{"id":35920,"date":"2019-01-19T23:51:53","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T04:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=35920"},"modified":"2019-01-19T23:51:53","modified_gmt":"2019-01-20T04:51:53","slug":"diamonds-are-forever-tessa-blanchards-meteoric-rise-to-the-top-videos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2019\/01\/19\/diamonds-are-forever-tessa-blanchards-meteoric-rise-to-the-top-videos\/","title":{"rendered":"Diamonds Are Forever: Tessa Blanchard’s Meteoric Rise To The Top (VIDEOS)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the past two years, women’s wrestling has catapulted farther into the collective zeitgeist of wrestling fans – from mainstream casual fans of the WWE to the independent and international fanbase – more than any time in wrestling’s history. From stars like Charlotte Flair<\/strong> and Sasha Banks<\/strong> main eventing TV shows and PPVs in the WWE to the rise of “The Man” Becky Lynch<\/strong> on SmackDown<\/strong><\/em> to the Mae Young Classic<\/strong>, women’s wrestling has become a welcome trend showcasing the very best that women have to offer. And it’s not just limited to the WWE – while the “worldwide leader in Sports Entertainment” is still the most well known and watched promotion in the world, IMPACT Wrestling<\/strong> continues to develop a stunning Knockouts division, and women’s wrestling – from SHIMMER<\/strong> to Stardom<\/strong>, Pro Wrestling EVE<\/strong> to RISE<\/strong>, to expanding women’s divisions around the world have proven that women can be as competitive as their male counterparts, as talented as their male counterparts, and can become stars at the same level as their male counterparts. But arguably no one has become a bigger star in the past year than IMPACT Knockout Tessa Blanchard<\/strong>, a third generation grappler who absolutely exploded in 2018 to become not only one of the top women’s wrestlers in the world but one of the biggest stars in the world period.<\/p>\n

Diamonds Are Forever: Tessa Blanchard’s Meteoric Rise To The Top<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Joe Blanchard (Photo: Terry Dart)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Tessa Blanchard was destined for greatness. Like multiple other stars like Charlotte Flair, Natalya<\/strong>, Paige<\/strong>,\u00a0and Faby Apache<\/strong>, Blanchard was literally born into the business. Her grandfather, Joe Blanchard<\/strong>, was a former pro football player from the San Antonio area. Not quite good enough to make the US pro level, he wound in the CFL, first with the Edmonton Eskimos<\/strong>, before landing with the Calgary Stampeders<\/strong> in 1954. It was there he would enter the world of professional wrestling. Training alongside the legendary Stu Hart<\/strong> of the Hart Family, he would make his pro wrestling debut in Hart’s Stampede Wrestling<\/strong> (although it was still called Big Time Wrestling at the time). After getting his feet wet in Stampede, Joe returned to the US and began to work multiple National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)<\/strong> territories, before retiring in 1978 and starting Southwest Championship Wrestling (SCW)<\/strong>, a new San Antonio based NWA territory.<\/p>\n

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While living in Calgary during his year with the Stampeders, Joe and his wife welcomed a baby boy, Tully Blanchard<\/strong>, into the world. In 1975, after being trained by his father and Jose Lothario<\/strong>, Tully Blanchard would follow his father into the wrestling business by working in Fritz Von Erich<\/strong>‘s Big Time Wrestling<\/strong> (later to become WCCW<\/strong>). When his father opened SCW, Tully became one of the promotions biggest young stars, capturing the SCW Heavyweight Championship seven times. While he worked multiple NWA territories, it was joining Jim Crockett<\/strong>‘s Mid Atlantic<\/strong> in the mid-1980s that proved to be his biggest move. In 1986, he joined Ric Flair, Arn Anderson<\/strong> and Ole Anderson<\/strong> in founding the Four Horsemen<\/strong>, the most dominant faction in wrestling history, becoming a 3x NWA World Television Champion and multi-time World Tag Team Champion alongside Arn Anderson in the NWA and WWE. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.<\/p>\n

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The original Four Horsemen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tessa Blanchard Joins The Family Business<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tessa Blanchard began her round to entering the business that her family had made such a huge impact in starting in 2013 when she began training with George South<\/strong>. A journeyman with the NWA, WWE, WCW and more, South has become a top trainer in Charlotte, North Carolina, and started Tessa on her journey. As well as South, she also gained mentorship from her father, Tully, and her step-father, former NWA Legend Magnum TA<\/strong>.<\/p>\n