Deonna Purrazzo Tells WWE "I Hope You Feel Dumb" For Not Seeing Her Potential

Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo was recently on the Busted Open podcast, where she opened up about her aspirations post-WWE. She also compared her in-ring persona from ROH and Impact to her persona in WWE NXT.

"I think the Deonna that you saw, and the world saw, in Ring of Honor and Impact is truly who I am," Purrazzo admitted. "The person I've been able to put on the screen is the person I believe in. It's the truest form of me, you know, elevated. At NXT, it was very much a runaround. 'You need a character. Okay, well that's too much character. You have to be the real you, but the real you isn't believable'.

"I just gotten to a point where there's nothing I can do right, and now I feel defeated in me. And coming here and just being like, screw what everyone else has said, screw the complications that came with me, screw the opinions, and screw the negativity I've been through. I'm going to bring the person that loved professional wrestling, that wanted to be a professional wrestler since I was nine years old. And I'm going to make that girl proud!"

Purrazzo spoke more about being true to herself. She gave a passionate response to going back to believing in who she is.

"I don't care that WWE fired me, or didn't want me, or didn't think I was good enough! I think I'm good enough," Purrazzo expressed. "And if Impact believes I'm good enough, and if Ring of Honor believed I'm good enough, if Japan thought I was good enough, I'm good enough! And I just needed to get back to believing in me and believing in the little girl who wanted to be here her entire life."

After her WWE release, Purrazzo spoke out about her creative frustrations with the company, which, she says, put a target on her back. She said that this motivated her to prove her worth.

"I had a chip on my shoulder, and the first interviews I did, I was like, 'screw NXT!' and that put a target on my back," Purrazzo admitted. "That put pressure to perform at a new level and to raise to Jordynne's level, to Taya's level, raise to Tessa's level. All the champions that came before me, now I have to be equal with them. If not, better, especially where I was coming from and the success I didn't see in NXT.

"I had to make this worthwhile, and come in, and be right with the champion, be on the first pay-per-view I can be on as, now, the Knockout's Champion. It's like, [WWE] messed up, and I hope you regret it and I hope you feel dumb because everyone else can see it and I've known it my entire life."

Purrazzo has also said that she was "flipping out" about her NXT creative plans, but on Busted Open, she spoke positively about her NXT experience. She talked about how much she grew while in NXT.

"I said a lot of negative things about NXT, but in my time there, there were so many positives that were in terms of building an identity more than just Deonna Purrazzo," Purrazzo admitted. "I really was able to take on the virtue of that and explore her personality and character traits."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Busted Open with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Mehdy Labriny contributed to this article.