Booker T Says Tessa Blanchard’s Impact World Title Win Is the Worst Idea in Wrestling History

[Smart Marx]

– Booker T is, to say the very least, not a fan of Tessa Blanchard becoming the Impact World Champion and he talked about it on the latest Hall of Fame. Booker T weighed in on Impact’s current product and specifically Blanchard’s win at Hard to Kill to claim the World Title from Sami Callihan.

Talking about the situation, Booker called it “the worst idea in the history of wrestling” and explained why he is not a fan of intergender wrestling. Highlights and the full podcast are below:

On the current Impact product:: “I tell you, man. I actually got a chance to watch a little bit of it last night. Very little. Very, VERY little. And it just was something that — I don’t know, man. I just don’t know. Those guys look like they’re just trying to find their spot, man. It seems like they’re they’re still trying to find their niche.”

On Tessa Blanchard holding the World Championship: “I mean, big ups to Tessa Blanchard, because she’s good. She’s really good at what she does. But this is the worst idea that Impact Wrestling ever had in the history of the company. It really is, it’s really that bad. It’s worse than paying me 10 grand for a six-hour power commercial that never aired.”

On why he dislikes it: “Now the men, all the men in the company, if they wrestle her and she beats them, it diminishes every guy in the company. I mean, who’s the top guy in the company now? I cannot see ‘The Man,’ Becky Lynch, wrestling Samoa Joe or Brock Lesnar. I mean this is the worst idea in the history of wrestling. It really is. And to throw it out there like that, it’s the only way it can really be thrown out. And it makes me question and wonder, you know, is somebody tried to blow this thing up on purpose? It’s like somebody said, ‘Let’s see how bad we can mess this up.'”

On the impact this has on the Knockouts division: “It’s gotta be [separation between the men’s and women’s divisions]. It’s always gotta be. My thing is this, if Tessa Blanchard goes back and wrestled the women, she should be able to beat all of them. Now the woman that beats her, she’ll be able to go out and beat the men too. The crossover intergender wrestling is something that’s for independent companies, okay? If they want to be looked at as an indie group, keep doing stuff like this.”

On the move not being a realistic one: “I don’t think this is what empowering women, what it really was meant to be. You know what I mean? I really don’t think so. Because I’m not saying Ronda Rousey is not a tough woman. But if you put Ronda Rousey in there with Jon Jones, watch what happens to her. You put her in there with the lower level men, and watch what happens to her. Or Amanda Nunes with the top [guys].”

On the domestic violence concerns: “You don’t want to start blurring those types of lines when it comes to performance especially when it comes to men and women these days. Normally, when a man hits a woman, he goes to jail. I don’t want to see no man put their hands on my sisters, all right? Even as tough as my sisters are, I’m not fitting to have that. And to actually see it play out, and to see someone think this is a good idea for television, for two – a man and a woman to be fighting? It’s ridiculous.”

On potential backlash over his comments: “You know what? People can look at it and say what they want to say about it. But for me, it’s not something that I would ever have on my Reality of Wrestling. And people can say, ‘Aw man he’s outdated. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.’ It’s not that at all. I look at it from what I’ve done in this business as a performance, but I try to make it as realistic as possible. I’ve never seen a female boxer fight a male boxer. I’ve never seen a female wrestler — now, in tennis I’ve seen it. But I’ma tell you right now. I would take Roger Federer over Serena Williams. I’m serious, I really would. Or the top — Novak Djokovic. I’d take Novak Djokovic over Serena Williams. Just because the guy’s — he’s overpowering, and that’s what normally happens in a fight between a man and a woman.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Hall of Fame with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.

“I’m not holding my judgement on it. I mean, I’m serious. Big-ups to Tessa Blanchard because she’s good. She’s really good at what she does, but this is the worst decision for an idea that IMPACT Wrestling’s ever had in the history of that company. It’s really that bad. It’s worse than paying me $10 grand for a six hour power commercial that never aired. I’m serious. That’s how ridiculous it is.”

“Because, now the men — all of the men in the company, if they wrestle her and she beats them, it diminishes every guy in the company. I mean, who’s the top guy in the company now? I can’t see ‘The Man’ Becky Lynch wrestling Samoa Joe or Brock Lesnar. I mean, this is the worst idea in the history of wrestling, and to throw it out there, it’s the only way it can really be thrown out and it makes me question and wonder if somebody’s trying to blow this thing up on purpose. Like somebody’s saying, ‘Man, let’s see how bad we can mess this up.’ You know what I’m saying? I’m serious.”

Man, Booker really not feeling Undeniable.

 

[Smart Marx]

"Wrestling history." OK boomer.

 

[Lover Boy]

That's definitely exaggerated, we've seen some god awful decisions in wrestling this doesn't even scratch the surface.

 

[Hidden Blaze]

It's surely not the worst thing TNA/Impact/etc has ever done. They've had plenty of bad booking over the years. Wrestling as a whole has done some pretty dumb things. Come on Book.

 

[Chris]

The real problem here IMO is too many people are looking at "Woman wins men's championship in wrestling" as a CONCEPT and "Tessa Blanchard wins the Impact World Championship" as the exact same thing in action. Just like Smark, who is admittedly not a fan of intergender wrestling probably wouldn't have cared for this too much if he didn't watch any of Tessa, and just saw the headline that she won, but since he watched he realized that Tessa might be the exception to that rule of suspending disbelief (if we wanna have that convo again ).

Booker really overanalyzes too much here, like why tf do I care about picturing Becky fighting Brock? Becky didn't fight Brock, Tessa fought Sami...if Becky beat Brock I'd probably have a much different opinion here bc like ain't that black and white that you can swap out anyone and replace then with someone of the same gender and expect me to keep my same opinion

 

[Hoss]

It's obvious he's completely out of the loop with Impact. From saying they're trying to find their niche, to saying this is the kind of thing someone would do to try to kill the company... he's way off base.

As far as his views on intergender wrestling, he's entitled to feel what he wants about that.

 

[Deezy]

Not saying anything that hadn't already been said. All had a week to either agree or disagree.

It’s worse than paying me 10 grand for a six-hour power commercial that never aired.”

This the real story I'm interested in

 

[Smart Marx]

Just like Smark, who is admittedly not a fan of intergender wrestling probably wouldn't have cared for this too much if he didn't watch any of Tessa, and just saw the headline that she won, but since he watched he realized that Tessa might be the exception to that rule of suspending disbelief (if we wanna have that convo again ).

That's pretty accurate. The story told here got me interested in the story and in Tessa.

I'm actually hoping from here she actually takes on both men and women in her title defenses.

Maybe even one triple threat with another woman and a man.

 

[Chris]

Not saying anything that hadn't already been said. All had a week to either agree or disagree.


This the real story I'm interested in

I noticed that too lmaoo I thought it sounded familiar but idk if I've heard about it or not.

 

[Hidden Blaze]

Not saying anything that hadn't already been said. All had a week to either agree or disagree.


This the real story I'm interested in

I found this lol

 

[Smart Marx]

They were a TNA sponsor. I remember seeing the ads and logos on Impact.

 

[Hoss]

Tessa Blanchard vs. Jordynne Grace for the Impact World Title...

 

[Smart Marx]

Tessa Blanchard vs. Jordynne Grace for the Impact World Title...

I've not seen too much of her work, but I'm down.

A match I think would be great and rile up the detractors is Tessa v. Taya - Champ v. Champ.

 

[Apoho Creed]

Oh Booker do you sadden me so with those comments towards Tessa and her winning the Impact World Title. Booker T must of forgotten that he was in a Company that had a Man with no Wrestling Experience win their World Title so saying it's the worst decision in Impact or in Wrestling has no value to me. You gotta look on how Tessa got to this point, the moment she came into Impact she sparked the Women's Division, and kept getting better as a talent and performer. Now I would say the questions Booker T posed are good ones, what happens to Tessa when she loses the Impact World Title, do you keep her in the Main Event scene or does she go back to the Knockouts Division? Questions I know Impact Creative thought about when making this decision, but I know this will all work out for all parties involved though.

 

[nWo4Lyfe420]

He's not wrong. I'd compare it to putting the world title on Rey Mysterio. There has to be a cutoff line somewhere because you can only suspend disbelief so much. We all know Tessa wouldn't stand a chance against almost any male wrestler in a real fight. Sami Callihan would kill her in a shoot without even trying.

This is nothing more than a PR stunt from a desperate company.