Sonya Deville Regrets Pitching Herself To Lose ‘Loser Leaves Town’ Match At WWE SummerSlam 2020, Writers Teased Her About It When She Returned

When Deville came back, the writers teased her about her choice when a push was on the way.

The on-screen feud between Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose came to a head in 2020 when the two clashed at WWE SummerSlam 2020 in a ‘Loser Leaves Town’ match.

Deville looked back on that during her appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet. She was originally supposed to win the match, but Deville got the finish changed because she thought Rose winning was the right move. She ended up being off television for the remainder of 2020.

She said she regrets pitching herself to lose the match and shared that when she returned, the writing team was teasing her about her choice while they were trying to push her.

“And then, the ‘Loser Leaves’ happens and I’m not needed for TVs, like, one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, a month, two months, like, all this time’s going by and I’m texting Bruce (Prichard), I’m texting Vince (McMahon). I’m like, ‘Hey guys, what’s the deal? I thought I was coming back right after.’ It’s the only reason I agreed to lose was because we had this cool angle to come back and bring me back, and they were like, ‘Eh… Hang tight, hang tight, hang tight,’ and then all of a sudden, finally Bruce says, ‘You know, after second thought, when we do a loser leaves, we have to honor the stipulation. So you have to stay gone for a while,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, well, why didn’t you tell me that when we discussed this? And I would have much rather have won then…’ I don’t have many regrets in life but, booking myself to lose that match is probably my only one, and it was like a running joke when I came back in the writers’ room, with like, the head writers. They kind of busted my chops and were like, ‘Remember that time you booked yourself to lose a match when we were trying to push you?…’ So much you don’t know behind the scenes because you’re not having these conversations like, hey, when you win this one, we’re gonna push you… She’s (Mandy Rose) gonna go in a different direction, you’re gonna go in a different direction. So it wasn’t that transparent, so I didn’t really know what I was doing to myself at the time. So I ended up sitting home for five months.”

Deville, real name Daria Berenato, wrapped up with WWE in 2025 after she was informed that her contract was not being renewed. She is a one-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion in the company.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.