5 Wrestlers Who Could Be Deonna Purrazzo's Mystery Opponent At IMPACT Slammiversary 2021

Gail Kim, the cheeky sod, teased herself coming out of retirement on last Thursday's IMPACT Wrestling broadcast to challenge Deonna Purrazzo for the Knockouts Championship at Slammiversary this weekend (17 July).

It won't be Gail, of course; she had the perfect send-off match vs. Tessa Blanchard. Per Fightful Select, it also won't be Ruby Soho (Riott). Neither will it be a current member of the IMPACT roster, according to that same report over the weekend.

So, who challenges 'The Virtuosa' next?

It can't be a returning Taylor Wilde or Su Yung, as they're both members of the current crop of knockouts (in turn, this makes the ongoing Kimber Lee and Susan arc a tad misleading). Lana and Santana Garrett are also exempt; they were only let go by WWE on 2 June. Should they have ninety-day non-compete clauses, they'll expire at the end of August.

It could, however, be a member of the Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide roster. Deonna is slated for a title vs. title showdown on 14 August at Triplemania XXIX vs. Faby Apache.

Why not get Apache to face Deonna in a taster of sorts here? She's had four matches in IMPACT before (including a title challenge vs. Tessa Blanchard), so she's hardly an unfamiliar face to the IMPACT Zone.

Or, it could be...

Killer Kelly has flown under the radar since being let go from WWE's NXT UK brand. Even then, her time under contract there is easily forgotten about.

The Portugal native has maintained her status in the likes of Germany's westside Xtreme wrestling and England's Pro Wrestling: EVE. She's not wrestled since 1 December of last year, though (or, at least, that's when her match aired). The company in question? IMPACT Wrestling, alongside Renee Michelle against Jordynne Grace and Jazz.

Kelly felt a natural fit for IMPACT. She was never going to get anywhere far in NXT UK, as evidenced by consistent losses to Xia Brookside, Isla Dawn, and Toni Storm. In IMPACT, however, the former wXw Women's Champion could perform some of her career-best work. As short as it was, her time spent in IMPACT saw some decent effort in the ring from her.

This past May, Fightful Select reported that IMPACT officials were keen to get Kelly signed to an official deal after she'd wrestled at their tapings. Unfortunately, the ongoing global b*stard led to some issues that prevented her from returning at that time.

Slammiversary feels like the perfect time to re-debut Kelly, particularly if IMPACT wish to make her a major star in the knockouts division. They're yet to wrestle at all, if records are to be believed. That needs changing. Fast.