TNA iMPACT! Moving To Another Timeslot?

[Jack-Hammer]

There's been a little bit of a buzz going around for a few hours. On Spike's website, the April 5th episode of TNA iMPACT! is listed at starting at 8:00 pm-10:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. As of now, Spike hasn't made any official announcement in which they've said the show is moving to an earlier time. It's always possible that it's merely an error on the website and it's also possible that, if it's accurate, that this show will be a test to see if the ratings for the show improve.

I think TNA and Spike would be very smart to move TNA an hour earlier. Even if they were to lose a large number of viewers in the second hour against Raw, they'd still have one full hour in which they were unopposed by the WWE and that could potentially bring up the numbers for the show overall. Head to head against Raw, iMPACT! is just getting killed right now. Whatever the reasons, whatever the excuses some have made, it's just how it is. If iMPACT! wants to improve its numbers, I just don't think it's going to happen going head to head against Raw.

 

[Schizophrenic]

I agree. I have said since the beggining that they needed to start an hour before RAW does or else it's just not gonna work. It would help them to get peopel interested. Hell on January 4 I actually forgot that WWE was on and I looked at the time and it was half an hour gone already. It would be a very smart move if it in fact is real and not a screw up on the website. Then again I can see hem waiting until this coming Monday to announce it since it won't be this week's that is effected and people will think it is if they say it now.

 

[j.beaner]

I absolutely agree, This is a genius move on the part of TNA. Espiecally if They were to do this every week. But U gotta figure that TNA is gotta try and Hype up the 2nd hour of their show, and their Main Events. Thats what is gonna tell the Fans why they shouldnt be tuning into RAW and the card line up for impact. I very much support their move to go one hour unopposed. Cause on Jan. 4th they went upposed on a monday. They had they're highest rating ever. They had at one of the quater hours a 1.78 Rating. Thats huge compared to what they're getting nowadays.

 

[beso mi culo]

TNA would be smart to move to tuesday nights and compete with NXT. If you look at the numbers, that's where the compition is. Plus, TNA would beat NXT and maybe WWE will pull it off the air and replace it with something with better quality. Doubt it tho.

Side note, it's pretty sad that Dixie Carter has to brag about beating RAW and Smackdown in the UK where you have to pay extra to watch those WWE shows and bravo is free. Personally, I don't think TNA really knows what they are doing. That's just me.

 

[thepalaceprince]

I hope they do move to 8. Personally I record impact and watch raw live and if they go to 8 it would allow me to watch a full hour of impact and depending on how much they draw me in I may end up staying for the whole show and Im sure there are plenty of others out there that would do the same. The way I see it this can only be a possitive for tna

 

[twentytwo]

How embaressing for TNA if true. What are we four weeks into their "WAR ON VINCE!" and they are already waving the white flag?

TNA - look - let me break it down for you.

You suck.

If you are going to give up already just save yourself even more shame and just go back to Thursday's where you were barely beating WWE's D show.

TNA is like the 110lb. white kid who walks around town in his wife beater and backwards hat and who thinks his ribs are his abs - who does biceps 6 times a week at the gym and thinks he's hard. Then he runs his mouth to the wrong thug and gets knocked the fuck out in 2 seconds.

Seriously though, how many "changes" is TNA going to make before they realize they cannot dent the WWE? What will their next move be when a move to 8-10 does nothing to help their sub 1.0 ratings?

How many chances are the morons who fund this crap going to give them?

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I think having the show go from 8-10 is a great idea as well. TNA, well, just Hogan actually, keep saying how they are taking over Monday Nights, blah blah blah. No, they are not. They have moved to Monday nights, but are not taking over anything. Raw owns them right now, and if they think that is going to end anytime soon, they are nuts. If any of you think that's going to happen, you're as crazy as they are.

While I do believe it's a good idea, I think TNA needs to make this move and stick with it. Stop moving around. Stay in this slot, and this slot alone, for a full year. I am starting to see that not only are wrestling fans impatient...so are the people running Spike TV and TNA. What else would they put on in that time slot? Some original Spike programming that wouldn't draw shit.

The one thing I have never liked about TNA is how inconsistent they are. Whether it be with storylines, character development, or now, television programming. Just pick a damn time slot and stick with it. They have been on Monday night three times now, and they are already thinking of moving? I don't care if they move back an hour, because I think they should have started there anyhow. But after this move, leave the time slot alone for at least a year.

 

[twentytwo]

Personally, I don't think TNA really knows what they are doing. That's just me.

You are exactly right. TNA books by the seat of their pants. TNA is run by three of the biggest losers in wrestling history with three of the biggest ego's in wrestling history. Not a good combination.

And before anyone says Hogan, Bischoff and Russo aren't losers, let me remind you they are the three biggest reasons one of the most successful and popular wrestling feds of all time collapsed and died. Without Vince guiding him, Hogan has been a total flop in every thing he's ever done in life. Everything.

 

[Kenny Powers]

It would be great if TNA did move their time slot back an hour early. They could draw more viewers and maybe even keep people tuned in for an hour. I don't know if this is a one time thing or not because other sites have said that Spike TV has TNA airing at their original time the next 3 weeks after from 9-11pm. Lets hope TNA does it for at least one night so they can see what the ratings are and move the time slot to 8-10pm permanently.

I don't think the move to Mondays was a failure just yet. I think TNA will have some better numbers running unopposed. They probably won't be great landmark numbers, but I think at least they will be able to break the 1.0 mark at that hour.

 

[davenchi]

I think it is not a bad idea for a couple reasons. 1.Alot of people are just starting to see some of the talent TNA has so if you start an hour earlier you can showcase the talent and try to get these new viewers familiar with the product. 2. If you watch both shows you are more then likely going to stick with watching TNA in the second hour and the main event, instead of Raw and the 30 minute opening segments, divas match, then some messed up tag match.(like it seems the first hour usually is). 3. it may lead to the possibility of a 3 hour TNA program every once in awhile. I for one have liked TNA's shows better then Raw's; I could careless about ratings I would like to see both companies in a heated competition so we can get back to the entertainment that we all were given a long time ago

 

[The Marauder]

TNA is moving to 8pm instead of 9? Might be a smart move on their part. Hopefully,get out of that .8 or .9 rating. Reason being that WrestleMania is in a couple weeks; it figures that everybody is on the WWE side of the pond. Eh. WCW did it; TNA might as well give it a shot. But don't do the same stupid crap they have done already.

Kudos for TNA Wrestling for having the balls to go against the

We Were Entertainment.

 

[Tenta]

It would have been a great move if they actually started at eight.

I'd say this can work, but for it to actually work, TNA and Spike are going to have to advertise the Hell out of the time slot change. I remember WCW doing a similar thing in 1999, under the booking of Russo, and it didn't make much of a difference. Now, again, changing a time slot doesn't solve all of it's problems. All it will do is lead for an hour of no competition from the E. If they can book a solid hour that actually keep fans from changing the channel, well then they may be onto something here. But they're really going to have to keep a pretty stacked hour, and perhaps offer a main event caliber match in the mid card. Nothing really that bad there, but it can't be Vince's nonlogical, frantic paced booking. If Impact does continue to be just that, the fan is going to look for another form of entertainment similar to TNA, that's a little less frantically paced, and in more of a rhythm. So sure, the TNA time slot change is great, if they capatilize on it. If they don't, it will lead to one more WCW comparison

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The latest word going around about this is that the reason TNA is starting an hour earlier is because the finals of the NCAA Basketball Tournament is happening on that night. There's a good chance that the championship game will hurt the ratings of both shows that night.

However, it'd still be a wise move on the part of both TNA and Spike if they moved iMPACT! to an earlier timeslot on a permanent basis.

 

[RicSpade]

Ok yeah WWE has been whooping TNAs ass since the beginning of the new Monday night wars, and yes TNA could be doing a lot better in the ratings, but think about this their major go home show before their biggest pay per view events of all time and their numbers dropped 3.4-3.9 to a 3.2... Now look at when WWE is at their best as of recently they can get about a 4.0 that is considered an awesome rating in wrestling now a days, now if that is what the best rating is and they got a 3.2 and TNA who may have only jumped 200,000 viewers got a .9 this is a victory while it may not win the war it does show that people are noticing.

TNA right now by moving to 8-10 if that is what they plan to do is going to be smart and why is that? Because when Nitro was beating Raw in the ratings war they started by going earlier than WWE, and I think this is what bischoff and hogan are thinking. and on Jan 4th they brought in the X-division in the opening match and it got them a huge boost, and while the booking was still off it showed that people were there to see what is offered, and yeah maybe people will stop tuning in after 10, or maybe people will watch the whole show because they know what to look forward to and then tune into the last hour of RAW I'm not a fortune teller I can't predict the future, but this is going to make WWE work hard to make the first hour as good as TNA's second hour and thats what is going to make the wrestling world entertaining again.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

The more I've been reading these posts, the more I'm convinced that TNA needs to try to be an ALTERNATIVE to the WWE, and not try to out do it. The reason other promotions are successful is because they're an alternative to something that may be stale. The WWE is stale, IMO. And it's up to TNA to market themselves as a promotion bent on offering things the WWE can't or doesn't offer. Like some blood, naughtier girls, better storylines, and more wrestling.

A move to an unopposed timeslot will open them to a wider audience. They don't have to worry about changing channels or using a DVR. They can watch a whole hour unopposed of each show and everyone wins. This would be a great strategy for TNA, and hopefully, they implement it.

 

[WWEIsLife]

I read this is only a one time thing. Probably because of the NCAA Tournament Finals so im sure there worried about there Show bombing even more in the Ratings on Apirl 5th going up against the NCAA Finals and RAW combined. By the way Ricspade im sure the reason RAW drew 3.2 was it might have had something to do with Dancing With The Stars Season premiere. You call a 0.9 a victory? I sure don't.

 

[shattered dreams]

While moving the start time to 8 is one of the few popular ideas that actually makes a certain amount of sense, I do not think they are going this route yet. One of the downsides would be starting at 5pm on the west coast.

One thing I have not been able to figure out is how exactly TNA is "bombing" in the ratings. Disappointing yes, but it is not like this is some disaster. The last thursday impact they did a 1.1, then they did a 1.0 on the first monday impact. The core audience seems to have weathered the move better than many might have guessed. The key is now how to attract new viewers and the realistic people in charge have long said the plan is to put out a good product and build up over the long-term. If that is going to work, who knows? But there is almost no evidence that such a plan has already failed or is doomed. Meaning all the panic talk seems more IWC speculation than TNA management.

 

[TNAIMPACTRULEZ]

How embaressing for TNA if true. What are we four weeks into their "WAR ON VINCE!" and they are already waving the white flag?

TNA - look - let me break it down for you.

You suck.

If you are going to give up already just save yourself even more shame and just go back to Thursday's where you were barely beating WWE's D show.

TNA is like the 110lb. white kid who walks around town in his wife beater and backwards hat and who thinks his ribs are his abs - who does biceps 6 times a week at the gym and thinks he's hard. Then he runs his mouth to the wrong thug and gets knocked the fuck out in 2 seconds.

Seriously though, how many "changes" is TNA going to make before they realize they cannot dent the WWE? What will their next move be when a move to 8-10 does nothing to help their sub 1.0 ratings?

How many chances are the morons who fund this crap going to give them?

ok look i have been on and off of this wrestlezone for a while now and see all the wwe fans consistenly bash tna and praise the wwe, as a former wwe fan from the attitude era mind you, wwe got boring bc it didnt have competition, bc every time a better company starts to emerge mr vince has an aneurism and starts to panic and thinks of just himself again and tries to destroy us wrestling fans by taking wrestling off the map and replacing it with the crap he puts on the air of mae young giving birth to a hand, wtf does that have to do with wrestling? that shows how creative wwe is and then the matches that they put out are all repeats bc they have nothing better to show, whereas on tna i have seen diff matches every week and more wrestling than i have seen on raw for the past 3 years. so wwe fans its funny you want to bash the best bc u must enjoy tna if you want to record it and still watch it even if its just to tear it down bc ur jealous that tna has the better product. i on the other hand dont record anything wwe or waste my valuable time on anything wwe bc tna is my brand and when i have tna why do i need wwe.

 

[Viola Moonlight]

I'm not quite sure what's usually happening in America concerning Monday Night programming, but since this is mainly about direct competition with the WWE and nothing else, I might add a new shed of light.

Yes, starting one hour earlier would be a great way to open up their viewership and possibly slowly creep up the numbers in the fan-base. That first one hour is where people really gear themselves up for what's ahead and settle in to their couch to watch the box. Keep that first hour booked solid and entertaining, and you may see that some people will stay tuned. However, there is always the factor of what TNA has to do within the second hour that will keep fans from not tuning into WWE RAW. Right now, TNA will be having a hard time trying to book a full two-hours worth of PPV material every week just to get people to watch, so I have a different suggestion (keeping in mind I have no idea what TV shows occur during this time period):

Why not start TNA Impact! at 7pm and finish at 9? In terms of professional wrestling, the WWE are not in competition with them and those in for a night of watching wrestling will likely view TNA as their highest priority. TNA doesn't have one absolute necessity of booking solid television for the first hour or both hours just to keep fans, just provide entertaining television. By the time that Impact's two hours are over, there will be quite a number of people who could not be bothered watching WWE RAW, another professional wrestling program for another two hours. I'm going to guess that kids might be a huge portion, due to the newer generation getting bored quite quickly or parents breaking down on the rules and not allowing them to watch RAW. Considering this is the WWE's targeted audience, TNA can indirectly hurt their programming by going a full two hours earlier.

If, for whatever reason that going a two hours before RAW is very stupid due to other programming, then they should at least go for one hour earlier.

 

[Louie Music]

Yes, it appears to be due to the NCAA tourny. So it's a smart move on TNA's part... wow, I havent said smart move and TNA in the same beath in a long time!

I'll agree with many others though, TNA should not be on Mondays. Why the hell is it that it seems Dixie has been so determined to take on Vince? Seriously? That's like trying to get the Black Crows to out perform Van Halen!

TNA started to lose me for a while, mainly due to AJ and Joe getting pushed so much for a few years and not taking the company, or themselves, anywhere.

I like TNA, it's getting somewhat interesting, but not enough for me to turn away from other shows or the WWE on Mondays. I'd like to see them back on Thursdays or maybe even Saturday nights. I'm just curious to see if the ratings stay below a 1.0 how long it takes for Spike to step in and tell Dixie enough is enough and move them to a different day? Let's face it, a 0.8 rating can not be over looked for a long amount of time by even the smallest of networks.

 

[Scotty]

I thought that TNA should have implemented this all along. By going head to head with the WWE, they proved that they are trying to get to much to soon. No one who is unfamiliar with TNA is gonna change the the channel on their TV screens to a company they didn't even know existed. If they went with this time slot from the get go, they could use that full hour before Raw to draw in some new fans. Then if they used that time right, they could slowly start drawing away fans from WWE with stuff maybe they grew up watching in the Attitude Era. I think that this move would be the right decision for them to make right unless they want to end up back on Thursdays.

 

[flocker]

Louie music, have you seen van halen recently?

You might have stumbled onto a perfect analogy, though. Wwe is a LOT like van halen. Full of old ideas that used to be the best in the world, but now are kind of stale. I love van halen, but the last time I went to a show, they had dropped ticket prices to 20 bucks each, to keep enough people in the audience to prevent eddie from having a diva moment.

Wwe hasn't had to drop its ticket prices, but, it's running out of STARS. Other than cena and orton, the stars it dores have are OLD by industry standards... With little in the far system for huge pop.

 

[doggstarr77]

Twentytwo....Got a question for you. If you hate TNA so much (and you are entitled to your opinion), Why are you commenting in the TNA threads?????? LMAO Kinda sad if ya ask me.

 

[gd]

This appears to be a one time thing for know, but I could definetly see them considering this for the long term, but I'm not sure if that'd be the right move.

Sure, they'd get an extra hour before Raw goes live, but Raw would also get an extra hour, from 10-11, unopposed. I don't think TNA moving will have that big of an effect on the ratings anyway. Personally, I'd like it as it'd give me more of an oppurtunity to watch on Mondays, but I don't think it'd be the best decision for TNA.

They certainly can't panic after seeing the first few ratings. Looking at it realistically, they couldn't have been expecting much better. I think they should stay with 9-11 for the long term and focus on putting out the best possible product. The ratings will take care of themselves.

 

[TLC]

This is a good thing. I have wanted TNA to be at 8 from when they announced moving to Monday. It gives them an hour unopposed so the amount of viewers should hopefully increase and the second hour should hopefully draw them in and they should get a better overall rating. If TNA are able to put some very entertaining wrestling in that hour then I am sure nothing bad will come of this. The only downside of this is that Raw will have a full hour unopposed so will gain more viewership for that hour but the ratings could still take a hit if TNA can keep viewers attracted for the last hour.

Hopefully this works out well for TNA and they move there permanently.