Former Sonya Deville ‘never wanted to step away’ after 2020 attempted kidnapping
Daria Rae, formerly known as Sonya Deville, says she didn’t want to take a break from wrestling after she was the victim of an attempted kidnapping in 2020.
In August of that year, a South Carolina man was arrested and charged with attempted armed kidnapping and burglary among other charges, stemming from a break-in at Rae’s Florida residence. She was involved in a storyline with Mandy Rose in WWE that was set to culminate in a hair vs. hair match at SummerSlam. Following the incident, the match stipulation was changed to a Loser Leaves WWE match. Deville lost the match and would not return to the company until the following January.
In a recent interview with Metro, Rae said taking a break from wrestling was not her choice.
Rae said:
“I never wanted to step away. That wasn’t my choice. It was probably what was best for me at the time, so I’m glad people had my personal well-being in mind, but I never wanted to step away.”
“I was chomping at the bit every second I was home, texting the powers that be like, ‘When can I come back? When can I come back?’”
“Obviously, hindsight is 20/20,” she added. “But I was hungry, I was in the middle of it. I had loved the angle and the storyline that Mandy and I did, including Dolph [Ziggler] – [AKA Nic Nemeth] – and Otis.”
“I was kind of just getting my footing, I feel like, as a character on screen. Obviously, we can’t predict the future, and timing wasn’t perfect.”
“I can’t ever look back and be like, ‘Oh I wish that didn’t happen’. Because everything leads to the next thing, and where you’re supposed to be.”
“Look at me now – I’m in TNA, it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be right now, I believe that.”
Rae returned to WWE on the January 1, 2021 edition of Raw in a new authority figure role. Similarly, she debuted in TNA Wrestling as an authority figure on last week’s Impact debut on AMC. Rae also discusses what led to her signing with TNA in the interview, which is available in full here.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.