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Pro wrestling stars Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo are set to bring pain to a live audience in New Jersey next month – for a good cause.
Maclin, who performs for TNA Wrestling (TNA), and Purrazzo, the current outright Ring of Honor (ROH) women’s champion, will host the Battle for the Brave: Wrestling Showcase for Heroes, which will benefit the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
The bell will ring at 7 p.m. ET at the Rahway Rec Center in Rahway on June 6. Purrazzo said she and Maclin came up with the idea of putting on a wrestling benefit show after working with Josh Lentin of the Heroes Cup hockey tournament. Having been a wrestler for over a decade, Purrazzo told PK Press Club Digital that she wasn’t sure if promoting an event would really be her cup of tea, but she took the challenge head on, especially for a great cause.
Purrazzo said she wasn’t sure how the professional wrestling world would react to the event, but added that the support had been overwhelming.
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Professional wrestling stars Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo will host an event to benefit the Tunnels 2 Towers Foundation. (Provided to PK Press Club Digital)
“It’s a great cause just because the whole New York/New Jersey area, the tri-state area, was really impacted by 9/11. It affected both of our lives,” Maclin told PK Press Club Digital. “I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2005. It affected everyone. So, especially among the talent that is on the map, everyone has a story or connection to 9/11.
“And with Tunnel to Towers, a lot of people in this area love the cause and love what Tunnel to Towers is doing for the community by giving back to first responder families, paying off mortgages, smart homes for veterans who have been injured and now paying college tuition for first responders and veteran families who have lost loved ones.”
Maclin shed light on his service as a U.S. Marine. He served in the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Weapons Company as a machine gunner. From 2007 to 2011, he toured in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
“As I said before, the attacks of September 11 marked a large part of my life as a child,” he explained. “I grew up just outside of New York City. So when 9/11 happened, I was in my room. It just pushed me in that direction. It changed a lot of people’s lives. And for me, for the better, because it instilled in me what I always knew I had to do: go serve and fight for my country no matter what.
“I chose the Marines because the Marines are the best. And that’s how I’ve always been. I just try to work hard, put one foot forward and keep moving forward and it’s been a roller coaster ever since. Now here we are, almost 25 years later, and we’re putting on a wrestling show in honor of 9/11 and our first responders.”
The Battle for the Brave will coincide with America’s 250th birthday and America 250 celebrations across the United States. The UFC is hosting an event at the White House in June, while IndyCar is scheduled to race on the streets of Washington, D.C., in August.
Purrazzo and Maclin shared what being American means to them as American pride begins to come into its own.
“Growing up in New Jersey as well, 9/11 was a big deal. For me, I was in second grade. I didn’t understand what was going on, but in the days that followed, I felt a sense of unity in the sense that everyone was united, everyone was proud to be an American, and we were going to fight and stand together and be one united country. And I think that feeling has always stuck with me, but as a as the wife of a veteran, she took on a completely different role.
“Steve speaking about his service and the things he saw and experienced with me gave me a new passion for letting veterans know that, yes, war will always come back with you, but it doesn’t have to define you. Steve was so lucky that he was able to find struggle right after getting out of the Marine Corps and that somehow saved him from falling down the unknown path of ‘What am I?’ Who am I next?”
Professional wrestling stars Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo look at each other. (Provided to PK Press Club Digital)
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“And I think it’s something that our veterans face without the rest of the public knowing. It’s not talked about enough. They say 22 veterans, but right now the math leads to 44 veterans a day losing their lives in this battle – an identity crisis of who I am after service. So that’s what being American means to me now, is showing that support for our veterans, showing that our country is here for them and that we’re here to support them and we’re here to give them the resources they need to live healthy, successful lives after service.”
Maclin remembers working at some Tunnel to Towers events earlier this year, which highlighted what he fought for in Afghanistan.
“It didn’t matter who it was, male, female, Black, White, it didn’t matter what race, gender, nothing. It was everyone praising our country, waving the American flag – that red, white and blue,” he said. “I know there’s animosity towards certain viewpoints these days, and for me, that’s what I’m fighting for, that’s what I’m still fighting for.
“And once we have children in this world, we can pass on our knowledge to others. No matter what, I always want to keep this pride in our country and fight for what we are really fighting for, which is our brothers and our neighbors.”
Americans’ pride in their country is declining, a Gallup poll found last June, while a PK Press Club poll showed that about six in 10 people are now proud of the United States.
Professional wrestling stars Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo were champions in TNA. (Provided to PK Press Club Digital)
PK Press Club Digital asked Purrazzo and Maclin how Americans can regain that pride.
“I think, as Steve said, the connotation of American pride is so negative in our country right now. And I think having patriots who stand up and say, no, I believe in our country, I believe in the ideals of it, I believe in the foundation that we were built on – fighting for our freedom, fighting for what we believe in, fighting for our neighbors, fighting to support each other. I think being able to be comfortable and express yourself on that is the first step.
“We should not be ashamed to be Americans. We should not be ashamed to support our military, to support the ideals of this country and what it was founded on.”
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Event Details
Maclin exclusively told PK Press Club Digital that he will be part of the Battle for the Brave Cup Gauntlet Match. He said he will be the first contestant in the match, which will also feature Richard Holliday, Megan Bayne, BDE and others.
“Everyone asks me, ‘Why wouldn’t you want to wrestle on your own show, especially for such a great cause?’ So, from now on, officially, I am signing up as the number one participant in the Battle for the Brave Memorial Cup,” he said. “I’m going against 12 other contestants. It’s an over-the-top battle royale and the last two contestants turn into a match.
“I’m going to take the hard road and the difficult path to become No. 1 and try to work my way all the way to the end to be the (last).”
Purrazzo said she is not in a match at the moment. But he didn’t rule out getting involved in the comments in one way or another.
Legendary professional wrestling team Jeff and Matt Hardy, known as the Hardy Boyz, will also be part of the event.
“My brother and I are both very excited to be headlining the very special Tunnel to Towers event hosted by Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo. Tunnel to Towers is a very special organization that helps care for the people who have been injured on the job and protect us – people like the military, first responders and police,” the Hardys said in a statement to PK Press Club Digital. “We are very grateful for all of these people’s service and efforts to keep us safe and healthy. We look forward to raising as much money as possible.”
Floor tickets for the event are completely sold out. There are still general admission tickets and Hardy’s meet and greet tickets still available.
