Daria Rae said she was retired from pro wrestling, and she meant it. But then she realized that she could pursue outside opportunities and stay in the wrestling business.
Daria Berenato, aka former WWE Superstar Sonya Deville, made her TNA debut during the promotion’s live debut on AMC TV. Daria Rae’s appearance was one of the highlights of the show, and she explained how it ended up happening during a new interview with WrestleZone.
“When I said I was retired, I meant it, and I felt it at that moment. I had been doing it for ten years, and it was my whole adulthood, and I didn’t really know anything else, and I felt like I needed to figure out who Daria was and what I wanted out of life,” she explained.
“So I took the time, and then I woke up one day, and I was like, ‘Okay, I can do all these other amazing things, but I also want to be back in pro wrestling.’ I don’t think there’s really anything like it once you experience it,” she continued. “The energy from the live crowd and interacting with the audience, you can’t duplicate that. It only exists in sports entertainment.”
TNA made sense to Daria Rae for an important reason
Daria Berenato told her wife of her plans to return to wrestling, adding that TNA made sense due to having previous conversations with TNA President Carlos Silva. Berenato confirmed that her role with Invicta Fighting Championship, the MMA company owned by TNA parent company, Anthem Sports & Entertainment, sparked her talks with Silva.
“That’s where I met Carlos. It was actually at an Invicta event. We had talked right after I left WWE, and he was like, ‘Hey, how can we make this happen?’ And I just wasn’t ready. But I knew the door was open,” Daria Rae said. “He made it clear the door was open, and so when I was ready, I shot him a text, and we went back and forth, and we made it happen.”
Daria Rae said that, coincidentally, she reached back out to Silva the day before TNA’s new TV deal with AMC was announced.
“Everything fell into place. It was very full circle,” she explained. “Everything kind of just made sense that this was the time and this was the place. After experiencing the events over the weekend, I know for sure that I made the right decision. With everything that TNA’s doing right now, I think it’s one of the most interesting things happening in professional wrestling.”
Will Daria Rae wrestle and be the S.U.I.T.?
Santino Marella is TNA’s current on-air Director of Authority, and has wrestled while holding that title. Sonya Deville also served as a wrestler and authority figure in WWE, but as of now, Daria Rae plans on staying out of the ring as a competitor.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate. I don’t think I should be mixing that,” she noted. “If I’m running the show, and I’m calling the shots, and I’m bringing in talent, and adjusting rosters, I don’t think it would be appropriate at this point in time for me to be competing.”
As far as how long her TNA tenure might last, Daria Rae reportedly signed a six-month deal and hopes to extend it. She sees herself being around “as long as it’s mutually beneficial to everyone involved.”
“And as long as I’m having fun,” she added. “I think this chapter of my life is about doing everything and anything that I want to do. So, I get to do my other pursuits as well as this, although this is very full-time. We’re travelling a lot. Flying back out in a couple of days for iMPACT. We’re in Albuquerque, New Mexico. So, I’m just really excited to be here, and I want to do it until it doesn’t make sense anymore.”
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