Behind the scenes details regarding Daria Rae (formerly Sonya Deville) joining TNA Wrestling
While speaking to Denise Salcedo, Daria Rae (formerly Sonya Deville) provided behind the scenes details regarding her debut with TNA Wrestling…
“I will say I worked very hard to keep that under wraps. I mean, I took ridiculous precautions. I looked like the Cat Burglar going through the airport. It was ridiculous. And I told nobody except my wife, of course.
I definitely needed a break. I had been there [in WWE] for 10 years. Professional wrestling and sports entertainment was all I knew. I was there from 21 to 31 years old. And so, I took a much-needed break.
And then as we rounded the end of the year, I just had an epiphany. 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.’ And so that was kind of it.
And I had been talking to TNA kind of from the moment I left, because TNA is owned by the same company that Invicta FC, the MMA company, is owned by—Anthem Sports. And so I had met Carlos at an Invicta event, and we had talked back then. And I just wasn’t ready then. And then I was. And 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. And he’s like, ‘Did you know?’ And I was like, ‘No, I had no clue. How would I know?’ And so it was kind of this full-circle moment that I needed. It was the reassurance that this is the right time, right place.
And then when I walked out on stage for that first time in 10 months—almost 11 months—I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is where I’m supposed to be.'”