Backstage Talk On Tessa Blanchard's WOW Status After Reported Falling Out
There are reportedly issues within WOW Wrestling as they prepare to return from a lengthy hiatus this week.
With AJ Lee as the Executive Producer, WOW announced back in October that they signed a multi-year deal with ViacomCBS for new WOW TV episodes to air in syndication each weekend on The CW and CBS stations beginning this fall. For those who missed it, you can click here for full details and photos from the big press event held last October. Those episodes were set to begin taping this Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at The Globe Theatre in Los Angeles.
In an update, a new report from Fightful Select notes that there are allegations of issues surrounding Tessa Blanchard and the company. The WOW re-launch was set to serve as a rehabilitation project for Tessa, who is a former WOW Champion.
Blanchard, who recently deactivated her Twitter but is still active on Instagram, reportedly had a recent fallout with WOW officials. There's no word on if she's still booked for this week's TV tapings in Los Angeles.
It was alleged that during a mid-April class, Blanchard cut a promo on Samantha Sage, who is known as Americana. The promo reportedly saw Blanchard "tear apart" Sage, which led to other trainees speaking up. A source noted that acting classes were then canceled from that point until further notice. At least one trainee was reportedly told that Blanchard would be less involved with the WOW project moving forward, but that has not been confirmed.
It was indicated by another source that Blanchard is no longer in charge of training talent, and that Selina Majors has been brought back to handle that moving forward. Another anonymous source implied that Tessa will have to wrestle in Mexico if she wants to work, adding, "If you are a fan of Tessa, you'd better learn Spanish."
One former WOW talent said they believe Blanchard is gone from WOW, but that also has not been confirmed. WOW officials were approached for comments weeks ago, but they did not respond.
The issue with verifying the allegations is that many of the people working with WOW have signed non-disclosure agreements and fear backlash from the company, and Blanchard, if they speak out. It was noted that many within WOW seem to think both have more power within pro wrestling than they actually do.
Blanchard's pro wrestling future has been up in the air since her controversial exit from Impact Wrestling in March 2020, while she was the Impact World Champion. She has only wrestled one match since then, and that was at Warrior Wrestling's Stadium Series Day 1 event on September 12, 2020. She dropped the Warrior Wrestling Women's Title to Kylie Rae that night. Blanchard's Impact departure came months after other female wrestlers accused her of bullying and racism, which she denied.
Blanchard and husband Daga have made multiple signing and seminar appearances in the last year or so, but it was reported that there's been no real interest from WWE or AEW.
Stay tuned for more on Blanchard's status with WOW.