TNA Impact Rating Suffers On New Night, Ring Of Honor Strong

The first TNA Impact rating on its new night is in, and the numbers don’t look very promising. In fact, Ring of Honor, which debuted as a lead-in for the struggling wrestling promotion had a stronger opening all things considered.

Before getting into the guts of these numbers, there first needs to be a little context. While the figures themselves favor TNA a bit, there’s no painting a happy face on them in this light.

Momentum for ROH, which didn’t have a national TV deal prior to last month, is impressive. The debut show clocked in at 163,000 viewers for the first broadcast and 110,000 for the replay. Taken together, this almost beat the TNA Impact rating of 297,000 viewers, according to Cageside Seats.

Considering that TNA was saved by Destination America after Spike TV chose not to renew, and rumors quickly began to break out that DA planned on canceling the show in September, this isn’t good, especially when you factor in that Impact Wrestling used to bring in more than a million viewers at Spike.

Clearly, their fans haven’t followed them to the new network.

Destination America bringing ROH on board sent further messages to fans that Dixie Carter, TNA’s owner, had very little bargaining power and that the fledgling cable channel wasn’t confident with TNA’s long-term prospects.

While the company continues to fight back against rumors that it’s on the verge of folding, it has lost some of its biggest stars, such as Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles, neither of whom are entertaining a return.

In fact, Samoa Joe has signed a deal with WWE, and A.J. recently showed little interest in being inducted into TNA’s Hall of Fame. Not good since he was, at one time, the promotion’s version of Sting.

The only bright spot for wrestling fans, if the TNA Impact rating doesn’t improve, is that there are a lot of solid talents still in-house that could then turn up at ROH, NXT, or even the WWE main roster.

What do you think about the disappointing numbers that TNA is now experiencing? Do you think this bodes well for ROH’s future, and which superstars would you like to see turn up at WWE? Sound off in the comments section below.

[Image via Ring of Honor]