Deonna Purrazzo thinks women’s wrestling has a character problem, and she doesn’t believe simply giving women more matches is going to fix it. For her, audiences need a reason to actually care about the people they’re watching first.
Speaking with Mike Pendleton of BTC Studios/BTT Conversation alongside Steve Maclin, Purrazzo was asked what women’s wrestling still needs to improve. After discussing the need for more women in creative and leadership positions, Purrazzo pointed to character development as one of the biggest missing pieces. She argued that women aren’t getting enough vignettes, backstage interactions and everyday television segments that actually show viewers who their characters are.
“We’ve talked a lot about, like, being a character versus being the real person, and I think what misses for a lot of women’s wrestling is that character development. We’re not getting vignettes to explain who we are. We’re not watching the women interact with each other in backstage, real-life scenarios. And so when you don’t have that, the audience doesn’t invest.”
Purrazzo then used her own AEW run as an example. Despite being with the company, she doesn’t believe AEW viewers have really been given enough material to understand who “The Virtuosa” is, pointing out that she hasn’t received a vignette in roughly 18 months.
“The audience doesn’t know. You know, the AEW audience at this point doesn’t know who the Virtuosa Deonna Purrazzo is. And we haven’t seen a vignette for me in, you know, 18 months, right? So if I get put on TV, they’re not going to want to be like, ‘Holy, this is awesome. The Virtuosa!’ and cheering for me because we don’t have that relationship yet.”
That lack of connection is important to Purrazzo because she sees it as directly tied to everything fans often demand for women’s wrestling — longer storylines, more television time and more main events. In her view, those things become much easier when viewers are already emotionally invested in the characters involved.
“So I think across the board for women’s wrestling, it’s developing characters that people relate to or hate. And that’s what’s going to get us those storylines, and that’s what’s going to get us more time, and that’s what’s going to get us main events. But we need that character investment. Everyone needs that character investment, but, you know, we’re talking specifically about women.”
Purrazzo’s point isn’t really about cramming another women’s match onto television and calling it progress. She wants the stuff between the matches too — the conversations, personality and little moments that give viewers somebody to root for or somebody they desperately want to see lose.
Do you think AEW needs to spend more television time developing the personalities and characters in its women’s division? Let us know what you think in the comments.
