Yeah TNA lost a lot of viewers because the opening cage match ended in a No Contest. Despite the wrestlers continuing wrestling while Jeff Hardy made his surprise appearance.
No matter how that match ended, it doesn't matter considering one of the biggest draws of WWE showed up on Impact during the opening segment. Oh and that horrible first hour also had good knockout matches and Ric Flair debuting as well. Nothing special though.
WWE in their first hour kills it w/ an unreal moment between Hart/Michaels. Miz gets some quality mic time followed by a good fatal four US title contenders match. We get a great Jericho/Hart promo. Then the first hour ends w/ a really strong ppv style tag match between DX/Jerishow.
Really? I'll agree it was a nice segment with Hart and Michaels but it wasn't that great. We get a shitty divas match to start us off and another classic Hornswoggle and DX segment. Not to mention that DX and Jerishow has been done to death. Wasn't Jericho already banned from Raw anyway?
To top it off, we get Flair, Val Venis, Nasty Boys, Hall, Walton, etc all back to TNA when they are trying to promote their YOUNG talent. Give me a fucking break. Even Sting in the rafters is a joke. This isn't 1997. That show had less match time than a two hour Raw if it wasn't for Angle/Styles.
This isn't 1997, so why are you praising Bret Hart and putting down Sting and Flair? Bret Hart hasn't been relevant to WWE since 1997. I agree TNA could of done without the Val Venis and Nasty Boy segments. I'm pretty sure TNA had more matches and match time then Raw.
Not to mention that Hogan addressed the old NWO members telling them it wasn't about the old guys but the new. Not to mention the matches putting over young talent and Hogan telling AJ Styles he is the best wrestler in the world today.
TNA needed to get that Styles/Angle match on early and go against the grain to make sure WWE fans had no choice but to keep on watching Impact. Those two are incredible workers and TNA didn't take advantage of their free hour. That was a good match and I'm not sure it grabbed more watchers than TNA regularly has.
It could of gone on early, but it lasted over 20 minutes. I don't think that's too bad. I do think TNA could of cut out some corny backstage segments and added more matches though.
I must note.. I'm rooting for TNA to do well because it will only up the game of the WWE. I want wrestling as a whole to do well because right now it's in the shitter. So instead of blindly defending TNA or WWE, call it like it is. Don't blindly defend a brand.