Impact terminates relationship with Tessa Blanchard, title vacated

Tessa Blanchard is no longer with Impact Wrestling and no longer holds the promotion’s World Championship.

In a statement issued tonight, Impact announced that the promotion has terminated its relationship with Blanchard: “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 set to defend the Impact World Championship against Michael Elgin, Eddie Edwards, Ace Austin, and Trey Miguel in a five-way match at Slammiversary on Saturday, July 18. Impact hasn’t revealed what their plans are for that match now that Blanchard is no longer with the promotion.

Impact announced earlier this week that Elgin has been suspended “pending further review of allegations of misconduct.”

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Blanchard — who is currently living in Mexico with her fiance Daga — hasn’t appeared at Impact’s two recent sets of television tapings. She had been scheduled to defend her title against Elgin and Edwards in a triple threat match at Rebellion in April prior to that show being affected by the pandemic.

PWinsider reported on the reason for Impact terminating their relationship with Blanchard:

Relations between Blanchard and Impact had become increasingly icy in recent weeks, especially after Blanchard did not send promos from Mexico (where she has been residing) for the 6/1 episode of Impact on AXS. That footage was slated to have been edited into a sit-down interview conducted by Josh Mathews ‘via satellite.’ When that material was not received, Impact had to re-edit the episode with other content and have host segments of the show changed and new voiceovers cut. 

Impact sources cite that there were attempts made to get Blanchard to return and drop the title but that the two sides were not able to come to terms. Blanchard’s deal was slated to expire before the PPV but Impact was hoping that she would return for a final appearance. When it became increasingly obvious that wasn’t going to happen, Impact opted to cut bait and move forward.

Blanchard became Impact World Champion by defeating Sami Callihan at Hard to Kill in January. After tweeting “Hey women, try supporting one another. Cool things happen” on the day before that pay-per-view, she was accused of having previously bullied other wrestlers and of an incident where she spat in La Rosa Negra’s face and called her the n-word while they were in Japan in 2017. Blanchard denied those allegations.

It was revealed in July 2018 that Blanchard had signed a long-term contract with Impact. Dave Meltzer reported that the deal was for two years.

Blanchard also held the Knockouts Championship once during her time with Impact.