Fight Forever Match of the Week: Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James (10/23/2021)

Welcome to Wrestlevolve’s Fight Forever Match of the Week. Here we’ll highlight one match from the week in professional wrestling and talk about why it was one of our favorites. It could be a 30-minute epic or the exciting culmination of an entertaining feud. It might be a pay-per-view bout or a really solid TV match. Wrestling resonates with everyone differently, so feel free to let us know what your match of the week was in the comments!

It’s getting tougher and tougher to pick just one Match of the Week here on Wrestlevolve, but hey, we can’t pick three or four (or five matches) as much as we’d want to. So even though we got a few excellent match-ups last week including Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair (that finish was rough, though), Bryan Danielson vs. Dustin Rhodes, and Edge vs. Seth Rollins in Hell in a Cell, there can only be one Match of the Week.

That Match of the Week was the Virtuosa Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James for the Impact Wrestling Knockouts Championship at Bound for Glory in Las Vegas.

Purrazzo vs. James was everything you could want in a championship match. There were moments of fast-paced, hard-hitting offense. There were times when the two competitors slowed things down to allowed spectators in attendance and those of us watching at home some time to breathe. There were big spots, submissions, and false finishes. At different points in the match, James kicked out of Purrazzo’s Queen’s Gambit piledriver, and Purrazzo kicked out of James’ DDT.

It was exciting — gasp-inducing even — seeing Deonna Purrazzo and Mickie James both hit their signature maneuvers and finishing moves at different points in the match, only for the wrestler on the receiving end to kick out. Mickie James came out on top and in the process captured the Impact Wrestling Knockouts Championship in what was an absolute banger of a wrestling match.

There’s a lot to unpack in terms of this match, so we’re just going to go ahead and talk about it!

First off, Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James acted as the co-main event at this year’s Bound for Glory. That’s awesome, and it’s a spot that was definitely deserved. Hell, you could argue that this match would be an awesome main event on this or any other major professional wrestling card — especially after what occurred after the finish between Christian Cage and Josh Alexander in the main event.

Second, earlier in the week, we praised Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair for just how beautifully paced and huge that match was, but the finish was awful. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James was just as perfectly paced and just as massive of a match as what we saw from Belair and Flair, but it had an actual finish. There were no shenanigans. There was a clear winner. It was an absolutely standout professional wrestling match between two great professional wrestlers. So a huge thumbs up to Impact, Purrazzo, and James for that.

Last, there was some not-so-enthusiastic buzz surrounding the decision in that match. A lot of fans felt that Deonna Purrazzo should’ve cemented herself as one of the greatest Knockouts champs in Impact Wrestling history by getting the win on Mickie James, a true veteran and former champ in her own right. While we certainly understand and appreciate those sentiments, the Virtuosa still looked like a million bucks here, and there’s really no shame in her dropping the title to someone like Mickie James.

Deonna Purrazzo has proven herself against challenger after challenger, defeating the likes of Rosemary, Jazz, Havok, and Thunder Rosa. She also took her star power to the next level by defeating AAA’s Faby Apache for the Reina de Reinas Championship in Mexico earlier this year. Would it have been great for Purrazzo to further her legacy with a successful title defense at Bound for Glory? Yes, of course it would’ve been. But her reign isn’t diminished by losing to Mickie James after a lengthy and historic 343-day run.

Straight-up, Deonna Purrazzo losing the Knockouts Championship to Mickie James is nothing like the Fiend Bray Wyatt losing the WWE Universal Championship to Goldberg. Not even close.

So with all that said, we can’t heap enough praise on Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James for the Impact Knockouts Title. It was an awesome match, it was an excellent showcase of rad women’s wrestling, and you should absolutely check it out.

What was last week’s best bout? Click here for more Fight Forever Match of the Week awesomeness!