Sonya Deville’s WWE SummerSlam 2020 storyline was headed towards a stunning climax. She was booked to lose a Hair vs. Hair match to Mandy Rose and return with a very new look and gimmick. However simply days earlier than the large present, her actual life became a nightmare—and it modified the whole lot.
Talking with CJ Perry on Id Disaster, Sonya laid out precisely how the tried kidnapping and break-in at her residence derailed not solely her SummerSlam angle but additionally the momentum she’d spent years constructing.
“The tried kidnapping incident undoubtedly derailed plans as a result of we… it occurred two nights earlier than, three nights earlier than… perhaps three nights earlier than SummerSlam was the break‑in in my home. We had been speaking forwards and backwards with Vince. What do you wish to do? He wished to respect, you understand, what I used to be going by means of and he’s like, ‘We don’t must do the match in any respect.’ And I used to be like, ‘No, no, no. We’re doing the match.’”
She revealed that she was initially alleged to lose the Hair vs. Hair match and return to TV with a shaved head and a tough reset:
“I used to be alleged to lose the hair vs hair and I used to be supposed to come back again as like this GI Jane badass character and quote‑unquote run by means of the division, you understand? Who is aware of? That might have stopped and that may have been horrible if I used to be bald for no purpose… bald and sitting in catering.”
However given the trauma she’d simply skilled, Sonya knew shaving her head didn’t really feel proper. So she pitched one thing else—one thing nobody anticipated.
“We type of mutually determined that it wasn’t the best choice for me to shave my head proper after that traumatic expertise and perhaps we’d go a distinct course… I used to be like, ‘Nicely, I want to consider a stipulation that has related stakes to Hair vs Hair. Nothing’s going to stay as much as that, however what may very well be equally as entertaining?’ And I used to be like, ‘What about loser leaves? And I’ll depart and I’ll come again the following week as like a schizophrenic who doesn’t notice that she left… perhaps I simply develop into this unraveled character and we type of play off slightly little bit of the actual‑life stuff the place like I simply went by means of this trauma and perhaps I’ve misplaced my thoughts and I come again the following week not pondering that I misplaced.’”
Vince McMahon was utterly into it—even when his response was very… Vince:
“Vince’s precise phrases had been, ‘I adore it. You’ll be able to swing from the chandelier in my workplace.’ And I used to be like, ‘That’s not what I had in thoughts, however yeah. Good. Like it. Like it. Like it.’”
The unique plan was for Sonya to win the SummerSlam match. However she truly went to Vince and Bruce Prichard to pitch herself to lose—believing Mandy wanted the babyface win and that her new character would take her to the following degree:
“The producers come to us and so they’re like, ‘Um, Sonya’s truly going to win the match. Mandy’s going to lose and go away and we’ll deliver her again in humorous methods.’… And I truly went into Bruce and Vince and requested to lose and pitched the schizophrenic character. And he mentioned, ‘Okay.’ In order that they switched it.”
That’s when issues utterly fell aside. The plan was for Sonya to return proper after SummerSlam, however WWE went silent.
“One week glided by, one month glided by, two months glided by, I’m blowing up Bruce’s cellphone — ‘What’s happening? I assumed I used to be coming proper again.’ I’m blowing up Vince’s cellphone… and at last I obtained a textual content from Bruce, like, ‘After second thought, we have now to honor the stipulation.’”
“I used to be gone for like 5 months. Yeah. Precisely 5 months. I used to be very dissatisfied as a result of I wished to be at work… and I used to be on the peak of my profession.”
Sonya admitted she felt like the corporate was lastly getting behind her. She had help from the followers, confidence on the mic, and inventive momentum:
“I used to be on the peak of my profession. I used to be reducing these promos and I felt so assured lastly in my character. I didn’t actually have warmth at that second. They type of obtained behind me. It was bizarre… however I had some actual help from the followers for the primary time. And I didn’t wish to lose that.”
After months away, she pitched the GM character—however even that was born out of her personal initiative. She walked into Vince’s workplace with no storyline—only a swimsuit and an thought.
“I mentioned, ‘Sir, what are you pondering? I’ve a pair concepts.’ And he’s like, ‘What’s your concepts?’ And I used to be like, ‘Nicely, all of it begins with a swimsuit. I’ve these actually cool fits I obtained made and I’d like to put on them and perhaps flip into some type of like authoritative character.’… He goes, ‘The place are they?’ And I mentioned, ‘They’re truly in my resort room.’ He goes, ‘Have somebody go get them.’… I’m going in Vince’s workplace. He goes, ‘It’s good.’”
It was her creativity that obtained her again on TV—not a long-term inventive plan. In hindsight, Sonya believes asking to lose at SummerSlam could have been a mistake:
“If there’s a defining second I most likely may return and alter, it will most likely be that. I’m not answerable for the whole lot, however I’m answerable for how I understand it. So shortly I used to be like, ‘What does the universe have in retailer? Cuz it have to be superb.’”
From her pitch to swing from the metaphorical chandelier to being left off TV with no follow-up, Sonya Deville’s SummerSlam story isn’t nearly a match—it’s about what may have been certainly one of WWE’s most memorable reinventions that by no means occurred.
Are you stunned WWE by no means adopted by means of with Sonya’s schizophrenic character pitch after SummerSlam? Ought to they’ve dealt with her return otherwise? Tell us your ideas within the feedback.
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November 12, 2025 6:57 pm