Tag: Daria Rae

WWE NXT notes: Speed tournament, Daria Rae, Uriah Connors

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Notes from Tuesday’s NXT.

A new tournament started on this week’s show to crown the next number one contender for Jasper Troy’s Speed Championship. Elio LeFleur was the first to advance to the finals, defeating Charlie Dempsey. He will challenge the winner between Josh Briggs and Eli Knight in a match that will take place next week.

Daria Rae, the former Sonya Deville, was shown in the crowd during the TNA Knockouts Tag Team title match between ZaRuca and The Elegance Brand. After Heather & M by Elegance retained the titles, she emerged from the back and celebrated with the champions.

Since the AMC premiere of TNA Impact last month, Rae has joined the promotion as a new authority figure that has already created friction between herself and Santino Marella, the long-running Director of Authority.

After Chase U were unsuccessful against Lexis King and Stacks, Uriah Connors seemed to turn against Kale Dixon and Andre Chase by abandoning them and walking to the back with Stacks and King, who have formed an alliance in recent weeks. Tension had been bulilding between Connors and the rest of Chase U, as Connors had been looking for more opportunites.

Former Sonya Deville ‘never wanted to step away’ after 2020 attempted kidnapping

Posted on by Ian Carey

Daria Rae, formerly known as Sonya Deville, says she didn’t want to take a break from wrestling after she was the victim of an attempted kidnapping in 2020.

In August of that year, a South Carolina man was arrested and charged with attempted armed kidnapping and burglary among other charges, stemming from a break-in at Rae’s Florida residence. She was involved in a storyline with Mandy Rose in WWE that was set to culminate in a hair vs. hair match at SummerSlam. Following the incident, the match stipulation was changed to a Loser Leaves WWE match. Deville lost the match and would not return to the company until the following January.

In a recent interview with Metro, Rae said taking a break from wrestling was not her choice.

Rae said:

“I never wanted to step away. That wasn’t my choice. It was probably what was best for me at the time, so I’m glad people had my personal well-being in mind, but I never wanted to step away.”

“I was chomping at the bit every second I was home, texting the powers that be like, ‘When can I come back? When can I come back?’”

“Obviously, hindsight is 20/20,” she added. “But I was hungry, I was in the middle of it. I had loved the angle and the storyline that Mandy and I did, including Dolph [Ziggler] – [AKA Nic Nemeth] – and Otis.”

“I was kind of just getting my footing, I feel like, as a character on screen. Obviously, we can’t predict the future, and timing wasn’t perfect.”

“I can’t ever look back and be like, ‘Oh I wish that didn’t happen’. Because everything leads to the next thing, and where you’re supposed to be.”

“Look at me now – I’m in TNA, it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be right now, I believe that.”

Rae returned to WWE on the January 1, 2021 edition of Raw in a new authority figure role. Similarly, she debuted in TNA Wrestling as an authority figure on last week’s Impact debut on AMC. Rae also discusses what led to her signing with TNA in the interview, which is available in full here.

Former Sonya Deville reveals new TNA contract length

Posted on by Shounak Chakrabarti

Days after making her debut on TNA’s AMC premiere, former WWE talent Sonya Deville has now opened up in detail about her new TNA contract.

Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Rae revealed signing a six-month contract with TNA Wrestling.

“I signed a six-month deal. I plan on seeing it through. I’m having a lot of fun. Everything is going great so far. As long as it is a continuously mutual beneficial situation, meaning I’m adding value and I feel good about what I’m getting in return, then I don’t see why it wouldn’t continue long-term.”

In the same interview, Rae also revealed that she met with Carlos Silva at Invicta in April 2025, following her WWE release, but was not ready to return to pro wrestling.

Last week, Rae made her debut at the iMPACT! on AMC’s premiere episode as the promotion’s new authority figure, known by the nickname SUIT. Just moments after her debut, she introduced the crowd to her latest Knockouts division signing, another former WWE wrestler, Cora Jade, now known as Elayna Black.

Former Sonya Deville reveals how TNA debut came together, whether she’ll wrestle

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Daria Berenato (the former Sonya Deville) had good timing when reaching out to TNA Wrestling about joining the company.

Now known as Daria Rae, Berenato arrived in TNA last week as a new on-screen authority figure. Her debut took place on the company’s AMC premiere — and Berenato revealed in a new interview with Denise Salcedo that she actually reached out to TNA right before news of the AMC deal broke. She viewed the serendipitous timing as a sign that she was making the right decision by returning to the pro wrestling industry.

Berenato departed WWE in February 2025 when her contract with the company was not renewed. She explained to Salcedo that her first contact with TNA actually came shortly after her WWE departure, but she wasn’t ready to get back into wrestling at that time.

“I took a much-needed break, and then as we rounded the end of the year, I just had an epiphany,” she said. “I looked at my wife and I was like, ‘Babe, I think I want to go back to wrestling in some capacity.’ And she was like, ‘Yeah, I think you should.’ So that was kind of it. I had been talking to TNA kind of from the moment I left [WWE]. Because TNA is owned by the same company that Invicta FC the MMA company is owned by — Anthem Sports. So I had met [TNA President] Carlos [Silva] at an Invicta event. We had talked back then, and I just wasn’t ready then. And then I was. So I reached out and I was like, ‘Let’s do this.’ And it happened to be the day before they were going to announce the AMC TV deal.”

Aside from her wife, Berenato did not tell anyone about her TNA debut in advance. She received supportive messages from Natalya, Liv Morgan, CJ Perry (Lana), and Bianca Belair after popping up on Impact.

Berenato said she’s very passionate about her TNA character and is having so much fun putting it together. Working alongside Santino Marella was one thing that drew her to TNA, with Berenato thinking they could have a really fun dynamic as opposing authority figures.

It remains to be seen whether Berenato will ever wrestle again. When asked if we could see her without a suit in TNA, Berenato did not close the door on competing.

“Well, I don’t know. I really like wearing suits,” she told Salcedo. “But if you were to ask me a year ago if you would ever see me in heels, I would have told you no. So anything can happen, I’ll leave you at that.”

Two former WWE & NXT wrestlers join TNA during Impact AMC premiere

Posted on by Shounak Chakrabarti

Thursday’s TNA Impact premiere episode on AMC was filled with several surprises which included the debut of former WWE wrestler Sonya Deville and former NXT wrestler Cora Jade.

TNA’s on-screen director of authority Santino Marella introduced the former Sonya Deville, now known as Daria Rae, to the fans as the promotion’s latest signing as an authority figure. Rae introduced herself to the crowd as a babyface before swiftly turning heel and berating Marella and the Texas crowd.

The former on-screen WWE assistant general manager on SmackDown then proceeded to introduce the former Cora Jade, going as Elayna Black, as the TNA Knockout division’s latest signing.

Rae was not renewed by WWE last year while Black was released in May 2025. She has competed in TNA before, competing in four matches in early-2025 while under WWE contract. She hasn’t wrestled since last July as she took a break from wrestling to focus on her mental health.