Impact Wrestling: Fantasy Booking Tessa Blanchard Long-Term

It was announced July 10th via Impact Wrestling’s official twitter that Tessa Blanchard, the newest member of the Knockouts Division, had signed a new long-term contract with the compact. Now that she’s made a commitment to the company, the possibilities for Tessa on Impact programming just got a lot bigger.

If you’ve been keeping up with Impact Wrestling, you would know that Tessa Blanchard has quickly been making a name for herself within the program, namely that of the third-generation brat.

A few weeks ago, she was even in the main event of the program in a match against Madison Rayne. It’s no surprise at all that Impact was ready to seal Blanchard in as a long-term fixture within their company.

Looking towards the future, there are many ways Impact can now choose to expand upon Blanchard’s character. Below is just a short list of storylines that Impact definitely should employ for her.

Knockouts Champion

Tessa Blanchard, as of July 7th, is currently the Phoenix of RIse. She also currently defends championships with PCW Ultra and WrestleCircus, and those are just the ones I could verify the easiest. Tessa has proven herself to a be a leader and a standout in almost every promotion she appears in.

Obviously, the most natural storyline for her to follow within Impact Wrestling would be a run (and eventual win) at the Knockouts Championship. I personally believe a program between Madison Rayne as Knockouts Champion and Blanchard is in the cards immediately following Slammiversary, and with all the heat that feud has already gathered, it would certainly be an electrifying match.

Face Turn

When you’re a second, or in Blanchard’s case a third-generation wrestler, often times your character is very cut-and-dry; you’re either overly entitled and pompous, like Blanchard’s character in Impact currently is, or you’re the proud and respectful babyface character ready to consistently bring honor to your last name.  Tessa could possibly go from one end of the spectrum to the other, but at this point I wouldn’t call that transition necessarily “easy”.

She is really selling the heel character, and someone would really have to put the fear of God in her for her to even consider humbling herself, a task for an a formidable performer. Su Yung seemed to give Tessa a good spook after her barged in after Tessa’s loss to Madison Rayne, but Su Yung’s character may be a little bit too extreme and nuanced (namely, she really doesn’t promo) to have an interesting feud with Blanchard. I think this role would ideally be suited for…

Rosemary

Rosemary is currently not appearing on Impact due to an injury, and once she returns, she will more than likely have to finish up the feud with Su Yung that ended prematurely. Now that Tessa’s signed long-term, however, we have time to wait. Rosemary is respected throughout the Knockouts division and could offer Tessa her first real feud with someone she would actually be afraid of.

I would love to see a program consisting of Tessa entering the ring and running her mouth, only to have Rosemary run out to the ring or attack Tessa backstage a la this Taya Valkyrie assault. In conjunction with my last point, I think Rosemary may be the only person on the roster who’s extreme character and wrestling style is powerful enough to exercise Tessa’s devious tendencies.

X Division Championship

As my fellow contributor Daniel Scotti pointed out earlier this week, Tessa Blanchard has an extensive background in intergender wrestling that may allow her to compete more widely within the Impact promotion. Below are two instances of Tessa competing against two current members of the Impact roster, OVE’s Dave Crist and current contender for the X Division Championship, both for WrestlingCircus.

As a matter of fact, Tessa Blanchard recently offered a friendly idea to Brian Cage on twitter.

You can quote me on this – Blanchard has all the power and skill to assume her roll as the second coming of Chyna. Her notoriety with intergender wrestling in the independent seen may make her the exactly right person to reintroduce intergender wrestling, long-term, to televised wrestling. If Brian Cage wins the X Division Championship July 22nd at Slammiversary, Tessa should absolutely be owed her rematch down the line.

Next: WWE Raw Power Rankings

The possibilities for Blanchard are endless, as the depth of talent on the Impact Wrestling roster, both male and female, could give Blanchard a great feud wherever you look. Wherever those stories lie, we’ll be sure to keep an eye out for everything Impact has planned for Tessa Blanchard in the future.