WWE Superstar Sonya Deville has been blazing a trail for LGBTQ+ representation both inside and outside of the ring since she first appeared on TV in 2015.
Through WWE she's shared her story on Tough Enough and Total Divas, as well as proudly wearing her Pride-inspired T-shirt to the ring every Friday night on Fox's SmackDown Live!.
While Sonya's visibility on television and social media has helped further representation in WWE, she's yet to be involved in an LGBTQ+ storyline on television.
Instead, it was Lana's character who was taken in an LGBTQ+ direction when her relationship with Liv Morgan was revealed on Raw in December.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Sonya revealed she was as surprised as viewers at home where when Liv interrupted Lana's wedding to Bobby Lashley on Raw.
"I didn't know it was happening to be honest," she said. "I watched it live with everybody else and I was a little surprised."
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"It's not the way that I was gonna do my storyline with Mandy (Rose) obviously," she continued. "But inclusion is inclusion and you know, it's good that the LGBTQ+ community is being represented on TV.
"I think there's room for many, many, more storylines like that in different kinds of ways and I'd be happy to still do a storyline like that in the future."
If WWE does decide to do an LGBTQ+ storyline in the future, Sonya is confident they would be able to pull it off correctly and she’d be willing to help even if she’s not involved on screen.
"I definitely know they have the right access to people that could enhance their knowledge and just awareness on doing a storyline like that," she said.
"And I would absolutely love to be included in any kind of, you know, writing or planning or something like that in future."
Sonya is currently involved in one of WWE's hottest storylines which sees her tag team partner Mandy Rose being caught in a love triangle with Heavy Machinery's Otis and Dolph Ziggler.
Speaking about working with Otis, Sonya said: "It's been incredible. It's been so much fun to be a part of.
"People just love Otis and I think it's just because he's just so unapologetically himself and he's always so happy.
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"I think he's very relatable in a sense and Mandy and I have just had such a good time being part of the storyline for sure. It's been probably the most fun storyline I've ever been a part of in WWE."
Outside of WWE Sonya (real name Daria Berenato) has just launched her own line with clothing label Heavy Heart called Rainbow Love, which aims to empower and inspire the LGBTQ+ community.
"It's about equality, spreading the love and positivity," Sonya said. "I thought the perfect name for something like this was Rainbow Love.
"It's about not being afraid to talk about those taboo emotions that we feel sometimes and not being afraid to wear our hearts literally on our sleeves and also spread the love while doing it."
With the platform being a WWE Superstar gives her, Sonya is always spreading the message of being yourself and taking pride in who you are.
"I know that having the following I have with WWE I obviously do have an impression on these younger adults," she added.
"So I want to let them know with this clothing line that it's okay to be whoever you want to be."
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Stephanie is a writer who specialises in pro wrestling, covering everything from AEW and WWE to NJPW.
After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she went on to study journalism at Birbeck University.
Outside of her journalism work Stephanie is also a YouTube content creator focusing on AEW and interviewing talent from AEW, WWE, and across the indie wrestling scene. She has also worked for Revolution Pro Wrestling as a backstage interviewer and commentator.
