TNA Impact will be taped for the first time in North Carolina next month, PWInsider.com has confirmed.
Fayetteville, NC (which would be the hometown of Matt and Jeff Hardy) has been mentioned to me as the most likely location, although Charlotte was mentioned as a possibility as well.
There has been talk for some time about taking Impact out of Orlando for some time in order to test how the product would fare in front of different audiences. The Orlando audience has developed something of a reputation for being jaded after so many years of getting a number of free TV tapings and PPVs a month. I don't believe a PPV goes by without a TNA talent openly wondering to me how a match that had trouble getting over in Orlando might have fared in another market before fans that were paying for the product.
The lone episode of Impact taped outside of Orlando was a live special at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas, featuring the debut of the Main Event Mafia. Beyond that, every episode of Impact to date has been filmed in Orlando, dating back to the series debut in May 2004.
I am under the impression the move to NC would be something of a test to see how the tapings would fare outside of Orlando and would be something done in addition to using the Impact Zone, which TNA leases annually from Universal Studios Orlando.