Recently Released Ex-WWE Champion Retires At 31

A former champion has retired from wrestling after their recent WWE exit.

Sonya Deville participated in the 2015 Tough Enough competition before signing with the Stamford-based company. Two years later, she debuted on the main roster as part of Paige’s Absolution faction.

After the group disbanded due to Paige’s career-ending injury, Deville continued to tag with Mandy Rose under the name Fire & Desire. The two, however, split and feuded with each other in 2020. Their rivalry ended at SummerSlam of that same year, with Rose defeating her former partner.

Over the next few years, Deville played several roles on TV, including becoming Adam Pearce’s assistant. Meanwhile, she held the Women’s Tag Team Championship once alongside Chelsea Green. The former MMA fighter was part of Pure Fusion Collective (PFT) before her WWE release last February.

In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Deville made a blockbuster announcement that she had retired from wrestling for the time being.

Definitely for now. Never say never. But right now I feel at peace with that. I’m not gonna lie, and I haven’t said this, but it almost is like an open wound, and if I think about wrestling somewhere else, it’s like I was so loyal to the company, it was my only home from 21 years old to 31. I’m a ride or die type of person in general. So it’s weird to even think about doing that, but not there. [H/T: Chris Van Vliet]

WWE Wasn’t Sonya Deville’s First Dream

In her chat with Chris Van Vliet, Sonya Deville opened up about her acting dreams. The 31-year-old disclosed that becoming an actress was her first dream when she was 12 years old.

The former Women’s Tag Team Champion added that she moved to LA to pursue an acting career when she was 19, before WWE found her.

My first dream was to be an actress. I was 12 years old. My mom found an acting school like 45 minutes from our house, and she would take me every Tuesday and Thursday night for three hours. It was in this woman’s basement, which sounds really creepy, but my mom would sit outside and wait for me and take me home because I wasn’t obviously old enough to drive, and I was obsessed. My dad took me to Vegas for this acting convention where I was doing monologs on stage, that was always what I wanted to do. Then I fell in love with MMA as well, and so when I was 19, I moved to LA and I was like, Oh I can pursue my acting career here, and I can fight MMA here. So that’s what I was doing when WWE found me. [H/T: Chris Van Vliet]