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A current top AEW star disclosed that she had talks with the like of Triple H before declining the WWE return. The star became All Elite earlier this year.
The AEW star in question is Deonna Purazzo. Deonna made her All Elite debut in January 2024. She was also on the WWE roster from 2018 to 2020. Before her move to Tony Khan's promotion, Purazzo was a top star in TNA.
During a recent interview with Stephanie Chase, Deonna Purazzo was asked how she came to the decision to go to AEW and not return to the WWE earlier this year in her free agency. Purazzo stated the following:
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"It kinda came down to like few weeks before, you know what I mean? I was a free agent, kind of talking to everybody, talking to Triple H, I talked to William Regal, I talked to obviously Tony Khan and trying to just figure out what the best decision for me was going to be and I ultimately went to like back before I went to NXT the first time I was supposed to be on 'All In.' I was supposed to be doing all these great things going back to Japan and I gave all that up to go to NXT."
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Deonna further revealed:
"You know it didn't work out and now I was very bitter about that but now I could say it just didn't work out and I learned a lot about myself, but I was hesitant to go back into that situation knowing how I was treated, wanting to avoid that at all costs and I just felt like there wasn't trust there for me to squander this great opportunity I knew was there with AEW." [12:42 - 13:34]
AEW star recalls a missed opportunity due to WWE
AEW star Deonna Purazzo also recalled how she missed an opportunity to compete at 'All In' back in 2018 due to being in WWE NXT. Purazzo admitted the following:
"Who knows in hindsight if had I not gone to NXT, had I gone to All In. I could've been at AEW from the beginning maybe. I could've been here now for going on five and a half...six years. So just I was like worried, that I'd be giving up something really really great for something that I already knew the potential of." [13:35 - 13:54]
Henceforth, only time will tell what Tony Khan has in store for Deonna going forward in AEW.
If you use parts from the above quotes, please credit Stephanie Chase and give h/t to 'Sportskeeda Wrestling' for transcription.
