Pro wrestling stars host event to benefit Tunnel to Towers

Professional wrestling stars Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo will bring the 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 Ring of Honor (ROH) Pure Women’s Champion, will host Battle for the Brave: Wrestling Showcase for Heroes, which will benefit the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

The bell will ring at 7 pm ET at the Rahway Rec Center in Rahway on June 6. Purrazzo said she and Maclin got the idea to put on a charity wrestling show after working with Josh Lentin of the Heroes Cup Hockey Tournament. As a wrestler for more than a decade, Purrazzo told Pak Gazette Digital that she wasn’t sure if promoting an event would really be up her alley, but she took on the challenge especially for a great cause.

Purrazzo said she wasn’t exactly sure how the professional wrestling world would respond to the event, but added that the support has been tremendous.

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“It’s a great cause just because the entire New York/New Jersey area, the tri-state area, was really affected by 9/11. It affected both of our lives,” Maclin told Pak Gazette Digital. “I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2005. It just affected everyone. So, especially a lot of the talent that’s on the card, they all have some kind of story or connection to 9/11.

“And with Tunnel to Towers, a lot of people in that area love the cause and love what Tunnel to Towers does for the community by giving back to the families of first responders, paying mortgages, smart homes for veterans who have been injured and now paying college tuition for families of first responders and veterans who have lost loved ones.”

Maclin shed light on his service as a US 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.

“Like I said before, 9/11 was a big part of my life growing up,” he explained. “I grew up outside of New York City. So when 9/11 happened, I was home. 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 and that was 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 and put one foot forward and keep moving forward and it’s been a roller coaster ride 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 will host an event at the White House in June, while IndyCar will race on the streets of Washington, DC, in August.

Purrazzo and Maclin shared what it meant to them to be an American as American pride begins to come to the fore.

“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 afterward, I felt a sense of unity where everyone came together, everyone was proud to be an American, and we were going to fight and stay together and be one united country. And I think that feeling has always stayed with me, but being the wife of a veteran, she’s taken on a completely different role.

“Steve’s openness about his service and the things he’s seen and experienced with me has given me a new passion to let veterans know that, yes, war will always come home to you, but it doesn’t have to define you. Steve was so lucky that he was able to find wrestling right after he got out of the Marine Corps and that saved him, in a way, from falling down the unknown path of ‘What am I? Who am I next?’

Professional wrestling stars Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo stare at each other. (Provided to Pak Gazette Digital)

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“And I think that’s something that our veterans are dealing with 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 that battle – an identity crisis of who I am after service. So, that’s what being an American means to me now, to show that support for our veterans, to show that our country is here for them and we’re here to support them and we’re here to give them the resources that they need to live healthy and successful lives after service.

Maclin recalled working on some of the Tunnel to Towers events earlier this year, which underscored why he had fought in Afghanistan.

“It didn’t matter who it was, man, woman, black, white, it didn’t matter race, gender, anything. They were all praising our country, waving the American flag: red, white and blue,” he said. “I know there’s animosity toward certain points of view today, and for me, that’s what I fight for, that’s what I still fight for.

“And once we have children in this world, however, we will be able to pass on knowledge to others. Always, no matter what, I want to maintain that pride in our country and fight for what we are really fighting for and that is for our brothers and our neighbors.”

Americans’ pride in their country is declining, a Gallup poll found last June, while a Pak Gazette poll showed that about six in 10 people are proud of the United States today.

Professional wrestling stars Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo were champions in TNA. (Provided to Pak Gazette Digital)

Pak Gazette Digital asked Purrazzo and Maclin how Americans can regain that pride.

“I think, like Steve said, the connotation of having American pride is very negative in our country right now. And I think having patriots standing up and saying, no, I believe in our country, I believe in its ideals, 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 just being able to be comfortable and express 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 told Pak Gazette Digital exclusively that he will be part of the Battle for the Brave Cup Gauntlet Match. He said he will be the first competitor in the match, which will also feature Richard Holliday, Megan Bayne, BDE and others.

“Everyone has been asking me, ‘Why wouldn’t you want to wrestle on your own show, especially for such an important cause?’ “So, from now on, I officially enter as the number one participant in the Battle for the Brave Memorial Cup,” he said. “I will face 12 other competitors. It is an over-the-top battle royale and the last two competitors become a match.

“I’m going to take the hard way and the hard way to get to No. 1 and try to go all the way to be (last).”

Purrazzo said that, at the moment, he is not in any games. But he did not rule out getting involved in the comments in some way.

The 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 very excited to be spearheading Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo’s very special Tunnel to Towers event. Tunnel to Towers is a very special organization that helps care for people who have been injured on the job protecting us: people like the military, first responders and police,” the Hardys said in a statement to Pak Gazette Digital. “We are very grateful for the services and efforts of all these people to keep us all safe and healthy. We hope to raise as much money as possible.”

Floor seats for the event are completely sold out. General admission tickets and Hardy’s meet and greet tickets are still available.