How Did They Get Here?
Episode 2: Sonya Deville
If you pay attention to any of our live coverage of events on Twitter, you will know that I am a huge fan of Sonya Deville. I think she has a tremendous upside, but for whatever reason she always seems to be a victim of stop start booking. Absolution seemed like a great intro for Mandy Rose and Deville, that fell apart due to Paige being forced to retire. Then they moved to Smackdown, and seemed to be picking up momentum, but then had a weird bit where they were gone from TV. Now they seem to be working some sort of break up angle between Deville and Rose, so how exactly did Deville get to be one of the most underrated women’s wrestlers in the world? Let’s dive right in and see just how she got here.
Deville’s background isn’t in professional wrestling, but rather got her start in Mixed Martial Arts at the age of 16. After years of training, Deville made her debut at the show called CFL HD1: Mavericks, No Guts No Glory on October 11, 2014 at the age of 21. Deville matched up against Allenita Perez, and was victorious with a guillotine choke in the third round. Deville returned to the octagon at CFL HD2: Bitter Rivals on February 7th, 2015 against Jeselia Perez. Deville was again victorious, this time via TKO in the second round. After starting her career off at 2-0, Deville suffered her lone loss in her MMA career on March 8th at University of MMA: Fight Night 9 to Jasmine Pouncy via decision. After the loss, Deville decided to end her MMA career.
Deville decided to take up pro wrestling, and was selected to be a participant on the sixth season of Tough Enough. Deville, under her real name of Daria Berenato, was on the same season as both Amanda Saccomanno (Mandy Rose), Chelsea Green (yes that one) and Patrick Clark (Velveteen Dream). Even though Deville was the third contestant eliminated, WWE decided to offer her a contract, which Deville agreed to in October 2015. Deville’s in ring debut on December 3rd, 2015 at an NXT House Show against Nia Jax, which Deville lost.
In 2016 Deville, going by her real name of Daria Berenato, was a regular on the NXT House Show loop. She got her first victory in a six woman tag where she teamed with Billie Kay and Cameron picking up the win over Adrienne Reese (the future Ember Moon), Aliyah and Liv Morgan. Throughout the year, Deville was able to pick up wins against the likes of Emma (via DQ), Billie Kay, Liv Morgan, Aliyah, Peyton Royce and Mandy Rose. Deville made her NXT Taping debut in a losing effort in a six women tag. Her, Alexa Bliss and Mandy Rose lost to Carmella, Liv Morgan, and Nicola Glencross (Nikki Cross).
Deville started a hot streak on the house show circuit that started started on August 13th, 2016 where she teamed with Shinsuke Nakamura, who was seven days away from winning his first NXT Championship, in a winning effort over Billie Kay and Riddick Moss. Deville followed this up with a singles victory over Billie Kay on August 25th, and got another win in a tag team match the next day where she teamed with Asuka to defeat Billie Kay and Mandy Rose. Deville got another singles win over Billie Kay (via DQ) on August 27th. Deville continued this momentum into September where she defeated Aliyah on the 9th and Peyton Royce on the 16th. This six match win streak earned Deville an opportunity at Asuka’s NXT Women’s Championship. Deville was unsuccessful in winning the title, but it was not the only time she got a shot at the title as she challenged for it two more times. She was also unsuccessful when she challenged Asuka for the title on October 15th, October 21st and October 28th. While on the NXT house show circuit, Deville got a lot of knowledge. She teamed with Nakamura multiple times, once against Bobby Roode and with Heavy Machinery. She also suffered a number of losses, but a majority of those losses were to the likes of Asuka, Bayley and Carmella. These are women who understand what to do in the ring, and would be able to help teach a rookie like Deville how to improve and become a better pro wrestler. During this time, Deville was also teaming a lot with fellow rookie Mandy Rose. In the year, the duo teamed together a total of 12 times. The duo picked up their first win as a team on July 21st over Aliyah & Liv Morgan. Even early in their time in WWE, Deville and Rose were working well as a team.
As 2017 rolled in, Deville started to win very frequently on the NXT house show circuit. She started the year teaming with Mandy Rose to beat Aliyah and Liv Morgan on January 6th.Deville also picked up victories against Liv Morgan, Heidi Lovelace (the future Ruby Riot), Macey Estrella (the future Lacey Evans), Kimberly Frankele (Kimber Lee) and even her future tag team partner Mandy Rose. Then she ran into Ember Moon and suffered her first loss of 2017 when she lost to Moon on February 10th. Deville also got another title shot at the April 14th house show, but once again fell to Asuka. Then, at the May 3rd edition of NXT there was a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women’s championship. While the match ended in a no contest, this was the first match where Daria Berenato became Sonya Deville. Deville also had a match against Lacey Evans on the May 17th edition of NXT where Deville was victorious
Deville got four more opportunities at the NXT Women’s Championship on the house show circuit. She lost to Asuka on April 27th, May 4th, May 6th, and May 19th. Deville became a pair of save hands on the house show rounds where she picked up wins against Julia Ho, Jenna Van Bemel, Liv Morgan, and Aliyah. It almost seems like Deville was in a group that was being considered to be a part of the first ever Mae Young Classic Tournament along with the group of Liv Morgan, Mandy Rose, Zeda, Sarah Logan and Bianca Belair. Ultimately, only three would get into the tournament, as WWE had bigger plans for Sonya Deville. Deville participated in a qualifying match for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship against Ember Moon and Ruby Riot. The match was won by Ember Moon, and Deville then became someone who was always good, but not someone who would get a huge push. She would beat the likes of Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan, but would always come up short against Kairi Sane, Ember Moon, and Nikki Cross. Deville entered a feud with Ruby Riot, where the two traded wins back and forth, then culminated with a No Holds Barred match on the December 6th edition of NXT where Deville was victorious. With this win, she earned anther titte shot, this time against champion Ember Moon on the December 27th version of NXT, where Moon retained. However, little did we know that before these two matches, Deville’s life would change forever.
Deville got four more opportunities at the NXT Women’s Championship on the house show circuit. She lost to Asuka on April 27th, May 4th, May 6th, and May 19th. Deville became a pair of save hands on the house show rounds where she picked up wins against Julia Ho, Jenna Van Bemel, Liv Morgan, and Aliyah. It almost seems like Deville was in a group that was being considered to be a part of the first ever Mae Young Classic Tournament along with the group of Liv Morgan, Mandy Rose, Zeda, Sarah Logan and Bianca Belair. Ultimately, only three would get into the tournament, as WWE had bigger plans for Sonya Deville. Deville participated in a qualifying match for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship against Ember Moon and Ruby Riot. The match was won by Ember Moon, and Deville then became someone who was always good, but not someone who would get a huge push. She would beat the likes of Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan, but would always come up short against Kairi Sane, Ember Moon, and Nikki Cross. Deville entered a feud with Ruby Riot, where the two traded wins back and forth, then culminated with a No Holds Barred match on the December 6th edition of NXT where Deville was victorious. With this win, she earned anther titte shot, this time against champion Ember Moon on the December 27th version of NXT, where Moon retained. However, little did we know that before these two matches, Deville’s life would change forever.
On the November 20th edition of Raw, there was a fatal four way match between Bayley, Sasha Banks, Alicia Fox and Mickie James to determine who would be the next challenge for the Raw Women’s Championship which was held by Alexa Bliss. There was then an old scream from the titantron that echoed through the arena, and everyone knew who was back. It was the return of Paige. It was with a condition though, she didn’t come alone. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville hit the ring and attacked Mickie James, Sasha Banks and Bayley to make a statement that they were here and they mean business. It was also a big move as both Deville and Rose had made it to the main roster after just over 2 years in the company and had no prior wrestling experience. This was the birth of Absolution, and it looked like a stable that would have a long and successful career, or so everyone thought. At the December 27th house show, Paige suffered an impact injury to her neck which forced her to retire from in ring competition. This was a huge blow to Deville and Rose as the duo lost all momentum they had to start their main roster run.
As 2018 rolled around, Deville and Rose were still in a feud with Bayley and Sasha Banks, as they worked the first house show loop of the year together. Deville got her first big singles win on the main roster when she beat Sasha Banks on January 15th. Deville was a participant in the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble Match, where she was the 10th entrant. She eliminated Torrie Wilson and lasted 6:41 before being eliminated by Michelle McCool. In February it was announced that the Raw Women’s Championship would be defended for the first time ever inside the Elimination Chamber. The participants were the reigning Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Mickie James, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. In the match, Deville was one of the women that started along with Bayley, and lasted a good 17 minutes before being eliminated by Mickie James. Deville was also quickly eliminated in the first ever Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 34. At the Superstar Shakeup, Deville went to Smackdown along with Mandy Rose, but not before getting a pair of title opportunities. Deville challenged the new Raw Women’s Champion Nia Jax on April 18th and 20th in South Africa. Both times Jax retained her championship.
On Smackdown, both Deville and Rose struggled to find a bit of footing. They both lost to Becky Lynch in a Money in the Bank qualifying match on May 15th, and Deville lost in another qualifying match on May 22nd to Naomi. Deville was also eliminated early in the Evolution Battle Royal, this time by her tag team partner Mandy Rose. Deville was selected to be a part of the Smackdown women’s traditional Survivor Series Tag Team at the Survivor Series event on November 18th, where she started to get a bit of a push. She helped Mandy Rose pick up the elimination on Mickie James, and was one of the final two members of Team Smackdown with Asuka against Team Raw’s Sasha Banks, Bayley and Nia Jax. Deville would be eliminated via countout, and looked really good in the match. As a part of the final five wrestlers left, Deville did not look out of place at all. Deville then took part in the women’s battle royal on November 27th to see who would join Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch in their TLC match for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. She eliminated Naomi, and was a part of the final two with Asuka. The two shared a nice bit of wrestling between the two, Deville was eliminated. This match and the stuff with Asuka especially that got fans invested in Sonya Deville, as she showed to the world that she can hang with the top dogs of the women’s division. Deville got her first win on Smackdown in a tag team match on December 4th. Her and Mandy Rose picked up the win against Charlotte Flair and Asuka after Asuka attacked Charlotte Flair. Deville followed this up with a win over Naomi on the December 29th Smackdown.
Deville then took part in the 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble Match, where she entered at number 25 but had no eliminations. She was eliminated by Alexa Bliss after just over four minutes in the ring. Deville and Mandy Rose then took part in the Elimination Chamber Match to crown the first ever WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, and both looked fantastic. They started the match against Sasha Banks and Bayley. and both went on to be the final two teams. Banks and Bayley went on to win the match after Banks made Deville tap out. After Rose lost a Smackdown Women’s Championship match, due to a distraction from Deville, the duo have teased breaking up for a while. Both took part in the Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 35, and Sonya Deville again looked impressive. She eliminated Zelina Vega and Dana Brooke with the help of Mandy Rose, while she eliminated Mickie James by herself. Deville found herself in the final four with Asuka (again), Sarah Logan and Carmella. Deville would be eliminated by Asuka as Carmella would go on to win the match.
The future for Sonya Deville looks bright, and should be. She has proven that she can hang with the big names in the division, now she has to be able to translate hanging with them to beating them. She also has to break free from the team with Mandy, which they have been teasing for some time now. I think Deville can be a big singles star and has all the tools necessary to do so. We could see her take another big step in that direction if she gets inserted into the women’s Money in the Bank match, I can see an injury angle for Rose allowing for Deville to replace her. I am very excited for the future of Sonya Deville and look forward to see what she does.
