Departed WWE star Sonya Deville has detailed the harrowing lengths Vince McMahon went to in order to secure her safety back in 2020.
The real-life Daria Berenato spent a decade in WWE playing the character of Deville, an often-dastardly on-screen character.
She was a former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion and a flyweight in legitimate combat sports, making her one of the company’s most rounded performers.
Despite her impressive CV and career, she made global headlines five years ago after suffering an horrific ordeal at the hands of a stalker.
In August 2020 Phillip Thomas was arrested and charged after breaking into the star’s home and attempting an armed kidnap, later ending up with 15 years in prison for his crimes.
Understandably, the WWE star was left horrified and, you would expect, far from in the frame of mind needed to perform at a major wrestling show just days later.
Berenato was due to square off against Mandy Rose at that year’s instalment of WWE’s second biggest annual show, the company eventually changing the match stipulation to ‘Loser Leaves WWE’ match in the wake of the ordeal.
That enabled the New Jersey native to lose the bout and be written out of WWE storylines and moved off television but, it wasn’t something WWE did without considering the grappler’s welfare.
In a new interview with Ariel Helwani, Berenato has revealed the extreme measures WWE went to in order to ensure she was able to stay safe.
Then boss Vince McMahon, she explained, was eager to see her at SummerSlam that weekend and met with her backstage where he revealed a gesture, she says nobody knew about until now.
“I’m talking to Vince because SummerSlam’s coming up, and he’s checking in on me, saying: ‘Are you okay? Why don’t you want to come to the venue, I want to say hi to you, I want to hug you.
“So we drove to the venue, Hunter [Triple H] was there, Stephanie was there, and [Vince] was like: ‘What do you need from me?’”
Checking in on the state of the 31-year-old’s house and surroundings, he queried whether she could return home, at which point Berenato says she discovered a swarm of reporters were waiting for her ‘all over her doorstep.’
She added: “I don’t know if I’m supposed to say anything [but] Vince rented a house for me, to stay in, in a different part of Florida.
“[He] hired 24/7, armed security. I mean like, these guys had guns on their hips [for] a month.
“That’s where I went after that, nobody knows that…”
The tag team and singles star said she was ‘safe but didn’t feel safe’ when Thomas was refused bail, confirming she went on to rent out and later sell the house in which she was targeted without staying in it again.
Berenato, before joining WWE, had three professional MMA fights, winning two bouts by submission and TKO respectively.
Her foray into wrestling back with WWE’s Tough Enough reality show back in 2015.
She went on to feature in NXT before her ‘main roster’ breakthrough, after which she wrestled numerous matches against UFC great Ronda Rousey.
Now, though, she’s looking to the next chapter of her career. She last wrestled Natalya on WWE main event in February, shortly before being told her contract with the company wouldn’t be renewed.
Her last major appearance came at WWE’s Royal Rumble in the same month, where she was an entrant in the women’s Rumble match.
