So, it appears the WWE may be breaking up Fire & Desire (Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose). To be fair, this is an observation based on how one member couldn’t be at ringside for the other the last couple of Smackdowns. It’s a standard ploy to plant the seed of doubt between a pair. It’s especially noticeable when over the summer they had stated they always have each other’s backs; they’re true friends.
Is this going to happen? That’s a good question. There were reports that the pair were going to be broken up before WrestleMania 35, but those plans were scrapped. But, according to Dave Meltzer and ringsidenews.com, it looks like WWE might go through with it this time.
It’s a fresh start
Considering Deville and Rose have teamed together since the beginning, it’s easy to say they’ve gone stale and splitting them up would give them a fresh start.
This idea may have been jump started by Sonya Deville’s rising popularity on Total Divas and on the signing and interview as she’s open to speaking about her sexuality and is a supporter for the LGBTQ community as a whole. She’s presented as the WWE’s first openly lesbian superstar, and that has elevated her beyond wrestling.
With this in mind, having Otis and Mandy Rose beginning a courtship angle makes sense, as Rose has shown a soft spot for Otis and his gentle kindness. It’s a far cry from her pretentious magazine cover model heel angle they pushed when building a rivalry between her and Ember Moon.
This also puts Deville in the middle of the possibly budding relationship as Rose couldn’t be at ringside two weeks ago because she hugged Otis, and his sweat ruined her dress. After Deville was unable to be at ringside for Rose this past week, the hook is baited and about to be set to pull them apart.
The downside to this is pretty big
While it doesn’t seem like it, there is a pretty big downside to doing this.
The first is the women’s tag team division is bereft of talent, and it’s being kept alive by injecting Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair into it. This may not have been needed had the WWE actually used Fire & Desire as a legitimate tag team instead of barely more than jobbers to put over Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.
It’s a difficult line to walk when it comes to limited television time (hence why the women’s division deserves their own brand as I noted here, so there is always someone that gets the short end of the stick.
Deville and Rose have even in their individual matches. They’ve come out strong against a newcomer, but then gradually begin losing to put them over.
While winning and losing isn’t important in the grand scheme of sports entertainment, having a good winning streak helps the fans become invested. We may know the endings are predetermined, but it someone’s not allowed to be an established threat in the ring, it doesn’t matter what the announcers say. It’s hard for us to buy into them, one way or another.
Another downside is, as mentioned in ringsidenews.com, that it’d be easy for Sonya Deville to disappear after the show as the focus switched to Mandy Rose. Maybe she wants to so she can try different things. We don’t know unless she tells us, so it’s all speculation.
What is certain is we’re missing out on some tremendous talent (We probably should be used to this by now.) by breaking up Fire & Desire. The only good that could come out of this for them and us is we could get to see them unshackled and allowed to do what they’re capable of.
Anyone want to hold their breath on that one?
