Various: Wrestling World Pays Tribute to Sid Vicious, Tessa Blanchard on Past Mental Health Struggles and Issues Leading to Her TNA/Impact Release & Chelsea Green Responds, Indies

Indie / Misc
Aug 27, 2024

Wrestling World Pays Tribute to Late Sid Vicious

As noted before, wrestling legend and former WWE and WCW wrestler Sid Vicious, real name Sidney Raymond Eudy, passed away on Monday at the age of 63. Eudy’s son Gunnar Eudy revealed earlier today that his father had been battling stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and had been dealing with heart-related issues for the past several years prior to his passing.

Following his passing, WWE, AEW, TNA, NWA, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Sting, and others in the wrestling industry paid tribute to the life and legacy of Eudy.

Tessa Blanchard Comments on Her Mental Health Struggles and Issues Leading to Her TNA/Impact Release & Chelsea Green Responds

A recent episode of the Straight Talk Wrestling podcast featured Tessa Blanchard as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Blanchard’s thoughts about how she would not change anything about her career due to how it had made her the wrestler and person she is today.

“I wouldn’t change anything about the peaks, the valleys, the way my career’s been, I wouldn’t change anything because I’m very proud of the woman that I am now and the wrestler that I am today and where my career is.

If anything would have been different, I might be in a different place, I might be a different person, my ego might be through the roof, who knows?”

Blanchard also gave her thoughts about how the bullying and racial slur allegations against her led to her mental health struggles in early 2020 and her release from TNA/Impact Wrestling while being TNA World Champion.

“When everything happened to me, it was even a tough topic to even talk about. I remember I was living in Tijuana at the time and I remember some days I would wake up, I didn’t even have the strength to live that day so I would just go back to bed and I would be in my bed all day long. There were days where I was tired about life just because my identity was wrestling, I didn’t know who I was without it and in a matter of less than 24 hours, it was like from here to (nothing). From contract offers from the biggest companies, more money than I’d ever seen in my life to nothing.

This whole storyline we had built for eight or nine months to me begging the TNA office that day like ‘I don’t want to win it, I don’t want to do this.’ And after I didn’t go home, I went on a 27-day media tour in Mexico where I remember, we would pull over in the Uber before every interview and I would vomit.

My family, my little brother and sister were 14 years old at the time, were reading all these things about me that I knew wasn’t me, I knew wasn’t in my heart, I wasn’t this person, but it didn’t matter, perception is reality, the truth doesn’t matter.

I didn’t know my identity without wrestling and through all of that, through those ups and downs, those really hard days that I didn’t know if I was going to get through, I found out who Tessa is without wrestling.”

Following the release of the interview, WWE talent Chelsea Green responded on Twitter stating that while she is hopeful that Blanchard has found peace over her mental health issues, she took offense to Blanchard not apologizing for her past bullying incidents.

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that the Buffalo Bills have cut former WWE talent Gable Steveson from their final 53-man roster for their upcoming football season. Garafolo reported that Steveson is still eligible to be signed to the practice squad for the Bills or another NFL team.

Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling announced that QT Marshall will be making an appearance for the company at their Forged In Excellence events on October 19-20 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

The National Wrestling Alliance announced that EC3 recently surpassed one year as current NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion and Kenzie Paige recently surpassed one year as current NWA Women’s World Champion.

As noted before, TNA Wrestling ended their Ultimate Insiders subscription service on their YouTube channel this past June. The company recently provided an update stating that they will be sunsetting their Insiders membership program on August 30th and it will no longer be available to access.

PROGRESS Wrestling recently announced that Marina Shafir will be making an appearance for the company at their Chapter 171: History Is Written By The Victors event on September 22nd in Camden, London, England.

Monday’s Chapter 170 event for PROGRESS in London, England featured Cara Noir making his surprise return from injury. Following Luke Jacobs’ victory over Kid Lykos to retain his PROGRESS World Championship, Noir made his surprise return and confronted Jacobs and KENTA in the ring. Prior to his return, Noir had been out of action from wrestling since April of 2023 due to a fractured foot and ankle injuries.

Black Label Pro Wrestling announced that former AEW talent Jake Hager will be making an appearance for the company at their DK Wrestling Combine event on September 4th in Chicago, Illinois.

Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling recently announced that Xia Zhao, former Xia Li in WWE, will be making her official debut for the company at their Wrestle Princess V event on September 22nd in Chiba, Japan. It was announced that Zhao will be teaming with Mizuki in a tag team match against VENY & Yuki Kamifuku at the event.

In a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, Marigold founder Rossy Ogawa announced that Marigold will be holding an event on April 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada during WWE WrestleMania 41 weekend in the city. Ogawa stated “I think Giulia going over there will help spread the name of Marigold. Next April, we will be in Las Vegas, and we need to create our own opportunities to spread the name of Marigold more. I think we need to make preparations now for that.” (English translation via Fightful.com)

Pro Wrestling NOAH recently announced one new match for the card of their N-1 Victory 2024 Finals event on September 1st in Osaka, Japan:

  • GHC Heavyweight Championship & N-1 Victory 2024 Finals – Kenoh vs. Kaito Kiyomiya (c)
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