AEW Criticized for Not Signing Recently Released WWE NXT Star, Kenny Omega Responds

Deonna Purrazzo was one of the many WWE wrestlers who was released from the company back in April, [...]

By Connor Casey

Deonna Purrazzo was one of the many WWE wrestlers who was released from the company back in April, and "The Virtuosa" revealed on Tuesday night that she had signed with Impact Wrestling. The move was well-received, as it added another experienced star to Impact's already loaded Knockouts Division, but certain AEW fans (and critics) were upset that the young company didn't try to scoop up somebody who had experience working on nationwide television.

One critic, @JWrestlingV2, went so far as to say Kenny Omega (one of AEW's executive vice presidents who oversees the promotion's Women's Division) had dropped the ball in not signing her. Omega opted to respond.

The title match Omega is referring to featured Hikaru Shida defeating Nyla Rose for the AEW Women's Championship at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view.

This isn't the first time Omega has had to deal with critics since AEW launched. Throughout the first year some fans were taken aback by how Omega wasn't being presented as the unstoppable main-eventing megastar like his last few years in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He addressed those critics back in February while speaking with Sporting News.

"I could compare it to when your favorite player perhaps gets traded to another team. When your favorite player gets traded to another team, and he's initially not the top scorer or leading in assists or playing the way that he used to play like he did for the home team, your team, it's easy to criticize them and say that you made a big mistake, and that you'll never be the same guy again and that it's all downhill," Omega said.

"Because I decided to take a different path in my career, because I'm not doing these long, drawn-out 45 (-minute) to one-hour matches in singles competition, it doesn't mean that I'm not the same guy," he continued. "This isn't about tooting my own horn, but it's like, I'm now helping run a company that has live television every Wednesday. I'm part of a very successful tag team with 'Hangman' Adam Page, a guy that I have a lot of chemistry with, and I'm existing within a division of guys that are amongst the top of all the tag teams on all of the planet and showing that it takes more than just having a good long singles match to be called the best in the world."

He continued: "In ways, this is all me in my creative peak. I mean, I'm talking about my storyline with Kota Ibushi. I don't know if you call that 'The Best Bout Machine' Kenny Omega or not. But to me, that's something different. It's these layers of these things that that go into making what I think makes a true best in the world — not just one guy that has the same kind of match over and over and over again. Because I do not have that same match over and over again, does that not make me just as good?"

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