Deonna Purrazzo Admits She Was Upset TNA Didn’t Act Sooner to Re-Sign Her

Deonna Purrazzo spent over three years in TNA Wrestling before she made her AEW debut back in 2024. Despite her success in TNA, Purrazzo has now admitted she was upset over the company not acting sooner to re-sign her when her contract was expiring.

While speaking on the Lightweights podcast, Deonna Purrazzo explained how she ended up signing with AEW and cleared up some confusion people had. While she was finishing her time with TNA Wrestling, she got permission from Scott D’Amore, about 90 days before her contract ended, to talk to other companies.

Around the beginning of October 2023, she asked him if it was okay to reach out to AEW or WWE, since no one had talked to her yet about renewing her contract. She didn’t want to break any rules and wanted to do things the right way.

Scott D’Amore told her it was okay, since she wasn’t trying to start with another company until January 1st, after her deal ended. After that, she got in touch with Tony Khan. They had a Zoom call in early December to talk about what she wanted and what AEW had in mind.

“It’s funny because I’ve seen like a lot of misconception about this. Um, and I’ve talked openly about talking to AEW while I was ending my IMPACT contract, and I got permission from Scott D’Amore like 90 days out. So the beginning of October I was like, ‘Hey, you have not spoken to me about renewing my contract. Um, is it okay or like what? I don’t know. Like I don’t know anything about contract tampering. I don’t want to contract tamper. I don’t want to do anything the wrong way. I respect you. I respect this company so much.

Like, tell me the right way to go about this. You have not spoken to me about re-signing me. Is it okay for me to go try to talk to AEW or WWE?’ And he was like, ‘Absolutely.’ And he was like, ‘I think that like you’re not talking about doing things now. You’re not talking about starting between October and January 1st. You’re talking about starting January 1st when you would technically be free. So, go talk to whoever you want to talk to.’ Um, so I did. I was able to connect with Tony Khan and get on a Zoom call and kind of talk ideas and what I was looking for and what he was looking for — um, early December.”

Purrazzo was then asked if she was upset that TNA didn’t try to keep her earlier and she said it was a little bit of both. Her original contract was for two years, with a third year that IMPACT could add if they wanted.

When those two years were up, she told them she wasn’t sure she wanted to stay and asked if they could skip the third year. At first, they said she could look at other options, but then they decided to keep her for one more year. She ended up being thankful for that because she felt it all worked out.

“Like… yes and no. So earlier, my contract at IMPACT was originally two years, and it had a third-year option. That was their option.
So, at the end of that two-year mark, I had said, ‘I don’t know if this place is for me. Maybe I want to explore other things. Like, I know it’s your choice, but respectfully, could you not take that third-year option?’
And at first, they were like, ‘You could go talk and explore and whatever, but we’ll let you know.’ And then they picked up the third-year option, which honestly, I’m very thankful for. I think it all worked out the way it should have. Um, and I wasn’t upset by that.”

However, when it came time to talk about a brand-new contract after that third year, she was disappointed. Purrazzo felt like she gave everything to IMPACT, her time, energy, and loyalty and had been one of their top stars for over three years. She didn’t understand why they waited so long to say they wanted to keep her.

By the time they finally did at the end of November, Purrazzo had already started to move on. The communication felt confusing, and it made her feel like maybe they thought she wanted to leave. In the end, she admitted that she really was upset.

“But when it came to renewing my contract and getting a completely new one, yeah, I was bummed — because I just felt like I gave so much heart and soul and 100% of me to this company. You know, I was Miss IMPACT Wrestling for three and a half years. So like, why wouldn’t you want to keep me? And it wasn’t until last minute, right before like the end of November, that they were like, ‘No, we do want to keep you.’

And I was kind of already like, ‘But now I don’t think I want to stay.’ Like, it was just a very weird — I felt like, ‘Why wouldn’t you want to keep me?’ But also, ‘Do you not want to keep me because you thought I wanted to leave?’ Like, it was a weird, weird communication, honestly. But yeah, I was upset.”

As for Purrazzo’s time in AEW, she recently threw shade at the company for her lack of TV time. Regardless, we’ll have to see if she will return to AEW television in the future, but it’s clear Purrazzo was just upset with how TNA handled her departure and that’s not going to change anytime soon.

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