Does controversial former IMPACT Wrestling Champion Tessa Blanchard make an appearance in the upcoming WWE Battlegrounds video game? Kinda.
Although the usual clickbait sites (you know the ones) are not making the distinction in their headlines, Blanchard's likeness actually appears as one of the character designs in the game's instruction manual. New Legacy's Twitch stream got hold of an advanced copy of the game, and the side-by-side images they posted leave little doubt that WWE lifted Tessa's pose for this design.
Photographer Basil Mahmud, who took that particular photo of Blanchard while she was still in Impact Wrestling, took to Twitter to call out WWE Games for using his picture without permission.
It's possible that whoever was responsible for putting this manual together simply didn't realize that Blanchard wasn't associated with WWE, but we're definitely playing devil's advocate with that theory.
WWE Games has yet to respond, but we'll keep you guys updated.