Melina appears on Impact, Knockouts title match set for NWA Empower

On Thursday, Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo learned who her opponent for the August 28th NWA Empower pay-per-view will be: Melina Perez.

Purrazzo was celebrating her Homecoming tournament win with “Drama King” Matthew Rehwoldt when Mickie James interrupted, coming to the ring with a contract in hand. James claimed she had the perfect challenger for Purrazzo before introducing Perez. She came to the ring and Purrazzo wasted no time signing the contract which Perez also did shortly after.

This was Perez’s first appearance in Impact Wrestling. The former three-time WWE Women’s champion spent the majority of her career there before leaving the company in 2011. Since leaving, Perez has spent most of her time in the independent circuit, joining the NWA in 2020.

This will be Purrazzo’s first appearance for the NWA. In recent weeks, James (and Gail Kim) have been encouraging Purrazzo to participate in the upcoming PPV with Purrazzo finally accepting recently.

Here’s the rest of the Empower card as of now:

• NWA Women’s Champion Kamille vs. Leyla Hirsch title match
• A match for the revived NWA Women’s Tag Team titles
• Chelsea Green vs. the winner of the NWA Women’s Invitational Cup