The Virtuosa recalls battling a living legend in the business.
In her second reign as the TNA Knockouts Champion, Deonna Purrazzo came face-to-face with the match she needed to define her reign and legacy moving forward when she had to defend her gold against the former Knockouts Champion, Mickie James, who was back in the company after departing from WWE.
“That whole entire feud was career-defining for me,” Purrazzo said. “After I worked with Jordynne [Grace], I went into a phase of working pay-per-view to pay-per-view programs with a lot of the girls on the [TNA] roster. When Mickie came in, it was Slammiversary, and she was making her return after being released from WWE. I think it was just the exact opponent I needed — an organic baby face with a history at this company. At that point, she has nothing else to prove. She’s just here because she wants to be here, because she wants to continue wrestling, because she wants to continue to better and change women’s wrestling.” – Purrazzo said on Insight with Chris Van Vliet.
Purrazzo now works with All Elite Wrestling. James defeated the Virtuosa at Bound For Glory 2021 to win her fourth Knockouts Championship in TNA.
H/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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