Sonya Deville’s return to the ring is a really big deal, if it actually happens

WWE has loaded up the card for tomorrow night’s (Oct. 15) “Supersized SmackDown” on FS1 with the following segments:

1. Brock Lesnar is returning to SmackDown to presumably confront Universal champion Roman Reigns for the final time before their title match at Crown Jewel next Thurs., Oct. 21.
2. Two of the biggest stars on the WWE roster, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks, will wrestle each other in a main event level match that WWE is probably banking on to defeat AEW Rampage in the Friday night war.
3. Finn Balor will wrestle Sami Zayn in a King of the Ring semifinals match. This tournament always gets a lot of buzz and the match should be good, even if we already know the winner due to Zayn (probably) being banned from the finals in Saudi Arabia.
4. Carmella is taking on Zelina Vega in a Queen’s Crown semifinals match. This tournament has been a total bust so far. WWE’s lack of regard for the women in this tournament has reached the point where there’s a “How will WWE screw this up even more?” curiosity factor at play for some fans.

The fifth and final segment currently advertised for the card is Sonya Deville’s return to the ring for a match against Naomi. Sonya has not competed in a WWE ring since SummerSlam 2020, over one year ago. She took a leave from WWE following a terrifying incident where a disturbed stalker attempted to invade her home and kidnap her.

Before that, Deville was on her way to becoming WWE’s breakout star of 2020 for the stellar heel work she was doing in her storyline opposite Otis and Mandy Rose. Sonya returned to WWE in January 2021 in an authority figure role, which she has maintained all year long.

Now she is playing the heel once again and is at odds with babyface Naomi, who Sonya won’t allow to wrestle on SmackDown. That is, until Sonya finally relented last week and booked Naomi in a match....against Sonya.

Given how stacked the “Supersized SmackDown” card is, it feels like this match has become lost in the shuffle. One reason for this is because there is reason to think the match might not actually happen. Sonya is a heel, so will she actually follow through on her words and wrestle a match, seemingly out of nowhere? It’s easy to see this turning into an angle where Sonya abuses her power to either put Naomi in an impossible situation that doesn’t result in much of a match, or sweeps the rug out from under Naomi’s feet at the last second and doesn’t allow her to wrestle.

Then again, considering how the Queen’s Crown tournament has been treated thus far, maybe the worst case scenario is the one where there are no swerves here, and WWE simply has Naomi and Sonya wrestle a nothing match for two minutes with a clean finish.

What’s your excitement level for Deville vs. Naomi on SmackDown, Cagesiders? How do you see this one playing out?