Sonya Deville was reportedly furious with SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair at Friday’s WWE SmackDown taping.
As we’ve noted, there was a backstage confrontation between Flair and RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch over the booking of the Women’s Title Exchange segment, which was moderated in the ring by Deville. The tension in the ring reportedly led to words between Flair and Lynch backstage.
In an update, PWInsider reports that Deville was said to be “mad enough to want to fight Flair” at one point. Deville and Flair also had an argument backstage at the arena.
The Lynch – Flair confrontation took place backstage in the Gorilla Position, in full view of WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon, and Senior Vice President Bruce Prichard, among others. This confrontation received most of the attention initially, but Deville also had issues with Flair at SmackDown.
In an update on the Flair – Lynch fallout, PWInsider adds that Lynch’s argument with Flair was said to have been loud and angry with Lynch described as standing up for herself after being disrespected. The blame for the situation has fallen on Flair for the most part so far, with several people claiming that the situation started after Flair made it clear she felt the segment made her and her title reign look weak. There have been several alleged instances where Flair’s behavior has led to issues in recent months, including the recent legitimate back & forth in the ring with Nia Jax.
The criticism on Flair is that she’s been self-indulgent towards protecting herself and making sure that all attention is on her, but one source not close to Flair stated, “Let’s be honest, that’s what stars do. They make sure their star power remains the same or greater.”
Another source noted that the resentment towards Flair has been building in recent weeks, and that it was “just a matter of time” before something happened.
Flair was escorted out of the building by WWE officials on Friday night, which some close to her saw as a “sign of disrespect” in itself, given her family’s history with the company and her importance to the SmackDown brand moving forward. One talent who was in the building, but did not see the argument, felt like WWE did the right thing as it was just their way to defuse the situation in the moment.
There does not seem to be any heat on Lynch at this time as the incident never got physical.
To dismiss any speculation, Flair was not backstage for AEW Dynamite in Orlando over the weekend, but there are said to be people in her circle that were privately pushing the idea of her trying to get out of her WWE deal, but realistically, no one expects that to actually happen.
There are a number of people in WWE keeping their eyes on Flair to see what will happen with her and how she handles herself when she heads to Friday’s SmackDown in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Flair and Lynch likely won’t cross paths until WWE storylines call for the Survivor Series storylines next month.
As noted, WWE edited part of the Flair – Lynch exchange segment off the SmackDown replay that aired on FOX this past Saturday night. The segment will also likely be edited when the episode is archived on the WWE Network in the next few weeks.
Stay tuned for more.
