This week's episode of TNA Impact Wrestling did a final cable television rating of 0.89, with only 997,000 viewers for the two hour show. This is down almost exactly 10% from last week's 0.99 rating, and a full 18% lower in total viewership. In terms of viewership, this was the lowest non-holiday episode of Impact Wrestling since they attempted to run on Monday nights against the WWE, and the lowest rating including holidays since Thanksgiving.
TNA faced strong competition from the NCAA Tournament, which had its first complete night on Thursday. They also didn't have their usual lead-in from Cops, which has helped the Impact Wrestling rating big time in the past. This obviously doesn't do TNA any favors with Spike TV currently looking at a new television deal, and rumors of interesting in picking up Monday Night Raw surfacing recently.
The highest rated segment for this week's show was the in-ring return of Bobby Lashley against Ethan Carter III. The opening segment was the second strongest of the night, but still didn't break the 1.0 barrier. The numbers continued to drop throughout the night, picking up just a little at the end for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship match between Samoa Joe and Magnus.
