Tessa Blanchard Fired By Impact Wrestling & Stripped Of World Title
All the key details on Tessa's Impact Wrestling release.
Tessa Blanchard has been released by Impact Wrestling and stripped of the promotion's World Championship.
Impact released the following statement on Thursday evening:-
"IMPACT Wrestling has confirmed that it has terminated its relationship with Tessa Blanchard and stripped her of the IMPACT Wrestling World Championship."
Blanchard had been scheduled to defend the belt against Trey Miguel, Eddie Edwards, Michael Elgin, and Ace Austin at the upcoming Slammiversary pay-per-view on 18 July. Impact is yet to determine what will happen with that match now that Blanchard is gone and Elgin has been suspended.
PWInsider has published a report on Tessa's release, stating that the relationship between promoter and wrestler "had become increasingly icy in recent weeks." Blanchard has been self-isolating with boyfriend Daga (also an Impact wrestler) in Mexico since the global health crisis kicked in. Per the writeup, Tessa failed to send in several promo and interview videos when asked, leading to Impact having to re-edit their entire 1 June episode with new content, different hosts, and fresh voiceovers.
Sources within the company stated Impact was attempting to get Blanchard to return to drop the belt, though they couldn't come to an agreement.
Fightful have confirmed that Tessa's deal was set to expire on 30 June anyway.
Blanchard became the first woman to win Impact's World Title when she defeated Sami Callihan in January. This came on the back of a considerable scandal that saw several wrestlers call Tessa out for allegedly racially abusing La Rosa Negra in 2017, leaving the 24-year-old in a complicated place as she becomes a free agent.