Sonya Deville reveals her ‘Mount Rushmore’ for women’s wrestling with the Bellas and is hopeful of WWE LGBTQ storyline – The Sun
SONYA DEVILLE has named all four of WWE's horsewoman as being worthy of gracing the company's version of Mount Rushmore.
The iconic American National Memorial sculpture features the carved heads of former presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
Yet Deville – real name Daria Rae Berenato – struggled to name just four women wrestlers past and present that deserve similar recognition.
The 26-year-old gave a special mention to the pioneering Four Horsewomen of wrestling (Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and Bayley).
The group is named after the legendary Four Horsemen faction led by Charlotte’s father Ric Flair in the 1980s and 90s.
The Queen, Becky, Sasha, and Bayley took on the name after revolutionising women’s wrestling on NXT, and have all since become multi-time RAW/SmackDown Women's champions.
Deville also hailed former Total Divas castmates, Nikki and Brie Bella, who were set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Bellas I think are incredibly smart, business savvy women that knew how to build a brand and are incredible in the ring too
She told SunSport: "Yeah, I think (Charlotte would) be on there for sure. I think she's incredible. I think Asuka’s incredible. Bailey and Sasha, are incredible. Becky, for sure.
"There's a lot of women that have paved the way before me, everyone has added something different to women's wrestling.
"The Bellas I think are incredibly smart, business savvy women that knew how to build a brand and are incredible in the ring too.
"I think we've all contributed to the success of women's wrestling and we're just going to keep going up from here because the talents never been more competitive."
Deville herself has proved as much as an inspiration as her Mount Rushmore picks after becoming the first openly gay female wrestler in WWE.
The ex-MMA star came out to Triple H back in 2015 on reality TV series Tough Enough.
Deville confirmed that she pitched a lesbian angle with former Fire and Desire partner Mandy Rose back in their NXT days.
And although it was rejected, the SmackDown ace revealed she's more than ready to handle homophobic trolls when WWE commits to such a storyline.
Deville told SunSport: "I mean, there's, there's gonna be trolls no matter what, there's going to be good and bad, no matter what we do.
"That's just part of being under the microscope and in dealing with scrutiny in general. I would never let that stop us. (Mandy and I) did pitch an LGBTQ storyline, like two-plus years ago now.
"And I think that it's important and I think that, you know, it will eventually come full circle, whether it's us or whether it's other wrestlers, but I think inclusion is important.
"We're in a place right now in the world, in the sports world specifically where, it's kind of our duty to represent all diversity. So I think it's important."
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