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Ever since IMPACT Wrestling and Tessa Blanchard parted ways earlier this year, the attention has immediately shifted towards her next home. Will she sign with WWE or All Elite Wrestling, or choose somewhere else?
She had wrestled for IMPACT and WOW concurrently, as well as for AAA in Mexico. In all three promotions, she was Women's Champion. IMPACT even went so far as to crown her the first-ever female Impact World Champion in January of this year.
It's clear to see that everywhere she has wrestled, Blanchard has been treated as one of the promotion's top stars. She technically never lost the IMPACT World Championship, as she was released during her reign in the middle of the global pandemic.
Since some restrictions have loosened regarding travel, Blanchard was just one of many who have been able to re-enter the USA. The likes of the Lucha Brothers and Robert Roode were also able to return to their respective promotions.
It could only be a matter of time before we see Blanchard back in a major wrestling promotion like AEW or WWE. Both companies would benefit from adding a talent like her, although things would be a lot different in each.
In AEW, she'd be the top star outside of Hikaru Shida. Britt Baker is slowly working on becoming the top woman in the company with her promo work. She just needs to stay healthy.
In WWE, Blanchard would be booked strongly, but she'd still have to fight top names like Charlotte Flair, Asuka and Sasha Banks. Would that be something she'd willingly accept, or would she prefer the slimmer pickings in AEW? Here are six potential opponents for Tessa Blanchard if she signs a deal with WWE.
#6 WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Shayna Baszler
Every female performer probably thinks they are tough as nails. And then there's Shayna Baszler. Some female wrestlers use submissions, but Baszler has actually won legitimate fights by submitting her opponents.
It's why she was booked extremely strongly in NXT. For someone to truly dethrone her, it needed to be a special talent or someone with a bright future in WWE. That turned out to be Rhea Ripley.
Since things are often different between NXT and the WWE main roster, Baszler didn't experience championship success right out of the gate. She did last until the final two in the 2020 Royal Rumble and also eliminated every other competitor in the Elimination Chamber match that followed.
The Queen of Spades was still booked as the most dangerous woman in WWE. However, it didn't net her any gold until she won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships with Nia Jax from Bayley and Sasha Banks this summer.
Some performers just seem different in the ring when forced to battle a legitimate threat like Baszler. Banks and Lynch use submission finishers, but few make it seem as real as the former UFC fighter does.
Blanchard would certainly have a stiff test in Baszler and it would gauge how she would handle a former cage fighter. She has tangled with men on the big stage, so she'd likely have no problem with it.
#5 and #4 WWE NXT Horsewomen Bayley and Sasha Banks
Bayley has two things working in her favor that make her one of the top women in professional wrestling. The first is that she was a backbone of WWE NXT's development and one of NXT's Four Horsewomen. The second is that she did so well with her heel turn, that she was given a title reign for over a year.
That's not something that happens very much in today's WWE. Brock Lesnar and Becky Lynch are recent exceptions, but for the most part, major champions currently in WWE do not enjoy runs lasting over a year.
Blanchard has technical ability that would immediately put her among the top female stars in WWE. She'd have to work her way up to eventually becoming RAW or SmackDown Women's Champion, because others that have been with WWE have paid their dues prior to title reigns.
A battle between the daughter of one of the Four Horsemen and one of NXT's Four Horsewomen would write itself. It would also be a good spot to feature how Blanchard would handle a big-time feud in WWE.
Sasha Banks is also considered one of the top women in all of WWE, but she's of the smaller size. The Boss' finisher is the Bank Statement, but since she's lighter than most of her opponents, it stands to reason that they should be able to get out of it.
Both women think they are the best in the business and should go head-to-head to prove why. Add in the Horsemen/Horsewomen connection again, and it makes sense to eventually book this feud.
#3 WWE RAW Women's Champion Asuka
In the opinion of many fans, Asuka is the best female WWE Superstar. Her English might be limited, but she is entertaining in every one of her appearances. Flair has the name value and the big performances, but the Empress of Tomorrow is widely thought to be a more complete package and an exciting performer.
Asuka won the first Women's Royal Rumble and this year's Women's Money in the Bank ladder match. However, she has traditionally been booked to lose to Charlotte Flair in big moments. Asuka only "defeated" her as RAW Women's Champion when Flair was kayfabe hurt and heading for some time away from WWE.
Even with that, Asuka is one of the most dangerous women in all of pro-wrestling. She has great strikes and submissions and is as resilient as they come. That was part of the reason why she was the last one eliminated by Shayna Baszler in this year's Elimination Chamber match.
Factor in her great character work as a heel or a face, and it's not a big surprise that she's usually at the top of the women's division on both SmackDown and RAW. It's all the more impressive that she's not one of the four Horsewomen on WWE NXT.
Blanchard has been booked as a top star before, and has dealt with both physical threats and psychological threats in the ring from the likes of Sami Callihan. Asuka is one of the best that WWE has to offer and they would surely produce a great match to either headline a pay-per-view or at least feature at WrestleMania, SummerSlam or Royal Rumble.
Blanchard spent some time in Japan prior to her big runs in the past two years, so that could also be used in a potential feud should she sign with WWE.
#2 WWE NXT Horsewoman Becky Lynch
You probably know it already, but at the beginning of 2020, both Becky Lynch and Tessa Blanchard were the top stars in their respective promotions. Lynch was the RAW Women's Champion in WWE after having main-evented WrestleMania alongside Flair and Ronda Rousey. Meanwhile, Blanchard won the IMPACT World Championship in January by defeating Sami Callihan.
While one was the title holder of the entire company, they were both still the top stars in their respective promotions. Lynch had been on top of WWE since SummerSlam 2018 and Blanchard worked her way up to become the first female IMPACT World Champion.
Both women are trailblazers and have carried a company at different stages. Few in WWE and wrestling altogether, however, can touch Lynch on the mic. As with Banks and Bayley, it would also be a feud between the daughter of one of the Four Horsemen and one of the Four Horsewomen of NXT. Both are solid in the ring and do well as heels or faces.
The two factors that would obviously put a halt to this happening are that Blanchard is not signed to any major company and Lynch is currently out of action because of her pregnancy.
Any major feud like this would obviously need a huge stage like WrestleMania. The promos would be great on their own, so Lynch would be a no-brainer as a potential WWE foil for "The Diamond".
#1 WWE NXT Horsewoman Charlotte Flair
This is the easiest and most obvious potential feud for Tessa Blanchard if she opts to sign with the WWE over AEW and other companies. They represent the only two major female professional wrestlers that are daughters of the Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Ole Anderson).
The fourth spot in the group was always a revolving door with the Horsemen, as the likes of Barry Windham, Sting, Lex Luger and many others can claim to have been members of the infamous faction.
Outside of Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair is always booked as the top female Superstar in WWE. She has won at practically every WrestleMania she has competed at and she wasn't pinned in the main event of WM 35.
WWE books her so strongly that they already consider her a 12-time champion. They even started to add reigns as NXT Women's Champion to that total, just to fast-track her to break her father's record of 16 world title reigns.
Tully Blanchard's name isn't treated on the same level as Flair's in WWE, but he's still one of the most infamous wrestlers of his era. WWE loves to book family feuds, as evidenced with Flair's feuds with Natalya. We can also look to the current feuds on SmackDown involving Roman Reigns and Jey Uso, as well as the Mysterios.
Family business is usually easy to book, due to real-life situations and history in the business. The lineage of their last names would write the feud itself, but it would likely mean that WWE would have Blanchard lose out to the Queen. Would she be willing to fall?
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
