Sonya Deville, a recent guest on the “Insight” podcast, shared some details about a significant injury she experienced while performing on SmackDown in July 2023. This injury eventually forced her to relinquish the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships.
Highlights of Deville’s comments from the podcast include:
Discussing the moment of injury, Deville admitted: “I must be so naive. I thought I was fine after tagging out. But I knew something was wrong. My knee felt weird and buckled. I had eight minutes left in the match and decided to continue. But it was sketchy at best. Despite the injury, I finished the match, got my rental car and went to my hotel, ignoring the injury. In the middle of the night, I fell face-first into the wall. I finally realized something was wrong.”
Deville talked about the emotional toll of having to give up the championship: “After being with the company for nine years, I finally won my first championship. I was so happy and eager to elevate the titles. But the injury happened and I had to relinquish my championship. Devastated, I went back to my hotel and didn’t reveal my injury to anyone.”
As for the Otis and Mandy Rose storyline that reached its peak with no live audience, Deville described it as “bittersweet”. She noticed the lack of audience engagement in what should have been crowning moments: “The Mandy Otis kiss, the Sonya Mandy turn, all these moments would have been more significant with a crowd reaction. We had only 20 NXT talent in the audience and it was quite a unique experience. But despite the absence of an audience, being part of this cool story still felt iconic.”
The full episode of the podcast, in which Sonya Deville talks about her return from injury, Liv Morgan, and her transition from MMA to WWE, can be viewed below.