Tommy Dreamer Weighs In on Tessa Blanchard Controversy
– On a recent episode of Busted Open Radio, Tommy Dreamer weighed in on the controversy around Tessa Blanchard allegedly using a racial slur against La Rosa Negra in Japan in 2017. Of course, that situation exploded just before Impact Hard to Kill when several women including Allysin Kay came out with allegations of the incident. Tessa initially denied it and has since issued a statement where she said she never used the word.
Dreamer talked about his experiences with Blanchard and how he saw her at Hard to Kill, where he said she “wasn’t in a good place mentally” due to the controversy. You can see highlights from his comments below:
On when he found out: “I saw the, I guess the results from the Friday show. I said, ‘Nobody got hurt, nothing could go wrong.’ And then I land and the world was caving in in Impact Wrestling for a half a second. And Tessa Blanchard, I look and I see Tessa was trending. And I’m like, ‘Oh, what PR — that’s pretty good stuff that’s going on right now.’ And then I click and I’m like ‘[Hiss] Ooh, that’s not good.’ And then I just sit back and I take all this information in. And then I also like to get to, two sides to every story. And some of what I was reading, I was like ‘Yeah, no that’s not true.’ But you know, you take everything for what you read until you finally talk to the person.”
On the backlash against Blanchard: “Listen, I texted Tessa, she didn’t get back to me. Tessa and I — I went and spoke to her finally at the show [Hard to Kill]. And obviously she was not in a good place mentally. Because it becomes almost like gang warfare where everyone jumps on the hot topic. I would state that I have a great relationship with her. I also have a great relationship with a lot of the other women that were talking about her.”
On if he thinks Blanchard is racist: “I was not there. I do know that there was a very physical confrontation between her and this other wrestler [Rosa] that led to a physical brawl. Sometimes, in the heat of battle, you say things that you will regret. Or, if you’re in a physical fight, you may not have a regret with that person. I know that Tessa used to date a famous wrestler who’s in WWE [Ricochet] that is African American. I know Tessa is currently engaged to Daga, who is Mexican. I do not feel that Tessa is racist.”
On Blanchard’s reputation for having ‘attitude issues’: “Let me also explain to you that when I first met Tessa, a lot of people said, ‘Hey, watch this girl’ and told me some things about her. And I formulate my opinion for how somebody treats me. I also understand that people treat me differently because I’m Tommy Dreamer or I’m helping out behind the scenes. But I formulate my own opinion on how someone treats me and acts around me. And I remember one time she comes up and says, ‘I don’t think you like me.’ I said, ‘I don’t even know you. Let me get to know you.’ She said, ‘Fair enough.’ That was it.”
