Deonna Purrazzo: The Secret to Crafting Stories That Keep Audiences Hooked | DSH #1432

Like I believe in myself.

I believe in like my humanity and I'm here for a purpose and God put me here for a purpose.

But like

Can I am I capable of

doing that to myself?

And I just didn't know how to handle that.

That was the last time I ever did an edible.

It's the last time I ever smoked weed because I was so like, holy crap, what is my mind capable of?

All right, guys, Deanna here.

Celebrity poker tournament.

Her first time ever playing.

Yeah.

Let's go.

Oh, my God.

Are you hooked now?

I think so.

I did not expect to make it as far as I did whatsoever.

I went into this with the strategy, the strategy of like, I just want to be not the least competent person, if that makes sense.

I want to, like, I don't want to be the first person out of the tournament.

And I beat like 23 people.

So I'm on a high right now of like, I made it halfway through.

You might have to hit the tables after this.

I think so.

I think so.

Did you get anyone out?

Did you knock

anyone?

I think I knocked Hendrick Cujo out.

Oh, you knocked Henry out?

I think I did.

I don't want to like, like, I wouldn't go 100% all in on that, but there was like a hand there that we bet against each other and I won.

So I think it knocked him out.

I saw him bluff like seven hands straight.

So, well, that's the thing.

Like, I feel like being from New Jersey, being a professor, like all of my expressions are just written on my face.

And coming into this, all of my friends were like, you do not have a poker face, Diana.

And so it was, it was my strategy to be like, do not make expression.

Get as much Botox as you can, girl, and come into this

as expressionless as you could possibly be and make it as far as you can.

Wow.

And we'll see what happens.

What a strategy.

And I made it halfway through.

Getting Botox for a summer poker.

Well done.

Did you bring out the sunglasses too?

I didn't.

And I brought sunglasses and I just left them in my hotel room.

Like I brought nice, cute, like, like stylish, sleek, Gucci sunglasses that I was was like, okay, I'm going to be in a poker tournament.

I don't want people to see my eyes and I forgot about them.

But I feel like, screw it.

That's not as bad as what happened to me, at least.

Well, what happened to you?

So I played in the second one.

Okay.

I brought sunglasses, but they were reflective.

So I was like, why is everyone at my table laughing?

You pulled a Kim K.

Is that what she did?

Well, so I've heard.

I don't know too much about this tournament, but I heard.

in the lead up of like my preparation.

My husband prepared me.

My father-in-law prepared me.

I downloaded an app to like be playing consistently.

Yes, because I was like, I can't be, I'm the first woman from pro wrestling to be in this tournament.

And I cannot let us all down.

Like I'm the representative of all of us.

And if they're going to invite more pro wrestlers, I need to make an impression.

Right.

And so I feel like I did, but

I can't wear reflective sunglasses where people can see what my hand is.

And so I, I heard that that's what Kim K did.

Yeah.

And maybe that's what you did.

That's what I did.

Everyone was laughing at my table and I was like, what's going on here?

I could see your car.

I thought I just sucked a poker, which I do, but I do suck a poker.

You also gave them an advantage.

Huge advantage.

But I actually didn't get last.

So that honestly, I feel like that's all that matters, right?

If you're not first out.

If I got out first, I would have left.

Yeah.

I wouldn't have stayed.

Same, same.

I was like, if we, if I embarrass our family that much, we got to get the hell out.

But I think I beat 23 other people.

So well done.

I'm not the worst.

You missing the food in Jersey?

I miss it almost every day.

Every day.

I live in Orlando now, and my husband is also from New Jersey.

And I feel like that's the one thing that we consistently talk about is like, what would it be like to go home and just have a piece of pizza right now or a bagel right now or a piece of bread right now?

Like they don't do semolina bread in Orlando, Florida.

And if you do, it's from like a very special.

deli that's open like

four hours a day.

Yeah.

And so we had Easter dinner not too long ago.

And I said to my father-in-law, who loves to cook, I said, We are going to make homemade monagat for dinner.

I want to make the shell.

So it's, it's a stuffed shell.

And so basically, when you make it homemade, you make almost like a, it's like a crepe, but it's a little bit thinner.

And so you make the dough and you, you make it on a griddle.

And then you take the rugat, the cheese, and you roll it with the mozzarella, and you make it homemade, and then you bake it in the oven.

I said, I want to make the whole thing homemade.

My husband and I were like, we're going to go to the deli.

We're going to get the rugat.

We're going gonna get the mozzarella, we're gonna get the semolino bread, we're gonna make this like literally as authentic as we can make it.

And then we, it wasn't open by the time we were going, so we're like, I guess, Publix, it is.

Um, it is so hard to find authentic Italian food in Orlando, Florida.

And so, when I go home to Jersey, that's the first thing I do: is like, I land and I'm like, Where can we get like a Taylor ham egg and cheese?

Where could we get real authentic cheese and deli meats and tailor ham and you know, just things like that?

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It's the only bottle that also structures your water and adds red light to supercharge it it's sleek portable and honestly i don't go anywhere without it we need to eat authentically italian is so good in jersey yeah oh man so is indian

so i'm not like a big spice person so i'm not i'm not big into indian but i've heard it's phenomenal in jersey good yeah so good vegas is decent but it doesn't have good italian wow we got like every restaurant you can think of though yeah well i've heard like like there's a few good places there's like um gosh and I don't remember the name off the top of my head.

That's like an old carbone.

And then there's one other place that's like an old, old, like, gosh, I just don't remember the name.

It was on, um, it was on John Taffer's show.

Um, and it was almost like, it was like haunted.

I don't remember the name of it, but it was like an old Italian, like

20s mafia era type.

Oh, I think I know what you're talking about.

You know what I'm talking about?

And

yeah, every time I come home,

maybe.

Is it?

Yeah.

I don't remember.

But I'm like, we have to go because that's probably the best Italian you you could ever get in Vegas.

Yeah, good old haunted restaurant.

Yes.

My house is haunted in Jersey.

What?

Jersey has a lot of haunted houses.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

If you look on Zillow on my fiancé's house, you can zoom in on the windows and see ghosts in it.

You know what?

That's like, as much as it surprised me, surprises me, it doesn't.

Cause we went and saw Chris Angel yesterday.

I'm like, not that I'm like a like super God-fearing woman, but like I do have a Jesus tattoo, like a Bible verse tattoo.

And like, I do believe in God and Jesus and all that.

I'm kind of like, ooh, like, does that make me like, should I not believe in that stuff?

Is that like inviting evil into my life?

Like, I don't necessarily know how to feel about it, but I do want to believe it.

Yeah.

Who really knows?

Yeah.

I have a wild Chris Angel story, though.

We saw Chris Angels last night.

Yes.

All right.

So this is nuts.

First time ever in Vegas.

Yeah.

They just, growing up in Jersey, weed wasn't legal.

So I go to the dispensary, get some edibles.

And my friend and I were like, yo, it'd be a great idea to see a magic show.

Hi.

It's not.

No.

So

the first night I eat 10 MGs and I feel fine.

We go to like the buffet.

Oh my God, 10.

Okay.

Yeah.

Second night is Chris Angel show.

I'm like, let me double that.

Like, I'll be fine.

I had a great night the day night before.

Eat 20 MGs.

Oh my God.

We pulled in the Chris Angel Magic Show.

I'm not even kidding.

There's dark crows flying around.

I felt like I was in hell.

Yeah.

I didn't even make it to my seat.

Yeah.

I ended up leaving.

I don't blame you.

Crawled to my hotel room, threw up everywhere, called my mom and said I was dying.

It was the worst night of my life, honestly.

So I don't smoke weed.

I don't do edibles anymore because about two and a half, maybe almost three years ago, I took 10 milligrams of an edible and I was laying on the couch and all of a sudden, like I got head to toe, like tingly, almost like, my God, I'm paralyzed feeling.

And my husband's best friend was sitting on our couch with us.

And I was like, I don't feel good.

Like, did I, did did I crack my neck?

Am I paralyzed?

Like, what's happening?

And my husband came in and he's just sitting off camera.

So I'm looking at him right now.

And he was like, babe, you're just too high.

And I was like, something is wrong.

And I was like, you know what?

Let me try to throw up.

That'll help me feel better.

And he's like, babe, it doesn't work like that.

Like, this is weed.

And so the rest of the night, I was like, I'm dead.

And also, like, you know, my husband's prior military, we are proud gun owners.

We are like,

I literally thought, well, if I died, how did I die?

I must have committed suicide.

And I was like, I went in our safe and I took the gun and I committed suicide.

And then it spiraled me out of control of like, well, I've never felt that way before.

And I've never had these thoughts before.

And like, am I capable of that?

It was this really dramatic, traumatizing thing for me.

And I put myself in like crazy and intensive therapy afterwards because I was so like, I've never had those thoughts before.

And I've always been such a a self-confident, like, I believe in myself.

I believe in like my humanity and I'm here for a purpose.

And God put me here for a purpose.

But like,

can I?

Am I capable of

doing that to myself?

And I just didn't know how to handle that.

That was the last time I ever did an edible.

It's the last time I ever smoked weed because I was so like, holy crap.

What is my mind capable of?

And maybe I've always been a little anxious and a little paranoid and dealt with like mental health issues, but it's never been to that extreme.

And so fast forward to literally last night, we're going to Chris Angel.

My husband is like, I have edibles.

I'm going to take a 50 milligram edible.

And I was like, I don't know if that's a good idea going to an illusionist show.

And he's like, no, I'm going to be fine.

And we're literally halfway through the show.

And all of a sudden he just is like,

and head drops into his lap and his eyes are closing.

And I could see his chest like trying to take a deep breath.

And I was like, are you okay?

And he's like, I feel like I'm in another dimension.

Are you real?

And I was like, I'm totally real like i felt so bad because like been there done that been so terrified of that that it changed my whole perspective like i don't smoke weed anymore i don't do any type of drug anymore um

you're gonna be okay i'm here for you i'm here i'm real i promise you but like what a scary experience he must have had last night going to a chris angel show it's dark in there and there's like crows and it was insane doves flying and he's like you know he's such i think from what I understood of the show, a God-fearing man, but you wouldn't get that vibe based off the show he presents.

Right.

And so I definitely have this moment 100% sober of like,

I'm like, I have a Bible tattoo.

I'm like, I do believe in God.

I'm kind of a God-fearing woman at this point in my life.

Like,

should I be here?

Is this evil?

Yeah, Chris Angel.

I was so like young.

I was 21.

I'm like, yeah, let's go to a magic show.

I thought it'd be a bunny out of a hat type show.

It's so much deeper.

Hey, gosh, it's borderline evil in there.

Yes, and that's what I kept thinking.

Like, my husband's freaking out.

He's dripping sweat.

At one point, I asked, like, are you going to throw up a shit with me?

And he was like, babe, I'm good.

And I was like, okay, cool.

Like, but yes, I kept having this, like, should I be here?

Yeah, it feels dark in there.

Yeah.

He has an audience for it.

He has such an audience for it.

He's, he's so popular.

I think he said last night he's done like 7,000 shows here in Vegas.

He's been here for like 25 years.

It was phenomenal.

like just just forget all of that stuff he put on an incredible show and i left like holy crap how does he do all of that yeah and it's so much similar to pro wrestling in terms of like you were suspending belief and you are trying to get an audience to believe that you you know if i'm gonna break the fourth wall right like we're not really hurting each other but we want you to believe that we are and you know maybe he's not actually levitating someone but we don't know the reason that it looks like he is so there's so many similarities that, you know, my sober brain was like, how is he doing that?

And what is he doing?

And what's the tricks behind it?

And like, I'm going to do so much research to find out because I want to know.

I love it.

That's how my brain acts together.

When I see someone talented, I'm like, that is interesting.

Yes.

I feel like talented people like.

vibe off other talented people.

And it's like, we can only grow from experiencing and understanding other people's experiences and professions.

And like, how can we not use each other, but like, like, use our own experiences to elevate each other.

You know, that's like what the point that we're at in this world is like, how can we continue to elevate our audience and elevate our mindset and things like that?

Absolutely.

I just went to my first wrestling event ever two weeks ago.

Oh my gosh, which WrestleMania.

Was it amazing?

Yeah.

I've never watched wrestling before that.

So I came in as like a blank slate.

Yeah.

And I have a lot of respect for wrestlers now.

I would love to know like what your favorite and who your favorite people were.

I'm trying to remember.

The Logan Paul fight was interesting because he he gets a lot of hate.

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He was getting booed the whole time.

So I thought that was interesting.

There was like a Rhea Ripley.

I thought she was really impressive.

She's amazing.

Yeah, that fight.

I don't know the Asian girl's name.

Eo.

Eo, yeah.

She won it, but it was like three girls.

That was a good one.

From just what I've seen, like, you know, because my social media following and what I follow on social media is just so wrestling based.

EO, Rhea, and bianca who are three women that i trained with at the wwe performance center when i was signed there um and they were kind of on their come up at that time and they were incredible from day one um to see them what some people say stole the show was the best match at wrestlemania is like women did that Women were the best match at WrestleMania.

And so to hear you say that is so fulfilling to me as a woman drestler of like, oh, we did that.

And I feel like we as women only get the credit when you're the main event, when you're the champion, when you're, you know what I mean?

You fulfill all these like niche roles.

But for them to just be, yes, they were a championship fight, but like they were like maybe second or third on the card of WrestleMania.

They were super early

to have stolen the show over a Jey Uso and Gunther, over a John Cena and Cody Rhodes, is like a nice

have you

kind of moment for women's wrestling of like, no, we did that.

And that's not just in WWE, that's across all of women's wrestling right now.

So it's so exciting.

It's such an exciting time for us as women to be able to be in those positions.

I wonder what's causing that boom right now for women to just be dominating.

I think for us, it's kind of like women's wrestling fans, yes, they care about what we're doing in the ring, but they also are so invested in us outside of the ring.

And I think

talking about AEW or iWrestle right now in terms of like our biggest storyline is was Tony Storm and Mariah Mae.

And it was a real arguable thing of like, should they have main evented our recent pay-per-view revolution?

But they were the semi-main event.

And people were really upset that they didn't earn that main event spot, but they like 100% earned it, you know?

And

I think Rhea and Bianca and EO definitely had earned that main event spot.

I think that people are behind us in terms of like, you are real athletes.

You're being presented with these incredible storylines that are easy to follow and understand of like why we like you, why we don't like you, and why we want one person to win versus not.

And I think that that's so rare in women's wrestling.

So it, it makes it super black and white.

We don't like you, we do like you.

We want you to win, we don't want you to win.

And,

you know, just speaking in terms of like AEW, where I'm at, it took Tony and Mariah like almost a year and a half to tell that story, which is almost unheard of, especially in AEW.

Women don't get that time.

Women don't get that type of storytelling that it's like, there's nothing, there's never going to be anything bigger than that yeah and it would be so hard to replicate a type of story that they'd be told they've warranted the main event i've been lucky to do that at tna um i wrestled mickey james who's you know a legend in our industry um i wrestled her in the first ever tna knockouts world title main event back in 2022 the main event of hard to kill And we did a Texas death match.

And the implications that came with that in terms of like, we are setting a standard for women's wrestling and setting a standard for women to come after us to tell that type of story to tell that type of intensity and meet that level of us um it's it's hard to do in women's wrestling and it's rarely done so i think that That's why people are behind us.

They're like wrestling companies are finally seeing the worth of women and the marketability and the merchandise sales and things like that behind us, that it's almost becoming inevitable for us.

I love it.

That's super cool.

How much are you involved in the storytelling process?

Like the athlete, do they have kind of their own input into that?

Yeah, it kind of depends on where you are.

Like for me, I don't get too much input in that, but there are women above me at AEW that do get more input.

And so it kind of just depends where you come from, what your status is, and things like that.

Like right now, Mercedes Monet, who was Sasha Banks in WWE, kind of gets that like

open forum to be like, I'd like to work with this person and these are my ideas.

And then, you know, the writers kind of not necessarily conform, but they do listen to what she has to say.

I don't necessarily have that type of pull per se, but I definitely think that women are growing in that position in our industry.

And, you know, it just takes role models to be like, I'm going to break that mold.

I'm going to push that boundary.

I'm going to get myself in that position to then let other people follow in their footsteps.

I love it.

I've got to ask you this since you're here.

The goat of female wrestling.

Yeah.

Who do you think it is?

Is that me?

Other than you.

No.

Oh, gosh.

I know you're friends with them, so it's a little difficult.

Yeah, you know what?

I think my brain always goes to like a Gail Kim,

um, who started in WWE,

didn't really do too much, um, got released, went to Tine, and really made her name, and then left Tine, went back to WWE, wasn't happy.

And there's this like iconic moment of Gail's where she's in a battle royal with like, let's just say it's 12 or 15 other women, and she rolls out of the ring before she's supposed to and just leaves the match.

And it kind of was like an unheard of moment of like wrestlers in general just don't do that.

And here's a woman who believes so much in herself and the things she's accomplished before she got to WWE.

She's doing that.

And she kind of wrote this like unspoken rite of passage for all of us that when I got to work with her at teen A, it was so like,

I think she saw a lot of me in herself and I saw a lot of my journey in herself that I think that's the goat.

I think she has transcended wrestling in terms of the opportunity she's got outside of it.

I think that she said, I don't give a fuck what you think of me or what you think my potential is or what my boundaries are.

I'm going to exceed them.

And I just believe in strong women believing in themselves and advocating for themselves.

And I'm such an

outspoken New Jersey girl that's like, hey, you can't tell me nothing.

I believe in myself and I'm going to tell you how I feel about every situation I'm in.

And I just think she kind of wrote that passage for us.

So while I think I'm a GOAT in a lot of ways, I think that she's the OG for me.

She's the one that I'm like, if I could have a career identical to hers, I would be successful at the end of the day.

I love that.

Where can people find you?

What are you up to next?

Yeah.

So everyone can find me on social media at Deanna Parazzo, Twitter,

X, whatever you call it,

Instagram.

I'm on TikTok.

And what's up for me?

I just entered the Ring of Honor, which is an extension company of AEW, but a company that I've been a part of in so many different ways for the last 10 years.

And so back in 2015, July will be 10 years since I entered Ring of Honor.

And I was lucky enough to have the first.

at the time women of honors match and i've kind of been branded with this like i was given the credit of rebirthing women into ring of honor and so we've just announced an inaugural tournament for a pure Ring of Honor women's champion.

And so pure rules are kind of weird where like rope breaks matter and submissions matter and things like that, which is totally the type of wrestler I am.

I'm a submission-based wrestler.

And so I'm really excited to be in that tournament because I feel like 10 years later, I'm going home.

I'm going back to where it all began.

I'm going back to my roots.

And if it wasn't for me, if I'm being honest, that division wouldn't exist.

Dang.

I was a part of that first first match 10 years ago.

And so for women to have

stayed in the company for 10 years long through all these different iterations of the company, where it was a part of Sinclair Broadcasting and now it's a part of AEW.

And there was a time in between that where I was the Ring of Honor Women's World Champion and there wasn't even a Ring of Honor company that existed

is really, really special for me to bring that into this new day and age.

So I will be a part of that tournament starting soon.

And I very much look forward to competing for that Pure Women's Championship.

Stay tuned, guys.

We're linked up below.

Thanks for coming on.

Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

Fellow New Jersey.

And thanks for watching, guys.

See you next time.