Deonna Purrazzo Questions Why Women Haven’t Been Part Of “The Forbidden Door”
Deonna Purrazzo signed with WWE in May of 2018, however, that was not when her first appearance for WWE was. During an interview with Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast, Purrazzo discussed one of her favorite moments in WWE and that she likes to remember the good about working there.
"I got to debut on Raw as 'Deonna', not 'extra-local talent' and I had a twelve-minute, two seg with Asuka on Raw that was competitive. I got asked back for a couple of weeks," Purrazzo explained. "When I first was released, I was very like, 'I need to tell my story and I'm angry and I'm bitter and I forgot what the good things were."
Deonna Purrazzo spent much of her time in WWE working in the Performance Center along with many others. Purrazzo compared trying to compete for a spot on TV Performance Center like those would receive a spot on a football team.
"I would liken that environment to like, a football team," Purrazzo continued. "There's, there's 52 spots on a team, 53 spots on a team and if you don't make those spots then you're vying for those spots, you're just in that environment 24/7, competing 24/7 with people for these opportunities, and it takes a toll on you."
Deonna Purrazzo was released on April 15, 2020. Since Purrazzo's release, NXT has completely revamped their product, doing away with the 'black and gold' and going with a more colorful approach.
"What's good is they're giving people chances, you know what I mean? This, this new NXT, seems to be telling people you are either going to get it or you're not. You're going to make it work or you're not and I think that that's different and I think that that's cool. Because I think people, me, I went through this at Impact, all of a sudden being a champion, being like 'oh my gosh, two months I didn't even know if I was going to wrestle anymore,'" Purrazzo said. "When you're put under pressure, you either thrive or you don't, and you either live up to the expectation or you don't. And I think that as performers and as athletes, wrestlers are able to do that and grow into the role you're in."
Deonna Purrazzo discussed the lack of action towards taking advantage of the 'forbidden door' when it comes to women's wrestling.
"I have been one of the main people to constantly push for like, 'hey women should be a part of this (referring to the forbidden door)' and obviously AEW has a tremendous amount of women's talent that I'd love to work with like I've said, Britt is obviously one of my best friends, yeah, I was really disappointed that women didn't get to do too much through the forbidden door.
"I did get to do EmPowerrr which was, which AEW was a part of that, NWA was a part of that, AAA was a part of that, I got to go to AAA to win the Reina de Reinas Championship, I got to wrestle Thunder Rosa at Slammiversary. So it's like, maybe the women's side doesn't get enough credit for the work we actually did get to do."
Purrazzo has wrestled many opponents from promotions that are not Impact, as she mentioned Thunder Rosa was one. Purrazzo discussed why she believes that multiple organizations having relationships with one another is a good thing for all of wrestling.
"I think that what's good for one is good for all. When you just kind of have these, these open relationships, you can kind of pick and choose, float in and out, it keeps it exciting and fresh, and that's what's been great for Impact," Purrazzo stated. "You can see a little bit of everyone everywhere and that's what kind of making it's exciting. Like, 'who's gonna be here this time, you know what are they going to do and how's this going to play out next week?' It's like, reinvigorated the whole business."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.