I recently had the distinct pleasure of speaking with top IMPACT superstar, current ROH women’s champion, and current AAA Reinas de Reinas champion Deonna Purrazzo. The Virtuosa and I spoke about a wide range of industry topics, including how she believes IMPACT is the hub of the pro-wrestling multiverse, something she says the promotion doesn’t get enough credit for. Highlights, including the full video interview, can be found below.
On Chelsea Green answering her open challenge at Sacrifice:
I did not expect Chelsea to answer my open challenge. Chelsea Green and I have worked together other places and we realized that maybe a partnership doesn’t work between us. It didn’t work. So we wouldn’t do it again and impact. We would stay clear of each other until Chelsea answered my open challenge. So I was a bit taken back and I think that Chelsea, was by far my most challenging competitor, she pushed me to my limit. But as you said, she is my best friend, and she knows me better than anybody. So it was interesting. But at the end of the day friendships have to be put aside when I’m competing for my championships because I want to keep my championships, I want to be the forever champ champ. So, I had a little moment of of mercy there. But you know what, At the end of the day, uh, it’s all fair in love and war, right?
How she prepares for her open challenges when she doesn’t know who her opponent will be:
I think that the best advice I’ve ever been given is that you can only control what you can control, right? I can only control my preparedness walking into each match. I’ve kind of taken this champ champ challenge as an opportunity to get back to my roots and show some new techniques that I have either been working on or have had in my back pocket and haven’t had the opportunity to pull out. So I think if anything I’m just focused on me and knowing what I do well, which is break people’s arms, use the Fujiwara arm bar. I also have tricks in my back pocket, like my Queen’s gambit pile driver. I pull out some new stuff in a match coming up on Impact in a few weeks. So it’s exciting for me to, to be able to challenge myself, but also know that I am the champ champ for a reason.
What fans can expect for her in the upcoming months on the road to Rebellion:
You know, I think expect the unexpected. What has been so fun and reinvigorating about wrestling right now, the entire wrestling community, but also specifically Impact wrestling, is this multiverse that we all get to go through these doors and I think Impact doesn’t get the credit it deserves being the hub of the multiverse. We’ve opened the doors to any company to have a working relationship with us to bring their champions here, to bring their top talent here to compete against the top talent and Impact wrestling. So I think that’s what’s exciting, you never know who’s going to pop up at our show next Friday and Saturday in Philly, you never know who’s gonna pop up in Poughkeepsie at Rebellion. So the possibilities are endless and I think that we’re keeping everybody on their toes, so that’s why more than anything they should be coming to the shows when they’re in the area and tuning into AXS TV or Youtube, you can watch it on Youtube too.