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.TUNNEL TO TOWERS ANNOUNCES STEEL ACROSS AMERICA TOUR TO MARK 25 YEARS SINCE 9/11 ATTACKS”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 t
Pro wrestling stars leading showcase to benefit Tunnel to Towers, share what being an American means to them
