To be clear, this is purely conjecture or speculation as to how Impact could handle Tessa Blanchard’s backlash.
With all the excitement surrounding the recent outing and backlash toward Tessa Blanchard, a few fans have been throwing around the idea that Sami Callihan is behind this to keep from dropping his belt to a woman (Blanchard).
Given Callihan’s reputation for not taking the business “too seriously,” meaning he doesn’t mind losing if it benefits the promotion and show, this is a stretch. But is Impact be above using it as a future storyline?
The benefits
This may not be as wild as it seems, and would come down to what would be the right time to do it, and does Impact’s powers-that-be believe her side of things?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6RXsGkzt34
If they do, it wouldn’t be hard for them to use the situation to their benefit. They could have Blanchard lose tonight, as I expect she will now, to quell the uprising. She would then disappear from TV and live events due to “injury” (like the WWE does when their wrestlers fail a performance enhancing test or are in legal trouble). Then, after a couple of weeks or months they could bring her back and she’d accuse him of leaking or starting the movement against her. It’d play into his hands as head of the oVe and master manipulator, and make her an instant face.
The problem here is the wrestlers that leveled the accusations at her would feel slighted and hurt, and rightfully so if Blanchard’s guilty. It comes down to Impact believing in their superstar and willing to take a risk to turn a negative into a positive.
The risks
As mentioned above, the women that accused Blanchard could be hurt by this and it could lead to Impact taking a huge black eye. Given a few months back there were rumors that their talent weren’t being paid for their merchandise sales, this could be very dangerous to them.
The backlash against them would mean that not only would those women wrestlers not appear on their programming in the future, but it could turn others off as well. Not to mention those they have on board when it comes contract time.
In an era where accusations have ruined careers, it’d be the ultimate gamble. It’s something we would’ve seen from the WWE or WCW during the Monday Night Wars as each fought for their lives, so is it beyond the realm of possibility that a smaller promotion would roll the dice to see what comes of it? They’ve survived a few knockout punches before, but could they survive Tessa Blanchard’s backlash?
