It's Saturday, you know what that means... another Weekly Watchlist! This match snuck up on me this week when I was cleaning up my media server of wrestling. For some reason, I kept seeing stuff about Deonna on socials and in the TNA shows I was adding to my library, so I decided to see what some of her best matches were. I've always been a fan of her work, so I wanted to give her a chance to shine on the blog. This match was a great choice and a fun way to get to talk about her work.
Let's not delay any longer and get right into the match, yeah?
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| TNA |
Weekly Roundup
Here's what I watched for the week;
Here’s what we’re reviewing for the Watchlist;
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Deonna Purrazzo vs. Jordynne Grace - Deonna seeks her third reign, while Jordynne seeks an upset victory.
With Mickie James relinquishing the Knockouts Championship, "The Virtuosa" Deonna Purrazzo looks to become a three time Knockouts World Champion. "The Juggernaut" Jordynne Grace, on the other hand, has never beaten Deonna Purrazzo, seeking to add that feather to her cap on route to becoming a three time Knockouts Champion as well. Two women with plenty of history together in the main event, making even more history together.
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| Sizing each other up. TNA |
Basic Breakdown
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| Mickie addressing the status of her injury. TNA |
Purrzaao and Grace have a great deal of history between them, with the Juggernaut coming up 2-0 in TNA/Impact matches against The Vitruosa. Few women can say they've beaten Jordynne, and fewer still can say they've beaten her twice. If Deonna can defeat Grace for a third time tonight, she'll accomplish what I'm sure many believe to be an impossible task. But if there's anyone who's ready and willing to try, it's Purrazzo.
Bell to Bell
A handshake starts this match off, a healthy amount of respect between these two athletes. It's a pretty fundamental start, with Grace's strength allowing her to keep a side headlock despite Purrazzo trying to shoot her off with the ropes. Reversing a corner whip, Purrazzo tries to slow the match down to a pace that favours her more methodical, technique-heavy style. She focuses in on the left arm, with her most impactful moves targeting that arm specifically. She twists and wrenches at the limb, hyper extending the elbow with a modified upkick.
Finding technique a no-go for escaping Deonna's grasp, Grace powers out and shoulder blocks her adversary to the canvas, but Purrazzo is able to seek out her limb again, snatching and delivering a modified lifter to the arm. Sure, targeting the arm softens it up for Purrazzo's finish, but it also weakens her much stronger opponent a considerable amount. It's not smart to engage in a battle strength when you're down a limb, no matter how strong you are.
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| Grace gets caught! TNA |
With impressive quickness, Purrazzo is able to out-manoeuvre Grace a number of times, finding a way to take her down with a headscissors and a pump kick to the jaw, flattening Jordynne outright. A standing moonsault leads to the first pinfall of the match, with Grace able to easily escape the attempt. With Purrazzo out on the apron, Grace tries for a kick but Deonna catches her, bringing her leg through the ropes but doesn't get a chance to do anything with the trapped limb. Grace swings with one arm, gets caught, she goes for a shot with the other arm, caught, what is she to do now? Headbutt Purrazzo! But of course! The shot catches her in the collarbone, dropping her to the floor and allowing Grace to deliver a quick dropkick through the ropes.
In an impressive display of strength, Grace is able to skin the cat and pull herself back inside the ring. Firing off for the ropes, Grace dives and crashes into Deonna, sending her into the barricade on impact. Acting quickly, Grace rips Deonna up and drills her with the Juggernaut Jackhammer (although it wouldn't be called that for a while yet) on the floor before sending her back between the ropes for a pin attempt. Again, an easy kick out at two.
With Purrazzo backed into the corner, Grace drives her shoulder through her gut again and again. A bodyslam in the centre leads to another pin attempt and another kickout, with Grace going right back to the pin to make sure it wasn't just a fluke kickout. Feeling energized, Grace uses the back of Purrazzo, while holding her in a front facelock, to urge the crowd into clapping. Displaying her impressive strength, Grace rips Purrazzo up into a vertical suplex and holds her for a solid 20 count. Unreal, honestly. After dropping her, a pose may have given Deonna the time she needed to recover, kicking out of the pin attempt at two.
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| The power of a Juggernaut. TNA |
Forcing Deonna into the corner, she sits her on the top and tries to pull her in for the Musclebuster, but Purrazzo catches on quickly and fights her way out, stomping the arm of Grace when she holds the top rope for support following a kick. Back to the arm goes Deonna, wrenching it not once, but twice, with Grace fending her off with a forearm shot each time. She breaks Deonna's grip on the third attempt, but a knee lift from Purrazzo stuns Grace in the centre, allowing the Virtuosa to set up for her signature sequence. A side Russian leg sweep takes Grace down to the canvas, with Purrazzo rolling through in an early Fujiwara armbar attempt. She tries to wrench, but Grace is moving too much for the hold to be anything close to effective, breaking it by rolling Deonna around into a pinfall attempt.
A pump kick sends Grace through the ropes and out to the elevated ramp, Deonna following her out and shoving her to the floor, able to land a moonsault off the ramp and onto the fallen Juggernaut below. An attempted piledriver in the ring is avoided by Grace, with Deonna able to counter Jordynne's counter into a counter of her own, tying her up in a submission attempt in the centre of the ring!
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| Technical trickery. TNA |
From one corner to another they follow each other back and forth, with Grace twisting and muscling Purrazzo around with a nasty vertibreaker! A pin is attempted, but it's not quite enough for a three count. Sensing the end is in sight, Grace pulls Deonna in and tries for the Grace Driver, but Purrazzo fights out. She makes an attempt at a submission hold, but Grace continually upkicks her to fend her off, sending her into the corner only to stumble out into a submission attempt by Grace! A rear naked choke!
They attempt to strike at each other in the centre, with each attempt dodged or blocked, only for their similar thoughts to cost them; a pair of headbutts. They knock each other loopy, with both women collapsing to the canvas after the impact. At some point in the match, Jordynne's eye piercing got cut, as she's streaming blood down the side of her face. Back on their feet, both women trade shots in the middle, with Purrazzo seemingly getting the better of the exchange, if it wasn't for Grace's outright refusal to go down from the shots. She eats a boot and bellows, fired up and ready to take the very best the Virtuosa has to offer. Rebounding off the ropes, Deonna twists around the torso of Grace, landing her in the perfect position to bend back for the Fujiwara armbar!
Thankfully, Grace has enough strength left to bend her arm slightly, preventing the hold from being fully applied, with Purrazzo working extra hard to try and hyper extend the elbow or put unwanted pressure on the shoulder. Shifting her position, Purrazzo looks to transition from the Fujiwara to Venus de Milo, her double-arm submission, a punishing hold to be trapped in for any length of time at all. Grace shifts and writhes in the hold, able to see the ropes and, mercifully, able to get a toe on the bottom rope.
A forearm shot off a rope rebound rocks Grace, but a spinebuster rocks Deonna harder, with a scarily close two count nearly costing her the match. With both women vertical once again, Grace resorts to sledgehammer-like arm shots, a standing lariat, if you will. Lefts and rights, back and forth, sending shocks up and down the body of Purrazzo, with Grace looking for any opening to cracks her with a huge lariat shot. She winds up and fires, but Purrazzo avoids, hitting the ropes, and attempting a wheelbarrow on Grace, but Purrazzo unknowingly put herself in the perfect position for the Grace Driver. Jordynne pulls her up, and drills her, stacking her high on her shoulder for the thr- no! Purrazzo escapes at two!
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| A big 'ol driver! TNA |
⚡Move of the Match⚡
Grace can hardly believe that Deonna was able to escape the pin, but she must know the end is nearer now than ever before. Seating her on the top rope, Grace looks for a superplex off the top, but Purrazzo fights free and sunset flips over the top. Pulling her down, she crushes her with a massive top rope powerbomb before spiking her with a piledriver. She pulls her in for the cover, and the referee counts three! We have a new, 3x Knockouts World Champion!
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| Slammed and spiked. Nasty work. TNA |
Overview & Final Rating
🟢 - A highly recommended knockout.
A slow burner of a match, but very fun and highly competitive. It's clear from just about every move in this match that these two women know each other exceptionally well and are trying to do whatever they can to one-up their opponent. Grace wants to prove that she's not only better than Purrazzo by achieving her first pinfall victory over her in TNA, but also winning the Knockouts title in the process. There's a palpable sense of competitiveness throughout the entire match, with every weakness being exploited and every window opened as much as possible. Really fun work from both women, I enjoyed this match quite a bit.
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There we have it folks, another week down, another Watchlist in the tank. I'm getting into a good rhythm with these single match reviews, but I do want to get back to doing double shots at some point in time. Unless you folks prefer these single match reviews, I dunno! I'll see what I feel like.
Until then, be well, stay safe, and love one another.
cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com
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