Sonya Deville is the first openly gay female wrestler in WWE. The WWE superstar sat down with International Business Times to speak about her return to WWE, working during the COVID-19 pandemic, and LGBTQ+ representation in wrestling.
Talking about wrestling during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sonya Deville stated, “It’s obviously been kind of crazy for everybody, but it’s one of these things where the last five years of our lives have been on the road. And we haven’t had much downtime or normalcy of a Monday through Friday or anything like that. So it’s been nice in a sense to be in our own homes instead of hotels. We’re blessed to still be able to work and put on a show for people that are going through tough times, because what’s our escape right now? Television and social media. It’s cool to be a part of something that’s providing entertainment in a time like this.”
Moreover, Deville talked about LGBTQ+ representation in wrestling and WWE in particular. She said, “It’s so cool. I look back to five years ago when I first came into WWE and I was nervous because there wasn’t a lot of representation. I didn’t even know of Darren Young at the time. I learned about him as I got signed into NXT, but then he didn’t work for the company anymore. Within my small community, there wasn’t much representation. It was important for me to be that for other young people looking to get into the wrestling industry and to now see representation of almost all aspects of the LGBTQ+ community is so important. It’s so pivotal for our community and where the sport is going in general.”
She further added, “Having Jake Atlas and Tegan in WWE, and seeing Sonny Kiss and Nyla Rose in AEW, it’s so powerful and it means the world to me. I know that it means the world to younger members of the LGBTQ+ community looking to get into wrestling. It’s really inspirational.”
Sonya Deville also talked about NXT star Tegan Nox and her journey, “Tegan’s an incredible person. I’m so happy for her and her girlfriend. She reached out to me a couple of months ago and she just kind of picked my brain on my coming out story. What it was like and what she was going through and how to kind of navigate some of the dark waters that she hasn’t done yet. I just gave her the best advice I could, and I told her that I think she’s awesome and speaking her truth is a powerful thing, but to do it on her time, in her way and not to let anybody else dictate that journey for her.”