Many doors will be opened to this skilled WWE NXT alum, a young Virtuosa gearing for it
Building to a crescendo of excitement — reminiscent of Christmas morning — Deonna Purrazzo beamed bright as she opened a box via UPS that revealed her new ring jacket, an elegant two-piece ensemble, fitting for a Virtuosa.
Purrazzo, 25, who spent the past two years primarily in NXT for WWE, added to her already impressive resume, establishing herself as The Virtuosa, a very skilled, technical worker in the ring and a fan-pleasing personality away from it.
Recently released from her WWE contract, stemming from company cutbacks during the coronavirus pandemic, she takes The Virtuosa moniker with her. Like MVP, it’s hers, not copyrighted or trademarked by WWE, and she is planning to amp it up.
Prior to NXT, Purrazzo wrestled for East Coast Wrestling, Monster Factory Pro, CHIKARA, RISE, Shine, Stardom in Japan, Christmas in Puerto Rico for Savio Vega, DWW in Canada, WSW in Australia, TNA Wrestling, Ring of Honor and more. When with WWE, she competed for Raw, Main Event, NXT, and NXT UK. She dressed as a Flapper for an NXT Halloween house show and was even a Rosebud on Raw.
Leading to her signing with WWE, Purrazzo was selected for the second annual WWE Mae Young Classic in 2018, where she defeated Priscilla Kelly and Xia Li before being eliminated by Io Shirai in the quarterfinals. Previously, along with Mandy Leon, she helped resurrect women’s wrestling in Ring of Honor, and she was ROH’s Women of Honor Wrestler of the Year in 2017. Pro Wrestling Illustrated ranked her 85th of the top women’s wrestlers globally in 2019, 49th in 2018 and 34th in 2017.
Her opponents and tag partners read like a Who’s Who of top talent. That growing list includes Asuka, Britt Baker, Shayna Baszler, Bayley, Bianca Belair, Jungle Kyona, Mandy Leon, Candice LeRae, Xia Li, Zoe Lucas, Nicole Matthews, Arisu Nanase, Laurel Van Ness/Chelsea Green, Tegan Nox, Karen Q, Madison Rayne, Rhea Ripley, Jenny Rose, Sumie Sakai, Shirai, Toni Storm, Natsuko Tora, Viper, Kris Wolf, Mia Yim and more.
That’s what happens when you’re good at your trade, and this natural talent, who works hard, is very good at hers.
Now the young wrestler waits, preparing for a new beginning, when that WWE 90-day no-compete clause ends.
In Part 1 of my audio interview with Deonna Purrazzo, she discusses NXT, WWE, The Virtuosa, music, art, Italian food, Chelsea Green, Damian Adams, books, her future, and more.
In Part 2 of my audio interview with Deonna Purrazzo, she talks about quotes, D2W, The WWE Performance Center, her focus, Mandy Leon, The Great Gatsby Flapper, Laurel Van Ness, hair color, SpongeBob Squarepants, the fans and more.
More about Deonna Purrazzo
Born in Livingston, New Jersey, Purrazzo grew up in an Italian household in Jefferson Township, New Jersey. An aficionado of Italian food, she enjoys Enzo’s on the Lake in Longwood, near her current home in Central Florida.
She graduated from Jefferson Township High School and is one of the school’s two most famous grads along with Derek Drymon, one of the creators of the hit Nicktoon TV show “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
Purrazzo has a twin brother, and they watched pro wrestling together.
Purrazzo, who has competed in national cheerleading tournaments on championship caliber teams, focused on becoming an all-star cheerleader at the University of Kentucky while training in pro wrestling in Louisville under the direction of Rip Rogers at Ohio Valley Wrestling, a WWE developmental group at the time.
That followed her initial pro wrestling training in New Jersey at age 18. She balanced a part-time job, junior college and wrestling school, learning from Damian Adams at the now defunct D2W Pro Wrestling Academy. She made her pro wrestling debut at age 19 in 2013.
After she graduated from high school and turned 18, Purrazzo registered for wrestling school, unbeknownst to mom and dad. They thought, just a fad, a stage of her life, but Purrazzo knew better, stuck with it, and now her parents are proud and happy she’s happy.
Purrazzo played the flute as a youth and enjoyed drawing. Gravitating to The Virtuosa character, she likes the violin-inspired theme music for WWE superstar Shinsuke Nakamura. The Virtuosa requested her entrance music be Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Someone who has attempted an assortment of hair colors, Purrazzo can appreciate the coloring of Asuka’s hair.
County singer Blake Shelton is one of her favorites, but she does not watch “The Voice.”
Homemade Italian cheese raviolis are ranked high on her favorite food list, and Provolone is her go-to cheese.
Books and movies featuring true stories of crimes, cops and gangs — syndicated and other — capture her interest.
Inspired by quotes, she professes the Bible passage Matthew 5:14 from the New Testament on her Instagram key-in. “You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.”
A shining light, Purrazzo as The Virtuosa will not be hidden, and she looks forward to bringing the elegance, grace, poise, exceptional skill level and meticulous and methodical style — derived from the persona’s name — wherever she wrestles next.
We’ve learned recently Impact Wrestling on AXS TV is part of that next.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeonnaPurrazzo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deonnapurrazzo/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPN_D8fbPxgRxSYdSbtyRXg.
For booking information only, email DeonnaPurrazzoBookings@gmail.com.
https://www.foxsports.com/wwe/video/1710008387719
http://www.espn.com/espnw/feature/24364018/intergender-wrestling-equality-women-violence-them
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