Deonna Purrazzo Reveals Why She Rejected WWE For AEW

Former TNA Knockouts World Champion Deonna Purrazzo had a decision to make when she became a free agent in December 2023. 

Though she had spoken with WWE, The Virtuosa ultimately ended up putting pen to paper with AEW and debuted on the January 3 episode of Dynamite. 

Speaking with Stephanie Chase about why she spurned WWE and decided to become All Elite, Purrazzo said: 

"I did. It kind of came down to a few weeks before I was a free agent of talking to everybody. Talking to Triple H and William Regal. I talked to, obviously, Tony Khan. Trying to figure out what the best decision for me was going to be. I felt, ultimately, back before I went to NXT the first time, I was supposed to be on All In. I was supposed to be doing all these great things, going back to Japan. I gave all of that up to go to NXT. It didn't work out. I was very bitter about that, but it just didn't work out. I learned a lot about myself. I was hesitant to go back into that situation knowing how I was treated. Wanting to avoid that at all costs. I felt like there wasn't trust there for me to squander this really great opportunity that I knew was there for AEW. Who knows, in hindsight, had I not gone to NXT, had I been at All In, I could have been at AEW from the beginning, maybe. I could've been here for five-and-a-half to six years. I was really worried that I would be giving up something really great for something that I already knew the potential outcome of". 

Purrazzo recently commented on the backstage drama involving MJF and Britt Baker, noting her belief that the confrontation was an isolated incident. 

H/T Fightful