TNA ratings for Impact Wrestling show on Aug. 18

TNA pay-per-view buys are still in the toilet but the television ratings remain largely the same, which is to say, not the worst in the world.

PWTorch brings word of the numbers for last night's episode of Impact Wrestling:

TNA Impact Wrestling on Thursday, August 18 scored a 1.05 rating, down from a 1.07 rating last week. It was the lowest mark since June 9.

Impact averaged 1.46 million viewers, down from an average of 1.54 million viewers last week.

A slight downturn like this shouldn't be seen as a bad sign. What should be seen as a bad sign, however, is the current creative direction of the show. Last night's episode was one of the worst in recent memory. The return of Ric Flair, once one of the most revered workers and personalities in the entire business, not only created no buzz, it actually resulted in a backlash.

There are maybe 10 people looking forward to Flair's forthcoming program with Sting, whose Joker gimmick hasn't gotten over at all, and they're all working for TNA. What makes it worse is that it will eventually lead to another angle between the Stinger and Hulk Hogan, which should draw just as poorly.

It's a sad state when a company has tarnished two of the biggest stars in the history of the business to the point that they're being on television actually seems to make viewers turn away and tune into any available alternatives.

For all the results and videos from the Aug. 18 edition of Impact Wrestling click here.