Controversial female wrestler sacked, stripped of World title
Sports
By
Mirror
| Jul 06, 2020
Controversial wrestler Tessa Blanchard has been stripped of her world title and sacked by IMPACT Wrestling.
It comes just weeks after she was accused of racially abusing a fellow athlete, which she denies, but is not thought to be related to the race accusation.
Blanchard became the first woman to win a men’s world championship belt when she defeated Sami Callihan at the ‘Hard to Kill’ pay-per-view event in January.
But her reign has now ended after 159 days amid reports that relations between the wrestler and the promotion had severely soured over the past month.
In a brief statement, IMPACT Wrestling said: “Impact Wrestling confirmed that it has terminated its relationship with Tessa Blanchard and stripped her of the Impact Wrestling World Championship.”
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It comes only a few weeks after allegations emerged that Blanchard called a wrestler named Black Rose the n-word in the locker room and spat in her face.
Other female wrestlers have since come forward with accusations of bullying.
Blanchard responded to the accusations on Twitter, posting: “Not true. That’s my statement and the most attention I’ll give it because of how actually ridiculous it is.”
She also appeared to address the claims in a victory speech.
“Nobody in this life is perfect. We’re all human. And it doesn’t matter what you say about me. It doesn’t matter what you call me,” Blanchard said.
"I’ve got one of the strongest minds that I’ve ever known. So, whenever you come for me, you come for all these people!”
The 24-year-old former WWE superstar – the daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Tully Blanchard – was due to compete at the ‘Slammiversary’ event in Nashville in July.
But the promotion will move forwards without its champion after she reportedly refused to take part in segments of a recent show while under lockdown in Mexico.
The allegations of racism are not thought to be the reason for her getting axed.