Tessa Blanchard will make her MLW debut at Saturday Night SuperFight on November 7, less than two months after her first MLW debut fell apart.
The news came Wednesday on CMLL Informa, the promotion’s weekly news and interview show, where Blanchard appeared for a sit-down interview. CMLL’s own announcement said the “Undeniable Diamond” will take her talent to the United States to represent CMLL.
MLW confirmed the booking in its own announcement. Blanchard will debut at the sold-out Cicero Stadium in the Chicago area, on a card airing live on pay-per-view exclusively on VEEPS at 8 p.m. ET. Her opponent will be revealed in the coming days. “I’m not coming to MLW to rest on the Blanchard name,” Blanchard said in the release.
The show is MLW’s first pay-per-view in seven years, and the Cicero date has already sold out.
Why the first debut never happened
The former TNA World Champion was first announced for MLW on September 1, with a debut set for Fightland on September 12 in Charleston, South Carolina. Days later, CMLL issued a statement saying her agreement covered that one date only, with no additional commitments or championship matches. She was pulled from the show and booked for a CMLL event in Mexico City the same night.
Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that he was “pretty darn sure” Blanchard had been planned to win the women’s title, either at Fightland or soon after. He speculated that a title run would put pressure on CMLL to approve more dates. Masha Slamovich beat Shotzi Blackheart for the title at that taping instead.
Fightful Select reported at the time that CMLL should not have been as caught off guard as it appeared, with TMZ sources telling Fightful Español that CMLL representatives were on the call for Blanchard’s TMZ interview. In that interview, she said she planned to keep living and working in Mexico City and wrestling for CMLL.
This time, the news came on CMLL’s own show with Blanchard as the guest. Neither announcement mentions dates beyond November 7, so whether this is a one-night appearance or the start of a run in the women’s division is still open.
