The Problem With Tessa Blanchard That No One Wants To Talk About
Impact's embrace of intergender wrestling reached its pinnacle at Hard to Kill on 12 January 2020, when Tessa Blanchard defeated Sami Callihan to become World Champion. A woman had grabbed the company's top prize for the first time in history. It was an unprecedented move, something that had never happened in a major American promotion before, and should have been the start of a progressive, game-changing run for Tessa, who was performing at her peak after a suitably attritional battle with Callihan.
Instead, Blanchard's run was poisoned before it began.
The NWA's Allysin Kay (who wrestled for Impact as Sienna from 2016 to 2018) broke the seal:-
Kay was joined by another former Impact wrestler in Chelsea Green, AEW's Shanna, Renee Michelle, and more. La Rosa Negra, the alleged victim of Blanchard's bullying, came forward to corroborate, citing an incident from three years prior. Tessa's first response was to call the situation ridiculous in a since-deleted tweet, before denying the accusations and issuing a full statement:-
Meanwhile, La Rosa Negra uploaded a video outlining her side of the story, confirming the incident happened in April 2017. It should be noted that Blanchard hasn't wrestled in Japan since a few weeks after the alleged abuse would have occurred.
Blanchard's Impact push wasn't hindered by this. Tessa won the World Title as planned and held it until June, when she was unceremoniously released from the promotion after failing to submit remote video content from self-isolation in Mexico, having not appeared for the group since the onset of the global health crisis. This bred fears of her no-showing the Slammiversary 2020 pay-per-view, where she was reportedly set to drop the belt.
Having seemingly escaped the reported behavioural issues that blemished her earlier career, the 25-year-old found herself drowning in them five months after making history. Recalling said issues goes some way to explaining why she's still a free agent...
CONT'd...