By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

TNA Impact on Thursday, May 23 officially scored a 1.07 rating off a first hour 1.05 rating and second hour 1.10 rating.

It turns out that after several weeks of terrible first-hour ratings, the last Impact in the earlier timeslot delivered the best first hour performance since April 4. Also, all four quarter-hours were at or above a 1.0 for the first time since March 7.

Overall, Impact delivered its best rating since April 4 mainly due to the first-hour performance. It was a steady show without a significant ratings spike at any point. Impact did peak at the end of the show with a 1.18 rating for A.J. Styles's "decision."

First Hour Break Down

Q1: Impact opened with a 1.05 rating, which was the highest Q1 rating since April 4. By comparison, the previous six weeks of Impact scored Q1 ratings of 0.75, 0.81, 0.83, 0.85, 0.80, and 0.82.

The segment started with Hulk Hogan returning home to Tampa, followed by appearances by Sting, Brooke Hogan, and Bully Ray. The segment went a full 15 minutes without a commercial.

Q2: Impact increased slightly to a 1.07 rating for an X Division three-way match and two full commercial breaks. It captures the story of Impact's earlier timeslot run when a segment featuring a non-descript X Division match and two full commercial breaks topped the opening segment this week.

Q3: Impact was essentially the same with a 1.06 rating for in-ring shenanigans leading to Magnus vs. Wes Briscoe, plus one commercial break.

Q4: Impact dipped to a 1.00 rating for various backstage segments and videos, two full commercial breaks, and the first few minutes of Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson.

Second Hour Break Down

Q5: Impact got a slight top-of-the-second-hour bump to a 1.09 rating for the end of Angle-Anderson and one full commercial break.

Q6: Impact increased to a 1.14 rating for the oddball James Storm Tag Team Decision Segment that led to Gunner returning, plus one commercial at the end of the segment.

Q7: After the James Storm segment, Impact fell way off to a show-low 0.99 rating for Joseph Park backstage, Knockouts Title match ring introductions, and the full Mickie vs. Velvet title match with Mickie capturing the KO Title.

Caldwell's Analysis: This is interesting. The Knockouts have not drawn as well as they used to the past several weeks, but not to the point of dropping off a cliff to the show-low rating, so the turn-away factor of the Q6 segment needs to be factored in.

Q8: Impact regained the audience with a show-high 1.18 rating for A.J. Styles's "decision" to turn down Aces & Eights after attacking his PPV opponent, Kurt Angle, reinforcing that he is his own man.

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