Deonna Purrazzo reveals that Triple H apologized to her for not being able to use her in a better capacity before she signed to WWE in 2018.
Along the road to being signed to WWE in 2018, Deonna Purrazzo had many moments where she was utilized as an extra and featured in NXT tryouts. Her first time on WWE television was as one of Adam Rose’s Rosebuds and then, she was used as an alternate in the Mae Young Classic.
Speaking on the Two-Man Power Trip Podcast, Deonna Purrazzo told all about her journey to WWE and what Triple H said to her that eventually led to her deciding to cut a Japan trip short, get out of her Ring of Honor contract, and sign with WWE in 2018.
"I started doing extra work in 2014 with Raw and SmackDown and Adam Rose on the roster, they always had extras to party down the ramp with him. I went to Raw at the end of June 2014. I did that regularly for probably a year and a half. I was traveling for Raw or SmackDown to be a Rosebud and with that, I got an opportunity to go to NXT and potentially have a little squash match. I got to wrestle Nia and make those connections. Triple H was in the ring telling us what he wanted. Sara Amato was in the ring telling us what they wanted from the match. You get to work a little bit one-on-one with those people as an extra. I wanted to make her [Nia] look great. I left a good impression and I was asked back for probably a year or two to continuously be in that role.
"At the same time, I was doing a lot of stuff with Ring of Honor to help push and build the women's division there. I was lucky enough to go to Japan to do a ton of Indie work and it all mashed together to where I was growing my name and brand. Then, the Mae Young Classic happened. I was supposed to be in that and at the last minute, they pulled me and said I was going to be an alternate. I was really pissed. At this point, I had wrestled Nia twice, I had wrestled Asuka twice, I had been to Raw and SmackDown and had a ton of tryout matches at SmackDown. I also had an official NXT tryout in February 2016 that I killed and was told, 'You killed it, just not right now.' I felt like if I was going to be rewarded, I would at least have a first-round match and lose. I couldn't even get that. I got into like, 'Eh, don't really need to be doing stuff with them right now because clearly I'm not being valued.'
She continued, "I had a long conversation with Hunter and he was like, 'I don't owe you an apology but I feel like I do. You can look around and know you fit in and belong here, but it's demographic and logistics and things out of our control that we need to do for the show.' I appreciated that tremendously. He spoke about me on ESPN, but it all boiled down to 'what I'm doing is not working' so let me take some time. The next time they asked me to be an extra, I said no and signed a contract with Ring of Honor. Then, four months later, they were like, 'We want to hire you!' I had the opportunity to get out of my Ring of Honor contract and I agreed to go. I cut a Japan trip short, canceled All In, and started at the PC in July 2018."
Elsewhere in the interview, Deonna Purrazzo recalls WWE telling her and Chelsea Green that just because they're best friends, doesn't mean they should be in a tag team. Read more here.
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