Tessa Blanchard will never join AEW, and it is entirely her fault.
Blanchard was born into a wrestling family; her father, Tully Blanchard, was a member of the Four Horsemen, one of the most famous wrestling stables of all time.
Tessa began her wrestling career in 2014 and quickly made a name for herself in various promotions, including Shine Wrestling and Women of Wrestling.
She moved to Impact (formerly TNA) in 2018, and within two years made history by winning their world championship.
Tessa Blanchard Will Not Sign For AEW
Tessa Blanchard has no chance of being signed by AEW in the near future, due to her attitude backstage that has cost her numerous jobs in wrestling.
She was a world champion in Impact Wrestling – not the Knockouts Champion, THE world champion. She defeated Sami Callihan at Hard to Kill 2020 to win the title, becoming the first woman to hold a World Championship in the United States.
Her stock couldn’t be higher. Fans were expecting her to leave the company eventually, signing for WWE or AEW and immediately becoming a big star.
The fact her father, Tully Blanchard, was in AEW as FTR’s manager meant that she was likely to sign for Tony Khan’s company.
However, it appears Tony Khan does not want to touch her with a barge pole.
Tessa Blanchard’s future in AEW is non-existent, with the company having no interest in signing the former world champion.
Several independent sources have suggested that All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has shown no interest in Blanchard, as several female wrestlers employed there have reportedly shared their experiences to the EVPs and Tony Khan regarding their backstage and in-ring issues with Blanchard.
Blanchard had previous been accused of bullying, by a number of female talents across the United States. They all piled on her on Twitter, after she herself tried to tell other wrestlers to help their fellow women.
She was also accused of various amounts of racism, just days before she was set to win the Impact World Champion.
Wrestlers like Allysin Kay and Chelsea Green all shared their experiences with Tessa Blanchard, which did not paint a good picture of her personality.
Green accused Blanchard of bullying and belittling “countless female workers,” while Kay leveled a far more serious accusation that Blanchard “spat in a black woman’s face in Japan and called her the N-word.”
She even left Impact not long after winning the title, moving to Mexico and refusing to return the title belt. She was stripped of the title, and never lost the belt to anybody in Impact.
With her penchant for running away, her racism and bullying accusations and her general dislike backstage, AEW will do well to steer clear of Tessa Blanchard.
Tony Khan has not commented on the rumours about Tessa Blanchard to AEW, but it has been reported that he has “no interest” in the star.
She has found a new home in wrestling (which we will go through later on in this article), but it looks like her chance to become a big star in wrestling has passed her by.
Impact World Championship
2020 saw a strange year for wrestling. COVID turned the world on it’s head, and saw a shift in the way wrestling was viewed across the world.
Impact wrestling also made some big changes to their show. Tessa Blanchard made history when she became the first woman to win the Impact World Championship.
Formerly known as the TNA World Championship, the belt had been held by legends like Kurt Angle, AJ Styles and Sting. It had an incredible lineage, and her inclusion added even more prestige to the belt.
In 2018, Blanchard signed with Impact Wrestling, where she became a dominant force in the women’s division. She won the Knockouts Championship in 2019, but it was her feud with Sami Callihan that really put her on the map.
Callihan was the Impact World Champion at the time, and Blanchard challenged him to a match at Hard to Kill in January 2020.
Blanchard’s road to the championship was not without controversy. Prior to the match, allegations of racism and bullying were made against her by other wrestlers, including La Rosa Negra and Chelsea Green. Blanchard denied the allegations, but they created a cloud of uncertainty around her title match.
Despite the controversy, Blanchard went on to defeat Callihan and become the first woman to win the Impact World Championship.
However, once COVID hit, she quarantined herself in Mexico. This was without discussing this with the company, and put an end to a planned defence against Eddie Edwards at Slammiversary.
After refusing to return to the company, and even kept the belt for herself, she was stripped of the championship and fired from Impact.
This put an end to what could have been a legendary title reign, and ruined any chance of Tessa Blanchard signing for a big company, like AEW or WWE.
Tessa Blanchard Signs For XPW
After years of struggling to sign for a major promotion, Tessa Blanchard finally found somewhere to call home.
That place was XPW, the indie wrestling company known for their ultra-violent and dangerous matches, that have drawn the ire of the wrestling community.
On Monday, the promotion took to Twitter to announce that Blanchard has signed a multi-show deal and will be appearing at its ‘Broken, Beat, & Scarred’ event on May 27th. The show will be airing on the ‘Stream XPW’ platform.
Blanchard was released by Impact wrestling in June 2020, despite being their World Champion. This tells you all you need to know about her backstage, and explains why she hasn’t been signed by any of the big wrestling companies, like AEW and WWE.
She had signed a deal with Women of Wrestling, and looked set to be the star of the AJ Lee-led promotion.
However, she quickly fell out with WOW, and was let go by the promotion without making a splash in the upstart wrestling company.