When The Elephant In The Room Is A Rat

 For a handful of years, the WWE Universe wondered why their resident cage fighter, a woman who used the tag line of "hair up and square up" shared the same surname as a villain that plagued everyone's childhood: DeVille. Even if at times her actions were somewhat nefarious, nothing about Sonya's character brought her anywhere near the same sphere of evil as Cruella. That was until she became an authority figure for both SmackDown/RAW and decided to use - maybe even abuse - her power to berate non other than Naomi.

And, quite frankly, Sonya's plan, however it may be, has been working. From hired referees, which she vehemently denies, to curating the SmackDown Survivor Series women's team in such a way that Naomi couldn't be a part of, Sonya not only prevents Naomi from flying but actively removes feathers of her glowing wings every week. It's painful to watch, revolting even, but it's a story that's about as real as you and I. Sometimes authority figures, for whatever reason but more often out of jealousy, decide to undermine and actively destroy careers. Afraid to stand up for themselves, many crumble and fall, but not Naomi.

From the first moment that Sonya swatted her as if she was nothing more than an annoying fly on a summer day, Naomi stood her ground. Never violent, never raising her voice, but continuing to try ask for what she was owed. A match, at the very least, to prove herself to Sonya and show how the SmackDown women's division could benefit from having her around. Except every single time Naomi tried, DeVille became, well, more vile, more toxic, more poisonous.

However, the imploding of the SmackDown team at Survivor Series, which led to it's humiliating defeat, changed Sasha Banks' view on the biased iron fist of Sonya's leadership. As the team captain, Sasha declared that had her UNITY sister been a part of it, SmackDown would've reigned supreme and, in a sadistic twist, Sonya agreed to let them have a tag team match later on. To the surprise of everyone, Sonya seemed to have nothing but good words towards Naomi during the entirety of the match, going as far as standing up and clapping when Naomi/Sasha rose to victory.

Could this be a trap? Yes, absolutely. It would be the work of a lifetime if a manipulative DeVille lured her prey into a false sense of security and then proceeded to cut off Naomi's wings once and for all. But would Naomi fall for it, after being mistreated for so long? Maybe. Not because she's too naïve to see the real intentions behind this shift but because desperation might play a part in this story. Whatever this represents, it will only be revealed once Sonya decides to, as it seems that this power hungry villain keeps every plan under wraps at all times.

And yet there's the elephant in the room: Sonya DeVille doesn't fight anymore which makes her, for the lack of a better term, a rat. If in a previous wrestling life she'd solve all her issues with a fight in the ring, this new version of herself would rather snap her fingers and get some fired - or worse, shipped to RAW - than face them in a fair fight. Which is why she goes through every hoop necessary to avoid it. But at the end of the day, there's only one way to solve this and while Sonya might be the DeVille of paperwork, she'll have to put her hair up and square up.