Deonna Purrazzo Explains Why She & Steve Maclin Were Not Paired Together In TNA/IMPACT, Says Creative Didn’t Want Maclin To Become ‘Mr. Purrazzo’

Creative wanted Maclin to get established on his own.

There’s an interview with the married couple Deonna Purrazzo and Steve Maclin on the Pro Wrestling Illustrated YouTube channel.

As the conversation went on, they were asked about facing off against other wrestling couples and their thoughts on being paired together on-screen. Purrazzo recalled them both being in TNA/IMPACT, and creative relayed to them that they did not want to risk Maclin becoming ‘Mr. Purrazzo.’

The thought process behind that was that, with Purrazzo already being an established figure, they wanted Maclin to be able to get his feet underneath him as a solo act. Purrazzo said they’d now be open to exploring a mixed tag run, whether it’s via Maclin coming to AEW or her going back to TNA.

“Yeah, I think it depends. When we were both in TNA, I was so established there, right? And I had also been so established in — prior to coming to TNA — in the independent work that I’d done around the world, and so, fans wanted to see me get that opportunity and I think for Steve, it was a different story. When he was coming into TNA, it was like, we have to establish this guy because he was in NXT for so long and respectfully, didn’t get a lot of opportunities and doesn’t have a lot of fanfare around him so, they wanted to purposely keep us apart. In terms of how it was put creatively to us verbatim was, ‘Steve risks becoming Mr. Purrazzo, as opposed to being Steve Maclin. So we don’t want that to affect how he’s looked at, beyond the immediate creative’ and so, I think now, if there was ever the opportunity, whether it was Steve coming to AEW or me one day going back to TNA, I think that is definitely something that we would like to explore…”

Purrazzo is signed with All Elite Wrestling, and Maclin is under contract to TNA. At ROH’s Final Battle pay-per-view, Purrazzo became the first-ever ROH Women’s Pure Champion.

Maclin signed a new contract with TNA in 2024. He is coming off his second reign as the promotion’s International Champion.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit Pro Wrestling Illustrated with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.