At Triplemania XXIX on Saturday night, Purrazzo defeated Faby Apache to win the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship. Purrazzo’s Impact Wrestling Knockouts Championship was also on the line in the title vs. title match.
Purrazzo submitted Apache with an armbar to win the match.
In an interview with media outlet Diario Record after winning the Reina de Reinas title, Purrazzo said coming to Mexico is a dream come true. Purrazzo said she isn’t going to be a lazy champion and will be back in Mexico to defend the Reina de Reinas title.
Purrazzo has been Impact Knockouts Champion since November of last year.
Purrazzo will defend her Knockouts Championship against Melina at the NWA’s all-women’s Empower pay-per-view on Saturday, August 28. It was also announced on Friday that Purrazzo will defend the Knockouts title against Mercedes Martinez at WrestlePro’s event in Rahway, New Jersey on Saturday, October 16. If Purrazzo loses the championship before that show takes place, it will be a non-title match.
A match between Deonna Purrazzo and Mercedes Martinez has been announced for October.
WrestlePro has announced that Purrazzo will defend the Knockouts title against Martinez at their event in Rahway, New Jersey, on October 16. This would be the first post-WWE match announced for Martinez.
Martinez was released on August 6 along with 12 other members of the NXT roster. It has been reported that the cuts were a part of an effort to revamp NXT, focusing more on younger and bigger stars.
She was signed by WWE in 2020 and at one point was called up as a member of Retribution. However, she requested and later was granted a return to NXT. She had most recently been feuding with Xia Li, with her last match being a mixed tag match in June. She teamed with Jake Atlas (who was also released) to face Boa and Xia Li. Martinez suffered an injury during the match that she was recovering from prior to her release.
On Thursday, Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo learned who her opponent for the August 28th NWA Empower pay-per-view will be: Melina Perez.
Purrazzo was celebrating her Homecoming tournament win with “Drama King” Matthew Rehwoldt when Mickie James interrupted, coming to the ring with a contract in hand. James claimed she had the perfect challenger for Purrazzo before introducing Perez. She came to the ring and Purrazzo wasted no time signing the contract which Perez also did shortly after.
This was Perez’s first appearance in Impact Wrestling. The former three-time WWE Women’s champion spent the majority of her career there before leaving the company in 2011. Since leaving, Perez has spent most of her time in the independent circuit, joining the NWA in 2020.
This will be Purrazzo’s first appearance for the NWA. In recent weeks, James (and Gail Kim) have been encouraging Purrazzo to participate in the upcoming PPV with Purrazzo finally accepting recently.
Here’s the rest of the Empower card as of now:
NWA Women’s Champion Kamille vs. Leyla Hirsch title match
A match for the revived NWA Women’s Tag Team titles
Chelsea Green vs. the winner of the NWA Women’s Invitational Cup
Drama King Matt Rehwoldt made his debut for Impact Wrestling tonight, teaming with Deonna Purrazzo to win the Homecoming tournament.
At tonight’s Homecoming event held on Impact Plus, Rehwoldt, formerly known as Aiden English in WWE, appeared as the mystery tag partner of Purrazzo in the one-night tournament to crown the first ever Impact Homecoming king and queen. They defeated Rosemary and Crazzy Steve to win the tournament, with Purrazzo pinning Rosemary following the Gotch piledriver. After the match, Rehwoldt put the crown on Purrazzo, and Purrazzo did the same for Rehwoldt.
Prior to the finals, Purrazzo and Rehwoldt defeated the teams of Hernandez & Alisha and Chelsea Green & Matt Cardona to advance, while Rosemary and Crazzy Steve defeated Fallah Bahh & Tasha Steelz and Rachael Ellering & Tommy Dreamer.
The two non-tournament matches that took place at Homecoming had Josh Alexander retain the X-Division title over Black Taurus and Eddie Edwards defeating W. Morrisey in a hardcore match in the main event.
After her first attempt to get Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo to appear on NWA Empowerrr resulted in the champion being laid out, Mickie James returned to Impact Wrestling Thursday and got her to agree to compete at the August 28th pay-per-view.
James invited Purrazzo out to the ring to help smooth things over after superkicking her at Saturday’s Slammiversary after the two had words following Purrazzo’s title defense over Thunder Rosa. Purrazzo wanted James to apologize in exchange for her to be on the show.
Gail Kim then joined the two as a peacemaker and Purrazzo eventually accepted the offer with her opponent to be revealed on a future show (spoiler warning).
The all-women’s card will be a first for the NWA, co-produced by James.
Here’s the early card for St. Louis, Missouri, event thus far:
NWA Women’s Champion Kamille vs. TBA
Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. TBA
A match for the vacant NWA Women’s Tag Team titles
AAA has announced the full lineup for this year’s Triplemania.
A press conference was held today confirming the card for the show, which takes place August 14 in Arena Ciudad de Mexico. The main event will have Psycho Clown and Rey Escorpion battling in a hair vs. mask match. Previously announced for the show is Kenny Omega defending the AAA Mega Championship against Andrade el Idolo and Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo facing AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Faby Apache in a title for title match.
Other matches on the card include a Copa Bardhal battle royal, with Mamba, Mr. Iguana, and Drago being the first names announced. The Lucha Brothers will defend the AAA Tag Team Championship in a three way against El Hijo del Vikingo & Laredo Kid and Taurus and a mystery partner, and a Marvel Lucha Libre exhibition, with no names announced.
Here is the full card for TripleMania. A press release mentioned that the media outlets for the show would include “Space, Facebook, Azteca, Cinepolis y Multimedios”.
Psycho Clown vs. Rey Escorpion in a mask vs. hair match
Kenny Omega vs. Andrade el Idolo for the AAA Mega Championship
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Faby Apache for both the AAA Reina de Reinas and Impact Knockouts titles
Pagano, Chessman, and Murder Clown vs. Puma King and two mystery tag team partners
Lucha Brothers vs. El Hijo del Vikingo & Laredo Kid vs. Taurus & a mystery partner for the AAA Tag Team titles
Copa Bardahl (Drago, Mr. Iguana, and Mamba announced)
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo will look to continue her roll as champion when she defends against Rosemary at Impact’s Against All Odds, set for Saturday, June 12th.
Rosemary got the pin on the champion to end a ten-woman tag team match on Thursday’s show.
Purrazzo will be looking for the eighth defense of the title she reclaimed at last November’s Turning Point. One of those title defenses was against Rosemary who she defeated at last December’s Final Resolution.
Rosemary was unsuccessful in defeating Havok in a title eliminator match earlier this month and has just two singles wins this year, both over Tenille Dashwood. She has primarily been featured in various tag team matches.
She held the Knockouts title one time, defeating Jade (WWE’s Mia Yim) for the vacant belt in a Six Sides of Steel cage match in December 2016. She held the title for 266 days, the second-longest reign in the title’s history.
The Against All Odds show on Impact Plus is headlined by World Champion Kenny Omega vs. Moose and Satoshi Kojima vs. Joe Doering.
Jazz lost to Deonna Purrazzo in the career vs. title match that aired this afternoon at Hardcore Justice.
The finish had Jazz going for offense, but eventually fell to Purrazzo’s Queen’s Gambit. Jazz had put up her career on the line when Tommy Dreamer told her she had to put something up for her match against Purrazzo. Prior to her run in Impact Wrestling, she had been on a retirement tour.
Jazz started to regularly appear in Impact Wrestling last fall. She teamed with Jordynne Grace in the Knockouts Tag Team Championship tournament, but the team was eliminated in the second round. Last month at Sacrifice, she and Grace lost to the Knockouts Tag Team Champions Fire ‘n’ Flava (Tasha Steelz and Kiera Hogan).
In a match that took place earlier in the show, Tenille Dashwood became the number one contender for the Knockouts title, defeating Rosemary, Alisha Edwards, Havok, Jordynne Grace, and the returning Su Yung. As a result, she will face Purrazzo at Rebellion, Impact’s next pay-per-view, on April 25.
The finish to the hardcore match had Grace hitting a Vader bomb on Havok, but Kaleb with a K pulled her out of the ring, allowing Dashwood to come in and steal the pin.
Two matches have been announced for the Impact Plus special Hardcore Justice taking place on April 10.
Jazz will challenge for the Impact Knockouts title in a title vs. career match. Jazz put up her career when Tommy Dreamer, who is making the matches for Hardcore Justice in storyline, proposed she put up something against champion Deonna Purrazzo. Jazz has brought up in the past that she is on a retirement tour.
Later, Dreamer announced in front of the women’s roster that a multi-woman weapons match would also take place at Hardcore Justice, with the winner becoming the number one contender for the Knockouts title. Jordynne Grace, Susan, Tenille Dashwood, Havok, Rosemary, and Alisha Edwards were announced as the participants. During the segment, Dreamer brought up Su Yung’s name to Susan, but she told Dreamer she had no idea what he was talking about.
Hardcore Justice will take place the same day as the first night of WrestleMania, but will take place prior to the event, at 3 pm EST.
Three matches have been announced for next week’s Impact.
Ace Austin will defend his newly-won X-Division title against TJP, who he defeated at Sacrifice this past weekend to win the title. TJP confronted Austin and other X-Division stars backstage, saying he wouldn’t go to the back of the line and would get his rematch next week.
Deonna Purrazzo will take on Jazz in a non-title match. Jazz won the twelve woman tag team match that took place on tonight’s show. She, Jordynne Grace, Alisha Edwards, Havoc, Nevaeh, and ODB defeated Purrazzo, Fire ‘n Flava (Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz), Susan, Kimber Lee, and Tenille Dashwood. Jazz won the match after submitting Lee with an STF.
Karl Anderson will take on Eddie Edwards in a singles match. Anderson, along with Doc Gallows, recently lost the Impact World Tag Team titles to David Finlay and Juice Robinson at Sacrifice, while Edwards defeated Brian Myers in a ‘hold harmless’ match.
Three title matches were announced Tuesday for March 13th’s Sacrifice on Impact Plus.
A match for the Tag Team titles was announced as The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) will defend against New Japan Pro Wrestling’s David Finlay and Juice Robinson, aka FinJuice.
The two teams have traded exchanges in the last few weeks. On this week’s Impact, the two teams defeated XXXL (Larry D and Acey Romero) and Reno Scum (Luster The Legend and Adam Thornstowe) in an eight-man tag. The winners all had a staredown afterward.
The X-Division title will be on the line as TJP will defend against former champion Ace Austin. Austin defeated Black Taurus and Chris Bey in a number one contenders three way Tuesday. Austin later confronted TJP backstage, which then led to Chris Bey appearing and challenging Austin for a match on next week’s Impact.
Finally, ODB will challenge Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo. Tuesday’s show ended with ODB attacking the champion for her attack on ODB backstage last week. The Impact veteran made it clear as the show was going off the air that she wanted a title match.
Here is the current card for Sacrifice:
Impact World Champion Rich Swann vs. TNA Champion Moose
Knockouts Tag Team Champions Fire ‘N Flava vs. Jordynne Grace and Jazz
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. ODB
Impact Tag Team Champions Good Brothers vs. David Finlay and Juice Robinson
The Good Brothers will team up with FinJuice on tonight’s Impact Wrestling in what is expected to be a preview of a future Impact Tag Team title match.
They will face XXXL and Reno Scum in an eight-man tag that will headline the show. While things have been jovial between the new arrivals from New Japan Pro Wrestling (David Finlay and Juice Robinson) and the champions (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) thus far, the writing is on the wall for a title challenge at either this month’s Sacrifice or April’s Rebellion pay-per-view.
In another high profile match, the winner of Chris Bey vs. Black Taurus vs. Ace Austin will earn a future shot against X-Division champion TJP.
The show will also feature Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo against former champion Jordynne Grace in a non-title match, and Eddie Edwards vs. Brian Myers with friend and former partner Matt Cardona as special guest referee.
Former X-Division Champion Rohit Raju (w/ Shera) will face James Storm (w/ Chris Sabin) on the BTI pre-show.
Our live coverage starts at 8 PM Eastern.
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James Storm (with Chris Sabin) defeated Rohit Raju (with Mahabali Shera) in the BTI Match
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Opening video showcased the ongoing meetings between FinJuice and the Good Brothers, who are teaming up to night, as they face off with XXXL and Reno Scum. Also, last week’s main event where Moose defeated Jake Something for the newly reinstated TNA World Championship.
Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton) defeated Black Taurus & Chris Bey in an X Division #1 Contendership Match
These three participants teamed up last week against Trey Miguel, Josh Alexander, and Willie Mack, who they defeated to advance to this triple threat, where the winner becomes the #1 contender to TJP’s X Division.
Match saw both Bey and Austin team up against Taurus, who had to take on both of them. Austin and Bey actually managed pretty well as a team until they took out Taurus with a tandem dive.
With Taurus out, Bey and Austin finally went at it between them, they did some great chain wrestling and a short sequence of reversals. Bey was barely taking control when Taurus recovered and came back to the match. He took turns wrestling Austin, and then Bey for a couple of minutes each. At one point, Taurus caught Bey’s plancha and turned it into a suplex, that had extra power after a missile dropkick from Austin to both.
Finish saw Austin and Bey take out Taurus again, and just as Bey was about to finish Austin, Fulton held his foot, allowing Austin to hit the fold for the win. Good match, Taurus looked really dominant.
Ace Austin vs TJP for the X Division title is set for Sacrifice.
– Gia Miller interviewed Jazz and Jordynne Grace for becoming #1 contenders to the tag team titles. They were talking about ODB’s attack last week when Fire ‘n Flava approached them and told them to focus on them, not ODB. Grace said that she’d talk D’Amore to invite Hogan to her match tonight with Purrazzo.
– Backstage, Myers found Cardona training and tried to talk nice to him since Cardona is the referee in Myers’ match with Eddie Edwards tonight. Cardona told him that he’d call it down the middle.
– D’lo Brown & Matt Striker ran down tonight’s card, including the newly signed Hogan vs Grace vs Purrazzo.
Tenille Dashwood (with Kaleb with a K) defeated Havok
This match was booked during BTI after Dashwood had been messing around with Havok and Nevaeh for some weeks, taking advantage of their small dissension after going on a losing streak.
Match saw Havok dominate early on, she blocked everything that Dashwood tried on her and turned it into a power move of her own. Eventually, Kaleb aided Dashwood, allowing her to get her with an elbow to the back of the head that rocked her and with that, Dashwood cut her off.
After some minutes of Dashwood working over Havok’s neck, Havok finally got Dashwood off her, and got some offense in. When she was ready to finish off Dashwood, Kaleb distracted her again, giving Dashwood the opening to hit the spotlight for the win.
After the match, Nevaeh came down and saved Havok from Kaleb and Dashwood. Nevaeh took out Kaleb with her DDT. Nevaeh looked good as the babyface making the save.
– We got a promo from Sami Callihan, broadcasting from the Skulls and Bones School, where Trey Miguel trains. He talked trash about Miguel, beat up some of the staff and trainees, and trashed the place. Callihan tried to recruit some of Miguel’s students before leaving. Really good angle if not for the annoying ‘hacker’ production in Callihan’s promos.
– TJP was hanging out in Swinger’s Paradise when Ace Austin confronted him and told him to not bet against him. Chris Bey came in and accused Austin of winning only because Fulton interfered, and so TJP tricked them into a match between them. And here I was hoping for a Bey and Austin tag team.
– We got a promo with Violent By Design where EY said he’d be punishing Deaner for failing to take out Jake Something in the tables match that HE had asked for. Behind a wall, Joe Doering beat up Deaner, who had to drag himself out. Deaner gracefully accepted his punishment.
– We got our weekly AEW commercial with Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone, promoting Dynamite and Revolution. Khan actually put Impact over a bit saying that they, Impact, and NJPW are all in the same team, but AEW is now calling the shots. Khan hyped up Shaq and Paul Wight’s debuts.
– Moose cut a promo, talking about how he has held the TNA World Championship for months, and defended the title, even if no one considered it a real championship. And so he had nothing against Swann, but he had the recognized Impact World Championship, and so he had to beat him to make it clear that he was the real champion. Great promo.
The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) & FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay) defeated XXXL (Acey Romero & Larry D) & Reno Scum (Luster The Legend & Adam Thornstowe)
Ever since FunJuice debuted, them and the Good Brothers have been teasing each other, not in a hostile way, but Anderson and Gallows keep trying to make fun of them for being young boys in Japan when they were there. In return, Robinson and Finlay make fun of them for being bad drinkers. In the last weeks, FinJuice defeated Reno Scum, while Anderson and Gallows defeated XXXL.
Match saw FinJuice and the Good Brothers dominate early on with a couple of hard tags between them, they’re showing off to each other and trying to one up each other. They were so focused on each other, that they allowed Reno Scum to cut off Finlay and separate him for a couple of minutes. XXXL and Reno Scum didn’t get much heat before Finlay escaped and once again, Robinson and the Good Brothers kept racing each other to take the tag and actually take the pin, which ended up being Gallows, who hit Magic Killer along with Anderson for the win on Thornstowe. This was 100% a squash.
After the match, FinJuice and the Good Brothers had a staredown as they argued who won the match. These two teams are ready to collide.
– We got a video package with Rich Swann, talking about Moose, who is a fake world champion, walking around with a dead title. He knew that Moose was stronger and faster, but he didn’t have Swann’s fire and determination.
– Backstage, the Good Brothers and FinJuice argued that they also lost the match because of Anderson and Gallows. Anderson said they should go back to carrying their bags, so Finlay replied that it’s the tag team titles that they’ll be carrying in. Gallows made the challenge to make it happen at Sacrifice.
Eddie Edwards defeated Brian Myers via DQ
Edwards and Myers have been feuding for a couple of weeks now after Myers started calling Edwards unprofessional. For several weeks now too, Myers has claimed to have an eye injury because of Edwards and Cardona, which he has used as a crutch to get away from facing Edwards in a singles match. Tonight, we have that singles match with Matt Cardona as the special guest referee.
Story of the match was that Cardona called the match right in the middle and it was annoying Myers. At the end, Myers loaded up his elbow pad and hit the roster cut lariat for the pin, but Cardona saw him cheat and DQ’d him.
As for the match, Edwards had a strong start, later cut off by Myers. Myers worked on Edwards for a couple of minutes until the latter made a comeback. They started chasing their finishers, trading a couple of good near falls, right before the finish. Really nothing match, had a lot of potential, but they didn’t really do much with the story, not got enough time for it.
I was expecting for a finish that could cause dissension between Cardona and Edwards, but they went for the straight DQ and good referring.
– Brown and Striker ran down the Sacrifice card, with Moose vs Swann, Good Brothers vs FinJuice, Ace Austin vs TJP; also for next week, Chris Bey vs Ace Austin, and Desi Hit Squad vs Beer Guns.
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo (with Kimber Lee & Susan) defeated Jordynne Grace (with Jazz) and Knockouts Tag Team Champion Kiera Hogan (with Tasha Steelz) in a non-title 3-way match.
Grace and Jazz are the #1 contenders to Fire ‘n Flava’s titles, they won the spot by defeating Kimber Lee and Susan. After that match, they found their friend ODB taken out backstage, and their immediate suspicion went to Purrazzo. Grace had originally challenged Purrazzo for tonight, but after a confrontation with Fire ‘n Flava earlier in the show, Grace asked for Hogan to be added to the match and make it a 3-way.
Similar to the opener, the two heels teamed up against Grace, who is the only babyface and currently feuding with both parties separately. In this match however, the heels quickly broke up their truce and fought each other.
The match was a good clash of Hogan’s speed, Grace’s power, and Purrazzo’s technical proficiency, especially because all three women were in the ring together for most of the match, there were barely any one-on-one parts to the match. At one point, all three got into a 3-way striking exchange, right before the brawl broke out with the seconds, with Grace taking them all out with a big plancha.
Throughout the match, we mostly got near falls with Purrazzo chasing the Fujiwara armbar from all corners, but at the end, it was Purrazzo stealing the win with a roll up on Grace after the latter failed to hit the Vader Bomb on Hogan because Steelz had pulled her off. This was a fantastic match.
After the match, Grace and Jazz brawled with Fire ‘n Flava to the back, but in the ring, ODB came down and took out Purrazzo and made her intentions clear that she wanted a match for the title.
A battle between the current and former Knockouts Champion will be on Tuesday’s Impact Wrestling as Deonna Purrazzo will face Jordynne Grace in a non-title match.
The two have had an Impact rivalry dating back to last July when Purrazzo ended Grace’s title reign at Slammiversary. Purazzo defeated Grace again in a 30-minute IronWoman match at August’s Emergence.
Grace and Jazz are preparing for their opportunity at Knockouts Tag Team Champions Fire ‘N Flava (Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz) at March’s Sacrifice special on Impact Plus, earned with their win over Purrazzo stablemates Susan and Kimber Lee last Tuesday. Conversely, Purrazzo doesn’t have a match for the special yet.
The full lineup for Tuesday’s show:
Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers and FinJuice vs. XXXL and Reno Scum
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Jordynne Grace non-title match
Brian Myers vs. Eddie Edwards with Matt Cardona as special referee
Chris Bey vs. Ace Austin vs. Black Taurus for an X-Division title shot
Before The Impact pre-show: Rohit Raju vs. James Storm
In the aftermath of Steve Cutler’s WWE release, it was learned that both he and his girlfriend, Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo, had COVID-19 in January.
Shortly after his Thursday release after seven years in the organization, Purrazzo tweeted she and Cutler (Steve Kupryk) tested positive at the beginning of the month and took precautions. She said neither had any symptoms.
He and Wesley Blake were aligned with Baron Corbin as the Knights of the Lone Wolf on the December 4th SmackDown, but neither he nor Blake have been seen on TV since the January 1st edition of the show. Following his positive test and missing time, the idea was dropped.
Fightful first reported that Vince McMahon was upset with the 33-year-old after contracting the virus with Dave Meltzer reporting in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there was a disciplinary reason that got McMahon “livid” when he heard about it, associated with a New Year’s Eve party. Meltzer said McMahon was upset as he had promised talents like Roman Reigns a safe environment upon returning and felt whatever Cutler did was a violation of that.
After Cutler’s release, Purrazzo tweeted, “COVID strikes again….LOL”. Cutler later tweeted that his release was shocking to him, but that he is excited about future possibilities. He has a 90-day non-compete.
Fightful reported Cutler was working with the “big man” class at the Performance Center when he learned of his release. They added he was well liked by those at the PC with the door open to a return down the road.
A new match for Impact’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view has been set.
Deonna Purrazzo will defend the Knockouts title against Taya Valkyrie. The match was announced tonight on the second night of Impact’s Best of 2020 special that aired on AXS.
Purazzo accepted a challenge Valkyrie issued on last week’s special. She said that Taya was once the longest reigning Knockouts champion, and when she defeats Taya at Hard to Kill, she will become “the greatest champion ever”.
Already announced for Hard to Kill:
Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) vs. Rich Swann & The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) in a six-man tag team match
Manik vs. Chris Bey vs. Rohit Raju for the X Division title
Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz vs. either Havok & Nevaeh or Jazz & Jordynne Grace in a tournament final for the Impact Knockouts Tag Team titles
