Tessa Blanchard granted release from TNA Wrestling
Tessa Blanchard is no longer with TNA Wrestling after being granted her release from the company.
Our Dave Meltzer reports that Blanchard has been granted her release from TNA, with it believed that she turned down an exclusive contract with the promotion. Fightful Select also confirmed the news of Blanchard’s release.
The situation with Blanchard appeared to have been coming to a head in recent weeks with Meltzer writing in the June 8 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that she was “caught in the crossfire” of a war between wrestling promotions. Blanchard had been competing for both TNA and CMLL, which have differing partnerships. TNA has a relationship with WWE, which owns Lucha Libre AAA, while CMLL works with AEW.
“Tessa Blanchard appears to be caught in the crossfire of the wrestling promotional war. Basically, TNA doesn’t want a wrestler on their TV working for CMLL. They shouldn’t care. It’s not their war. But wrestling politics are such that people above TNA probably aren’t happy a TNA wrestler was on the same show as their wrestlers in the U.S. is in CMLL,” Meltzer wrote. “It was also noted that Blanchard wrestled an AEW wrestler, Persephone, in Las Vegas over WrestleMania week. I’d guess there is almost no chance of her being booked with AEW or ROH talent or on their platforms. The fact there is pressure on her just confirms what everyone already knows about TNA.”
Blanchard had returned to TNA in December 2024 for what was her second stint with the company. During her first run, she became one of the top stars in the promotion and even held what had traditionally been the TNA/Impact men’s World Championship, but there was significant controversy including bullying allegations and claims of racism during a past incident in Japan. She was terminated from her TNA/Impact contract amid the COVID pandemic in 2020 when the two sides could not agree to have Blanchard return from Mexico to the United States to drop the World title.
Blanchard has denied the racism claim, saying that the incident between her and fellow wrestler La Rosa Negra “has continuously gotten twisted into something that race had absolutely nothing to do with because of the social climate.”
The final match of Blanchard’s second TNA run was a victory over Harley Hudson in May.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.