It was supposed to be her golden hour. With the world expecting her to claim the IMPACT World Championship on Sunday night at IMPACT Hard To Kill, following a months-long feud with Sami Callihan, a simple tweet from Tessa Blanchard on the weekend stirred up a series of allegations from many of the peers she’s wrestled with/against.
https://twitter.com/Tess_Blanchard/status/1216038823932649473
A simple enough statement, trying to rally the women’s wrestlers around the world to support and pick each other up, it ended up backfiring, as multiple top women’s wrestlers from a diverse range of promotions came out of the woodwork to call hypocrisy on her tweet. WWE Superstar Chelsea Green was one of the first to call B.S. on Tessa’s statement, as she was victim first hand of bullying from Tessa in the past.
You’ve consistently put down, bullied, and belittled countless female coworkers, including me. Is that support? https://t.co/MrOOksiijk
— CHELSEA GREEN (@ImChelseaGreen) January 11, 2020
Remember publicly putting me down on twitter last year for something that didn’t involve you whatsoever, then continuing to drag my name to other people for it?
Pepperidge Farm Remembers.
You should probably delete this tweet. https://t.co/MnsHVnwavU
— Gigi Dolin (@gigidolin_wwe) January 11, 2020
As someone who experienced your bullying firsthand, received regular verbal abuse, was spat on, had rumours spread about me, dealt with multiple attempts by you to blacklist me from other companies, (plus more), I just pray you now follow your own advice. https://t.co/MWtmUKLOyf
— Isla Dawn (@IslaDawn) January 11, 2020
Tessa initially responded to the allegations, particularly Chelsea Green’s, saying that they were “silly decisions” she made in the past. The allegations all seem to stem from several years ago when Tessa was still a teenager learning the craft.
https://twitter.com/Tess_Blanchard/status/1216078836212944897
But while several wrestlers discussed Tessa’s alleged bullying, it was NWA Women’s World Champion Allysin Kay (formerly Sienna in IMPACT Wrestling) who opened a new can of worms – that Tessa used a racial slur against a black wrestler while in Japan (she toured Stardom in 2016 and 2017).
Remember when you spat in a black woman’s face and called her the N-word in Japan? Was that you “supporting women“? The AUDACITY of this tweet https://t.co/P49uNWsqIH
— Allysin Kay (@TheAllysinKay) January 11, 2020
Kay’s announcement opened up more women who had been privately confided in the racial slur, which was revealed to be against Puerto Rican wrestler La Rosa Negra. Newly signed AEW talent Big Swole (aka Aerial Monroe) fired the first shot to support the racial slur allegations, on behalf of La Rosa.
https://twitter.com/SwoleWorld/status/1216109022216146944
https://twitter.com/SwoleWorld/status/1216109023407300608
https://twitter.com/SwoleWorld/status/1216109024451661824
Another AEW wrestler, recent signee Shanna, also chimed in on her time in Japan with Tessa and showed support to La Rosa.
She did more nasty stuff in Japan… Never forget. Practice what you preach sweetheart. I standby @LaAbusadoradePR, she's a fun loving person who would never disrespect anyone. Much love to you Rosa. ❤️ https://t.co/gldMcAzwJD
— Shanna シャナ (@Shannanjii) January 11, 2020
Another indie star (and wife of WWE Superstar Drake Maverick) Renee Michelle also recounted her own story of the La Rosa incident.
https://twitter.com/1ReneeMichelle/status/1216100034737033217
Tessa Blanchard Loses First Booking Due to Past Allegations
But now it appears that promoters are taking notice of the situation, with Tessa losing her first booking since the allegations surfaced online – Texas indie Heavy Metal Wrestling announced on Sunday morning that they were pulling Tessa from their upcoming January 24 event due to the allegations.
Tessa Blanchard has been removed from our scheduled event on January 24th, 2020.
We take these allegations levied against her very seriously.
An updated card will be released shortly.
For refund information, please contact [email protected]
— HEAVY METAL WRESTLING (@HeavyMetalPro) January 12, 2020
Hopefully, these were just the actions of a young woman finding her way in the world and not a deeper ingrained problem, as Tessa Blanchard is poised to be one of the top stars of 2020.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.
