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Impact Wrestling announces it has fired top star Tessa Blanchard and declared the World Championship vacant.

Per Impact Wrestling: “IMPACT Wrestling has confirmed that it has terminated its relationship with Tessa Blanchard and stripped her of the IMPACT Wrestling World Championship.”

Blanchard, 24, has not wrestled for Impact Wrestling since the COVID-19 outbreak and was the first female World Champion ever for a national promotion.

By the sounds of PWInsider.com’s report, it seems like the rift between Blanchard and Impact Wrestling was due to a contract dispute:

“Impact sources cite that there were attempts made to get Blanchard to return and drop the title but that the two sides were not able to come to terms.  Blanchard’s deal was slated to expire before the PPV but Impact was hoping that she would return for a final appearance.  When it became increasingly obvious that wasn’t going to happen, Impact opted to cut bait and move forward. “

While Blanchard’s in-ring work has been strong for quite some time, her career has been marred with controversial allegations of bullying, being difficult to work with, and most recently, racism. We spoke about allegations against Blanchard back in January:

Given Blanchard’s questionable backstage rep, the U.S.’s surging COVID-19 cases, and non-WWE promotions’ financial uncertainty, it might be awhile before we see her pop back up on the national stage.

Her father and legendary WWE Hall of Fame Four Horseman member Tully Blanchard currently works for All Elite Wrestling as Shawn Spears’ manager.