Deonna Purrazzo isn’t waiting around for AEW to tell her story—because according to her, they never did in the first place.
On a recent episode of Rule Breakers with Saraya, The Virtuosa opened up about her AEW debut and how she felt completely overlooked in terms of character development.
Coming from TNA where she was a dominant presence, Purrazzo said she knew AEW fans might not understand who she was or what The Virtuosa meant. That’s why she immediately pitched vignettes to introduce herself properly—but nothing came of it.
“It was big when I first came into AEW where I was like, I don’t want to be ignorant to the fact that my gimmick is The Virtuosa. People probably don’t know what that word means. And also there’s so much nuance to the character itself — I don’t want to neglect the fact that common people or just casual wrestling fans might not understand who I am.”
She explained that her transition from TNA, a promotion with a smaller audience, made it even more important to build that bridge with new fans. But without vignettes, she felt like just another body in the ring.
“Plus, I was coming from TNA that had a niche audience and we didn’t have… we weren’t on basic cable every week. And so I had pitched a bunch of these vignettes and they just never got done. And I feel like that kind of hindered my character development day one because they didn’t have a reason to care about me. I was just like another wrestler who got to come in.”
Purrazzo’s debut match against Toni Storm was strong, but the momentum faded due to what she calls AEW’s lack of creative follow-through. Eventually, she decided to take the reins and start building her own content behind the scenes.
“Once I finally had like the creative freedom, I felt like I could be like, ‘Let me just do this myself and see what they say.’ I produced three of my own.”
She pulled in help from people she trusted—her husband Steve Maclin handled the technical side, and Robert Evans, a former TNA creative who now works for AEW, helped her craft the scripts.
“I knew what I wanted it to look like. I knew what I wanted it to say. Steve helped me set up the shots. I hired a videographer. Robert Evans, who was working at TNA at the time but now works with AEW, helped me write my stuff.”
For Purrazzo, the urgency came when AEW announced she would compete in a Texas Bull Rope match with Thunder Rosa on Collision. That match carried weight—but she knew it wouldn’t matter if fans didn’t connect with who she was.
“We hadn’t introduced me yet — and now I’m about to do a Texas Bull Rope match on Collision. Like, why do people care? We need to make them care. We can make it about the stipulation and we can make it about my feud with Thunder, but we need to get over who The Virtuosa is as well.”
Deonna Purrazzo took matters into her own hands, proving that sometimes in pro wrestling, if you want to be seen—you have to show yourself.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
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