Tessa Blanchard Wins Impact Wrestling World Championship
Blanchard defeated Sami Callihan at last night's Hard To Kill pay-per-view.
Tessa Blanchard just made history by defeating Sami Callihan to become Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion at last night's Hard To Kill pay-per-view.
In besting the 'Death Machine,' Blanchard becomes the first woman to win a major mixed-gender world title in North American wrestling history. She put Callihan away via pinfall after roughly 24 minutes of fast-paced, action-packed pro-wrestling, throughout which the Dallas, Texas crowd was firmly behind her.
Post-match, Tessa grabbed a microphone to speak not only on her title win, but a newsworthy weekend that saw Allysin Kay, Chelsea Green, and others accuse Blanchard of bullying and racism:-
"Over the past eight months this has been my life," Blanchard said. "Sami and OVE have been a thorn in my side and tonight, we did it. Nobody in this life is perfect, we're all human, and it doesn't matter what you say about me. It doesn't matter what you call me. I've got one of the strongest minds that I've ever known, so whenever you can for me, you come for all these people."
Kay, the current NWA Women's Champion, offered more details on Blanchard's alleged ill behaviour yesterday:-
Tessa was pulled from Impact's pre and post-PPV media scrums as a result of the allegations.
Those issues aside, this is a bold booking choice from a company that looks set to go all-in on intergender wrestling in 2020 which, given that their fanbase is almost certainly down to the hardcores and hardcores alone in these days, could be seen as a hook for a promotion that desperately needs one.