Many have praised Sonya Deville for her recent promo work on WWE SmackDown. But the first sign Deville had "it" was back in October when she cut a promo on Becky Lynch where said he Lynch would soon call her "daddy," as means of saying she is bigger than "The Man."
Deville has further leaned into being "daddy" in recent social media posts by using that caption and changing her handle to 'Daddy Deville.'
Speaking to New York Post, Deville explained the meaning behind being called "daddy."
"I think in the day and age of the women’s evolution (in WWE) and redefining what being a female in sports entertainment means, I think it’s kind of cool to take gender roles out of it, showing people that Daddy can mean anything. It’s not attached to a certain gender, but it obviously comes with a dominant title because when we think of dad we think of this dominant, large-and-in-charge person in our lives, and I kind of feel like I’m that dominant large-and-in-charge person in the division now," she said.
As an openly gay WWE superstar, Deville has dealt with her fair share of cyberbullying during her time in WWE. STARDOM wrestler Hana Kimura tragically committed suicide after dealing with cyberbullying following an incident on a reality show, leading to a larger discussion about actions that can be taken.
When asked how she deals with cyberbullying, Deville said, "I’ve always been one in the past to ignore the hate because I don’t want to give them any more of a spotlight or any more power than they already think they have. Obviously we all get it. We all get it to different extents and about different things. It’s a part of social media and it’s a part of the world that we’re in, especially being on the public platform that we’re a part of."
She continued, "I wanted to let people know and I like to check people sometimes and let people know this is not OK in any way shape or form and I’m not gonna tolerate it to that extent because journalism’s one thing, but bullying is a whole other thing. You can be critical and you can be particular and give feedback without bullying somebody. There’s a big difference there and I think that needs to be spoken about. It’s so important that we have each other’s backs and we stand up for each other. Nobody’s gonna make a change by being silent. Nothing’s gonna change that we want to change without speaking up for what we believe in."
Following the passing of Kimura, production was shutdown on the reality show Terrace House and the Japanese government made a pledge to speed up government discussions regarding cyberbullying legislation.
