By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

TNA Impact on Thursday, April 21 officially scored a 0.96 rating, the lowest rating since Thanksgiving 2010. For a non-holiday, it was the lowest rating June 2010 when TNA was transitioning out of the Monday Night experiment and was up against the NBA Finals.

Impact scored a 0.91 first hour rating (same as previous week), but only rose to a 1.01 second hour rating (1.06 rating previous week).

For the second consecutive week, no quarter-hour in the first hour was above a 1.00. Only Q5 at the top of the second hour topped the 1.00 mark, scoring a 1.14 rating. Impact then dropped below 1.00 for the remainder of the show.

Also for the second consecutive week, Impact struggled out of the gate, scoring a show-low 0.87 rating, which followed a show-low 0.83 rating the previous week.

First Hour Break Down

Q1: Impact opened with a 0.87 rating for the immediate fall-out from Lockdown with Bobby Roode's promo and subsequent interruptions by Mr. Anderson, Jeff Hardy, and Hulk Hogan. There was also one commercial. (down 26.1% vs. 2011-Q1 average)

Q2: Impact increased to a 0.91 rating for Matt Morgan & Austin Aries vs. Bully Ray & Crimson in the opening match, plus one commercial. (down 21.3% vs. 2011-Q2 average)

Q3: Impact reached its first hour peak with a 0.96 rating for Garett Bischoff & babyfaces in the ring confronted by Ric Flair, one commercial, and the first-half of A.J. Styles vs. Kurt Angle. (down 17.7% vs. 2011-Q3 average)

Q4: Impact dipped back down to a 0.90 rating for the end of Styles-Angle, champions making their way to the ring, two full commercial breaks (which affected the rating), and Hogan talking to RVD backstage leading to the top of the second hour. (down 20.0% vs. 2011-Q4 average)

Second Hour Break Down

Q5: Typical for Impact, the show scored its peak rating in Q5 with a 1.14 rating for Hogan's "big announcement" with the champions in the ring, plus one commercial break. This was the only quarter-hour of the show that was not double-digit percentage below the corresponding 2011 quarter-hour average. (down 7.4% vs. 2011-Q5 average)

Q6: Impact dipped back down to a 0.98 rating for the eight-Knockouts tag match, one commercial, and ODB & EY on their "honeymoon." (down 15.5% vs. 2011-Q6 average)

Q7: Impact dipped to a second-hour-low 0.94 rating for Devon vs. Gunner, one commercial break, and James Storm's farewell-for-now speech leading to the main event.

Q8: Impact increased slightly to a 0.96 rating - below the KO quarter-hour - for the main event of Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson vs. RVD that the audience did not have time to anticipate. There was also one commercial. This was the lowest Q8 rating since early March. (down 18.5% vs. 2011-Q8 average)

Caldwell's Analysis: The entire show was way down from Impact's standard, but the Knockouts are now a concern since they haven't drawn a rating the past several weeks. Throwing eight Knockouts in a match doesn't mean as much as focusing on two, three, or four at the most at the time. Missing from the equation as of late is Angelina Love. Studying the quarter-hours for the entire time she has been in TNA, I remain convinced that if she involved in a meaningful program (e.g. Beautiful People), she is TNA's top television draw.

Also a concern is the main event scoring below a 1.00 rating with that former WWE star power in the ring. The audience did not have time to anticipate the match-up, and throwing another star in the match probably did not help. It was subtraction by addition. If Hogan is looking for what could address 75 percent of TNA's issues, simplifying things would be a place to start (along with creating a solid, #1, franchise QB babyface star). There are too many people on the roster, which leads to TNA squeezing tons of people on the show each week, but it hurts the overall product. Now, bringing in OVW call-ups or independent wrestlers once a month for a Gut Check segment will take away a quarter-hour from the current roster, which means squeezing more talent onto an over-crowded show. This show has to be simplified to help reverse Impact's backwards momentum.

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