Deonna Purrazzo Praises IMPACT Knockouts Division, Admits She Lacks Character Development

Deonna Purrazzo is set to make her IMPACT Wrestling in-ring debut on June 9. Purrazzo was released by WWE as part of the company-wide cutbacks on April 15. Vignettes began airing for her impending IMPACT debut on last Tuesday’s episode. 

Speaking to Scott Fishman of TV Insider, Purrazzo discussed her decision to sign with IMPACT. 

“I think that Impact puts such emphasis on the women’s division,” she stated. “Tessa Blanchard became their world champion. Specifically, the last month or two they had Nevaeh debut, Tasha Steelz debuted, then I debuted. I think it’s a great group of women. They are all trying to establish themselves and push boundaries to put on the best product. We are all so different from each other, come from different backgrounds and are different characters and are allowed to show that. I don’t think there is one person that is with Impact in any capacity who hasn’t been showcased on a week-to-week basis. That was the exciting part. They are trying to change the game right now. They want to show out. I think they probably had one of the best women’s divisions out of all of the companies out there. So to see that growth, it was definitely somewhere I wanted to be put in the mix with. AEW has a great women’s division, too. There are so many options for girls right now to go out and showcase themselves. I wanted to be part of it all.”

Purrazzo has worked a handful of IMPACT dates in the past, but only as one-off events. She signed with WWE in 2018 but didn’t make the impact she had hoped to make as part of NXT. She never picked up a victory on WWE television before her release. But she did walk away with some positives from her time in NXT. 

“In my previous work with Impact, the one thing I was lacking was character. I struggled with that. I’m the first person to admit I’m a wrestler’s wrestler. Doing what I do in the ring. When it comes to character development, it’s something I lack,” she said. “My time in NXT forced me to reevaluate that. To reinvent myself, which I think I did in terms of my presentation to the ring. There are positives that came from my WWE experience, but I wanted to be in a place that allowed me to showcase it fully. To have a one-minute vignette have such positive feedback, where everyone was like, ‘I understand.’ That’s all you need because it gets the viewer to tune in the next week. It caught people’s attention. I didn’t get to do that in NXT or before NXT. I think in the next couple of weeks you’re going to see a lot of character development. A Deonna Purrazzo nobody has seen before.”

It is unknown who Purrazzo will face on next Tuesday’s IMPACT. 

You can check out Fightful’s exclusive interview with Purrazzo by clicking here.