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During last night’s SmackDown, the storyline going into SummerSlam between Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose was abandoned. The planned Hair vs Hair match at the upcoming pay per view this Sunday was changed by Sonya Deville to a no disqualification match in which the loser must leave WWE.
Sources indicate that the original plan for this storyline saw the feud coming to its head at the show with Sonya Deville ultimately having her head shaved. Both Rose and Deville would then move on to other things with the potential for Deville to move over to RAW in the upcoming WWE Draft in order to push both women separately.
Unfortunately, real life events have had a major impact on this particular storyline.
Sonya Deville, real name Daria Berenato, recently suffered a home invasion by a man who exhibited serious signs of obsession and had been engaged in stalking for a number of months. Mandy Rose was at her home at the time. Upon seeing the intruder approaching her, Deville was able to quickly move to the bedroom in which Mandy Rose was staying and get herself and her friend out of her home.
This information became public knowledge due to the local press and Police reports being filed about the incident. This situation moved quickly into the courtroom, with multiple images and videos already circulating of Deville’s testimony.
Sonya Deville had a number of options available to her from the WWE
I have been informed by multiple reliable sources that Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose were consulted immediately by WWE as to how they wanted to proceed on screen with their storyline. Options that were on the table included scrapping the match entirely and reuniting both women as a tag team, continuing with the planned storyline with no changes and the current course of action, which apparently permits Deville to take some time away from the cameras while retaining her hair for a return to the hair vs hair match later.
There is also some concern within WWE that Deville may not choose to return given that her continued success is likely to make her encounter more attention from the general public which could result in situations like this becoming more commonplace. While Deville’s case is unique and harrowing, there are many examples of intrusive behavior from wrestling “fans” including hotel stalking, chasing wrestlers at airports, attempted cancel culture for those unwilling to share personal information and other home invasions such as the one suffered by Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella.
It is impossible at this stage to be certain what will happen next but myself and Sportskeeda would like to wish Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose, and anybody in the WWE who has encountered this degree of toxic, obsessive fandom, all the best in the future. I would hope that everybody would show support for whatever decision is made.
