Tessa Blanchard

Tessa Blanchard (born July 26, 1995) is an American professional wrestler.

She is best known for her time in Impact Wrestling, where she became the first female wrestler to win the Impact World Championship and is also a former Impact Knockouts Champion.

In addition, Blanchard is a former The Crash Women's Champion, AAA Reina de Reinas Champion, and WOW World Champion.

A third-generation professional wrestler, Blanchard is the daughter of Tully Blanchard, granddaughter of wrestling promoter Joe Blanchard, and the stepdaughter of Tully Blanchard's rival Magnum T. A.

Blanchard was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 26, 1995.

She is the granddaughter of wrestler Joe Blanchard, daughter of Tully Blanchard and the stepdaughter of Magnum T. A.

At age four, Blanchard and her siblings moved in with her mother and stepfather after her parents' separation.

Tully Blanchard would visit his children at least once a month after the divorce.

She has three siblings from her father and twin half-siblings from her stepfather.

Blanchard considers herself a musical-theater enthusiast, having enrolled at the Children's Theatre of Charlotte, joining Shakespeare recitation contests, and acting in all of her high school's amateur productions.

She was also on the track team.

She left home after high school and briefly attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, lived off income from working in a nightclub, and stopped communicating with members of her immediate family for a prolonged stretch.

Blanchard was bartending and waiting tables and partying with her college friends when her interest in wrestling was piqued.

She went with her father for the Four Horsemen's 2012 induction into WWE's Hall of Fame in Miami.

Tessa kept her wrestling plans unknown from her family as she was then still only slowly reconciling with her mother and stepfather.

Blanchard went to Highspots Wrestling School in Charlotte when she turned 18 in 2013.

She was trained by veteran NWA/WWE/WCW enhancement talent George South and had future WWE wrestler Cedric Alexander among her classmates.

Blanchard informed her father and stepfather about her wrestling training upon the insistence of South and Highspots owner Michael Bochicchio around six months into her training.

She tried out for WWE in 2014 but a formal offer never materialized.

Blanchard competed at Queens of Combat 2 on June 13, 2014, where she interrupted a speech by Miss Rachel after her victory over Amanda Rodriguez, which resulted in a match between Blanchard and Miss Rachel, where Blanchard was defeated.

On October 11, she participated in the Super 8 ChickFight tournament organized by the East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA), a federation of Delaware, where women under ECWA compete.

Blanchard won the tournament by eliminating successively Tina San Antonio, Renee Michelle, and finally, Jenny Rose.

A week later, Blanchard successfully defended her title of women's champion of the ECWA against Amber O'Neal.

On November 8, 2014, Blanchard debuted for Women Superstars Uncensored and was defeated by Niya in a match for the WSU Spirit Championship at Breaking Barriers III.

On February 21, 2015, Blanchard picked up her first victory in WSU when she defeated Sassy Stephie.

Blanchard debuted for Shine Wrestling as a villain at the Shine 26 event on April 3, 2015, and was defeated by Evie.

Later in the evening, Blanchard attacked Leva Bates, causing her and Jessicka Havok to be defeated by Saraya Knight and Su Yung, and later became the newest member of Valkyrie.

At Shine 27, Blanchard was defeated by Bates.

After the match, she and April Hunter both attacked Bates.

On January 9, 2016, Blanchard made her Lucha Underground debut losing to Ivelisse Velez in a dark match.

On April 24, 2016, Blanchard wrestled in a tag team dark match alongside Prince Puma at a Lucha Underground taping defeating Marty Martinez and Mariposa.

Blanchard began wrestling intergender matches following the spring of 2016, after working for SHIMMER, Stardom, Lucha Underground, and NXT.

She had a singles match against NXT signee Dominik Dijakovic and a mixed-tag team match with Ricochet, Bea Priestley, and Will Ospreay.

In 2016, Blanchard appeared in WWE, making her in-ring debut for NXT on April 2, 2016, in a match won by Alexa Bliss.

On June 16, 2018, Blanchard defeated Mercedes Martinez to win the WSU Championship.

On July 7, Rise Wrestling had their Rise of the Knockouts cross-promotional event with Impact Wrestling.

Blanchard won the Phoenix of Rise Championship, in a 30-minute Iron Woman match against Mercedes Martinez to win the previously vacated title.

Blanchard lost the championship to Martinez on October 19, in a 75-minute iron woman match, the longest women's wrestling match in history.

On July 14, Blanchard defeated Lacey Lane and Santana Garrett to win The Crash Women's Championship.

On September 1, Blanchard defeated Britt Baker, Chelsea Green, and Madison Rayne in a Four Corner Survival match at All In.