Court Bauer Reveals Belief In Second Chances Is Why He's Booking Tessa Blanchard

After her MLW debut was scrapped back in September during some controversy involving CMLL, Tessa Blanchard will be making an appearance at MLW’s Saturday Night SuperFight on November 7. Blanchard’s name comes with a lot of baggage following accusations of racism and bullying in the past, though that did not stop her returning to the spotlight when she re-signed with TNA in 2024.

Ahead of her arrival in MLW, founder Court Bauer spoke on Wrestling Observer Radio and revealed his thought process on giving Blanchard a chance. 

“I’m a firm believer in second chances. If I didn’t get a second, third, fourth chance, maybe, I mean, I wouldn’t be in the position I am because someone opened the door for me. You can’t just grade everyone on, like, the same, you know, system. It’s not black and white. There’s grays in this, and you wanna see kind of where they are, where their head’s at when you talk to them, and you converse, and they gotta kinda see what’s happened. How they’ve changed, do they feel differently? How can they reflect? Are they just a sociopath?

“But I really believe in second, third chances, and I think, you know, I think the world got into such a harsh place where it’s like everyone’s just like the Salem witch trials. Everyone’s just burn them at the stake. I’m like, there’s definitely some really bad dudes out there. Then there’s people that are like, man, they fucked up. They get it. They would like another chance, but if no one gives them another chance, they’re just, that’s it. They are done. What I found is the fans, they typically want a comeback story if it’s authentic, if the people are worthy of it. So that’s what I believe when I see a lot of folks out there that, you know, need that second, third chance.”

Blanchard will be wrestling Keyra in singles action at MLW’s next big event.