Tessa Blanchard says the stories about her are not true and she didn’t use a racial slur towards another wrestler.
Blanchard, the new IMPACT Wrestling World Champion, took part in a teleconference call and addressed the media for the first time since her historic title win. Blanchard’s title win came on the same weekend she was also accused of bullying and making racial comments towards another wrestler. Regarding that incident, Blanchard denied it happening, saying it’s simply not true.
“It was a very emotional weekend, it was full of highs, full of lows. I chose to step away from social media for a little bit because of all of the things that were going on. With everything that went on that weekend, not everyone is going to like me, not everyone is going to agree with what I choose to do with my life. I’ve made mistakes, I’ve faced challenges, one thing I will say is I’ve never used a racial slur of any kind, it’s just not in my heart. It’s not something that I’ve done, it’s not something that I will do. It’s just not true.
“Some people, they will look at social media and someone will make an accusation, then everyone will hop on the bandwagon. We’ve all got our own stories, there’s a side of everyone’s life that’s public, and there’s a part that’s private. There’s a part that’s for all the world to see and can be judged by anyone that’s actually interested in it. It’s very unfortunate that some people resort to saying certain things, but it’s just not true and that’s as much as I’ll say on it because I know who I am and people online, that’s the world we live in, it’s social media. I’ve faced challenges and obstacles that have enabled me to persevere, to become the woman and the athlete that I am today. This is just another stone in that step.”
As a follow-up, Blanchard was asked how the incident affected her mindset, if at all. She says it hit her pretty hard the day before the match and she stepped away from social media to live in the real world. Tessa says she’s a mentally strong person, but seeing her coworkers and peers say things about her that just were not true hit her very hard.
“I knew that everything that I’ve been through, I was going to have to use it as fuel to go out there and perform to the best of my ability, to be the best version of Tessa Blanchard that I could be that night, and go out there and win the world title.”
Tessa also said she had her younger sisters there, and she wants to show younger talent and young girls that she took something she loved and made herself great at it. She says she can handle anything and everyone is not going to like you, adding, “I’m going to build my legacy based on my work ethic, not by trying to win a popularity contest.”
The full media call can be heard below:
