Whatever the idiotic, illogical decision is, I'm confident TNA will make it.

Also, something that is never mentioned with regards to Raw vs Nitro is that Nitro was live nationwide while Raw was on tape delay, so on the west coast there never really was a "head to head" war. Nitro came on around 5pm, and then Raw came on at 9pm.

OR, it means TNA just doesn't live up to its own hype! Fans tuned in January 4th to give it another chance, but they didn't like what they saw (same ol' same ol') and they stopped tuning in. Period.

If you're a Nielsen household and you record a show, DVR or VCR, then it counts for the ratings. Ratings are NOT a reflection of viewers choosing one over the other. It simply shows the interest for each given show.

You have a point about the 8-10PM option since the best-rated hour of the three on January 4th was the first as I recall, but the fact that TNA's shows trend towards less viewers as the show progresses is a sign of a bad television show, period. Wrestling or not.

Kev - What impact do you think Replays affect the WWE? During the Monday Night wars there was no Raw Replay, except for the spanish version on Telemundo.

Now Raw replays on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

Do you think that hurts the product?

From Spike TV's perspective, I would be interested to see what kind of rating "Predator" draws. Would it be better for the network to replay "Impact!", or an old '80s action film?

One thing that maybe is being overlooked about the switch is that with IMPACT! being pre-taped every other week, the WWE will have the advantage of being able to place segments against TNA segments to strategically draw fans away at certain times. A luxury they don't have for the live head to heads, and something that may reflect in the ratings breakdowns.

Kevin - do you think a move from 8 to 11 like Nitro would make TNA more successful? They have a solid roster of wrestlers already and they could put on some great midcard wrestling matches, something RAW rarely features. That first hour is crucial, spend the time hyping up the rest of the show/main event/good storylines and their ratings would increase against the WWE juggernaut.

RESPONSE FROM KE: Speaking strictly as a fan, I don't want to watch a three-hour show every week. An occasional special episode is fine, but that's a lot to ask people to sit through week in and week out.

Never say never. The more TNA has new stuff to bring to the table the more people will be interested in watching it. We can't make conclusions early about the ratings war because you never know what might happen.

I don't know Kev. The guys that I talked to in my age demo (30-40), liked the Impact on Monday alot more than Raw. I think if they stick with the R rated stuff, they will beat out Raw in the end. Who wants to see a diva's pillow fight every week? Now you got a Sting storyline with RVD, AJ Styles isn't getting buried, and I haven't seen much of Samoa Joe. Three good things in my book!

I don't watch TNA, but when I read your review of Monday night impact, my curiosity got the better of me and I You- Tubed it. I made it through the first segment (Sting with the bat on Hogan) and gave up. Nothing against Sting, just couldn't stand seeing Hogan.

Gotta question for you though - I never watched much WCW so I've got little exposure to Sting. Is there a reason why he's never come to WWE? He seems pretty good from what I've seen and by all reports. I've wondered why Vince never picked him up.

RESPONSE FROM KE: Vince has tried to get Sting several times over the years but Sting always ended staying where he was.

Kev, just watched the 2nd run of Impact from my DVR's 2nd try on thursday.

They have some good young talent but honestly, when it cut off and I didnt get to see the end of the match, I thought, "No use crying over bleeding old guys". It really is quite pathetic.

Rob: There is/was a Youtube interview with Sting on why he never went to WWE. Pretty good answers there.

yo un-related
(well it is in a way showing how well wwe promotes their stuff overseas compared to how tna and hogan poorly promoted that Hogan Tour in Australia)

The Miz, was on an Australian weekly fun show Good News Week - for a segment where they interview an foreigner and pass some jokes, comparing their culture with the australian.

the miz, was... awesome! he had me laughing the entire time, he was full of so much energy and drive, i know that even australians who are ignorant to wrestling, loved it, he plugged the july-august live Smackdown tour - and im sure it will sell out - i just wish i was in the country for it.

i hope we can find it on youtube in days to come - wwe.com has had pics of it for a few days already

I do wonder Kev, why Spike doesn't advertise Impact that much. My son and I watched the Star Wars marathon on Saturday(I know geek) and I dont recall seeing more than 2 or 3 commercials for it. They hyped the some of their other shows alot more than Impact. I guess they are relying on the UFC at 7 to carry viewers over.

I must say that I am a huge Flair and Hogan fan, that being said...here is my take. I have loved wrestling since my childhood, and being from Georgia, I always supported NWA/WCW. i never thought they would cease to exist. After that happened i quit watching at all, but now I am enjoying TNA. I am happy that it seems both Flair & Hogan realize they are better served helping to build-up the younger guys. in doing that they are still the Two undisputed Kings of promos, therefore I feel tna is headed in a good direction. With Hogan and Flair and a huge crop of young talent along with a bevy of mid to upper level stars I think it's just a matter of time before TnA will be getting a 2.0-2.5 rating and eventually I think they can average a 2.5-3.0 rating. Very respectable in my book. woooooo!

I've thought for awhile that WWE could get a boost in ratings if they had a start time of 8pm for RAW. The PG age group probably doesn't see any tv at 9pm or 10pm much less a main event. If they do move to an earlier time then TNA should stay at 9pm to 11pm since they want to hit a different demographic.

WWE should also do a recap show on Saturday mornings so kids home from school could watch and get hooked. If ratings are what they want then they need to market the age range the show is intended for.

Wow lots of positive comments, if these folks hate TNA so much and WWE is such the superior product than why are they taking so much valuable time to crap on it, is this the WWE version of Bubba the Sponge? I liked when both WWE and WCW would do replays (at 1-2 am) on Mondays, some of us work 12 - 16 hour days, it was nice to be able to catch the end of both,fall asleep then see the beginning, maybe that's just me. But if I were TNA I would replay the hell out of their Monday show, screw the Monday number, what about growing your audience? I think they should replay late Monday night,Thursday and an early morning Saturday or Sunday slot if not both, Spike plays plenty of info's ---it's not exactly as if they are going to cut into their "quality programming", Like you said Kev it isn't like they are going to blow up their Monday rating soon,this could serve 2 solid purposes, 1: multiple replays(with listings on TNA.com) result in added opportunities to gain new fans with (here's a new one PRODUCT)and 2:numerous opportunities for fans to find the product,face it many don't even know they exist, in the day once cable started shows were damn near in 24-7, how much would it cost to wipe out one of those cheesy internet based marketing info's that are full of s*** anyway,hell it would be the first time wrestling was more advantageous to society than the scam artists telling us how we could be millionaire's by simply selling BS on the internet. Oversaturate Spike on the off hours,every time somebody is bored,channel surfing give them the chance to see TNA, old clips, old shows,Monday night,you name it, this is their chance, and this strategy could take them to the top. If not it wouldn't cost jack---so what's the down side--- ZERO, Dixie consider this free,when it works,consider me a consultant, I sure could use a break at 50,from my 16 hour days.

People were excited to see what TNA had to offer on Jan 4th. They put on a good show and better than WWE that day. But it seems like the next few weeks they went back to sub-par boring stuff, as if they were back to retooling mode. It seemed like it was going to be the same old thing.
The sad thing with the poor ratings now that they're back on Mondays is those were really great shows they put on, but nobody watched. Sad.
TNA's show last night was ok.. not great. But worth a watch.