Deonna Purrazzo addresses body shaming, praises AEW’s tuition reimbursement program
Deonna Purrazzo recently opened up about a variety of topics in a new interview.
Speaking with SoCal Val for WrestlingNewsCo, Purrazzo discussed handling body shaming from fans, AEW’s tuition reimbursement program, and more.
Purrazzo earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Southern New Hampshire University in August 2023 while wrestling for TNA. She told SoCal Val that AEW’s support for her continuing education played a role in her decision to sign with the company in early 2024.
She said:
“AEW is so great in encouraging us to go back to school.”
“They have a program where they reimburse us for our tuition up to a certain amount every year.”
“That was a really big part of why I was happy to go there. I had just gotten my bachelor’s degree the summer of 2023 and I was like, maybe I want to get a master’s. But going somewhere that’s going to be supportive of that was huge for me. And so I’m very, very grateful that they’ve made it so easy and so seamless for me to be able to go back to school. And I’m halfway through my master’s degree.”
Purrazzo also addressed the impact of body shaming from online commenters.
“I had to realize that these people who comment ‘I’m fat,’ ‘you’re a pig,’ ‘you’re disgusting,’ ‘lose weight,’ ‘maybe then you’ll get booked,’ all of these comments are not my actual supporters. And being able to shift that in my brain — that person is not paying to come watch me wrestle, they’re not buying a ticket to Dynamite, they’re not buying a ticket to the independent show I’m wrestling at in Chicago.”
“Those aren’t the people, and I don’t need to focus on those people.”
“I like to have fun with it now, but it’s taken me a lot of therapy to get to that point. It’s taken a lot of conversations with my friends, my husband, and my family to get to that point — to be this strong. But I think that if you’re willing to put that work in for yourself, then no one can stop you. No one on Twitter is keeping me up anymore at night. No one on Twitter is making me cry anymore at night. I’m not giving them the power because they’re not being supportive in other aspects. They don’t deserve it.”
Purrazzo debuted as a full-time AEW talent on the January 2, 2024 episode of Dynamite in her home state of New Jersey. Her most recent match under the AEW/ROH banner was in June on ROH TV, where she defeated Rachael Ellering in a Pure Rules match. She last appeared on AEW programming on the February 26 edition of Dynamite, losing to Harley Cameron.
Purrazzo’s full interview is available below: