IMPACT Rebellion was a nice to remember for married couple Deonna Purrazzo and Steve Maclin.
The two entered the night challenging for vacant world championships and exited the night as the new Knockouts World Champion and World Champion, respectively.
Maclin defeated KUSHIDA to win the IMPACT World Title, a belt vacated by Josh Alexander due to injury. Purrazzo defeated Jordynne Grace to win the IMPACT Knockouts Title, a belt vacated by an injured Mickie James.
Speaking to Jeremy Lambert & Joel Pearl on In The Weeds, Maclin reflected on the night.
"I hope I did," he said when asked if he inspired his wife as he won just before she went through the curtain for her match. "It's funny because we tried to avoid each other the whole day because we were both kind of emotional for what we were able to possibly do by the end of the night, and that's being a married couple, in the same company, winning world titles on the same night in our divisions. I came through the curtain, as happy as I was, everybody was kind of avoiding me because I just hit the boss, but there's my wife, standing there trying to not look at me, but also just being like, 'I love you, but leave me alone, let me go do my match.' We finally embraced later in the night, she posted the photo not too long after. It was one of those moments where we didn't have to say anything to each other, we just smiled and were laughing, just because of where we were a few years ago together, when she was let go the year before I was and for the opportunities IMPACT has given us and for how we've come into our own where he believed in ourselves. She's the one that has believed in me the most. She knew what I was capable of. I had a lot of supporters out there, people who knew what I was capable of doing, just never given the opportunity. The day that I did get that call when I was let go was the moment I knew, 'this is all on me.'Here we are, two years later, IMPACT World Champion."
Asked if he ever thought about being a champion at the same time as his wife, Maclin replied, "No, it was never a thing. I know I got into wrestling to be a pro wrestler. Yes, you want to be the world champion and main event WrestleMania and be 'the guy,' but once you get into this business and see how it works and you're behind the scenes all day and hitting the grind, you enjoy pro wrestling and when you're given those opportunities and moments that happen organically, this is something that happened organically. It just so happened to be that we have a title match on the same pay-per-view that both get changed. Things happen in wrestling, we don't know why, injuries happen, maybe for the better for long-term storytelling. It's a cool feeling, a cool moment, and it took a while to get there where we both realized what we had just done. It's an awesome feeling. I know the hard work is ahead and putting the company and brand on my back, but I'm looking forward to doing that."
Both Maclin and Purrazzo already have title defenses lined up for IMPACT Under Siege as Maclin will defend his title against PCO while Purrazzo will defend her title against Jordynne Grace.
Elsewhere during the interview, Maclin called out KENTA for a match at IMPACT x NJPW Multiverse United 2. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
Check out the full interview with Maclin in the video above.
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