Daria Berenato (Sonya Deville) recently recalled a time in developmental when a promo class drill turned into a real-life fight between Liv Morgan (Gionna) and Mandy Rose. Speaking on the Identity Crisis podcast, Berenato explained that the incident happened during a “pull-apart promo” drill, where wrestlers practice the intensity of being separated during a brawl.
“We’re in promo class, and we did this drill, and it’s called the pull-apart promo. You do a pretend pull-apart. People are security, or other people are pulling you off the other girl, and you’re just pretending, and then you have to cut a promo right after.”
Berenato said she, along with Aliyah and Danielle Kamela (Vanessa Borne), were assigned to separate Morgan and Rose. It did not take long for the “pretend” drill to become a real fight.
“So they’re doing a pull-apart. Me, Aliyah, Kamela, we were the three people to pull them apart… I’m in the middle of the two of them, and they’re doing it, and it feels normal at first. Then I’m feeling the wind whiz past my ear, and I’m like, ‘Yo, they’re really throwing.’ And then I hear one of them say, ‘What, b*tch?’”
“Now It Is A Scramble”
Once the fight became real, Berenato said her partners in the drill quickly disappeared, leaving her caught in the middle of the “scramble.”
“Then I look, Aliyah’s gone. Danielle’s gone. They bounced because now it is a scramble, and I’m in the middle. I’m shooting on both of them to get them off each other,” Berenato recalled. “Mandy had Gionna’s hair, Gionna had Mandy’s hair, and they’re screaming at each other and swinging for the fences. Finally, the boys slide in to help me rip them apart. They get in the ring. We get them apart. They slide out. Coaches are yelling. [Matt] Bloom comes in and everyone’s freaking out.”
The confrontation continued verbally after the two were separated, with the argument turning to pulled hair. “Mandy was so proud at the time that she didn’t have hair extensions back then. So [Liv] rolls out and she’s like, ‘You pulled my hair.’ And Mandy goes, ‘At least my hair is real, b*tch.’ And they’re just f*cking each other up now, cursing each other out… The coaches came in and gave a big speech… I think one swung a little too snug and the other retaliated.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Identity Crisis podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
