Tessa Blanchard is the brand new Impact World Champion.
A major wrestling promotion has decided to give their biggest honor to a woman, after 26 different men have held this particular version of their World Title. It's a monumental moment in the history of women's wrestling, and in the history of wrestling in general.
It should be the talk of the wrestling world. Well, it is, but not for the right reason.
You've all heard the news by now, but let's give it a bit of a quick rundown.
- Tessa Blanchard tweets about women needing to support each other.
- Numerous women in the wrestling business, from Allysin Kay to Chelsea Green to Priscilla Kelly, then come out and tweet stories about Tessa, labeling her as a bully, a hypocrite, a racist, and someone that has mistreated her fellow women for years.
- Tessa denies everything on Twitter, saying people are lying for "clout."
- Impact gives Tessa the World Title.
- Tessa cuts a post-show promo, saying that nobody is perfect and that she has one of the "strongest minds" of anybody out there.
First and foremost, it's necessary to preface anything else by saying that I think Tessa Blanchard is one of the best female in-ring talents alive, and if you wanted to say she was the best, I wouldn't argue with you. With that said, though, I am utterly and completely disappointed in her.
Look, she's right about nobody being perfect. Everybody has said or done things that they are ashamed of, or that they shouldn't have done. That's fine. What isn't fine, though, is the fact that she is showing zero remorse for anything.
Wait, wait, wait... before anyone jumps all over me about there being no "proof" that any of the accusations have actually happened, let me ask you one question. If I accused you of doing something that was viewed as a major no-no, but those accusations were 100% baseless, would your response be to tell the world that nobody's perfect? Of course not. You'd deny that to the ends of the earth. It's like the famous Steve Harvey stand-up bit about OJ Simpson being accused of double murder and being calm and cool in the courtroom. That's not how you're supposed to act when someone is lying about you. If OJ really didn't kill anybody, he would've been raising all kinds of hell. That's what Tessa should've been doing. Her saying that nobody is perfect might as well have been a complete and total admission of everything that was said about her.
If you're going to "admit" to something negative, shouldn't you apologize for it? If she did even half the things people are saying she did, then Tessa should be on an apology tour, showing all kinds of remorse for her actions. It was said that she spit in the face of fellow wrestler La Rosa Negra and called her the n-word. In the "cancel culture" society we live in, that alone would/could/should be enough to put an end to someone's career. She didn't even deny that it happened, folks. She went straight after the accusations of her being a bully and said those things weren't true. What the hell kind of stupid ass decision is that?!? You're being called a racist and a mean person, and your only response is to say that you're not mean?
Again, before anyone jumps all over me about the timing of these stories coming out right before Tessa's main event title shot, know that two things are in play here. One, she brought it upon herself. If she didn't make that fake woke "women support women" tweet, we wouldn't even be having this discussion right now. Two, if you did some messed up shit to me in the past, I'd be glad to bring those things to light when you're about to achieve some sort of greatness, but hey, I'm petty like that. Either way, she had the power to make sure none of this ever went down.
I've tried and tried to think about what Impact could've done in this situation. Here is, arguably, their biggest and most over star in the company, going after history in one of the hottest stories the company has put together in a long time. This news comes out on the eve of their pay-per-view. What are they supposed to do? Everyone knew Tessa was winning the title. It had been built too much for the title change not to happen. Should Impact change their minds and keep the title on Sami Callihan? That would obviously be a waste of the time and effort put into the story. Do you have Callihan retain in some screwy fashion, with the hopes that the heat on Tessa dies down a bit so that you can try it all again later? Do you have Callihan retain and go to the intergender well again with someone like, say, Jordynne Grace if you still want to make history? In the end, I'm not sure Impact really had a choice here. Everything was, presumably, set in stone already, with no time to make any real booking changes, and it's not like the title switch was met by a huge negative reaction by the live crowd. Again, she is one of the most over workers on the roster, and controversy aside, fans have invested in her. This was the booking decision they've wanted for months.
The whole thing just leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. I want to be able to focus on the history making aspect of all this. It just makes me upset to see someone, when confronted with their poor decisions, not show that they've learned from those mistakes. Are we supposed to just forget any of this ever happened? I can't do that. I can't watch a Tessa Blanchard match now and not think about what was said, and just how piss poor she handled everything in the aftermath. That's a damn shame.
What say you, Reader Land? What are your thoughts on this entire clusterbumble? Do you think Impact made the right decision in giving Tessa the World Title after the accusations against her went public? Do you think she should be blackballed from more events and promotions until she shows more remorse? Hit me up on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage) or in the comments section below and let me know what's on your mind.
