On January 16th, the IMPACT Knockouts Tag Team Championships will make their triumphant returns to TV following a seven-year absence. While she won’t be competing for the titles at that night’s Hard to Kill PPV, Deonna Purrazzo and her partner, Kimber Lee were participants in IMPACT’s recent tag team title tournament.
Purrazzo joined us recently to discuss the revitalized Knockout Tag Team Titles as well as her thoughts on working with Kimber Lee throughout her run in IMPACT.
Bringing back the tag titles was something that wrestling fans had clamoured for for the better part of a year. With so many natural partnerships on the roster, it was something that Purrazzo saw as both inevitable and as an incredible opportunity for the women in today’s wrestling scene, whether currently working for IMPACT or not.
“Yeah! I think women’s wrestling is so strong right now, and there’s so – there’s a plethora of women who just want an opportunity,” says the Virtuosa. “I think with the creation of the Women’s Tag Team Championships, and then Impact has so many Tag Team Championships right now, I think bringing those titles back would be an amazing opportunity for us. There’s so many of us that have alliances and have partnerships with other people that it makes sense. If there was ever a time to do it, and there was ever a time to grow a tag division, now would be the time. There’s so many women that can be brought in to just aid to any roster right now. I think capitalizing on that would be super cool for Impact, especially, but for any company.”
Throughout her time in IMPACT, Purrazzo has been paired with her curator, Kimber Lee. Of course, as evidenced by the recent Knockout’s Tag Title Tournament, Lee is far more than simply Purrazzo’s manager, assistant, or valet, but her tag team partner as well. It’s a paring that’s more than paid off for both women thus far.
“It’s – (in) Impact the women’s division is so great because it’s all a ton of girls that kind of were right before me, but I kind of came up with,” explains the Virtuosa. “They were the leaders of my generation, so to speak. So Kim was one of those girls, I had only wrestled once on the indies, and it was one of my favorite matches ever, but we only ever got to do it once. So, to kind of be in a place now that she’s kind of – we call her my curator.”
“Every Virtuosa needs a curator to be in a tag team with her, and to kind of be feeling out this process with people who are familiar feels incredible.”
Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used.
