What’s the story?
WWE has renamed two of NXT’s women wrestlers. Daria Berenato is now called Sonya Deville and Macey Estrella is now known as Lacey Evans. The two women worked against each other at the latest tapings.
In case you didn’t know...
Daria Berenato is an American professional wrestler who has been working for the WWE since 2015. She was a contestant in 2015’s Tough Enough and came in at eleventh in the rankings. She was given a contract in the same year and was sent to the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
She made her in-ring debut against Nia Jax in which she took the loss. Her first televised match was a six-woman tag team match alongside former 2-time SmackDown LIVE Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss and Mandy Rose against the team of Carmella, Liv Morgan and Nikki Cross.
Berenato is openly lesbian, hence, making her the first ever openly gay female wrestler in the WWE.Macey Estrella has been working for the WWE since 2016. She has previously worked at American Premier Wrestling where she was a former World Heavyweight Champion. Her contract signing with the WWE was announced on April 12, 2016.
She made her in-ring debut at an NXT Live Event in a battle royal which was ultimately won by Ember Moon. She has since worked in a number of matches against the likes of Billie Kay, Peyton Royce and Nikki Cross. Estrella is a former Marine.
The heart of the matter
Berenato and Estrella wrestled each other at the latest NXT TV Tapings under the names of Sonya Deville and Lacey Evans respectively. The match was won by Sonya Deville/Daria Berenato. Here are some photos of the match tweeted by some of the fans in attendance:
What’s next?
Sonya Deville vs. Lacey Evans will air on the May 3rd episode of NXT. Both the women might be seen more on NXT TV now that they have proper ring names and are presumably not enhancement talents anymore.
Author’s take
Repackaging and renaming of characters usually happen in order to push the Superstars, moderately or heavily. Both Superstars have inspiring real life backgrounds that will add more to their characters.
The WWE is looking to diversify its roster and these two might be perfect additions to it. I, for one, am interested to see where their individual careers lead them and how their characters turn out to be in the future.
I hope both of them get a moderate push and stay in the mid-card of the NXT roster until the time comes for them to take the reins from their predecessors and usher the NXT women's division into a new era.
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