Mercedes Martinez Touts Deonna Purrazzo’s Growth: ‘It’s Amazing What She Brings To The Table’

Mercedes Martinez says that when the old school meets the new school, you never know what can happen.

In a Wrestlezone exclusive, IMPACT Wrestling star Mercedes Martinez had nothing but praise for former Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo’s growth since their first bout years ago.

“Me wrestling Deonna outside of IMPACT has been a blessing,” Martinez admitted. “I think I wrestled her early in her career when she was brand new, maybe not even a year into the business and I was still making my name as well and from seeing her back then to seeing her now, it’s amazing what she brings to the table. I always said it doesn’t matter how many years you’ve been in the business, it matters what you’ve done in those years. You can’t call yourself a veteran and can’t call yourself the best unless you put in the work and Deonna definitely has put in the work and has proven herself time and time again that she’s one of the best female wrestlers out there. Working with her at WrestlePro, just proves whether she’s a champion or not, she’s going to carry herself at a high standard and just getting in the ring with her, me being a veteran, I can learn from her as well, it’s not just her learning from me because again, it’s just bridging that gap of the new generation and the older generation, we just mesh so well and we have a good match and we adapt and Deanna’s one of those that can adapt to anything and everything that you put in front of her.”

Mercedes Martinez would then give some insight on what the next chapter of her career holds, now that she’s free to work wherever and whenever she wants in her post-WWE career. Asked if she could comment on her contract status, Martinez said she’d love to eventually be with IMPACT long-term and praised the roster, but wants to wrestle anywhere people would welcome her right now.

“As far as IMPACT, I would love to be there long-term but I also want to be everywhere to be honest. I want to be able to wrestle everywhere that I can wrestle for any promotion that wants me because I want to be able to make sure that fans can see me everywhere that they can, in those dark, little dingy places that you don’t get to wrestle very often, I want to be there. I want to make sure that I’m available to everybody and IMPACT has been phenomenal to me, I don’t have any complaints, they give me matches that I’ve never had, wrestling Brandi Lauren, wrestling Rachael Ellering, wrestling Tasha Steelz, who I think is going to be a household name in the next couple of years, I really do and they just have a phenomenal roster, they really do. Their roster has a lot of friends of mine that I’ve been around a lot in the business and in the independent scene, so it’s really exciting to be there and think about all the matches that I can have, a match with Savannah Evans, a match with Jordynne Grace, who I wrestled beforehand but just for a bigger audience to see what we can do is exciting and hopefully, it’ll come to fruition.”

Mercedes Martinez lost her title match against Mickie James at Turning Point. Deonna Purrazzo returned to IMPACT programming at the event, attacking James and setting up a rematch for the Knockouts Championship at Hard To Kill.

While fans will have to wait for a singles match in IMPACT Wrestling, Mercedes Martinez vs. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Thunder Rosa is set to take place at WrestleCade in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on November 27.

Related: IMPACT Wrestling Spoilers From 11/21: Hard To Kill Main Event Set