Originally published on ProWrestlingSheet.

While some may not like intergender wrestling, Impact star Tessa Blanchard says facing-off against men made her rise to the occasion and become a better worker in the ring.

Tessa was interviewed for a Vice Canada piece and explained, “I don't think that I would be the wrestler or the athlete that I am today if I didn't have some of the intergender matches that I have."

"I'm forced to step my game up because the likes of Scorpio Sky, AR Fox, Brian Cage, David Starr," Blanchard continued. "The way that they think, the way that they act in the ring, the way that they move, their timing, their position ... it forced me to step my game up and start thinking that way, and it flipped some kind of switch so now I'm able to do that in my other matches as well."

Check out the Vice Canada interview clip with Tessa below.