Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Impact Wrestling held an all hands on deck talent and crew meeting prior to tonight's TV Taping in Toronto, PWInsider.com has confirmed. PWInsider.com has spoken with a number of talents that were in attendance and then additional sources to flesh out statements that were made to the roster.
The major news coming out of the meeting was that the promotion will be making what was described to PWInsider as "massive upgrades" to its production facility starting this fall. It was described to the team as the upgrades bringing "state-of-the-art production technology and advances" to the Impact on AXS weekly series as well as the promotion's future PPV specials. PWInsider.com is told that the promotion will be greatly renovating their space at Skyway Studios in Nashville and it's just not logistically feasible to edit and produce from the facility during that process.
In asking around once we heard news of that upgrade, the belief is that the process will take about a month to put together, plus another few weeks for the staff to get used to and master the upgraded system. One source in the production area joked that the upgrade will allow the team to "finally take time off during holiday weeks" and that they might be able to finally "pass the award for most overworked production team to someone else, I hope."
We are also told that Impact on AXS production will be assisted by some of their sister companies within Anthem for the post-Bound for Glory TV episodes during this time period.
During the meeting, it was stated there would be some adjustments made to the Impact Wrestling TV taping schedule for the remainder of the year as a by-product of the production upgrades taking place. There will not be conventional TV tapings going forward in the near future (I would assume at least until early 2024), with the promotion instead taping at their announced live events.
During that time period, less talents will be utilized over the remainder of the year following Bound for Glory weekend. PWInsider.com is told that Anthem will be paying day rate talent for extra days through the remainder of the year to help offset their missing dates.
The revised schedule kicks off with Impact heading to Europe for its return to that continent with live events the week of 10/26-10/29 Coventry and Newcastle, England as well as Glasgow, Scotland. Those events will now be taped for TV. That would give the company several week's worth of content from those four live events alone and add some additional prestige for the fans who are there live at the events.
In November, there will be a new IPWF 80s-style throwback taping in Toronto at Santino Marella's Battle Arts Academy on Saturday 11/11.
Impact also informed the roster the promotion would be teaming with Lucha Libre AAA for a joint show in Mexico this November, promising future details as they get locked in. That event will be featured on Impact on AXS TV.
The December Final Resolution 2023 PPV was also confirmed during the meeting as being held at Toronto's Battle Arts Academy on Saturday 12/11.
The promotion also informed talent that the 2024 Hard to Kill PPV will be held in Las Vegas in January - and that for the first time, the show would emanate from a venue directly on the Vegas Strip. Impact had been previously running the market at Sam's Town Live, so this would be a big upgrade in terms of location in that city as that's about 25 minutes away from the Strip with no traffic. The promotion did not announce the date or new venue to the team. If and when we confirm it, we'll report it.
In asking around, we are told that there are no Impact Wrestling talent releases coming as a result of the pivot in the company's schedule and taping calendar. The UK tour will have a smaller than usual roster, which has always been the case of late for the promotion when they have done recent international events (as seen in the recent Australia dates).
In 2024, we are told they will be back to using the complete roster and the expectation internally is the promotion will have a far grander year going forward once this process is complete.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
