Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Sonya Deville On Returning From Injury, Liv Morgan, MMA to WWE

Episode Date: May 30, 2024

Sonya Deville (@sonyadevillewwe) is a WWE Superstar appearing on the Raw brand. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Philadelphia during WrestleMania week to talk about recovering from her torn ACL, winning the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship with Chelsea Green, how she met her wife, her particularly violent match with Liv Morgan, transitioning from MMA to WWE, being the Smackdown GM, a possible match with Rhea Ripley and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: "When success finds you, it's because you were looking for it." - Larry Fitzgerald Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT for a first deposit match up to $100! BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code INSIGHT to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv BETTERHELP: Get 10% off your first month with the code INSIGHT at http://betterhelp.com/insight PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh my goodness. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleets, and look, I know how many wrestling podcasts there are out there. I know how many podcasts in general there are. So thank you so much for being with us on this one. And thank you, as always, for helping to make Insight one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. If you look at the charts, recently the Undertaker has been right up there at the top of the charts. how would you guys feel if I'm not saying it's going to happen but how would you guys feel if at some point in the next few weeks I did something with The Undertaker maybe we did an in-person interview

together in Texas where he lives again I'm not saying it's going to happen I'm saying how would you feel if that happened because I think I'd feel pretty great about that so if you're not subscribe to the show if you're not following the show. Now might be a good time to hit that follow button so you don't miss out on any interviews that we have like this one today. We had this Sonia DeVille episode, planned

to come out and then boom! She surprised us all by returning to Raw last week. So great to see her back and healed up from that torn ACL that she suffered during that match on Smackdown. And if you recall, she had just won the

WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. with Chelsea Green and the injury happened. And now she's back. There's a lot of different ways that this storyline can go and a lot of ways that I could see this playing out. So very curious where Sonia de Ville goes from here. And what her first match is going to be?

We've seen her in like a backstage role. She's appeared backstage, but what's her first match going to be? What's her first feud going to be? It'll all be very interesting. Also, unrelated. to this, but how great was she as an authority figure? We know that she's awesome on the mic, so so excited for her return here.

This was obviously recorded before the return. We did this at the WWE Priority Pass on Location Event in Philly during WrestleMania Week. You already heard the interviews that we did there with Braun Strowman, Tiffany Stratton, Ivar and Liv Morgan. We have one more on the way after this one with Carmela, so keep an eye out for that one soon. Snap a screenshot. Let us know that you're listening. Let us know what really stands out for you in this episode and tag us.

She's at Sonia DeVille. WWE. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. Okay. Enjoy this conversation with Sonia DeVille. What's up, guys? We haven't seen you in a while. It has been a while.

I missed you guys. What's going on? How you feeling? How is your knee feel? My knee is feeling great. she is um i referred her as she your news is she yes we've been through a lot together and uh

a lot of trauma a lot of ups lot of downs so i call her she's doing good she's getting stronger every day but you know she has a little work left to do did you know immediately oh my gosh this is not good when it happened no i had no idea i'm like i must be so naive to this i've been an athlete

i mean like i was like i'm fine i tagged out I knew something, all right, I'm lying, I knew something was wrong. It felt a little weird. I kind of like, my knee buckled, right? And I was like, oh, that was weird, but, like, I'm fine. I have eight minutes left at this match. We're about to go to commercial break. I need to get it together.

And so I tagged out to Chelsea, and I got on the apron, and luckily we're in commercial break. So I was like, all right, let me suss out the situation. So I'm, like, hopping on the apron. Like, anyone in the live audience was probably like, what the heck is she doing? But I'm, like, hopping up and down on the apron, like, trying to to gauge if I can trust my knee. And sure enough, it was like sketchy at best. And I was like, oh, God, well, I made a match with Bianca, Charlotte, Chelsea. It's a tag match, no less. And I'm not about

to change the entire match right now on live TV. So, and I was getting the comeback ran on me, and I had another eight minutes to wrestle. So I was like, we just got to do this. So Chelsea tagged me in for the hot tag. I had two comebacks ran on me. We did some falsies, I think a superplex. And the whole time I was like, oh my God, I hope I don't fall flat on my face. And sure enough, we made it till the end. And I limped back and I got my rental car, went to my hotel, tried to pretend like it didn't happen. Because in this business, no one wants to be injured and out of play. Because, you know, I just won my first title.

Yeah. And I was so sad. And I was like, it's fine. It's just a sprain. I'll wrap it. Long story short, woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and I, like, fell face first into the wall. And I was like, oh, I think something's wrong. How much pain were you?

in? No, no pain. I swear, I know this sounds very weird. I've talked to a lot of ACL, and every ACL is different. We're not all created equal in that sense, but I didn't feel any pain. I just felt like instability, and it wasn't even swollen. And then the doctor looked at the MRI, and he's like, your ACL's probably been torn for a long time. Wow. Yeah. You're a beast. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe I'm tough or maybe I'm dumb. I can't tell the difference. How are you feeling today? Could you, could you wrestle today? I mean, if you would, if the doctors let me, I would, yes. What percentage would you say your knee is at? She? She? She is, um, say like 84. Okay. Okay. So she's like 84%. Well, we've, you know, some stuff around the corner here. A hundred percent being like better than the shape I've ever been in. So like, you know, the goal is like to

come back better than ever. Not the same as that when I left. So we'll say like 84. So soonish is what it's sounds like. Soonish. We miss you. So soonish. I miss you guys. But how heartbreaking was it? You just won your first championship in WWA. What was it? Two weeks before? Yep. Oh, man. 20 days, 21 days. Who's counting? 30 seconds? I was so devastated. I mean, I had I'd been with the company for nine years. And of course, part of being in the WWE is to one day grab that brass ring and get gold around your waist. And that's what I had been striving for, of course. And so I finally got my first championship. And I was so happy. I was so elated. I was ready to make those titles mean more than ever before. And the injury came, which is probably why I ran

back to my hotel and hid in my room and didn't tell you when I was injured. But it gave you a nice break to get married. Yes. Congratulations on your wedding. Thank you. Thank you. The universe works in such weird ways, right? It's like I would have never wanted an injury, never wanted time off, never wanted to be home for, you know, this extended period of time. I'm a workhorse. Always happen. But it's like if there's one way to spend my time off, planning my wedding, going on my honeymoon, enjoying my family, it was, it was great timing in that sense. And now you get a chance to like actually be a newlywed rather than just get married and then back to the road. Yes. And I would have like, I'm stubborn, right? I would have booked,

If I was on the road taking my honeymoon, I totally would have booked like a five-day honeymoon, so I didn't miss a TV. And my wife probably would have hated me for it. But I had time off, so I was able to take a two-week honeymoon all across Costa Rica and you just enjoy it, you know, the way that you should. So it was good.

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questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment. and before undertaking a new health care regimen, including EES system. Do you have ideas in mind for when you do come back? Oh, yeah, I've been pitching for months. I blow up the writer's email. I'm like, what about this? What about this? What about this?

I'm like, I know WrestleMania is tomorrow, but what about this? No, I'm just kidding. I let them go this week, but maybe next week. You've had some big moments in your career. Yes. Where do we start here? Oh, there's so much Sonia evolution. Like when someone meets.

you. What's the first thing they want to say? Like, what's the, oh, this match with this person? Okay, it's one of two things. Funny enough, it's, I think it's mostly, I loved you as GM, which I'm always like, oh, wow, really? Because I loved being GM. I think it was a natural fit, and it was great, and it was the evolution of my character. But when I think of, you know, I want to be in the ring, I want to be hitting people, I want to be hurting people, I want to be cutting promos and hurting people with my words, too. So, I think of, You know, but that's what a lot of people say. Also, a lot of people throw back to the pandemic error when me and Mandy had that huge rivalry,

which was probably one of my favorite durations of my career. Also, me and Naomi had a really cool feud. So those are like, I think the, maybe the top three, yeah. The good thing about being the GM is you get a lot of camera time. You do. Yeah, yeah. Maybe that's why people are like, oh, I remember you from that thing. Fair.

That's very fair. You're on all the time. Both brands. I was going to Raw. I was going to Smackdown, some live events. Like, yeah, I was doing it all. And you're inserting yourself into matches. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, did I do that? I didn't do that. I would never use my power. I was very fair. You would never abuse your mouth. Yeah.

That's actually a brilliant, brilliant thing to do. I mean, use it. I mean, I had the power. I had to use it, you know? What does your closet look like? Because the suits you wore were so good. My wife would love to enter this conversation. Enter this conversation.

So we have our closet that we share. And then we have another. bedroom in our house. It's no longer a room. It's a closet. It is the Sony Deville suit display. And my, you know, it's the ongoing beef between us because I take up probably 60% of our closet that we share and the bedroom next door. She's not happy about it. Sounds like you need a bigger house. I think I need to do something. We need to do some rearranging. But for now, yeah, it's the suit display. So it basically looks like maybe 50 suits or so. And then it goes into Sony DeVote gear.

Yeah. Then we have like the MMA gear from back in the day. So there's a bunch of that. Yeah, there's a wide variety. When you talk about that pandemic era of wrestling, that WrestleMania was just so strange, right? Because no one was there. But there was this big moment, right?

When Otis and Mandy finally, like, kissed and it was this big thing? Yeah. You're right there. It was this happening. This could have been like, I feel like the entire arena, the entire stadium would have been going crazy for that. It was like the payoff in that moment. Yeah. Bittersweet.

The life works in such mysterious ways. I always say everything happens for a reason and I'm a firm believer in that. But it was one of those moments where I was like, wow, I think I just had the run of a lifetime and it was in front of nobody, except the millions, of course, watching at home. That was kind of the cool thing that we didn't have anything else going on. so we're all watching. So you, and, and there was so much interaction and love on, on socials and online and everything, but being a performer, being in the WWE, like, my favorite part is walking out there and hearing you guys.

Like, I want to hear the audience, whether you're booing me out of the building, whether you're cheering me, when you're supposed to be, but whatever it is, I just want to hear and feel the passion from that. So walking into the empty arena, when we know we're having iconic moments, like the Mandy Otis kiss, like the Sonia, Mandy Turn. And like all these moments, I'm like, oh, my God, the crowd reaction would be so good. And, you know, at one point it was like 20 NXT talent in the audience and they're booing. And I'm like, this is crazy.

This would be so iconic in front of a crowd. But it was iconic nonetheless to be a part of a cool story like that. The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. soccer podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Klinberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claim.

And they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer podcast, presented by Hencoe. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. What was so special about the chemistry that you and Mandy had? Because it was magic when you guys were on screen together.

It was. It was real. A lot of it was real. We're best friends. We're like sisters. We love like sisters. We fight like sisters. And so much of it was I had felt that Mandy had gotten opportunities in the ring that is because she had a certain look. And I didn't have that. And so did I truly feel like that to my core? No, but there was part of that that I could definitely play off of. And so I harneyed. that energy of like, I want my time. I'm an athlete. I'm an MMA fighter. I'm a badass. I want to win. I want to fight. I want to be, you know, on the top of the card. And so, I mean, I just harness that and made it, you know, more dramatic times 100. And was, and I love her so much. And there's so much friendship there and there's so much history there. And so I think when you trust the person you're out there with and there is so much love, it's easy to kind of emulate any emotion. With your background in MMA, did that make it,

easier to transition to pro wrestling or harder because you had to unlearn some things? Both. I mean, a little bit of both for sure. I think easier in the sense that, like, I knew how to move. I had footwork. My strikes looked legitimate. And, you know, obviously I had to work on not, you know, knocking people, kicking people's heads off. Like there's some kicks you have where it's like, oh, my gosh.

Yeah. They might feel that way, too, though, still to be fair. I'm just kidding. No, I'm nice to everybody. But, no, it took some time to learn the happy medium, for sure. Sure. But I think it's a leg up because I think, you know, you just have a way about you. Someone's like, oh, she could fight. She does. The match you had with Liv Morgan and you get superplexed onto a pile of chairs.

You guys remember this? How do you prepare for something like that? Oh, I loved that match. There was so much passion and excitement that went into planning that match. Again, Liv's a good friend of mine. It wasn't at the time. but we had so much fun putting it together because it was like we when you work with someone who you're friends with you want to help each other

and you want to be generous and you want to have why me and Mandy had so much fun why me and Liv had so much fun and had good chemistry because we got along and we cared about each other and so I was like just I can't curse on here I don't know sure you guys okay

you okay with that I was like just fuck me up out there like I don't care if There's blood. I don't care what happens. Like, we're badasses. We're both from New Jersey. And we can handle that. Yeah, Jersey in the house.

We got... Jersey's in the house. Right across the street, right? Right over the bridge. My wife's from Jersey, so I got this. Let's go. Okay, you're Jersey by default then. I guess.

Yeah. By marriage. Sure. Yeah, by marriage. Jersey by marriage. Yeah. So I was like, just, yeah, I won't say it again. That's just overkill.

But I was like, just mess me up out there. Like, give it to me. And we always say that when we work each other. But, yeah, we wanted it to be a fight. and we wanted to go at it. And when the Kendo stick broke on my hip bone, I was like, oh, she took me very serious. No, but I gave it back to her.

Yeah. How did that Kendo stick feel? It's going to sound weird. I kind of like it. Not, it, that sounds really bad. I shouldn't have had that glass of wine. Would you like another? No, maybe.

We're at the right spot. You guys think I should have another? No, I'm just kidding. But, but it, I, I fought MMA. Like, I, there's some part of me that likes to feel a fight, you know? I like when it feels real. And the chairs I don't like. That's like, that's not cool.

That's you're taking it too far. Like, they were like rattling my spine. That's kind of like a little more scary. And it's not like you can practice the chairs. No, no, no, no, no, no. Like that's just one shot. No, you just do it. But the Ketto sticks more like a whip, you know, it's more like a stinging, like paintball maybe.

And you had a welt there, I'm guessing. Yeah. Oh, I'd welts. over. Yeah, we were covered in them. But yeah, the chair is like, oh, I don't know if I'm waking up tomorrow. Who have you not had a match with yet that you'd like to have a match with? Oh, okay. So it's not a real answer, but it's an answer. One of my favorite, I've had a million matches with her, but not a lot televised and never as singles televised to my knowledge. Oscar is one of my favorite opponents. We would have awesome matches down in NXT seven years

ago, eight years ago on live events and road loops. And it was my favorite match to this day, but we never got an angle on TV. And then it would be like, I go to Raw, she'd go to SmackDown, she'd go to SmackDown, I go to Raw, and we just keep like playing tag and not catching each other. So I was like, if I could paint the perfect picture, I would love to have like a two, three-seg match with Oscar. So good. And just mess each other up. I think there's a lot of people that want to see you in there with Rear Replay. I mean, I would love a match with Rhea, too. I've touched Ray in the Ring.

Maybe tag matches. Does that sound weird? Oh, man. I'd like that you don't know. Yeah, yeah. Tag match. We definitely, but I don't think, never as singles,

but like, we've definitely been in the same match. As a singles match, that'd be great. I would love that. I would love that. I think, uh, oh, 2024, yeah. So you guys, Goals.

You're returning in 2024. Okay, great. I mean, it's only April. Yeah, geez. I hope not 2025. Okay, good. What is it? ACL recovery two years?

I would be crazy. I mean, with an athlete like you? Yeah, never. Come on. Back tomorrow. Have you had a more painful moment or experience in MMA or in WWA? WWA for sure. You know, you get punched in the face in the NBA.

You get black eyes, bloody noses. but that's like, we've all felt that, right? I'm... No? Maybe the Jersey folks in here. I don't know. Yeah, that's weird. But, you know, like, it's surface wounds.

In my experience of it, what I've had happened. And in WWB, sometimes, you know, you get hit with a chair or you tear your ACL. The surgery hurt, although the ACL didn't hurt the surgery sucked. So I would say that's probably the most pain I put in. Like when you woke up from surgery, you're like, oh. Not instant, because you're on. on really good meds at first, but when the nerve blocker wears off, two days into it, three days into it, you're like, I mean, I was like telling my wife, I was like, babe, I don't think I could

do this. I had to go, like, get up to go to the bathroom and she, you know, she has to like grab the leg and slowly lower it. But like if it bends at any degree at that point, it's like, oh, stop. So she's like pausing in midair, like, you know, it's like a thing. That's love. It's a lot. It is love. That's love. How did you guys meet? She slid in my dams. That's a thing. Yeah. It works. It works. works. Yeah. Well, okay, so I'll give me the full story because she'll kill me if I just say that. She's like, you slid back, which I did. But she was following me for a while. So I followed her back. And, you know, we'd stalk each other's page as us millennials do. Are we millennials? Gen Z?

I think so. Whatever. As us people do in our 30s. And yeah, I always thought she was like dream, like goals. like just everything I wanted in a future wife, but she was in a prior relationship and so was I, and we were respectful. And then we both got single, and she said, hey. And of course I saw it because I stalked her page and then popped up in my little primary folder because the algorithm knew that I wanted to see that.

And I was like, ooh, why she's just saying, hey, like, just want to just ask me a random question? And I was like, hey, what's up? and she was like, I haven't done this in a while, haven't been single in a while, like something implying she was newly single, and I was like, ooh.

And I was like, where do you live? You're from the Northeast? And she's like, yeah. And I was like, awesome. I have a show in Albany, New York. Come, I'll get you tickets and I'll take you to dinner after. The rest is history.

The rest is history. Congratulations on that. Thank you. Thank you. That's amazing. Yeah, clap. I can't really clap with this. Thank you.

There we go. Congrats on everything, by the way. And we're so excited to see you back in the ring at some point this year. Some point this year. You've already put it out there. Yes. I'll end this the same way that I end every episode. And it's talking about gratitude.

So what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? Ooh. My wife and my family. That counts as one. That's one. Okay. We are one. My health, I think you take for granted.

I'm so blessed to have legs to walk on. and be able to run again and be able to work out and be healthy and live a healthy life. And there's so many people out there that struggle with all sorts of illnesses. And we take our health for granted when we're just healthy all the time. So I'm very grateful for my health. And I'm grateful for my life, being able to support my family and being able to do what I am absolutely obsessed with every single day. And that's being that ring kicking some ass. So I can't wait to be back soon.

and I love you guys. And thank you for having me. Thank you so much. Give it up, please. For Solio, Bill. Let's play her music too. Yeah, let's play her music. So fun doing these interviews in front of a live crowd.

And I've been talking about it quite a bit. Still putting the finishing touches on everything for a live episode of Insight during SummerSlam weekend in Cleveland. If I'm being completely honest with you, and I always am. I always like to be 1,000% transparent with you guys. We had a guest lined up. That fell through because of scheduling. We had another even bigger guests lined up.

That one also fell through. So now we're just dotting all of the eyes and crossing all of the T's for what the next big guest, or perhaps possibly even guests, plural for SummerSlam in Cleveland, but I think it's, I think it's actually going to be Friday before Smackdown. I was talking about it being Thursday night, but Sam Roberts is doing a show Thursday night.

I actually want to be there, and I certainly don't want to have my show on at the same time as his show because then I wouldn't be able to go to his show. So I'm thinking it's going to be Friday, late afternoon, before Smackdown. But again, just will, once we put all the finishing touches on this, once it's all finalized,

you will be the first to know. So great to see Sonia DeVille back on Raw. So great to see her healthy. And I can't wait to see what's next for her. Snap a screenshot. Share this with a friend and share it on social media. Tag us, please. She's at Sonia DeVille, WWE.

I'm at Chris Van Vleet. And Chavo Guerrero shared this quote earlier this week from Larry Fitzgerald. And I love it. NFL legend Larry Fitzgerald. When success finds you, it's because you were looking for it. Those things don't happen by accident. It doesn't just fall into your lap. It's because you're looking for it.

It's because you're working for it. When success finds you, it's because you were looking for it. Be great and be grateful. We will see you on the next one, my friends, for some more insight. Ask CVV number 33 tomorrow if you've got a question. send it in using that hashtag Ask CVV or shoot me an email. CVV at Chrisfanfleet.com.

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