Jay Lethal Talks To Randy Savage, Gail Kim's Knee Injury, Impact Ratings News

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

-- SLAM! Wrestling has an article on "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal. Lethal was asked about "Macho Man" Randy Savage's thoughts on the "Black Machismo" gimmick. Lethal said he has never talked to Savage face-to-face, but has talked to him over the phone. Lethal said, "I was a little skeptical that it was really Macho Man Randy Savage, because there are a lot of people out there who can do his voice. Two months later, I was wrestling (Savage's brother) Lanny Poffo, who confirmed it for me." Regarding Savage's impression on the gimmick, Lethal said, "He was all for it, he gave it a big thumbs up. Hearing that was a huge thrill for me."

-- On Thursday's Impact, there was backstage segment with Jim Cornette yelling at Jeremy Borash for letting Awesome Kong fight a fan in the audience the week before. Borash then told Cornette that it was the highest rated part of the show and he quickly changed his tune. In reality, the Kong vs. Melissa segment did one of the lowest rated quarter hours of the year. The segment drew a 0.82 rating and was the lowest rated portion of the second hour. Furthermore, the match lost 152,000 viewers, the biggest one segment drop of the show. Kong segments almost always lose a good portion of viewers if it looks like a squash match is in store for viewers. For instance, her squash matches with Traci Brooks as well as Salinas earlier in the year lost over 100,000 viewers both times.

In other ratings news for the 5/22 show, one of TNA's biggest ratings draws, Angelina Love, lost viewers in her segment. Her match with ODB lost 13,000 viewers. For the second week in a row, a Matt Morgan match lost a good portion of viewers. His match with Robert Roode lost 76,000 viewers. The week before, his match with Kip James lost 262,000 viewers. The backstage segment with SoCal Val, Jay Lethal, Dutt, and the Rock 'n' Rave lip-synching figured into the 76,000 viewer loss, so the marriage storyline lost a sizable number of viewers for the second week in a row as well. After losing tons of viewers the week before, the Kurt & Karen Angle segment gained 139,000 viewers and was the highest rated part of Impact, doing a 1.06 rating. For the second week in a row, the Sting interview segment performed poorly. His latest interview lost 113,000 viewers. Samoa Joe announcing the competitors in the King of the Mountain match gained 50,000 viewers. And last but not least, the main event featuring Booker T vs. AJ Styles gained a good portion of viewers for a change. The match gained 88,000 viewers.

The show drew a 0.95 rating and 1.2 million viewers overall. The show did 0.68 in Males 18-34, 0.74 in Males 35-49 and 0.23 in Women 18-49. We don't have ratings figures on the 50 and up crowd, TNA's best demo.

-- For anyone wondering, Gail Kim's knee injury is simply for television.

Its good to hear that savage is taking Jay Lethal ripping off his gimmick so well.