TNA has been shedding talent thus far throughout the month of June, with Myla Grace and former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Steve Maclin each asking and receiving their releases just every week ago. And it appears they should not the one ones. Fightful Select reports that Tessa Blanchard has also departed TNA, after asking for and receiving her release, very similar to Grace and Maclin. As of this writing, TNA has yet to comment on Blanchard’s status.
This ends Blanchard’s second stint with the promotion, having initially wrestled for TNA from 2018 to 2020. Despite huge success, including holding the TNA Knockouts Championship and TNA World Heavyweight Championship, Blanchard’s first TNA tenure led to controversy after accusations of racist behavior towards wrestler La Rosa Negra from years earlier emerged, followed by Blanchard to point out as much as defend her title throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, an motion that directly result in her release. Upon her return, Blanchard was met with a hostile response from fans, including receiving chants of “She’s a racist!”
Prior to rejoining TNA, Blanchard had been working for the lucha libre promotion CMLL, where she won the CMLL World Women’s Tag Team Championships with Lluvia. Initially departing when she returned to TNA, Blanchard eventually began appearing for CMLL again in 2025, and had continued to work for each CMLL and TNA, despite the previous promotion’s relationship with AEW, and the latter promotion’s relationship with WWE and AAA.
A report last week revealed that TNA was unhappy with Blanchard continuing to work CMLL, especially following Blanchard losing to CMLL/AEW luchadora Persephone during CMLL’s WrestleMania weekend event back in April. While unconfirmed, there is theory that CMLL ultimately gave Blanchard a selection between themselves or TNA, resulting in Blanchard selecting the latter.