Deonna Purrazzo is looking to the past for visual cues and to the future for potential opponents.
The Virtuosa recently spoke with Ella Jay on A Wrestling Gal podcast and talked about the perception that she doesn’t have a character. Purrazzo was voted Wrestler Of The Year by many organizations in 2020 so her wrestling skills weren’t up for debate, but she noted that some fans would deride her in the past for a lack of a gimmick. She explained that she does focus on building herself up in that respect, and says she’s a fan of looking back at historical periods for inspiration in her ring gear, which is also always on point.
“For me, my biggest inspiration for my gear is tying in like elements of like history’s past. And right now I’m super into like the Renaissance and Medieval Times and bringing that into the Virtuosa is, I think it really connects. And it kind of, everyone kind of– gives me crap like ‘The Virtuosa. She’s a good wrestler [but] there’s no character behind it.’ But for me, it’s bringing in all of these elements of who I really am. I’d love history and I am a big–I love to learn about the Renaissance and Medieval Times are just so ‘mystic’ to me. And I want learn more always, so I like to really do my research and really pick a time period to focus on at one point and tie that all into who the Virtuosa is.”
“So that’s kind of what I’m big on right now. But obviously, I’ve become somewhat of a ‘Jersey house mom or ‘housewife’ with some of the stuff that I wear in the fur and the big coats. So I just try to tie in a little bit of my culture too to it and see where it takes me. And then I have awesome designers and seamstresses who kind of have visions of what the Virtuosa is and then we all slap it together.”
Deonna said there’s no single historical figure she looks at for inspiration and really just looks at the fashion of that era as a whole. Citing the flowing sleeves and puffy collars as some trademark features, she says she just tries to tie bits and pieces of it into her overall look.
“It’s not 100% Renaissance, it’s still Deonna Purrazzo, the Virtuosa. It just has little nods to those time periods that were influential in what our culture is today.”
Later in the show, Purrazzo talked about ODB’s return and how she’d love to mix it up with the former Knockouts Champion, and named Velvet Sky and Brooke Tessmacher as other potential opponents from the past. When asked about some of the up-and-coming names she’d like to see in IMPACT, Purrazzo said she has a list of names that could help push the Knockouts Division to greater heights.
“I have a list of people that, when the opportunity is right, I’d like to present and hopefully get into IMPACT Wrestling, and like atop of that list is Hyan, is Rok-C, is Jody Threat,” Deonna explained, “but those three are, that I think could benefit so much from being on TV and being with IMPACT Wrestling in our Knockouts Division could do the same with those three people. Willow Nightingale is another one who I suggest to everyone always because I’ve known her since we both started and I just want to see her get the opportunity to really showcase herself to the world. So yeah, I just think our Knockouts Division has grown so much in the last year and I’m excited to see in the next year, or two years or three years where it can go even further.”
