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Coming off a hot 2022 year, Ashley D’Amboise continued her momentum with a major debut in the first month of 2023.
On January 14, D’Amboise embarked on a huge opportunity right in her own stomping grounds of Atlanta, Georgia. Following IMPACT Wrestling’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view, “La Crème De La Crème” made her way over to the company’s “Fallout” of television tapings. There, D’Amboise not only made her promotional debut, but wrestled a standout graduate of the same wrestling school she previously attended.
Before uprooting to Atlanta, Ashley D’Amboise began her professional wrestling training under the Team Adams Training facility in New Jersey. A few years later, she met face-to-face with a fellow former student, “The Virtuosa” Deonna Purrazzo.
“My match with Deonna was probably the most significant, symbolic match I could express, because we started at Team Adams,” she told WrestleZone’s own Ella Jay. “She was the first female wrestler on his team, and then the first to get signed by WWE and then became how many times champion for IMPACT Wrestling.”
D’Amboise continued, explaining how the match with Purrazzo came together. “Every step along the way, when I was training there — I was with him for a solid six months before I made the move to Georgia. Every time an opportunity would arise where he’d be like, ‘If you do this, well, then I’ll show Deonna and then we can set up a match between you and Deonna.’ She was like the carrot being dangled in front of my development. ‘If you do this well, I’ll talk to Deonna.'”
“It’s nerve-wracking, but then also, you want to make your coach proud. You want to get to a level where he thinks you’re good enough to wrestle like one of his top girls. So, when that graphic came out, that’s when I found out, actually. It was just the full circle moment of being like, ‘I made it. I’m good enough to wrestle Deonna.'”
Walking into new territory, D’Amboise admitted she had her “own nerves,” but she was more excited to be in the IMPACT environment. “I wanted to come in there and I wanted to just take it all in and absorb it all in. This is [Deonna’s] home. I want to see, where she’s been, how the locker room is. Every locker room is different. I have to tell you, I felt so welcomed. I felt so comfortable. Just chilling in the women’s locker room — everyone takes up their little spot like usual, and everyone respected each other’s face, each other’s things.”
“Everyone that I walked up to, to say hello to, they were like, ‘Oh, hi, nice to meet you,’ or ‘great to see you again.’ I’ve seen a lot of these women outside [of IMPACT]. Taylor Wilde was in Canada when I had my second match in Canada. My first four-way match, she was in it. That was wild. It was a fun experience. I learned a lot … I got to have an extra match that was extra, extra dark that no one else will ever see.”
Check out some free-to-watch full-length matches from Ashley D’Amboise’s career below, including the aforementioned bout with Deonna Purrazzo.
Ashley D’Amboise vs. Deonna Purrazzo
IMPACT Wrestling — January 19, 2023Ashley D’Amboise vs. Megan Bayne
WWR+ “Let’s Talk About Wrestling” — May 16, 2021Ashley D’Amboise vs. Allysin Kay
Women’s Wrestling Army — 2022Ashley D’Amboise vs. Labarva
Coastal Championship Wrestling “Bash At The Brew 21” — October 1, 2022
