Former WWE Star Opens Up On TNA Wrestling Debut

A former WWE star has opened up on their debut for TNA Wrestling at the AMC premiere and how it came about.

On last week’s AMC debut episode of TNA iMPACT, former WWE star Sonya Deville made her debut under the name Daria Rae, with her serving as the new ‘suit’ for TNA Wrestling.

Sonya left WWE back in February 2025 after her contract with the company expired and was not renewed, with her taking a break from wrestling for the rest of 2025.

Speaking to Denise Salcedo, Daria opened up on her TNA debut and how it came about.

She said:

“I will say I worked very hard to keep that under wraps. I took like ridiculous precautions, I looked like the cat burglarer going through the airport, it was ridiculous. And I told nobody, except my wife of course.

“When we spoke I had just left, I definitely needed a break, I had been there for 10 years, professional wrestling and sports entertainment was all I knew, I was there from 21 to 31 years old, so I took a much needed break.

“Then as we rounded the end of the year I just had an epiphany, I looked at my wife and I was like ‘babe I think I want to go back to wrestling in some capacity’, and she was like ‘yeah I think you should’.

“I had been talking to TNA kinda from the moment I left, because TNA is owned by the same company that Invicta FC, the MMA company, is owned by, Anthem Sports, and so I had met Carlos at an Invicta event, we talked back then, and I just wasn’t ready then, and then I was.

“So I reached out like ‘lets do this’, and it happened to be the day before they announced the AMC TV deal and he’s like ‘did you know?’ and I was like ‘no I had no clue, how would I know’.

“So it was kind of this, that was the full circle moment that I needed, it was the reassurance that this is the right time, right place, and then when I walked out on stage for that first time in 10 months, almost 11 months, I was like ‘oh yeah, this is where I’m supposed to be’.”

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Daria wasn’t the only former WWE star to debut in TNA last week, with Elayna Black (Cora Jade) also debuting in the company on the show.

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