Sonya Deville talks about working directly with Vince McMahon.
Sonya Deville has had a unique character trajectory throughout her time in WWE. Starting out on WWE Tough Enough, Sonya eventually transitioned to being on television with Mandy Rose and Paige, eventually just teaming with Mandy when Paige was forced into retirement.
Eventually, Mandy and Sonya would break up during the pandemic, leading to Sonya Deville turning on Mandy and getting more time on the microphone. Unfortunately, Sonya would wind up taking some time away from The Ring herself following a match with Mandy Rose at SummerSlam 2020.
Since then, she has returned in an on-screen authority capacity and now has plenty of time on the microphone.
Speaking on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Sonya detailed her relationship with Vince McMahon and how she has become comfortable looking to him for advice and even pitching her own ideas such as requesting more microphone time.
Somya, in her own way, is portraying a version of the evil authority that Vince McMahon once played to perfection in the Attitude Era. Speaking of that directive Vince has given her, Sonia says that he reminds her to smile a lot.
“He reminds me to smile a lot, ironically, because I think he loves the demeaning attitude of when someone in my role does something more passive-aggressively and then smiles. I think he thinks that that's so much more powerful than just being like, you're not allowed in this match and better. So that's like a piece of advice he gave me when I kind of first started the role that I've taken throughout and it's really helped. If you look back at his stuff, he's just genius that when he just gives that grin and he's doing his walk, it's just so hateable. So he kind of gave that to me,” she said.
Deville also says that she's taking a lot of influence from Stephanie McMahon's performances in a similar role.
“I've gotten a lot of what I do from Stephanie, looking back at old Stephanie stuff, and I think that is Vince's kind of vision for me as a Stephanie s character. So it's like when I do get in the ring, it's like yeah, I get in the ring, but I get in the ring as that authority figure and I will use my power, how I see fit, and how I can, to my advantage, and I'll enjoy doing it because that's what Steph does and that's what he does. So I've taken a lot of notes from both of their past work, for sure,” she added.
Deville admits that she was getting antsy about returning to the ring and recently, Vince McMahon pulled her aside to let her know that waiting was the right call.
“About halfway through this role, I was going to Vince and I was like, ‘When am I getting back in the ring?’ just kind of pestering him and he was like, ‘Just wait, just wait.’ Then like, a couple of weeks ago, he pulled me aside and he was like, ‘Aren't you glad you waited?’ That was kind of my confirmation from him letting me know, look at how much equity and how much work we just put into this character, and now she can go anywhere and do anything from this point on. So that was kind of cool,” said Deville. "As a competitor and as someone who's constantly just wanting to be better, like all of us, it's hard to be in the moment and realize what you're doing is special. You always want more. So that was kind of a cool moment where I was like, ‘Wait, he's right,’ we just put a lot of work into this character. It was very consistent and long and you don't get that very often here, right? Like sometimes things are short-lived and it was like just a couple weeks thing and it's cool to be a part of something that's longer and more permanent because then when you do something else, and switch it up on the fans, they're like ‘Whoa,’ it's a drastic change and it will get that reaction. So I'm excited to see how it all plays out. But again, I'm in no rush to leave kind of where I am now.”
Sonya recently got in the ring with Ronda Rousey and was even involved in a match in Saudi Arabia where she was steamed with Charlotte Flair at WWE Elimination Chamber
You can see Sonya Deville trying to control all of the WWE superstars on both Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown. We have live coverage of all live WWE television programs as they occur in our results section.
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