A Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville kiss was nixed by WWE and here’s why. And, an update on ROH as AEW removes some of their own programing.
Mandy Rose And Sonya Deville Kiss
Plans are always subject to change and that is what happened at WrestleMania 35. Otherwise, fans would have seen Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville kiss.
The main event was a first for WrestleMania as women headlined the show. The massive card saw Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey to win two belts.
The newly created Women’s Tag Team Championship were also up for grabs and the first WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal took place on the pre-show as well.
Now, we are learning WWE had totally different plans for WrestleMania 35. They wanted a title match that would feature Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville and Asuka. And, it would see Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville kiss.
Former WWE writer Dave Schilling recently spoke to Jeremy Lambert & Joel Pearl on In The Weeds, where he went into further details. Basically, the big takeaway would be Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville kiss to a major pop.
“That was supposed to culminate in a romance between Sonya and Mandy at WrestleMania 35,” said Schilling. “It was a triple threat for the SmackDown Women’s Championship and Mandy was going to win because Sonya would lay down for her and they would embrace and kiss in the middle of the ring.”
“I said, ‘Oh boy.’ If you’re going to do this, I understand why it could be great because it’s a representation and it’s necessary.”
Schilling continued how WWE was looking to represent the LGBTQ community. Remember, Deville came-out while auditioning for Tough Enough to universal praise.
“To WWE’s credit, they went to GLAAD,” said Schilling. “Stephanie McMahon was on the phone with them.”
“The thing that I said was, ‘At WrestleMania, 60,000 people are going to be rooting for Asuka, and they’re supposed to be the babyfaces? They’re going to be booed out of the building and you’re going to have two women kissing in the middle of the ring and people booing because they love Asuka so much.’”
“People do love Asuka and every time WWE thinks they can beat her and ‘who cares,’ they forget people have a positive, intense relationship with her. Even when they try to make her a heel, they root for her.”
“It could have turned out poorly even though the best intentions were there. And they did want to make a good storyline and Sonya and Mandy were involved and they were excited about doing it.”
“At the end of the day, you have to do it right, and that would have been the wrong way to do it because you’re beating a babyface who people love.”
Since then, all their careers went in different directions.
Rose eventually went back to NXT and held the Women’s Championship for over a year. She dropped the title and was released the next day because WWE felt content on her premium channel crossed the line.
WWE was criticized for the decision. Meanwhile, Rose is making plenty of money without WWE.
Deville’s life saw an intruder invade her house in an attempt to commit harm. He was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Asuka is still looking for her first WrestleMania win. Her last attempt at WrestleMania 39 saw a slightly new gimmick for Asuka, but she still failed to secure the title.
So, when did WWE make the right call to nix a Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville kiss for their biggest angle to date?
ROH Update
AEW is undergoing some major changes with their programing. With AEW Collision coming this summer on Saturday, two shows are departing.
AEW Dark: Elevation is now officially over and AEW Dark is also over, at least for now. Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp stated, “almost all AEW programming would be appearing on (Warner Bros. Discovery) platforms moving forward.”
Both shows were mostly seen by fans on YouTube. They would feature AEW talent, but mostly names looking for that big break.
Sapp noted how Ring of Honor, which is owned by Tony Khan, will see lesser known talent get their exposure there.
“We’re told that talent being looked at will still get opportunities, it will just more than likely be on the Ring of Honor brand,” said Ross. “To the best of our knowledge, ROH broadcasts are not a part of this new, altered deal,”
ROH can currently be seen via their own streaming service. Since Khan purchased the company, they have produced a handful of pay per views.
