7 Ups & 6 Downs From Impact Wrestling Hard To Kill 2020

1. History Made, Again

Tessa Blanchard is the new Impact Wrestling World Champion. She's gone and made history once again, and she did it in style.

Her main event with Sami Callihan very nearly ended then and there when 'The Draw' hit a piledriver right off the bat, with 'The Undeniable One' very nearly being pinned for the three count. From there, Callihan did everything in his power to kee Tessa down, but she stayed true to her moniker by rising up every single time. She got powerbombed through a table, poked in the eye, and had her knee viciously assaulted by Sami, but she still got back to her feet time and time again.

Tessa connected with a Magnum on the ring apron later on which, while being nice to look at, made no sense as it didn't benefit her at all - it did more damage to her knee, she landed back first on the ring apron (which is, of course, the hardest part of the ring™), and Sami fell to the floor, so the referee began his ten count. For such a story-fuelled match, had that been the actual ending, there undoubtedly would've been an uproar.

After some nefarious shenanigans involving the championship belt, a pair of brass knuckles, and a kick below the belt, Blanchard escaped the pin following another piledriver, drilling 'The Callihan Death Machine' into the mat with a Canadian Destroyer and the Buzzsaw DDT to officially make history as she becomes the first woman in history to win a World Championship of a major wrestling organisation usually contested for by men.

For moments like this, let's put aside all of the recent Tessa controversies. For now, we're just speaking about Tessa Blanchard the wrestler, not Tessa Blanchard the person. This is a huge deal, and will hopefully bring a lot more eyes to the Impact product. It can only go up from here with Tessa at the forefront. A true history-making performer.