WWE News: Deonna Purrazzo Comments On Competing For WWE, TNA, And ROH Recently
Having exclusive contracts is very important for major promotions. When a particular talent shows that he or she can make money as a result of their popular character and good in-ring skills, a promoter looks to claim the talent for themselves, knowing that a profit can be gained from a business standpoint. The three major United States pro wrestling promotions, WWE, Impact Wrestling, and Ring of Honor, all aim to land exclusive contracts for big-name talent.
While only WWE usually has the ability to have all their talent under a contract, TNA and ROH both try to do their best in making sure no other talent who competes in a TNA or ROH ring appear on another promotion’s television show. While there are exceptions such as Cody Rhodes, talents usually only have the option to compete for non-televised independent shows when they are looking for other work outside of the company.
Recently, women’s wrestling star Deonna Purrazzo has been one of the only people who has experienced the luxury and opportunity to compete for all three brands the last three months. For WWE, she stood toe-to-toe with then-Champion Alexa Bliss during an episode of SmackDown Live in December. Before then, she has competed numerous times for NXT.
Purrazzo told Contralona about the appearance, saying, “To be in the ring at SmackDown in front of like 18,000 people, it was like a huge overwhelming dream-come-true kind of moment. So, I’m just really blessed.”
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Purrazzo also has been seen as one of the women’s wrestlers in the newly-revived Women of Honor division for ROH, as she has been in a number of matches against the likes of Taeler Hendrix, Jessica Havok, and Candice LeRae over the past few months. Purrazzo was also the opponent for Brooke on the Impact Wrestling episode that aired in January of 2017. She also has an Impact Wrestling match scheduled against Laurel Van Ness.
Recently asked about her thoughts of competing for all three major promotions within the last 90 days, Purrazzo responded, “I get to do something unique each place & something that’s never been done before. Love every minute of each!”
In the ongoing race to acquire talent exclusively, there have been recent stories of companies trying to jockey for position. Vice Sports reported that ROH was trying to sell a Kevin Owens doll, as he competed for that promotion as Kevin Steen.
“…ROH revealed that it would be releasing an action figure of Kevin Owens, a WWE standout who had previously starred for ROH; the doll is being billed as a ‘throwback’ to Owens’s days in ROH, when he was known as Kevin Steen. Though the doll’s sales will likely be spit in the bucket when compared with the $543 million in revenue that WWE made in 2014, it’s easy to see how the industry giant might be annoyed by ROH releasing a Kevin Owens doll before it had its own. The move could be seen as ROH capitalizing off the ubiquity that Owens gained thanks to WWE introducing him to a massive global audience.”
Almost immediately, WWE put a stop to it and struck back by announcing that they would have an NXT event on the same day in the same town as an already-scheduled ROH event.
Thankfully, for Deonna Purrazzo, she has been able to not get involved in the crosshairs of any promotion dispute over a talent and instead has built her resume in the past few months by competing for WWE, NXT, TNA, and ROH. At only 22-years-old, Purrazzo has such a bright future ahead of her, and there is a significant chance that she could land an exclusive contract with WWE.
[Featured Image by WWE]
