Internal Reaction to Daria Rae’s TNA Debut on AMC

Daria Rae’s TNA debut on January 15 wasn’t just a surprise to fans—it also landed well with the people backstage.

The former Sonya Deville made her first appearance as The Suit, turning on Santino Marella and seizing control as the new authority figure on TNA Wrestling. It didn’t take long for her to flip the crowd, demanding Marella “stay the hell out of my way” and ordering the audience to “shut up when I’m talking.”

According to Sean Ross Sapp via Fightful Select Q&A podcast, the internal reaction to her debut has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Well, people I talked to are very happy with her coming in. They think that they needed a new authority figure instead of Santino.”

Santino had previously acknowledged on-screen that he’d been distracted and was told by TNA management that he needed help. That “help” ended up being Daria Rae—who promptly betrayed him and aligned herself with TNA’s power structure.

At the end of the day, TNA’s locker room seems more than ready to embrace a regime change—and Daria Rae didn’t waste time making a power move. Santino Marella may have been the comedy glue holding things together, but The Suit has brought in a whole different energy—and people behind the scenes are buying in.

Do you think Daria Rae was the upgrade TNA needed in its authority figure role? Drop your take in the comments and let’s talk about i