Interview: Deonna Purrazo on Mae Young Classic, WWE Signing, More

The Sporting News held a recent interview with Deonna Purrazo discussing this year’s Mae Young Classic, her thoughts on last year’s event, her wrestling style, signing with WWE, and more.

On the topic of this year’s Mae Young Classic tournament, Purrazo stated she is very excited for having the opportunity to compete in this year’s edition.

“I know everyone, all the girls here, are so excited for this Mae Young Classic. To be able to work with them and to try to further women’s wrestling together, I’ve very excited for that.”

On the topic of last year’s Mae Young Classic tournament, Purrazo stated she it was an amazing experience even though she was only involved as an alternate competitor.

“Even though I was an alternate, I got to see these 32 incredible women change women’s wrestling.

Regardless of me being in it or not, to see that first hand and that energy at Full Sail last year was amazing. It makes me even more excited for this year.”

On the topic of her in-ring wrestling style, Purrazo stated she favors a very meticulous style for her matches despite her small stature.

“I’m very, very meticulous when I get in the ring. I very much believe that no matter my size or my opponent’s size, everyone’s joints work the same. So if I can pinpoint whether it’s the Fujiwara armbar or even if it’s someone’s leg, we all break down the same at the end of the day. I very meticulous and very methodical when I get in the ring.”

On the topic of her past experience in the WWE, Purrazo stated her brief time in the WWE was very helpful towards her goal of becoming a better wrestler.

“You get to interact with everyone and you get to take a little piece of each person with you, each bit of their knowledge that they’ve accumulated over their years wrestling. To be able to come in just for a week or a day at ‘SmackDown’ and really just gain all that knowledge, it helped me be a more well-rounded wrestler outside and in my own endeavors.

The first Mae Young Classic competitor announced was former WWE divas champion Kaitlyn. I’m really excited to meet her and to pick her brain and to see what she has to say and just watch her come back.”

On the topic of her recent signing with the WWE, Purrazo stated she considers being in the WWE as the “dream job” of her career.

“Your dream job comes along once in a lifetime. So, to give up other opportunities wasn’t a big deal to me because this is where I wanted to be. I wanted to be a part of NXT. I wanted to come to the Performance Center every day and work towards being a WWE superstar one day.”

Other topics discussed during the interview included her favorite female wrestlers from her childhood, her early wrestling career, and her desire to prove doubters of women’s wrestling wrong.