Steve Maclin: Winning Impact World title at Rebellion is ‘a night I won’t forget’
New Impact World Champion Steve Maclin reflected on his title win to Sports Illustrated shortly after he got backstage Sunday, saying Rebellion “is a night I won’t forget.”
Part of that is due to Maclin’s wife, Deonna Purrazzo, also winning the Knockouts title in the main event of the pay-per-view less than an hour after he won his title.
The championship win is Maclin’s first in Impact and comes nearly three years after his WWE run came to an unsatisfying end. He said he was never a “chosen one” in WWE and that when he got signed by Impact, he got to work.
“I kept my head down, I kept grinding and this is only the beginning. The easy work is over. Now the hard work begins. Whether you believe in me or not, I’m out there proving people wrong. That’s the way it’s always been, and it’s not going to change now.”
Maclin defeated KUSHIDA Sunday in a bout for the title vacated due to Josh Alexander’s torn triceps. Maclin was set to challenge Alexander for the title before the injury.
“He’s a hard-hitting son of a b—-,” says Maclin. “It was an honor to share the ring with Kushida. He’s a great opponent. But that moment was mine.”
With Maclin and Purrazzo now at the top of the Impact food chain, a future family feud with the newly-returned Nick Aldis and his wife, former Knockouts Champion Mickie James, seems possible.
For now, Maclin and Purrazzo are at the starting line for his first reign and her third.
“This is a night I won’t forget,” says Maclin. “It’s even more incredible that my wife won the women’s title. It’s a hell of a way to start a rebellion.”
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.