Tessa Blanchard On If Winning The Impact World Title Would Devalue The Knockouts Championship

With Impact Wrestling having intergender matches with women competing for men's titles, some have questioned if there is still a need for the Knockouts title. Tessa Blanchard, who will vye for the Impact World Title tonight, was asked if Impact should unify the World and Knockouts titles when she spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.

"I'm not saying that that's not a bad idea. It's not a bad idea for any woman to be able to compete in the same light as men," said Blanchard. "I think a lot of people are old school in their way of thinking and there's nothing wrong with that as it's just a matter of their opinion."

She added that her line of thinking isn't right or wrong as it's just her opinion. Blanchard also has no problem if some women challenged for the tag titles.

Blanchard has been a groundbreaker in terms of pro wrestling and she was asked about being a role model to young women.

"That alone is one of the most valuable things to me because in a few different companies that I work in, I'm able to be a role model for young women," Blanchard said before noting she has a 12-year-old sister who said what she's doing empowers her.

"That's such a great feeling as a big sister because being a young woman can be hard. You don't know who you are yet or know what you want to do in this world. You face internal conflicts and the social aspect ? it's a tricky world out there?

"If they can relate to me or look up to me and realize it's possible. She's out there with the guys and if she can do it then so can I. If they are able to take that away from what we're doing, then it's a huge accomplishment."

There's a thought that if Blanchard becomes the World Champion then that would devalue the Knockouts Championship. However, Blanchard hit back at that claim.

"I don't think so. I think that our women's locker room is one of the strongest and they go out there with the intent to have the match of the night every time. That's a great mentality to have as it keeps you on your toes and pushes you," Blanchard said before putting over all the various women in the Knockouts division.

"Taya is one of the strongest women wrestlers on the circuit today and the fact that she's champion? she deserves it. I don't think that me having the World Championship, if that what happens this Sunday, will devalue anything. I think, if anything, it just helps break down barriers or take pro wrestling out of a gender-oriented box."

Tessa Blanchard will face off against Sami Callihan for the Impact Wrestling World Championship tonight in the main event of Impact Wrestling's Hard To Kill. Her full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In the full interview Tessa discusses critics of her feud with Sami Callihan, her Impact World Title match against Callihan at Hard To Kill, becoming a role model to young women, possibly unifying the World and Knockout's Championships, her fiance DAGA, whether they'd ever do an infidelity angle and more.

You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.