Tessa Blanchard Talks Charlotte Flair's Recent Comments, Merging Impact World And Knockouts Titles
Tessa Blanchard is the only person to hold both the Impact Knockouts Championship and the Impact World Championship. She's currently in possession of the latter and some have wondered if Impact should simply move away from separating the men's and women's divisions since a woman holds what has historically been a men's title.
Blanchard was asked about that by Wrestling Inc's Nick Hausman during a recent Impact Wrestling media call.
"Never say never ? anything is possible. We're at a time in wrestling where crazy things are happening. It's a great time and things are evolving as we're in the midst of an evolution. I'm all for it. Change and evolution don't happen without one or the other," Blanchard said.
She added that this evolution is a neat thing to watch happen from the inside and she's grateful to be in the position she's currently in.
"I'm gonna be a fighting champion. I wanna face guys and girls because I don't look at it like that. It's not intergender wrestling, it's just pro wrestling," stated Blanchard. "Some of my favorite matches have been against girls and some of my favorite matches have been against guys. I'm all for it. If that's something that were to happen in the future ? cool. If it's not, then it's cool too. Whatever happens, I'm all for it."
As for if the Impact and Knockouts Titles should be combined, Blanchard didn't dismiss that idea as something that could happen.
"Never say never. Anything is possible. I'm in this to break stereotypes. I wanna grow as an athlete and I wanna wrestle some of the best in the world and some of the best in the world happen to be female. I take Taya and Ace very seriously as competitors. I take a lot of our whole locker room very seriously because they're so talented," stated Blanchard.
"I'm all for it if that's something that were to happen down the line. Impact has proven that we don't look at it as intergender wrestling as we just look at it as pro wrestling. That might make some people uncomfortable because it's not what they're used to. But it is our outlook."
Blanchard grew up in a wrestling household with her father being Tully Blanchard of the Four Horsemen. She was asked how her pedigree and background helped prepare her for intergender wrestling.
"I think wrestling the guys is something that came naturally to me because that's the way I was trained," Blanchard said before mentioning the guys she trained with such as Cedric Alexander. "We would train and train and I was forced to hold myself to a higher standard because of that and because of my family ? to do them proud but also to find out who Tessa Blanchard is in the ring on my own."
She added that she was a big fan of Chyna and saw her as a pioneer. For Tessa to be the face of the change that is currently going in in pro wrestling is special to her.
"To be given the platform and that opportunity by Impact Wrestling has made it even more worthwhile," said Blanchard.
Another daughter of a Horseman, Charlotte Flair, recently said that she and Tessa are the only ones who should be able to call themselves Horsewomen and Blanchard weighed in on that comment.
"I would say that there is a truth to the statement that Charlotte and myself are true, thoroughbred Horsewomen. Being a Horseman means that you're excelling to the best of your ability," Blanchard said before recalling the 1988 Great American Bash when all of the Horsemen walked out wearing gold.
"Being a champion is a state of mind and a lifestyle. Holding up that four is a true symbol of excellence. For Charlotte Flair and myself, it is birthright."
The full audio from Tessa's Impact media call aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon: by clicking here. The full interview can be heard via the embedded audio player below: