Will Thursday Nights Recapture the Spark in TNA?

It was on Jan.4, 2010 when TNA scored its highest rating ever, drawing in 2.2 million viewers and scoring a 1.5.  WWE RAW countered with over five million viewers and posting a 3.7.

With the ratings success in its first test run, TNA threw its hat in the ring and the so called “Monday Night Wars” seemed to be restarted.

Off we go to March 8, where TNA Impact! began on a high note.  The company threw everything against the wall, as fans got to witness Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair return to the ring, Rob Van Dam’s debut, the reemergence of Sting, and more.  

It was certainly one of the greatest episodes in TNA’s history.  However, going head-to-head from 9-11 p.m. EST didn’t help in the ratings.  Despite putting on a better product, TNA only mustered out a 1.0 rating.

All though at times when TNA displayed a better, quality show to watch over WWE, the ratings did not reflect that.  As a matter of fact, ratings went as low as to a 0.5, the lowest since making its debut on Spike TV in 2005.

Moving Impact! to 8 pm EST helped ratings climb but once RAW came on at 9 pm EST, viewers simply grabbed their remote and switched over, especially if TNA had a taped show that night.

The Monday night experiment did not go as well as TNA wanted, but it didn’t hurt to see if they could compete yet.

The fact is WWE has been around for so many years and for generations on, there will always be a huge fan base.  TNA is still a very young company.

Now, TNA has an opportunity to grow its brand.  Moving to Thursday nights will give them free space from WWE and the chance to draw in good numbers.

My opinion on this is that TNA made the absolute right decision to move Impact! back to Thursday nights.  

They were doing decently well in replays from Monday nights episodes.  I feel that with all the superstars the company has, and if the right decisions are made behind the scenes, TNA could post some pretty impressive numbers.

Now, it is just about building back up the audience.  They weren’t ready for Monday nights just yet.  Thursday is their night for now.

-Written by Daniel Peragine