Deonna Purrazzo Recalls Triple H Apologizing To Her After WWE Tryouts

Deonna Purrazzo has recalled talks with Triple H about how she was being used in WWE, noting that The Game apologised to her.

Purrazzo was notably an alternate in the inaugural Mae Young Classic, wrestling a dark match during the second night of tapings. On the Two-Man Power Trip Podcast, Purrazzo opened up about being pulled from the starting line-up of the tournament.

Purrazzo revealed that she had a long conversation with Triple H after being cut, in which The Game apologised to her. Discussing the events which led to her signing with WWE in 2018, Purrazzo said:

“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.’

“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, cancelled All In, and started at the PC in July 2018.”

Purrazzo competed in the second Mae Young Classic, losing in the quarter-finals to eventual finalist Io Shirai. She was ultimately released by WWE in April 2020.

Currently holding the AAA Reina De Reinas Championship, Purrazzo is set to challenge for the IMPACT Knockouts Title at Hard To Kill in January.

Quote via Fightful. 

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• Triple H
• Deonna Purrazzo
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