Pro wrestling stars leading showcase to benefit Tunnel to Towers, share what being an American means to them

Pro wrestling stars Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo are set to bring the pain for a live viewing audience in New Jersey next month – for a good cause.

Maclin, who performs for TNA Wrestling (TNA), and Purrazzo, Ring of Honor (ROH)’s current women’s pure 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 got the idea to put on a wrestling benefit show after working with Josh Lentin of the Heroes Cup Hockey Tournament. Being wrestlers for over a decade, Purrazzo told Fox News Digital she wasn’t sure if promoting an event would really be their cup of tea but took the challenge head on especially for a great cause.

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

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“It’s a great cause just because that entire New York/New Jersey area, the Tri-State area, has really been affected by 9/11. It affected both of our lives,” Maclin told Fox News 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 as well, everybody has some type of story or link toward 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 first responders’ families, paying off mortgages, smart homes for veterans who have been wounded and now paying off college tuitions for first responders’ and veterans’ families who have lost some loved ones.”

Maclin shed light on his service as a U.S. Marine. He served in the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines Weapons Company as a machine gunner. From 2007-2011, he did tours in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

“Like I said before, 9/11 was a big part of my life as a kid growing up,” he explained. “I grew up just outside of New York City. So, when 9/11 happened, I was in home room. It just pulled me in that direction. It changed a lot of people’s lives. And for me, for the better, because it instilled what I always knew I needed to do and that was to go serve and fight for my country no matter what.

“I chose the Marines because the Marines are the best. And that’s just 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 ever since. Now, here we are, almost 25 years later, and we’re running 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 U.S. The UFC is hosting an event at the White House in June, while IndyCar is set to race on the streets of Washington, D.C., in August.

Purrazzo and Maclin shared what being an American meant to them as pride in the U.S. starts to come into full focus.

“Growing up in New Jersey as well, 9/11 was such a big deal. For me, I was in second grade. I didn’t understand what was going on but in the days after, I felt a sense of unity in that everyone came together, everyone was proud to be an American, and we were going to fight back and stand together and be one, united country. And I think that, that feeling has always stuck with me but being a veteran’s wife, it’s taken on a completely different role.

“Steve opening up about his service and 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 with 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 it saved him, in a way, from falling down the unknown path of ‘What am I? Who am I next?’

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“And I think that’s something that our veterans deal with unbeknownst to the rest of the public. It’s not talked about enough. They say 22 veterans but right now the math is leading toward 44 veterans a day lose their lives to that battle – an identity crisis of who am I after service. So, that’s what it means to be American for me now, is showing that support for our veterans, showing 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 at some of the Tunnel to Towers events earlier this year, which underscored what he had fought for in Afghanistan.

“No matter who it was, male, female, Black, White, it didn’t matter the race, gender, nothing. It was everybody praising our country, waving the American flag – that red, white and blue,” he said. “I know there’s an animosity toward certain views nowadays, and for me, that’s what I fight for, that’s what I still fight for.

“And once we do have children in this world, however, we can pass knowledge onto others, I always, no matter what, want to keep that pride in our country and fight for what we’re actually fighting for and that’s for our brothers and our neighbors.”

Americans’ pride in their country is declining, a Gallup poll revealed last June, while a Fox News poll showed that about six in 10 are proud of the U.S. today.

Fox News Digital asked Purrazzo and Maclin how can Americans get that pride back.

“I think like Steve said, the connotation of having American pride is so negative in our country right now. And I think that 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 of what we were built on – fighting for our freedom, fighting for what we believe in, fighting for our neighbors, fighting to support one another. I think just being able to be comfortable and vocal in that is the first step.

“We shouldn’t be ashamed to be American. We shouldn’t 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 Fox News Digital exclusively that he will be a 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.

“Everybody’s been asking me, ‘Why would you not want to wrestle on your own show, especially for such a great cause?’ So, as of now, officially, I am entering as the No. 1 entrant in the Battle for the Brave Memorial Cup,” he said. “I’ll be taking on 12 other competitors. It’s an over-the-top battle royal and the final two competitors turns into a match.

“I’m going to take the tough road and the hard road of going No. 1 and trying to make my way all the way through to be the (last) one.”

Purrazzo said she, as of now, isn’t in a match. But didn’t rule out getting involved in commentary in some way.

Legendary pro wrestling tag team Jeff and Matt Hardy, known as the Hardy Boyz, will also be a part of the event.

“My brother and I are both very excited to be headlining Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo’s very special Tunnel to Towers event. Tunnel to Towers is a very special organization that helps take care of 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 Fox News Digital. “We are very grateful for all of these people’s services and efforts in keeping us all safe and healthy. We look forward to raising as much money as we possibly can.” 

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