As a long hiatus from in-ring outings in All Elite Wrestling continues for Deonna Purrazzo, she’s making herself relevant by competing in the independent circuit. Besides, she is constantly opening up on topics that had shed negative aspects on her career in the past. Body-shaming is something that this particular talent has dealt with for a long time, but thankfully, she’s gotten herself over all the rippling effects that come alongside.
Speaking with SoCal Val for WrestlingNewsCo, Deonna Purrazzo discussed handling body-shaming from the pro-wrestling fans on social media, alongside AEW offering support to their talent via their tuition reimbursement program.
Deonna Purrazzo earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Southern New Hampshire University in August 2023 while wrestling for TNA. In her conversation with SoCal Val, the bright female talent noted that AEW’s support for her continuous educational pursuits played a big role in her decision to sign with the company in early 2024.
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Deonna Purrazzo got support from close circuit to avoid body-shaming comments
Moving on, Deonna Purrazzo further commented on the impact of body-shaming from online commenters who took it to the extreme, advising her to lose weight to get booked on AEW programming. While such comments initially stressed her out, she eventually learned that these were the negative people whose opinions didn’t matter much, especially after the support she received from family and friends.
“I like to have fun with it now, but it’s taken me a lot of therapy to get to that point. It’s taken a lot of conversations with my friends, my husband, and my family to get to that point — to be this strong,” Deonna Purrazzo affirmed that she got over negative comments from the fans.
“But I think that if you’re willing to put that work in for yourself, then no one can stop you. No one on Twitter is keeping me up anymore at night. No one on Twitter is making me cry anymore at night.” (quotes courtesy Wrestling Observer)
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After dominating the TNA Knockouts Division for multiple years, Deonna Purrazzo debuted as a full-time AEW talent on the January 2, 2024, episode of Dynamite in her home state of New Jersey. Before disappearing from television, her latest match under the AEW/ROH banner came in June on ROH TV, where she defeated Rachael Ellering in a Pure Rules match. On AEW programming, she was last seen on the February 26 episode of Dynamite, losing to Harley Cameron.