UPDATE: As we reported earlier tonight here on eWn, Tessa Blanchard has been fired from Impact Wrestling and the World Championship has been vacated. According to a report from Pwinsider, the situation between Impact and Blanchard “went cold” and then escalated in recent weeks after Blanchard did not send in her Impact promos from Mexico. The company told her to send in some footage that was set to air on their June 1st episode. When she didn’t send in the tapes, Impact Wrestling’s production team was forced to re-edit the episode. Instead, they aired a sit-down interview with Joey Mathews via “satellite.”
While there were attempts to get her to return and drop the championship before leaving, the two sides could not come to terms. One source within Impact Wrestling told us Blanchard was acting like a “complete b*tch” during negotiations and wanted to be paid on a day-by-day basis. The same source noted that there was no reasoning with her as she continued to hold the title “hostage”. Blanchard’s contract was set to expire shortly before Slammiversary anyways and when it became obvious they could not get her to return for one final appearance to drop the belt, the company went ahead and fired her. Her contract was said to have been “days away from expiring”, which likely means the end of the month (June 30th). So it’s possible she was using this opportunity as a negotiation ploy (more money), especially considering she was the Impact Wrestling World Champion, and it backfired.
Blanchard started with Impact Wrestling in 2018. She held the Knockouts Championship and then won the Impact World Championship from Sami Callihan at Impact’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view event. Blanchard’s soon-to-be husband Daga is currently signed to a multi-year deal with Impact Wrestling. The two are currently living together in Mexico.
As far as Slammiversary is concerned, the Impact World Championship match will feature Trey vs. Ace Austin vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Michael Elgin for the vacant title. As of this writing, Elgin is suspended from the company due to sexual assault claims so it remains to be seen what they do with him and whether he’s pulled from the match.
ORIGINAL: Impact Wrestling just issued the following statement, announcing that they have fired Tessa Blanchard and stripped her of the Impact Wrestling World Championship. Their statement reads,
“IMPACT Wrestling has confirmed that it has terminated its relationship with Tessa Blanchard and stripped her of the IMPACT Wrestling World Championship.”
Blanchard had been living in Mexico and there were said to have been issues between the two sides for awhile now. We’ll have more on this developing story as it becomes available.
