Tessa Blanchard To Address Media For First Time Since Title Win, Bullying Accusations
Photo Credit: IMPACT Wrestling
Tessa Blanchard will address the media tomorrow afternoon for the first time since her World Championship win, the same weekend she was also accused of bullying and making racial comments towards another wrestler.
IMPACT Wrestling has announced they’ll hold a media teleconference with Blanchard tomorrow afternoon at 3 pm EST. Blanchard was originally set to do a media tour in Las Vegas to promote this weekend’s TV tapings, but the company changed plans “due to the overwhelming demand for phone interviews” with the new champion.
The following announcement was issued to the media by IMPACT:
Tessa Blanchard is, of course, the first female to ever hold the World Championship in a major professional wrestling organization. She won the title on Sunday, January 12, in the main event of the Hard To Kill pay-per-view, held in Dallas, Texas. The 24-year-old Tessa follows her dad (Tully Blanchard), her step-father (Magnum TA) and her grandfather (Joe Blanchard) into the ring.
Tessa leads the IMPACT Wrestling roster into Las Vegas this upcoming weekend for 3 consecutive nights of shows – Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 7-9, all at Sam’s Town Live, with the action starting nightly at 6 p.m.
All of the IMPACT stars will be in Las Vegas for the High Roller Tour, including Ken Shamrock, Rob Van Dam, Rhino, TJP, Moose, Eddie Edwards, Madison Rayne, Rosemary, Taya Valkyrie, reigning X-Division Champion Ace Austin and the reigning Tag Team Champions The North (Josh Alexander and Ethan Page), among others.
IMPACT Wrestling airs every Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET on AXS TV – and the shows this weekend at Sam’s Town will be filmed for future episodes of the company’s hit weekly TV show, Impact!
Topics Tessa Will Discuss on the Media Teleconference
** Winning the World Championship.
** Becoming a pro wrestling pioneer.
** Her legacy in the industry.
** Trailblazing in pro wrestling.
** Sami Callihan
** The emotional salute she received on the entrance ramp as she left the ring with the title.
** Analyzing the IMPACT roster.
** Future IMPACT feuds.
** Fighting Ace Austin on Feb. 22 in Louisville.
** The Rebellion pay-per-view on April 19 in New York City.
Blanchard defeated Sami Callihan at IMPACT Wrestling’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view last month to win the championship. She gave a post-match promo in the ring and has been involved in IMPACT programming but she has not spoken to the media since that weekend. The day before her title match, Blanchard was accused of bullying another female wrestler, La Rosa Negra, by spitting at her and calling her a racial slur in Japan several years ago.
Blanchard initially issued a statement denying she made any racially charged comments, but several wrestlers including La Rosa Negra, Allysin Kay, Chelsea Green and others that were present spoke out publicly about the incident, claiming Blanchard was not being truthful about what happened.
Read More: Gail Kim On Tessa Blanchard Situation: ‘I Hope People Can Move Forward’