Deonna Purrazzo spoke with Wrestling Observer Radio this week to promote her Knockouts title defense against Kylie Rae at Impact Wrestling’s Bound For Glory PPV.
Purrazzo discussed her time in Impact thus far, her NXT run and her character, The Virtuosa.
“The Virtuosa persona really started at Ring of Honor back when I was there and building their women’s division and I just kind of needed something other than Deonna Purrazzo, is kind of how it was explained to me,” she said during the interview.
Purrazzo said the name “Virtuosa” at the time was just meant to tie in her Italian heritage. The term literally means, ‘a woman who excels in the technique of an art.’
Pitching The Virtuosa
“Going into NXT right from Ring of Honor, I didn’t expect to need a character more than I was. I was just like ‘I’m a wrestler!’ you know what I mean? I’m Italian.”
She continued to talk about developing her character and pitching it to management.
“I wrote up a character synopsis. I wrote up promo ideas, I pitched to have a manager because I know promos aren’t necessarily my strongest thing. Then the feedback was, it’s too outlandish of a character, you need to be more real-life.”
She would continue to talk about not getting a great reception from NXT management about the Virtuosa character. Purrazzo said she was told that they didn’t get what Virtuosa meant.
“Then it was ‘we don’t understand what Virtuosa means’, I just felt there were so many excuses. I was the person that it didn’t matter what I said or did or changed. They had an opinion and that was that.”
After being released from NXT in April, she then pitched the same character to Impact.
“There was obviously hesitation going into Impact and pitching the same thing. I was a little hesitant to hear their feedback but because I had presented it in such a way of like this is exactly who I am, this is how I want to speak, this is how I want to dress, here’s my entrance music, here’s my gear, I just have constantly been able to evolve that. I think I gave them no choice and because it was a fresh start, they were willing to let me explore myself and explore this persona a little bit more.”
She continued to talk about how she’s happy to see the character working in Impact after having it be rejected in NXT.
“For 18 months I was told, it doesn’t work, we don’t understand, no no no, and to then have it work is kind of like ‘okay, now you see it and you missed out on it.’”