Taylor Wilde’s 2021 return to IMPACT Wrestling was reportedly meant to lead to a second reign as Knockouts Champion, but the company’s plans changed after Deonna Purrazzo was unexpectedly placed in a title-versus-title match for AAA.
The revelation came during Wilde’s appearance on Boots 2 Boots, hosted by Purrazzo and Steve Maclin. Purrazzo, who was the reigning Knockouts Champion when Wilde returned to the company in 2021, recalled that the intended direction was for Wilde to challenge her at Slammiversary and leave the event with the title.
Instead, AAA set up Purrazzo for a match in Mexico in which the Reina de Reinas Championship and the Knockouts Championship would both be at stake. Purrazzo said the stipulation arrived without then-IMPACT executive Scott D’Amore being aware of it, creating a major complication for the creative plans already being discussed around Wilde’s return.
A comeback that appeared set for a major title program
Wilde’s arrival back in IMPACT during 2021 carried considerable significance. She had been absent from professional wrestling since 2011, making her return a notable moment for a performer who had previously helped establish the Knockouts division during its formative years. A former Knockouts Champion, Wilde came back with name value, history in the promotion, and the credibility of a veteran joining a roster that had changed substantially during her decade away.
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Purrazzo was at the center of that division at the time. Her title reign had made her one of the defining figures of the Knockouts roster, and a program with Wilde would have positioned the returning veteran directly in the championship picture. The intended plan, as Purrazzo described it, was not simply for Wilde to make an appearance or gradually work her way into contention. Wilde was slated to challenge for the title at one of the company’s biggest annual events and win it.
Purrazzo told Wilde that they had been working toward a Slammiversary match in which Wilde would become Knockouts Champion. However, the AAA development created a conflict because Purrazzo’s championship was suddenly tied into another promotion’s title match.
“You were coming back and you were challenging me,” Purrazzo said on Boots 2 Boots. “We’re working towards a program, me and you at Slammiversary, where you are going to become the Knockouts Champion and now AAA has put this stipulation on a match that no one agreed to.”
The AAA stipulation changed the equation
Purrazzo explained that she was scheduled to travel to Mexico for AAA when she learned the bout would be contested under winner-take-all terms for the Reina de Reinas Title and the Knockouts Championship. She said that D’Amore did not know about the stipulation when it was put in place.
That created an obvious issue for IMPACT’s projected Slammiversary result. If Purrazzo was going to defend the Knockouts Championship in a title-versus-title match outside the company beforehand, the promotion no longer had complete control over the championship’s immediate direction. The situation also raised the prospect of the belt leaving the planned storyline before Wilde’s scheduled title challenge could occur.
Rather than insist that the championship situation be structured around her own participation in the AAA match, Purrazzo said she offered a solution that would have kept Wilde’s prospective title win alive. Purrazzo told the writers that Wilde, whose real name is Shantelle Taylor, could take her place in Mexico if the company still wanted to move forward with Wilde becoming champion.
“I’m so happy to go to AAA and do this match but if you want Shantelle to win, by all means, she can go to Mexico and have that match,” Purrazzo recalled. “I don’t want to say I have to be the champion for this, because it threw a wrench in everyone’s plans.”
Purrazzo ultimately competed in the AAA match and went on to become Reina de Reinas Champion. That outcome meant the envisioned Wilde-Purrazzo title change at Slammiversary did not take place. At the 2021 edition of Slammiversary, Purrazzo instead issued an open challenge for the Knockouts Championship, with Thunder Rosa revealed as the mystery opponent.
Wilde was unaware of the proposed title victory
Perhaps the most striking part of the discussion was Wilde’s reaction. Purrazzo’s account indicated that Wilde had not been told about the internal title plans. Wilde responded with surprise and laughter after hearing that she had been positioned to regain the championship.
“I had no idea,” Wilde said. “Thanks, D. Appreciate you. Oh my God.”
The exchange offers a look at how fluid wrestling plans can become, especially when championships, talent, and commitments overlap across multiple promotions. In this case, Wilde’s proposed title win was not presented as a storyline that was announced and then publicly abandoned. It was a direction discussed behind the scenes that was reshaped before it reached the audience.
It also underlines the unusual circumstances surrounding Purrazzo’s championship run. Her work during that period extended beyond IMPACT, while the Knockouts title itself became relevant to a major inter-promotional situation. The unplanned AAA stipulation had consequences not only for Purrazzo’s schedule but for an intended spotlight program involving one of the division’s returning names.
Purrazzo points to locker-room respect
Purrazzo framed her willingness to step aside, if necessary, as an example of the atmosphere in the locker room rather than an attempt to portray herself as uniquely selfless. She emphasized the respect she felt existed among the performers and the regard the group had for Wilde’s return as an experienced figure in the division.
For Wilde, a title victory at Slammiversary would have been a major statement following a lengthy hiatus. She had first become Knockouts Champion during her earlier time with the company, and a second reign in 2021 would have linked two very different eras of the division. Instead, her comeback continued in a different direction.
That does not mean Wilde’s return lacked achievements. During her final run with the promotion, she captured the Knockouts World Tag Team Championship alongside KiLynn King. The pairing gave Wilde another championship accomplishment and placed her in the tag-team title scene, even though the singles title plan Purrazzo described never materialized.
Wilde has not wrestled since 2023. Her time back in IMPACT/TNA was therefore shorter than the long first chapter of her career, but the newly discussed Slammiversary plan adds another layer to how close she came to a major singles milestone during that return.
An unrealized chapter in Knockouts history
There is no way to know exactly how a Wilde title reign in 2021 would have unfolded had the AAA stipulation not intervened. Wrestling plans often change because of scheduling, business partnerships, creative decisions, and developments outside a single company’s immediate control. What Purrazzo’s comments establish is that Wilde was not merely viewed as a returning veteran who could strengthen the roster. She was being considered for a prominent championship role at Slammiversary.
The eventual show took a different path, with Thunder Rosa stepping forward as Purrazzo’s mystery challenger. Purrazzo’s trip to AAA also became important in its own right as she emerged with the Reina de Reinas Championship. Those were meaningful developments, but they came at the expense of a proposed Wilde-Purrazzo match and the planned second Knockouts title victory attached to it.
For fans looking back on Wilde’s 2021 comeback, the story provides fresh context for a return that may have seemed more understated than it was behind the curtain. Wilde was once intended to be at the heart of the Knockouts Championship picture on a major event. The circumstances changed, the match did not happen, and Wilde only learned years later just how close she had been to another world title reign.
Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.