On Friday, TNA held its Final Resolution PPV and Jordynne Grace was on her way to a victory when a mysterious person pulled the referee out and attacked Grace. The person revealed themself to be none other than......TESSA BLANCHARD! And this is where everyone in the wrestling community let out a collective "What!?" Has TNA gone mad? Why would they do this? You are probably wondering why are so disgusted with her return? Let's go back a bit.
2019-2020
Tessa Blanchard was enjoying a great run in Impact! Wrestling. Many observers thought she was the woman's wrestler in the world. Her lineage is well-documented as the daughter of the legendary Tully Blanchard. She took wrestling as a duck took to water, she was a natural. With her ceiling so high, Impact! decided to do something daring and have her compete with men. Many scoffed at the idea since intergender matches are now considered taboo and only for Indie promotions, which Impact! really wasn't. Then, Impact! decided to be daring again and have Tessa face Sami Callahan, the Impact! World Champion at the time, for that belt at the Hard to Kill PPV in January 2020. It was obviously clear that they were going to put the belt on Tessa. At the time, Impact! was lagging behind AEW and WWE so this should give them some attention. Well, it did, but not positive.
THE TWEET
So, the day before her historical victory, Tessa decided to go on X formally known as Twitter and posted a message stating that women should support one another, and good things will happen. You figure that this was an uplifting message, right? However, many women wrestlers were quick to jump on X formally known as Twitter and accuse Tessa of bullying and racism. They stated one incident in Japan where Tessa spat in a black woman's face and hurled a racial slur at her. Chelsea Green, Gigi Dolin, Renee Michelle, Rebel and Allysin Kay all stated that these allegations happened. Tessa has denied the allegations and even said that some were looking for clout. As planned, Tessa made history to become the first woman to win the Impact! World Championship. Though this should have garnered attention, it was the potatoes beside the steak. You figured that this was the end, right?
THE DEPARTURE AND HOLDUP
Months into 2020 was a living hell as COVID took over the world and left stuck in their homes and not able to travel. Tessa seemed to take that to heart. While in Mexico, she had an opportunity to send them promos, but she didn't want to. Also, her contract was about to run out. This idea was a failure, so Impact! terminated her in June of that year. Did I mention that she was still the Impact! World Champion at the time? It seems that Tessa went to the Ultimate Warrior School of Negotiating and wanted $150,000 from them for the championship belt. They had to use the TNA World Championship for Moose, who was the champion at the time. Impact! was just throwing darts on the wall at this point.
At this time, Tessa Blanchard had thrown her unlimited potential and her soon-to-be-storied career away to due allegations and her being difficult during her final days in Impact!
Through the years, Tessa has slowly been touring the Indies circuit and Mexico to continue her wresting career, and she hasn't caused any controversy throughout this time. The one was that CMLL has to vacate the Tag Team Titles since Tessa was half of the.....you know what, they can figure that out. She even stated that she was going through some mental health problems because of the allegations during an interview a few months ago.
Do I think this is a good idea? It depends. Wrestling has been able to have talent do damning things, and they can come back with open arms. Take Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, even CM Punk have seemed to burn bridges with WWF/E, and they were back. For TNA, it helps that they are way more structured than they were as Impact! four years ago. Tessa has her fans, as Moose defended her on X formally known as Twitter and has her doubters as Jordynne Grace "allegedly" wasn't too keen to have her back. Much talent like Grace, Josh Alexander and you know, Joe Hendry is looking to go to greener pastures when his deal is up. So, TNA is trying to get some talent back to keep fans tuned into their product and pay money for their PPV's. Who else but Tessa Blanchard is going to have people talk about TNA.
She is still only 29 and has a lot of years ahead of her to fulfill her potential as being one of the greatest.
It's up to her to stay away from madness.
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