Sonya Deville On Her Former Partner Mandy Rose Tagging With Dana Brooke
With WrestleMania 37 less than six weeks away, some of the most anticipated matches are now starting to line up. One of those matches happens to be Bianca Belair versus Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women's Championship. This week on WWE's The Bump, Sonya Deville mentioned just how excited she is to see this historic match take place. Like Beth Phoenix, who was on this week's show, she believes these two powerhouses should have a main event spot on either night of the program.
"It is so cool," Sonya Deville exclaimed. "I mean, I said it on the Kickoff Panel; if I were Bianca Belair, I would've chosen Sasha as well. She's been working on the same brand as her. She has been able to work with her. So, that being said, she knows her better, than say, Asuka. I think it was a no-brainer.
"I'm excited! I think the two of them are going to be an incredible duo in the ring, and they absolutely deserve one of those main event slots at WrestleMania."
Just last summer, Deville and her former Fire and Desire partner, Mandy Rose, found themselves in a bitter rivalry that culminated at Summerslam in a Loser Leaves WWE match. Now that things have worked themselves out between the two of them, Deville had nothing but nice things to say about Rose's worth ethic since arriving on Raw.
"Mandy always holds a special spot in my heart. I think she is incredible," she replied. "I think that she is strong, talented and beautiful. I think she is a triple threat.
"Dana Brooke as her tag team partner? It's not Sonya Deville, c'mon. But they have a little vibe going on. They both are very fit and are very strong; both of them are beautiful. I like it. They don't have the dichotomy that me and Mandy have. But they're doing their thing."
As we celebrate Women's History Month, one of the focal points that WWE has done to honor this month was creating the Women's Revolution in 2016. For the last five years, fans have seen glass-shattering moments in the women's division. For Deville, she is honored to have been in several first-ever events such as the Women's and Tag Team Elimination Chambers while also helping young women around the world through charitable work.
"You just look at all of the accomplishments the women have done since I've got here," she mentioned about gender equality in WWE. "I mean, you've got the Four Horsewomen and all of their accolades, too. I mean, Mandy and I were part of the first-ever Women's Elimination Chamber, the first-ever Women's Tag Team Elimination Chamber, the first-ever all women's pay-per-view Evolution. We [even] watched women main event WrestleMania. Obviously, inside the ring, we've made leaps and bounds.
"But outside of the ring, we get these cool partnerships with organizations like Girl Up, where we get to talk about gender equality to young women in high school who are facing these struggles of gender inequality in sports and in their schooling. So, it's kind of cool because we give perspective on the inequality going on around the world, and we try to make a difference with our platform. It's been really incredible doing so."
Before concluding her interview, The Bump panel took Deville down memory lane when they watched clips from her time on Tough Enough in 2015. She noted just how devastated she was when she was the third person eliminated. Looking back at where she was then to where she is now, the "Pride Fighter" said that moment was a blessing in disguise, and if she could go back in time, she'd tell her former self that.
"I have so many things that I would tell poor little 21-year-old Sonya," she began saying with a chuckle. "I think I would have told her that everything is going to be ok, and everything will work out as it should. [Also] don't take things so seriously. Just ride the ride, don't sweat the small stuff, and just have fun."
You can watch Sonya Deville's full interview here. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE's The Bump with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.