Deonna Purrazzo recently opened up about the challenges she has faced in getting the AEW audience to connect with her “Virtuosa” persona, revealing she once took it upon herself to produce her own vignettes to better explain her character. Speaking on the Muscle Memory podcast, Purrazzo discussed the ongoing struggle for character consistency on television.
Purrazzo believes the issue began right after her debut. “I think after that is when it got difficult, because we didn’t explain to the AEW audience right away what the word ‘virtuosa’ meant,” she stated. “And I think that’s something I’ve struggled with my entire career.”
She explained her concern that many fans may not have followed her celebrated run in TNA. “I didn’t want to neglect that fact that the casual AEW fan might not know who I am and what I’ve done and what I’m about,” Purrazzo said. “And unfortunately, there just like wasn’t time for it, and we never got to explaining what it meant to be the Virtuosa.”
The lack of character development led Purrazzo to take matters into her own hands during her feud with Thunder Rosa last summer. “I went and I had a series of three vignettes made on my own, and I produced them… and I gave them to AEW,” she revealed. “And I said, ‘I still don’t think we’ve explained to the audience why they don’t like me’… But then that was almost a year ago, and we’ve not had, like, consistent follow up yet.”
Ultimately, Purrazzo feels the key to solving this issue is consistent television time. “The key with any kind of TV company, televised product right now is just consistency,” she said. “I want them to get to know the Virtuosa. Because I feel like, even though I’m a year and a half in, they still don’t necessarily understand all that I’m about.”
Purrazzo is set to be a key participant in the upcoming tournament to crown the inaugural ROH Women’s Pure Champion. The tournament is expected to begin filming soon and will feature her technical, submission-based style.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Muscle Man Malcolm with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
