10 Wrestlers Who Left WWE & Became World Class

As phenomenal a talent as Kenny Omega is, Deonna Purrazzo reached the peak of her career mere months following her WWE release. Her transformation, while not quite as drastic, came quicker.

Let go by WWE on 15 April 2020, the infamous Black Wednesday, 'The Virtuosa' showed up in IMPACT Wrestling just 41 days later, as her official debut vignette premiered on the 26 May AXS TV broadcast. That she was immediately involved in the Knockouts Championship picture - and has never left the picture as of writing - is a testament to both her work ethic and IMPACT as a promotion.

In just one year, Deonna became a two-time Knockouts Champion, won both the 2020 Wrestler and Knockout of the Year awards, contested IMPACT's first knockouts Iron Man match vs. Jordynne Grace, and cemented herself as the Ace of the knockouts division, a position she maintains to this day.

WWE seriously missed the boat on Purrazzo. She never became a top-tier name in NXT, and was instead used to build other stars up. Losses on main roster programming to Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair got her TV exposure, yes, but it was entirely the wrong kind of exposure.

Deonna is a prime definition of a world-class professional wrestler, not just because she's proven it outside of WWE, but because she proved it in such a short timeframe.