I know at least one person, me, who was enjoying Impact until Chubba The Jock Sniffing Sponge filled my screen. My mind had time to determine that maybe Chubba is brought out to make Scott Hall appear to be in shape before my fingers clutched the remote and switched to RAW.
RAW didn't exactly hold my interest, but out of protest I never switched back. I know that won't effect the ratings or make advertisers pull their sponsorships, but it has become a matter of principle now. I likely won't know how the remainder of Impact went until I read Kevin's recap.

Pretty sad when an 0.9 is seen as a sign of life.

Of course Impact's rating increased for the 8-9pm hour running unapposed but then dropped off for the 9-10pm hour. RAW didn't advertise any matches and the guest host wasn't a big name as Kevin said. Also a great game between Butler and Duke took away from RAW for the 10-11 hour. TNA was advertising a ladder match between the 2 best talents on the roster and still no one cared. RAW wasn't anything special but Impact was horrible. The opening segment was pointless. I thought we were gonna get a Sting explaination, nope just another cluster you know what. The Knockouts fighting for keys to open boxes? I rather see a 5 second Divas match than that. By the way, the Knockout as a whole don't get ratings, it's The Beautiful People that get ratings. And if they're depending on their womens division to get ratings, they're in bigger trouble then I thought. Once again the Rob Terry match had me think about The Ultimate Warrior, The British Bulldog and Batista. So TNA had to try to prove a point, not only a chair shot unprotected to the head but bleeding also. And by looking at Terry, it only goes to show you how much of a joke TNA's drug/wellness program is. By the way can someone tell me the difference between a Global tittle and A World one? The ladder match was good but once again there was Kurt Angle was it nessasary for Angle to risk further injury to his neck the way he did? Two months ago most of you were saying how glad Desmond Wolfe must be he went to TNA because he was main eventing with Angle. Now he's jobbing to Morely and losing on a regular basis. At least the WWE would have paid him better.

I only saw bits of TNA but I have to say that the Knockout's key match and the results after were completely ridiculous. But the evening gown match on Raw was worse. If TNA doesn't come up with better storylines I don't think they'll go higher than 1.0.

Consider this a victory for The WWE. After their worst show of the year drew a significantly higher rating than last week's .6 number, due to shrewd placement of the Knockouts in the climax of a terribly booked Impact, TNA now has incentive to continue to book their product right into the ground.

In related news, the winner of the upcoming Lockdown Match between Styles and Pope will receive a clue as to where the TNA Heavyweight Championship has been hidden. He who finds the championship will be awarded the strap. Then Lacey Von Erich will take her clothes off.

And you gotta love the way TNA openly defies every change the WWE has made in order to establish itself as a reputable, family-friendly, entertainment company.

-After The WWE banned blood, every wrestler on TNA Impact bled profusely, why? Because they can!

-After The WWE banned chairshots to the head, Rob Terry took a nasty chairshot to the head, why? Because he can!

I'm just waiting for the day The WWE announces that they will finally take a stand against wrestler deaths. In the ultimate act of defiance against "The Man", TNA would then begin killing wrestlers on live television. Oh, my bad, they've already done that with A.J. Styles, Abyss, and after that nasty spill off of a ladder, they almost did it to Kurt Angle.

*puts WWE excuse cards in a hat, tosses them around*

It was clearly the change in weather, everyone was outside.

But seriously, I'm interested in the quarter numbers, if TNA was getting a .9-1.0 for the unopposed hour, thats sad they couldn't bring in more viewers when the bigger portion of the audience tuned in at 9.

Also I am still perplexed why they would schedule the TNA Knockouts lock box opening segment to close the show, and it took like 15 flipping minutes too. This isn't 1998 anymore Mr. Russo, if teenage kids want to see a hot blonde in her underwear MTV or E! (or like 40 other channels) already has that market cornered. That old trick isn't going to work anymore.

RESPONSE FROM KE: You hit on my biggest complaint about Russo's booking style. He only knows one way to do things. It was cutting edge in 1997 and 1998. In 2010, it doesn't work, and he's been exposed as a one-trick pony.

*puts WWE excuse cards in a hat, tosses them around*

It was clearly the change in weather, everyone was outside.

Posted by: MechanicalBull | April 6, 2010 10:46 PM
____

Awesome comment.

Two bad shows get bad ratings. That's the way it should be. Hopefully TNA's rating goes back to .6 until they learn how to book a show without having to be insultingly "shocking."

Okay what was the point of the Knockouts match? "Zombie Hot" Daffney having to strip. (I wonder if she likes that dscription.) It's like no one knew who was going to get what from the boxes. Hey, maybe that wasn't scripted - why else would the Knockout Champ be happy that she got her insect back, then realize she is no longer champ? I had expected Velvet or Angelina to get the stripping duty. The end w/Velvet chastising Lacey was - I'm not sure what it was, but anytime Velvet Sky is on the tube I'm watching. She's got that Tammy Sytch (Sunny) look to her when the latter was in her prime.

Otherwise, once again, the show was all over the place. Less Hogan in the ring and Flair in a wheelchair will be a step in the right direction.

Speaking of RAW, I went to the first stop of RAW's Wrestlemania Revenge Tour last night in Vienna, Austria. The opening matches were pretty good: Mark Henry vs. Chavo Guerrero; Chris Masters vs. William Regal; Christian vs. Dos Caras; and a triple threat match for the Divas championship.

Of those, Christian's match was the best -- very exciting, good interaction with the crowd, and a big pop when he won with the Killswitch. Will Regal got good heat for insulting Vienna, but Master's beat him about two minutes later with the Master Lock, which Regal sold for an additional five minutes after the match. The Divas were hilarious, which I'm not sure they meant to be, but which also made it more entertaining than I'd expected.

The main events were solid: Legacy vs. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne; The Miz vs. MVP; Randy Orton vs. Big Show; and John Cena vs. Sheamus.

Kofi and Evan were in very good form. The crowd was on its feet when Evan set up for the Air Bourne, and Dibiase got a lot of heat for abandoning Rhodes, which cost them the match. Miz was excellent on the mike, as always, and had even learned some German so he could insult the crowd in their language. Orton took a beating from Big Show, but pulled out the RKO for the win, which sent the crowd over the top.

John Cena was the big draw -- almost half the audience his orange shirt and hat on -- but some of his detractors must have followed him here because they were shouting "Cena sucks!" Cena took a lickin from Sheamus but rallied with the STF and the Attitude Adjustment for the win. Afterwards, he got on the mike to tell everyone that he had been given the option of not coming on the tour due to his injuries at Wrestlemania, but had such pride in the WWE title that he wanted to be there, even if some people don't like him.

Overall, a great start to the RAW European Tour.