The main event for Impact Wrestling’s Hard to Kill, emanating from the Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas, was always going to be newsworthy. It pit the Impact world champion Sami Callihan against Tessa Blanchard. Whether or not Impact was going to pull the trigger on a female wrestler winning the world title was always going to be a point of interest.
Tessa Blanchard trying to tweet a positive message about women’s wrestling and getting dragged for it by multiple women due to hypocrisy due to her own past actions added a little more intrigue. Would Impact stay the likely course and put their top title on Blanchard?
The answer was yes.
It was a great main event between Blanchard and Callihan. It immediately kicked off with Sami delivering a piledriver that the challenger kicked out of. Tessa then delivered Magnum and the champ kicked out.
CACTUS DRIVER 97 IMMEDIATELY! #HardToKill @TheSamiCallihan pic.twitter.com/A6h7e2Ojmn
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 13, 2020
After that, much of the match was Callihan attacking Blanchard’s left leg, hobbling her for the rest of the bout. She even took a powerbomb through a table outside. But with the fans in Dallas firmly behind her, Tessa battled back multiple times.
POWERBOMB THROUGH A TABLE AT RINGSIDE! #HardToKill @TheSamiCallihan pic.twitter.com/0N15cCND32
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 13, 2020
It looked like she had it won when Sami tried to use brass knuckles with the referee’s back turned. Tessa ducked the shot and kicked him low, leading to another Magnum. But the champ kicked out.
Then it looked like Sami would retain when he hit another piledriver, but Tessa kicked out.
Finally, after two Canadian Destroyers and her Buzzsaw DDT, Tessa Blanchard pinned Sami Callihan to win the Impact world title, making her the first lady to do so.
Angle. Sting. Joe. Foley. Styles. RVD. Hardy. Anderson. Storm. Roode. Aries. Bully Ray. Sabin. Magnus. Young. Lashley. EC3. Hardy. Galloway. Edwards. Patron. Drake. Pentagon. IMPACT. Cage. Callihan.
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 13, 2020
And now @Tess_Blanchard. #HardToKill pic.twitter.com/mWBbCDkgtY
It shouldn’t be too surprising that Impact stayed the course. For one thing, they were too deep into this story to back out now. And they’re a promotion who has put their faith behind wrestlers with some baggage, such as putting the title on Sami Callihan or bringing in Michael Elgin.
It was a great match, one worthy of the main event spot and the title change, even if yesterday’s twitter happenings may have put a damper on it.
It’ll be interesting to see who is the first to face Tessa for that title now that the gender barrier has been broken in regards to the top prize.
You can find the results to Hard to Kill here.