IMPACT: Recapping Tessa Blanchard and Sami Callihan’s feud before Hard to Kill

IMPACT wrestling’s year-end awards concluded recently and to no one’s surprise, they were dominated by stand out performers Tessa Blanchard and Sami Callihan.

Tessa Blanchard took home the highest honor becoming the first woman to claim IMPACT’s Wrestler of the Year award in the promotion’s history. Her and Sami Callihan also won the award for Match of the Year for their hard-hitting match at Slammiversary in July.

IMPACT has been on the cutting edge of truly progressive booking over the last two years when they began transitioning Tessa from Knockouts Champion to a legitimate contender for the World and X-Division titles. Her rivalry with Callihan and oVe as a whole has been at the center of this shift in booking by the Toronto based promotion.

Sami and Tessa have been at odds with one another for much of the last year, but have met in an IMPACT ring in singles competition only twice. However, they have met in an IMPACT ring 12 times in tag team competition and teamed twice in the IMPACT Mash-Up tournament. Over those 12 meetings, Tessa came out on top seven times to Sami’s five.

Blanchard made no attempt to hide her interest in the male-dominated titles, most notably by declaring her intent to challenge for the X Division Championship. Unfortunately, Blanchard’s X-Division hopes were dashed earlier this year at Bound for Glory in a Five Way Ladder match to Ace Austin.

Blanchard’s aspirations for IMPACT gold were reignited when Callihan won the IMPACT Championship from Brian Cage inside of a steel cage on the promotion’s debut episode on their new network home, AXS TV.

Blanchard later earned the right to challenge for the title by being the sole survivor of a Gauntlet Match on the 800th episode of IMPACT Wrestling. She outlasted Moose, Brian Cage, Daga, Michael Elgin, and Rich Swann for the right to challenge her long-time rival.

Blanchard will finally get her wish this Sunday as she faces Callihan one on one in Dallas, Texas for the IMPACT World Title at Hard To Kill.