Sonya Deville has had teases of matches over the past few months on WWE SmackDown as part of her storyline with Naomi, and while she has competed in an official capacity, she hasn't gotten too physical in her bouts.
Deville hasn't been a full-time competitor since she lost a Loser Leaves WWE match to Mandy Rose at WWE SummerSlam 2020. She was off television following the bout until returning as an authority figure in January 2021.
Speaking to Alex McCarthy of TalkSPORT, Deville revealed that there were discussions for her to be involved in the Royal Rumble.
“Yeah [the Royal Rumble was discussed]. There was a lot of different ideas when I first came back but ultimately, it came down to a decision that was made that I had something to do with. I was basically in Vince’s [McMahon] office and we were kind of just throwing ideas out and I had mentioned I had a three-piece suit that I wanted to wear on TV. I kind of wanted to start incorporating this boss suit look into my character, whatever they may mean. He kind of just started thinking. He was looking and I could tell his wheels were spinning and he said ‘Do you have the suit on you?’ I said ‘No, it’s at my hotel.’ He said ‘Alright, well get someone to go get it.’ And that’s when I wore the suit and walked down the hallway [for my return]. He’s just so genius and so creative. He just saw something that day when we had that small conversation that’s just unravelled this potential story and character and that’s where we’ve gone with it," she said.
Deville teased a match with Naomi on WWE SmackDown, but the bout never came together as Natalya and Shayna Baszler got involved.
The end result was Xia Li making her live debut to help Naomi. If you missed anything from WWE SmackDown, check out Fightful's full report on the show by clicking here.
