Deonna Purrazzo discusses her WWE release, reveals ideal next move & more [Exclusive]
Last week, over 20 Superstars were released from WWE in a mass cull to reduce their staffing headcount and, subsequently, costs. While several Superstars were named in an article on WWE's website, Deonna Purrazzo was quietly moved to the Alumni section before confirming her own release via Twitter.
I had the pleasure of catching up with the former NXT Superstar recently, and the Fujiwara Armbar Specialist told me how she was blown away by the support shown since announcing her departure from WWE, as well as discussing the last few months.
You can watch the full interview in its entirety below, or keep reading for more!
Hi, Deonna! So, you were released this week from your NXT contract. I almost said "sadly released" but you never want to assume, so let me ask - was it sad? Did it come as out of the blue for you as everyone else?
I wouldn't say it was a sad thing because I kind of knew, in my heart, that I would get a call last week. It's not something that I didn't expect because I was unhappy for the last six or so months with what I was doing in NXT - and I let office people know that.
We had conversations where I said, if nothing is going to happen for me, I'd just rather be let go. I think, overall, I was really... I must have been afraid to ask straight up to be released but, once they fired me, it was kind of like, "Oh, this is what I wanted." I was never scared of that. Exciting times is more what I'm looking forward to than being sad.
There was no announcement of NXT releases. Do you know why? Were you upset or annoyed about that?
I didn't know if they were going to release NXT people, and when I had gotten the call, they hadn't announced anyone from NXT yet - so I don't know if I was the first or if I was the last - but I just thought, "Screw it, I'm going to announce it on my own and maybe get one step ahead of them on this, and it's going to be on my terms."
So, yeah, I don't know. I don't know if they will ever make a statement about it but there was a bunch of people released and I think, by process of elimination, everyone is kind of seeing who those people are but, yeah, it was kind of weird to not announce it.