Ex-World Champion Was Offered “Insulting” Terms To Join TNA
A former TNA World Champion was insulted when an offer was made to return to the company.
During the 23-year history of TNA Wrestling, only one woman has been able to claim the title of former TNA World Champion: Tessa Blanchard.
While Blanchard is also a former Knockouts Champion, she held the World Championship for 165 days starting in January 2020. Blanchard never lost the title, but she was stripped of it during the COVID-19 pandemic when no fans attended shows.
After nearly five years away, Tessa Blanchard re-signed with TNA in late 2024 and had a rivalry with the top Knockout, Jordynne Grace, who was on her way out of the company to start her WWE career.
Blanchard appeared on the Refin’ It Up podcast to talk about the process of returning to TNA. She spoke about speaking to Scott D’Amore and Gail Kim (both of whom are no longer with the company), while revealing that she felt insulted by the offer to return.
“It was kind of a crazy process (to return to TNA) so, when I was in Mexico, Scott D’Amore and Gail (Kim) had reached out for me to come back at Hard To Kill, like, a year before I actually agreed to come back and we got into a few talks or whatnot and honestly… oh, I hate saying it but it was a little bit insulting, even like the terms to come back, and I was like, you know what? I’m so happy right now, I’m so happy in Mexico and it’s taken a lot for me to get to this level of happiness in wrestling again.
Because I had stepped away for quite a few years… I was like, if I feel in my gut that something doesn’t feel right, I’m going to listen to that and I promised myself that and so, I ended up — sure, coming back at Hard To Kill, that was where I won the World Title. How poetic, right?
But I ultimately turned it down, and I felt confident in that decision. I went on to do more with CMLL and then, Moose had reached back out again. Moose got Ariel (Shnerer) and I talking and it came back up for, ‘Hey, maybe Tessa comes back at Genesis. Like, that be her first match’ and I think it was December of last year where I was a surprise at the Atlanta tapings.”
Tessa Blanchard Had Anxiety About TNA Return
The 29-year-old Blanchard, who is the daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Tully Blanchard, admitted she had anxiety about a TNA return due to some past issues. There are still some people in the wrestling world who don’t like Tessa Blanchard due to several allegations of bullying and racism that emerged in early 2020. While Blanchard didn’t mention that specifically, she did claim that people have lied about her in the past.
“So, ultimately, I made the decision to go back to TNA and, God, did I have such anxiety about it. I think getting back on TV in America, pressing play on a story that was paused a few years ago. It’s gonna be tough, there’s conversations that I’m gonna need to have and because a story was fed to a lot of people in that locker room from the person that was in charge at the time that just wasn’t true.
And so, I think me being young, instead of facing things head-on and defending myself, I just took a lot of stuff on the chin and was very prideful and was like, ‘Hey, if you don’t like me then screw you too’ and that probably wasn’t the best decision but — or response I should say.”
At TNA Slammiversary on July 20th, Tessa Blanchard will face Indi Hartwell in a match between two of the company’s top Knockouts.