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'But why? Please no,' Former WWE on-screen authority figure recalls learning about her release via a 30-second call

Originally posted on FirstSportz | By Vibhor Pal | Last updated Mar 10, 2025 4:46 AM ET

WWE released a number of talents from their contract last month, and that included Sonya Deville. While she was in negotiations with the company for a new contract, one day she received a phone call from WWE, which lasted about half a minute, notifying her about the company’s decision to part ways with the 32-year-old.

The revelation was made by Deville herself while speaking to Ariel Helwani. She didn’t badmouth her former employers by noting that they had their own reasons. The former Absolution member said she’s a huge believer in fate. Sonya broached the need to move on, and she’s excited for the next chapter of her life.

Going into details, The Jersey Devil revealed that she still had ten days left on her then-existing WWE contract. She even contemplated traveling to Nashville for the February 10 edition of Raw, as it would’ve been her last contracted date for WWE. However, after an insightful conversation with her wife, Deville decided against going.

It was like a 30-second phone call……..They wanted to part ways. It’s not really in my mentality to be like ‘But why? Please, no.’ I’m a big believer in fate………
Sonya Deville via The Ariel Helwani Show

The past few years hadn’t been kind to Sonya as an in-ring talent. In 2020, she lost a loser leaves match to her former teammate Mandy Rose. Upon coming back, Deville was paired alongside Adam Pearce as an on-screen authority figure. During the same interview as above, Deville claimed that she pitched the idea of being a heelish matchmaker to Vince McMahon.

The erstwhile WWE Chairman gave his nod, and the rest is history. Sonya acted as a female co-equal of Pearce for a long while as they collectively ran both Raw and SmackDown until May 2023, when their synergy collapsed.

Sonya Deville talks about Pure Fusion Collective’s short stay in WWE

A few weeks after losing her managerial hold in WWE, Sonya Deville reverted back to in-ring competition. The real-life Daria Berenato won the women’s tag team titles with Chelsea Green. However, the duo got split when Deville tore her ACL. After overcoming that, she was called back in May of last year.

Sonya soon convinced Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark to form a cohesive unit. The trio eventually came to fruition, and they started wreaking havoc for weeks. However, despite their sustained stranglehold over the women’s division, the crowds didn’t seem to care about them.

Looking back on it, Deville admitted on Busted Open Radio that things could’ve been better.The group she was heading was known as Pure Fusion Collective, which didn’t resonate with the WWE Universe at all.

I felt like there could have been a more clear direction in where we were going and what we could have done and what we could have brought to the table.
Sonya Deville via Busted Open Radio

She lamented a lack of clear direction in regards to where PFC as a team was heading. While they’re no longer under the same umbrella, Baszler and Stark are still under contracts with WWE. However, they’re barely featured on television these days.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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