25 Great Wrestlers That EVERYBODY Turned Against
19. Tessa Blanchard
It would be hyperbolic to say Tessa Blanchard had the whole wrestling world in her hands before revelatory social media posts unearthed stories from an ugly past. But a World Title reign was all hers, and looked set to be historic before old actions had new consequences.
Blanchard was crowned Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion in January 2020 with a victory over Sami Callihan at the culmination of an impressively-booked intergender feud between the two, but right before her biggest professional triumph, a curtain was pulled all the way back on the person about to ascend. Blanchard had tweeted about what women can do in a predominantly male business when they support one another - a sentiment always worth trumpeting and one that was easily woven into the story set to culminate on pay-per-view. Alas, she'd made more than a few enemies that told tale of her doing anything but that along the way.
Allysin Kay (Impact' Sienna from 2016 to 2018) was the first to allege Blanchard's bullying and racism of fellow talent and members of the public dating back to 2017, found support from former Impact wrestler and future WWE star Chelsea Green, Shanna (then with AEW), Renee Michelle and eventually La Rosa Negra - a alleged victim, who noted an incident from several years prior.
Blanchard still won the title and held it as the pandemic took hold in 2020, but was stripped of it in line with her contract being terminated in June. After years in the wrestling wilderness, she returned to the re-rebadged TNA in 2024, but did so with so much baggage that many simply couldn't or wouldn't engage with her kayfabe persona without being consumed by the potential reality lurking underneath.