Deonna Purrazzo On Her AEW Debut, Leaving TNA, WWE NXT, Mickie James Match

On her AEW debut in New Jersey being a coincidence:

"Honestly, that's how the schedule lined up. When I spoke to Tony Khan before I signed, I had said to him, this kind of seems like we're on the same page with a lot of things. If I was to debut the first Dynamite of the New Year is in New Jersey, and that would be like a dream come true for me."

On how quick it all came together:

"That conversation was like, mid December. Yeah, it only took like, three weeks to get this deal done. It was a last minute thing. I found out, So we had that conversation, and I pitched that idea, signed the contract on the 1st and it was like, Okay, we have, like, two days, and I haven't heard anything. I was really upset because I thought, like, it's Tuesday afternoon, it's probably not gonna happen. Tuesday at 5pm Sonjay Dutt called me and was like, we'd love to have you in Newark. Is that doable? And I was like of course it's doable. So yeah, it was literally, like, a 24 hour turnover."

On keeping her debut a secret:

"So I didn't know what I was doing until I got there, and I was wheeled into TK’s office on a wheelchair under a tarp so no one [knew] it was crazy, they didn't want anyone to see who it was. I feel like once they got there, everyone kind of put pieces together and the girls knew it was me, but they wanted it to be super top secret. I wasn't picked up to go to the venue until like, 5 or 6 pm. Then yeah, I was kind of hidden in Tony's office for a little bit, and then they gave my own separate locker room. And I felt like, this is just me, this is really silly. I was so uncomfortable. And I was like, I feel bad asking, can someone bring me food? Where do I go to the bathroom? I felt very uncomfortable, but yeah, I didn't have any expectations. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't ask what I was going to be doing. I was just kind of like, this is where I want to be, this is my number one choice. If we can make this happen, Jersey would be great, but I'm in this for the long haul, so you tell me what you want."

On getting emotional about the debut:

"Yeah, I'm such a big crier. In a moment of anxiety, especially when it comes to wrestling, I just break down and cry. It's the weirdest thing ever. I was so fine all day until Mariah wrestled Queen Aminata. Right before I went out there and their whole match I was in the back hysterical crying. Madison Rayne, who's like my best friend in real life, is like why are you crying? And I'm like, I have no idea. I have no idea."

On wanting to live up to expectations:

"I think even leading up to that moment, I had an incredible time in TNA. I did so many incredible things that really led up to being able to talk to all the companies, being able to talk to WWE, getting to talk to Tony Khan, and kind of using that platform that TNA had given me to create a new future for myself and not wanting to disappoint anyone of we're not taking a chance on Deonna, but we're giving her this platform, and it's huge, and she's coming in, and she's making a statement, and I never want that, to not be what Tony Khan wanted to be, not what my opponent wants it to be, not what the fans know me for." 

On appearing in WWE early in her career:

"I mean, way too quickly, I wasn't ready for those opportunities. So it's funny because that match with Brooke Tessmacher happened, then literally two weeks later I was asked to go be an extra and be a Rosebud at WWE. So I drove up to Hartford for Monday Night Raw two weeks later, and it was just like, again, holy crap. Like, it's all happening way too fast, and I'm almost not ready for it."

On doing more in WWE:

"I then immediately got opportunities in NXT, and that's when I really thought I could be signed, it’s like a real viable thing right now. Late 2015 early 2016 I was in NXT at the tapings every other week. I was there 24/7 flying myself, actively going into debt so I could be in Orlando, Florida, to wrestle for NXT. And that was when I was like, I think I could take kind of the critique I'm getting. I could keep training. I can go to Japan. I was working with ROH at the time, all of these little pieces are really starting to come together in The Virtuosa, Deonna Purrazzo, the early stages of who I was becoming then could be someone who could get signed."

On why WWE did not sign her:

"That's a really great question. I don't know. Kind of always the answer was that I was a five-foot-two brunette, and there was a ton of us on the Indies. It was just like, how do you go make yourself marketable? How do you become more than a five-foot-two brunette? At the time that was a really difficult thing to be told, because it's like, I can't change my height. I could change my hair color but like, for me, the wrestler I am is the wrestler I am. So you tell me you want me to be more Italian. You want me to learn Italian, I could try to do that. You tell me something more than my physical appearance. And for a long time, they couldn't. And yeah, after my tryout, I did really well. I got all positive feedback. That was February 2016 they were just like, we have too many of you right now and go out there and keep making a name for yourself, and maybe it'll come full circle."

On TNA re sparking her passion for wrestling:

"All the girls that were there, all of the management, Gail Kim, Madison Rayne, the entire environment that they cultivate there just really made me [feel] this feels like home. This feels like I belong here. Feels like everyone wants to work for each other. There's no drama. There's no fighting over spots, there's no stabbing each other in the back. I hate to call it this, but everyone calls it the land of misfit toys. It is in terms of we've all been rejected by other places, other people, and we come here and we have a chip on our shoulder, and we do the work for each other. That was the environment that I was looking for and it just didn't click until there."

On leaving TNA:

"I just felt at the end of last year I kind of had done everything. I had been a three-time Knockouts World Champion. I had been Knockouts World Tag Team Champion. I had carried the brand and become the Reina de Reinas champion in Mexico with AAA. I had went to Ring of Honor. I had main evented AEW Dynamite representing Impact Wrestling. Like, What else was there for me to do here that would continue to level me up? Just felt like I've worked with everybody in the locker room. I'm comfortable here. It's time now to get out of my comfort zone."

On wrestling Jordynne Grace in a 30 minute Iron Woman match:

"Well, we were supposed to do a No Disqualification match at first. So at the time, what was great about Impact was we were taping every two weeks in Nashville. It was still the pandemic, so it was a closed studio, and we would get creative ahead of time. So what Jordynne and I were told we were doing was we were going to have our Slammiversary match, and then the next day at the next set of tapings two weeks down the road we would do a No Disqualification match. So leading into that we planned for a hardcore [match], what are cool, intricate, different things we could do with weapons? It wasn't until the match at Slammiversary happened, and it went over so well, the internet loved it, like just the entire reaction was so good to it, from a company standpoint, and from a social media standpoint, that they were like, we need to do something bigger than a 10 minute No Disqualification match. We're gonna do a first-ever Iron Woman match. And when they told Jordynne and I literally at the beginning of the next day at like 9am we were both like what the f*ck? We were so beat up that we had 17 or 18 minutes on the pay-per-view, beat that crap out of each other, and now you want us to do it again, but for like, double the time? Jordynne Grace is one of the hardest-hitting people I've ever been in the ring with, physically, and emotionally, she just brings out such a different animal in every one of her opponents. You need to be 100% to be in the ring with Jordynne Grace. And so neither of us were 100% at that time. And so going in, we were just like, how do we even, like, reframe and reset our mind to do what we did again, but 30 minutes."

On wrestling Mickie James:

"Oh my gosh. That whole entire feud was career-defining for me. After I worked with Jordynne, I kind of went into a phase of working pay-per-view to pay-per-view programs with a lot of the girls on the Impact roster. When Mickie came in, it was Slammiversary, and she was making a return after being released from WWE. I think it was just the exact opponent I needed, an organic babyface with a history at this company who’s also like, at that point, she has nothing else to prove. She's just here because she wants to be here, she wants to continue wrestling, she wants to continue to better and change women's wrestling. My character at that time was I'm the best, who are you? Just arrogant and so like this is my championship and my company and my title, and just the chemistry we had organically was just everything I needed in those moments, really, to sink my teeth in and define who The Virtuosa was."

On her time in WWE being a level-up:

"Oh gosh, absolutely. The match that I had with Bayley in NXT. I don't remember the time we were given for the match, but literally, right before we went out of the curtain, they were like, Okay, you got to cut a minute and she was like, no problem. She came to me and was like, let's do this, this and this. I was just like, whatever you want to do, okay, and she talked me through the whole match in the ring. There was even one point I remember, I didn't hear what she said, so I just went to what my next thing was and she just went with it. Even those moments teach you if she can handle that and just go out there and that's no problem, because she's trained to do that. I want to get to that level. I want to be so comfortable that nothing can faze me, that no one could throw me off my game."

On Nia Jax: 

"I love Nia, and she has always been so giving to her opponents. So I remember it was I think her second match in NXT after she debuted, it was me, and I was intimidated, because I'm like, oh gosh. She's new, I'm new, this could be really bad. Sarah Amato helped produce Triple H was in the ring helping produce. She was just such a sponge to all the things. She gave me a couple of things, way more than I needed at that time. And then we got to do it again when she re-debuted the Raw after Mania in 2020 and it was so comfortable because we had known each other then we had done this. Even then, she gave me too much. They made us redo the match. I think she's such a great person, and to be in those moments with her was really exciting for me. I like to see that development, and I was really grateful to be a part of it."

On wrestling goals:

"I gotta win the AEW Women's World Championship. I think going there and just knowing the type of environment it is and the complete new set of girls that I've never worked with, I knew it was going to be a challenge to, I don't want to say conform, but relearn a system. I had been comfortable at TNA for so long. I knew the system, I knew the people, I knew the position I was in. I was on top there, so there was more leeway for me to give my opinion or pitch ideas coming into AEW. You kind of need to earn those rights all over again. So I think, yes, there's still so much left for me to do. I feel like I'm just now feeling like myself again. Feeling like okay, this is The Virtuosa. I've been there nine and a half months now. That first stretch, it was like I don't know know what I'm doing or who I am. I'm working a brand new system with television and times, and I felt really thrown off. So I feel like now I'm finally getting in a groove that will propel me."

On being defended from body shaming trolls:

"Oh my gosh, yes they did. That's the unfortunate beauty of the internet is when people come for you for such silly things like your body or whatever it is. I wanted to defend myself. I felt like I needed to say something, and what I said, I mean, I feel in my heart and soul like I'm so much more than what my body looks like. I'm so much more than a number on the scale. First of all, I've never been a size small, but my husband loves me whether I would be a small or I'd be an extra extra large, like he thinks I'm beautiful no matter what. And honestly, that's all that matters. I have a college degree. I'm working on getting a master's degree. I have worked in every company in the world. There's a reason people want to work with me, because of my body of work, not my body, and for people to agree with that and then say such nice things, I cried because the internet hurt my feelings, but then I cried because the love I felt for my friends and my family." 

What is Deonna Purrazzo grateful for:

"My husband, my home and support."