Tessa Blanchard vs Santana Garrett Could Put WOW On A New Level

This past Friday, WOW – Women of Wrestling premiered on AXS TV and is already off to a swell start. A hybrid of Lucha Underground and GLOW, but with a different touch, WOW uses compelling in-ring action to establish characters and storylines worth investing in.

Out of all of the spectacular characters and main event worthy stories introduced in this AXS TV debut episode of Women of Wrestling, the one that is guaranteed to stand out the most in everyone’s minds is that between Tessa Blanchard and Santana Garrett.

Right off the bat, Garrett is established as the WOW World Champion and the top babyface of the WOW brand. The premiere episode kicks off with Blanchard making her WOW debut and immediately staking her claim to a WOW Title match, only to be told she needs to earn it first. Blanchard took exception to that and instead of going to the back of the line, she decided to cut to the front by getting the champion’s attention.

How could she convince Santana Garrett to change her mind, you may ask? With attempted murder, of course! During the main event, as Santana defended her title against Jungle Grrrl, with her dad TNT Keny G – a former wrestler – at ringside, Tessa ran down and squeezed the tubes of his oxygen tank, cutting off circulation. The champion and the aspiring challenger brawled to end the episode.

A title match between Garrett and Blanchard has yet to be formally announced, but it’s been decidedly written on the wall in blood by two competitors anxious to rip each other apart. We’re expecting to see these two square off sooner rather than later. When the match does go down, we can bet it’ll set the wrestling world on fire.

Credit: WOW on Twitter

Prior to signing with AXS TV and generating the buzz that comes with the deal, WOW has been something of an under-appreciated promotion. It’s always had a cult following, but its existence still remained largely unknown to the general wrestling viewing public. That could all change when the world gets to see the magic that Santana Garrett and Tessa Blanchard are capable of putting on together in the ring.

The show’s debut episode on AXS TV sprinkled little hints of a feud to come, but in little to no time created an intense rivalry with years worth of backstory. Both women hail from wrestling royalty, but it was Tessa who decided to add fuel to the fire by telling Santana that Keny G  was only ever good enough to carry Tully’s bags and tie his boots. The former Knockouts Champion made matters worse by attacking the poor old man.

In a little under an hour, WOW was able to establish a beloved babyface that’s easy to get behind and a new top heel that’s easy to hate, not to mention fear. Crafting something like that is hard to do for any wrestling promotion, yet alone one that’s still in its onscreen infancy with only an hour of screen time.

We have to praise WOW for being able to book something so well so fast, but we must also give credit to both Santana and Tessa for being able to tell this story with masterful performances. As masterful as their mic presence can be, we expect their work together in the ring to be just as masterful whenever it happens.

Both women have proven to have phenomenal athleticism, and they have proven to have excellent chemistry with each other. Should they build on that chemistry in this televised rivalry, it could put WOW on the map. It could put more eyes on the product and put WOW in the same conversations as the likes of ROH, NJPW, and even WWE regarding the best that wrestling has to offer.

Feuds like this have proven to get new promotions off the ground and get the people talking. For WCW, that feud was Dusty Rhodes vs Ric Flair. For WWE, it was Hulk Hogan vs Roddy Piper. For WOW, a top notch feud between Santana Garrett and Tessa Blanchard has potential to generate similar buzz.

In between the family history and Tessa’s … let’s call it “serial killer instinct” … which she displayed at the end of the show, WOW have created the building blocks of a rivalry that could take the wrestling world by storm. All that’s missing now is a title match. For now at least, it’s less a question of if the match will happen, but when.