Sonya Deville seems like a great choice for the next big superstar on the women’s roster. Last week on WWE’s The Bump, Becky Lynch said she could see a bright future for Deville.
“I don’t think anybody would’ve expected it to be me and I think that’s the great thing,” Lynch said. “But anybody who can get a connection with the crowd, because it’s all about the crowd. It’s the people that put you there, the people that put me there. If they can get that and I see some people that can do that, and I think Sonya Deville is one to look out for.”
On this week’s episode, the former MMA fighter delivered a blistering promo, taking shots at several female superstars including “The Man.” Sonya showed some real grit, hunger, and even a little charisma. We haven’t seen this type of passion from her since she debuted on the main roster in 2017 as part of Absolution.
For this reason, it seems like as good of a time as any for WWE to invest some time in developing her as a singles competitor. To be honest, the company hasn’t done that yet with many of the women on the roster outside of a handful of individuals. If they want this era women’s wrestling to flourish, they must give more of their talent the necessary screen time.
More to the point, Sonya Deville has so much potential. Her background in MMA makes her unique and it gives her a level of legitimacy that they played up for others like Ronda Rousey. In addition, she could be much more marketable than they realize.
She is WWE’s first openly gay female superstar, which has granted them some great publicity spots. However, it’s time to take it a step further and give the LGBTQ community a character they can see themselves in.
To Lynch’s point, Sonya could connect with the audience in a way that none of her colleagues can. There’s no reason why they couldn’t do something similar to what Pro Wrestling: EVE did with Charlie Morgan.
Admittedly, it feels a little gross to turn this into a branding exercise because authentic representation is bigger than that. Giving gay fans a positive influence could change their lives and prove once and for all that they have a place in the WWE Universe. Still, we are talking about a publicly-traded company, so marketability matters.
With that said, Deville has expressed interest in bringing an LGBT+ storyline to WWE programming. So, the door is open if they wanted to give her a meaningful plot, as well.
They don’t have to split up Fire & Desire, but they’ve teased a rift between Deville and Mandy Rose in the past. It would be a nice touch to acknowledge their own continuity and build a bigger story so Sonya can strike out on her own. There’s plenty they can still do with the pairing as well.
No matter how they choose to capitalize on her growing popularity, they need to do it soon. It would be foolish for WWE to ignore the wealth of possibilities they have with Sonya Deville. Hopefully, her promo this week gets enough attention to force them to pull the trigger.
What do you think? Would you like to see more from Sonya Deville? Let us know in the comments below.
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