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When former Divas Champion Paige made her long-awaited WWE return last night on Raw, she made sure that she didn't return alone. Paige was drafted to the Raw roster in the summer of 2016 but has never actually appeared on the brand.
When she made her first appearance last night, shockingly, NXT stars Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville were in tow. There are still a number of members of the WWE Universe who don't watch NXT on a regular basis so they are unaware of who these women are, so here is everything you need to know about NXT's resident striker Sonya Deville.
#5. Former MMA star
Sonya Deville started training as a Mixed Martial Artist when she was just 17-years-old. She went on to compete in three sanctioned matches, her first match back in 2014 lasted just over one minute as she forced fellow flyweight Allenita Perez to submit to a guillotine choke in fantastic debut match.
She then went on to compete in just two more matches, her second was won by TKO after just two minutes in a match against Jeselia Perez her final match was a loss to Jasmine Pouncy at the University of MMA Fight Night 9 back in 2015 after six minutes. This was the last time she competed in a Mixed Martial Arts match.
#4. Tough Enough contestant
Sonya Deville became known to the WWE Universe back in 2015 as Daria Berenato when she appeared on WWE's reboot of their popular recruitment show called Tough Enough.
Sonya appeared alongside her new stablemate Mandy Rose in the competition, but whilst Mandy went on to become a finalist as part of the company Sonya was eliminated from the show early on and ranked eleventh in the competition overall.
Sonya might not have won the competition but she made a lasting friendship with Mandy as following her involvement in the competition and now the duo have moved to the main roster together and could be forced to continue working together for the next few years.
#3. She is WWE's first openly gay female wrestler
Sonya has never tried to hide her sexuality and when she signed a contract with WWE back in 2015, she became the first openly gay female wrestler in the company's history.
She has never allowed her sexuality to define her and WWE have never mentioned it as part of their programming, which means that it's unlikely that the company will actually use it as part of her storylines.
It seems that the company are finally moving forward and this could be a sign of things to come for the women's division over the next few years. Sonya is now a main roster superstar, which means that her personal life will definitely become public knowledge over the next few weeks.
#2. She has competed in 158 WWE matches
Many of the WWE Universe commented on the fact that they thought WWE had made the wrong choice by bringing Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose up to the main roster when there were a number of better option on the developmental brand.
Sonya herself has had quite a successful career in NXT ever since she signed her developmental deal back in 2015 and remains undefeated in NXT when it comes to singles matches.
Sonya has competed in 158 matches as part of the brand (just 10 of these have been televised) and ensured that her background in MMA has played a huge part in her move-set now she's made the switch to WWE. Sonya's technique focuses on submissions and strikes and it seems as though she will definitely be a force to be reckoned with on the main roster.
#1. She has the best catchphrase in the women's division
Sonya Deville was always going to stand out when she made her debut as part of WWE, but it seems that she further ensured this when she unveiled the phrase "put your hair up and square up."
Deville is known to wrestle with her hair plaited and tied back, which is different to the way that many females style their hair before matches, but it seems that this phrase is perfect for her as a person as well, considering how much she relies on her strikes to win matches.
Sonya doesn't have the presence that fellow MMA star Shayna Baszler had throughout her run in the Mae Young Classic earlier this year, but her promotion to the main roster will be a real test of how much of a presence she can have against some of the biggest female wrestlers in the company.
