WWE Backstage (April 21st, 2020): 5 Takeaways from this week's episode

#1 The fizzling out of Fire and Desire

The friendship is over between Deville and Rose.

The ongoing angle featuring Fire and Desire, Dolph Ziggler, and Heavy Machinery has been one of the most intriguing and entertaining storylines this year. We found out prior to WM 36 that Deville and Ziggler were in cahoots to sabotage a date between Mandy Rose and Otis. Things led to a 'Mania win for Otis.

On the latest episode of SmackDown, things continued as Deville cut the promo of her career on her former friend. Natalya claimed that she found herself "watching it taking sides." She also said that she "can sort of see things from Mandy's perspective but also see things from Sonya's perspective when they come out they come out to Mandy's music."

The Queen of Harts compared it to another famous dissolution of a friendship, saying that she "gets where she (Deville) says I'm tired of being in your shadow" and that it was "shades of Becky coming out of Charlotte's shadow. Sonya lit that screen up (with the promo)."

Phoenix felt that "it's so cool when you see both of them" because "they've been begging for an opportunity for so long." She also felt that "it's one thing to ask for an opportunity and another to crush it" and that "they're going to continue to get these opportunities" because "Sonya Deville became a star in that moment."

Ember Moon has dealt with both women on and off-screen. She claimed that "they have all of this history boiled up to build this perfect feud" and that "whoever wrote that promo was hot fire." The Shenom also made a great point by saying that "it (the angle) proves that even with no crowds, you can still tell great stories. Everyone had a perfect part in this storyline."