Deonna Purrazzo Recalls Triple H’s Apology For Booking Decision

Deonna Purrazzo officially signed with WWE in 2018 but worked with them prior to that for years. In an interview with Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast, Purrazzo explained how she originally got her foot in the door with WWE.

"I actually started doing extra work in 2014 with Raw and Smackdown. Adam Rose was on the roster, so they always had extras to party down the ramp with him and I went to Monday Night Raw at the end of June 2014. It was the first time in Hartford, Connecticut, and then I just did that regularly for probably a year and a half," Purrazzo explained. "I was traveling to Raw or Smackdown to be a 'Rosebud' and with that, I got an opportunity to go to NXT and potentially have a little squash match. So I got to wrestle Nia (Jax), I think the first one was against Nia and, you know, just made those connections."

Deonna Purrazzo did not take part in the inaugural Mae Young Classic, despite originally being planned to be in it. Purrazzo discussed Triple H apologizing because of the situation and what he said to explain why she was removed from the tournament.

"The Mae Young Classic happened, the first one. I was supposed to be in that and then last minute, they pulled me and said I was going to be an alternate. And, I was kind of, I was really pissed," Purrazzo laughed out of frustration. "At this point, I had wrestled Nia twice. I had wrestled Asuka twice. I had, you know, been to Raw and Smackdown, had a ton of try-out matches on Smackdown. I had also had an official NXT try out in February of 2016 that, you know, I killed and was told, 'you killed it, just not right now,'" Purrazzo explained. "You know, I had a long conversation with Hunter and he was like, 'you know, I don't owe you an apology, but I feel like I do because you know you fit in and belong here, but it's demographic. It's logistics and there are things that are out of our control that we need to do for this show."

Deonna Purrazzo was originally scheduled to take part in a match on the ROH Pay-Per-View known as All In. Purrazzo explained why she pulled out and why she regrets that decision looking back on it.

"I signed a contract with Ring of Honor and then four months later they were like, 'no we wanna hire you,' and I was like 'wait what, why now?' Right before, I had just been announced to compete at All In. I was signed to Ring of Honor, and I had an option to get out of my Ring of Honor contract if I wanted to anyway so there was potential for me to leave and not be tampering or anything like that," Purrazzo stated. "I would have been wrestling with two or three of my best friends at All In, and I hate that Chelsea and Britt have that moment that I could have been a part of, and those are my two best friends and I didn't get to do it."

Deonna Purrazzo worked with Triple H in NXT due to him being one of the main people in charge of the product. Purrazzo explained her thoughts on 'The Game.'

"I did get to have conversations with him and talk to him and ask for advice, and ask, 'what do you need from me?'" Purrazzo explained. "I have no complaints about him, he was always honest and upfront with me."

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.