Former Champion Reflects On Bizarre WWE Exit
A now-former WWE Superstar was in talks to extend their stay with the company.
On February 7 it was reported that several WWE Superstars had been released. These latest cuts saw the likes of Cedric Alexander, the Authors of Pain, Paul Ellering, Isla Dawn, and Blair Davenport leave the company, while Sonya Deville was informed her contract wouldn’t be renewed.
After taking part in the sixth series of WWE Tough Enough, Deville signed with the sports entertainment giant in October 2015.
The star initially featured on NXT before moving to the main roster in 2017 and later went on to become a regular on both Raw and SmackDown. Deville will be best remembered for her as an authority figure on SmackDown in 2021 before returning to the ring early the following year.
The former MMA star was mostly used in tag teams for the next two years and won the Women’s Tag Team Championship with Chelsea Green in July 2023.
Sonya Deville Was Discussing New WWE Deal
In a new video on her YouTube channel, Deville looked back on her time with WWE, and how she found out the company wouldn’t be renewing her contract. While discussing her departure, Deville revealed that she was actually discussing terms for a new contract when she was informed there would be no deal.
“I got the call. My contract was not being renewed with the WWE. I got the phone call. We were in the middle of negotiations, so I thought the phone call was going to be middle ground that we met on. An agreement on a contract. It was, ‘We are not renewing your contract.’ I was shocked,”
Deville added that she doesn’t know why her contract wasn’t renewed, but said it wasn’t down to a lack of effort on her part.
“At the end of the day, it’s a business. I think business-minded. For whatever the reason is, I don’t know the reason, and I could sit here and try to come up with one or guess. ‘It was definitely that. I said or did that.’
I put 150% effort in the entire ten years, but most importantly the last three. I went down to the Performance Center on my own time. Moved there for two months to train to get the rust off,”
On several occasions, the star said there’s no bad blood between herself and the company, explaining she’s proud of her ten-year run.
In the days after the news of the departures broke, it was reported that several people within WWE were surprised to see Sonya Deville leave.
H/t to Fightful