get into it after the match. EV 2.0 comes out and RVD gets into it with Raven. Tommy Dreamer vs. RVD is announced for Turning Point.

* Douglas Williams lost to Kazarian. Ric Flair was on commentary and Beer Money watched from ringside. Storm got on the apron and Williams ran into him on accident. Everyone got into it after the match but Flair came in and got them on the same page again.

* Eric Bischoff comes out and calls Mr. Anderson to the ring. Bischoff is announced as the TNA kickboxing champion. Borash has to do ring introductions here and has to insult Anderson reluctantly. Bischoff ends up beating Borash up. Anderson’s music hits but Matt Morgan comes out instead. Morgan lays Bischoff out and pins him. Morgan signs the contract and says he will see Jeff Hardy at Turning Point. Ric Flair comes out and cuts on Morgan. Flair helps Bischoff out of the ring and to the back.

That doesn't look so bad, if taken more seriously it could be a good match!

I think the main problem was no-selling, Sting suddenly gets a burst of energy big enough to take down Abyss and lock him in a sharpshooter after being almost dead a few seconds before?

Sting didn't even try to make it look convincing that he hit Abyss with the chair and the candelabra

And how the hell and Sting lift a headstone easier than Abyss can?!

Turn Matt Morgan face almost on a whim and have him lose on the same show.

Typical TNA.

Jeff Hardy cannot be on Impact at all until the PPV due to his court dates so at least they are saving Hardy vs Anderson until whenever Anderson is better rather than rushing Jeff into a feud with someone else. Fortune has 6 members anyway instead of 4 and like Hulk Hogan said, TNA is going to get more real. No more fake wrestlers and fake storylines, the only way forward is to start shooting. It's the way wrestling should be. It's the only way wrestling can progress. Change is good.

LOL. We've heard this before from TNA. Lets see what they do and how long it lasts till they restart again.

What else can they do? Their main angle for their next PPV has had to be cancelled due to Anderson's injury and Jeff's court dates. Jeff wont be appearing on Impact at all and Anderson wont be cleared to wrestle anytime soon so the best thing is to just keep them on the sidelines so that when they are both able to go back to work they can give them the proper amount of TV time needed to hype the match up. Even if nothing was wrong with Anderson the fact is Jeff cannot make any Impact tapings at all and might not even make the PPV.

It's no different than WWE sending John Cena to all the Smackdown house shows next week even though he is a Raw star. I'm sure a lot of Raw fans will be upset at not seeing him but.....the Undertaker is injured yet again. Sometimes plans need to be changed at the last minute. Anderson is the top face in TNA right now and he can't work. They had to do something.

3 russo impacts in a row.....3 best impacts ever,thank you vince

Yet they book a gimmicky casket match,arguably one of the most cartoonish in wrestling history,for the next PPV

This was Hogan saying it on his Twitter. You don't think this change is gonna happen while Hogan is out do you? I notice a lot of people online trying to play it down as if Hogan is just playing his heel boss character but i really don't think that is the case. Unless Hogan does something that has never been done and goes on TV and talks about fake wrestlers and fake storylines and does something that really has never been done in pro wrestling!

Casket matches are gimmicky. I can see why Pope would choose that kind of match, Abyss himself is a bit of a gimmick.