After competing at the inaugural
Mae Young Classic in 2017, Dawson signed with WWE in early 2018 and debuted for the
NXT brand, where she became involved in her husband
Johnny Gargano's feuds before becoming a singles competitor. In 2020, Dawson joined Gargano,
Indi Hartwell, and
Austin Theory to form the
villainous faction The Way, until it dissolved the following year. She left the company in May 2022 and returned in September of the same year.
Early life
Candice Dawson was born and raised in
Riverside, California. She grew up watching professional wrestling with her two brothers and fell in love with the profession. In addition to her two brothers, Dawson has many male cousins, and was often the only girl when they would play sports together. After being in a marching band where she played flute and piccolo, Dawson went to an unspecified college and earned a degree in
culinary arts, and worked at
Universal Studios Hollywood as a
baker for a few years.[9]
Numerous outlets list her as being born in
Winnipeg,
Manitoba,
Canada. According to Dawson, this misconception is due to a decision made by an
indie promoter early in her wrestling career. The promoter in question did not perceive Dawson as a viable
heel, so in an attempt to generate
heat, she was billed as a Canadian.[2]
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2002–2005)
LeRae spent the first two years of her career wrestling for the
Empire Wrestling Federation (EWF) and the International Wrestling Council.[10] She appeared as a substitute in a round one match at the
ChickFight tournament in 2004, replacing the injured Miss Chevius, but lost in the first round to
Princess Sugey.[6][11] During 2005, LeRae was a mainstay in the EWF, facing wrestlers including Hurricane Havana, Kid Omega, and
Amazing Kong. She continued competing for the
promotion throughout 2006, while also wrestling for
All-Pro Wrestling and Ground Zero Wrestling. 2007 saw LeRae branch out to the
Midwestern United States, where she competed for Insanity Pro Wrestling and
Ring of Honor (ROH). LeRae had two matches for ROH in August 2007, losing to
Sara Del Rey and
Daizee Haze in
dark matches on August 10 and 24, respectively.[3]
LeRae began wrestling for the Alternative Wrestling Show (AWS) promotion in December 2007. In May 2009, she participated in a tournament for the AWS Women's Championship; she defeated Kitana Vera and
Christina Von Eerie en route to the final, where she defeated Erica D'Erico and Morgan in a three-way match for the
vacant championship. She successfully defended the title against Carla Jade, Nikki, and Von Eerie until September 6, when she lost the championship to Von Eerie.[3]
LeRae debuted in
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) in 2006, when she put together a
team to face a team
managed by
Jade Chung in an
eight-man tag team match, with fellow future WWE superstars
Seth Rollins,
Chris Hero, and
Kevin Owens where her team was victorious. In April 2007, she returned as the
valet of
Human Tornado. Her first main storyline in the company began later that year in September; Tornado had been abusing LeRae, who stood up for herself and cost Tornado a match at the
2007 Battle of Los Angeles.[3][13] After the match, Tornado began to attack LeRae, who was saved by
Chris Hero.[3] As a result, Hero and LeRae united to take on Tornado. In January 2008, Tornado,
Claudio Castagnoli, and
Eddie Kingston defeated LeRae, Hero, and
Necro Butcher in a
six-person match, which meant that LeRae was forced to face Tornado in a
singles match the following night. LeRae lost the match by
disqualification when Hero, who was banned from ringside, came to the ring to aid her.[14]LuFisto entered the feud in March when she teamed with Tornado in a loss to LeRae and Hero. The following night, LeRae defeated LuFisto in a singles match.[3] LeRae continued to be involved in the storyline between Hero and Tornado over the next few months.
LeRae spent the rest of the year in
intergender competition, facing wrestlers including
Adam Cole,
Johnny Gargano,
Tommaso Ciampa,
Roderick Strong,
John Morrison,
T. J. Perkins and
Chuck Taylor.[15][16] In 2009, LeRae entered a feud with
Christina Von Eerie when LeRae defeated Von Eerie in the first women's match in PWG in more than a year.[17] Throughout early 2010, they teamed with a variety of male wrestlers to face each other, until LeRae defeated Von Eerie in a match in June to end the feud.[18][19][20] At Kurt RussellReunion 2 in January 2011, LeRae was on the winning side of an eight-person tag team match.[21] At PWG's DDT4 event on April 3, 2011, LeRae won a
Joey Ryan invitational
gauntlet match to advance to a number one contenders match for the
PWG World Championship against Ryan later that same night, which she lost.[22] She wrestled only sporadically in PWG in 2012 and 2013, mainly in six and eight-person tag team matches, which included being on the winning side of an eight-person tag team match at Kurt RussellReunion 3 in January 2012.[3][23]
LeRae began teaming with Joey Ryan in October 2013, with a loss to
The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), and in January 2014 they participated in the 2014
Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament, but were eliminated in the first round by
Adam Cole and
Kevin Steen.[24][25] On March 28, 2014, at Mystery Vortex 2 LeRae unsuccessfully challenged Adam Cole for the PWG World Championship.[26] On July 27, LeRae and Ryan defeated The Young Bucks in a
Guerrilla Warfare match to win the
PWG World Tag Team Championship.[27] Known as the
World's Cutest Tag Team, LeRae and Ryan made their first title defense on August 29 in a
three-way match, defeating The Inner City Machine Guns (
Rich Swann and
Ricochet) and the team of
Christopher Daniels and
Frankie Kazarian.[28] The following night, LeRae entered the
2014 Battle of Los Angeles tournament, where she defeated Rich Swann in the first round before losing to
Johnny Gargano in the quarter-finals.[29][30] LeRae and Ryan finished out the year with successful title defenses against Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano in October, and Daniels and Kazarian in December.[31][32] LeRae and Ryan lost the championships to Monster Mafia (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) on May 22, 2015, in the opening round of the
2015 DDT4.[33] LeRae's final PWG match took place at Mystery Vortex IV, where she made a surprise appearance in a losing effort against
Trent? on December 16, 2016.
DDT Pro-Wrestling (2016–2017)
LeRae debuted for Japanese promotion
DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) on January 3, 2016, teaming with Joey Ryan to defeat Golden Storm Riders (
Daisuke Sasaki and Suguru Miyatake).[34] On January 10, LeRae teamed with the Golden Storm Riders in a losing effort against Happy Motel (Antonio Honda,
Konosuke Takeshita and
Tetsuya Endo).[35] The following day, LeRae teamed with Sasaki once again, this time defeating T2Hii (Kazuki Hirata and
Sanshiro Takagi).[36] LeRae once again toured with DDT in March 2016, unsuccessfully challenging Sasaki and
Shuji Ishikawa for the
KO-D Tag Team Championship along with Joey Ryan on March 26[37] and defeating
Makoto Oishi and
Danshoku Dino the following day.[38] LeRae returned to DDT in January 2017, losing to Sasaki on January 3,[39] but teaming with Kouki Iwasaki and Kazusada Higuchi to defeat T2Hii (Sanshiro Takagi, Kazuki Hirata and
Toru Owashi) on January 9.[40] During her time with DDT, LeRae also infamously won the company's Heavymetalweight Championship by pinning Ryan in a
dream sequence.[41]
LeRae has also competed for DDT's all-female sister promotion
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW), defeating
Yuka Sakazaki in her debut on January 4, 2016[42] and losing to Mil Clown exactly one year later on January 4, 2017.[43]
LeRae competed at
Shimmer Women Athletes' Volume 62 taping in April 2014, losing to
Athena.[52] She returned to Shimmer in October, losing to
Nikki Storm and Kay Lee Ray in singles matches on Volume 68 and Volume 70, respectively.[53][54]
On the May 3, 2017, episode of NXT, LeRae made her televised in-ring debut for
WWE, participating in a #1 contender's battle royal for
Asuka's
NXT Women's Championship, but was unsuccessful after she was eliminated by
Billie Kay.[58] In July, she was announced as one of the participants for the
Mae Young Classic tournament.[59] LeRae defeated Renee Michelle in the first round and Nicole Savoy in the second round, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals by
Shayna Baszler.[60][61][62]
On January 16, 2018, WWE announced that LeRae had signed a contract with the company.[8] She was inserted into her husband
Johnny Gargano's
feud with then-
NXT ChampionAndrade "Cien" Almas and his manager
Zelina Vega as an equaliser from Vega's interferences and attacks during their matches.[63][64][65] This led to a match between the two on the April 18 episode of NXT, which LeRae won.[66] Two weeks later, now working as an active competitor, LeRae lost to
Bianca Belair, suffering her first loss.[67] In July, LeRae competed against
Kairi Sane and
Nikki Cross in a triple-threat #1 contender's match, which Sane won.[68] After a few months of investigation, it was revealed that Gargano was the mystery attacker of
Aleister Black, a
storyline in which Nikki Cross was the witness.[69][70][71] This sparked a match between LeRae and Cross, which Cross won.[72] After a short hiatus, in what was her first appearance on the main roster, LeRae competed in her first women's
Royal Rumble match at the
Royal Rumble on January 27, 2019, entering at # 17 but was eliminated by
Ruby Riott.[73] A few months later on April 7, LeRae made her
WrestleMania debut as she competed in the second
WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal during the
WrestleMania 35 pre-show, where she was eliminated by Asuka.[74][75] On the April 11 episode of NXT, that was taped on
NXT TakeOver: New York, LeRae returned to NXT, as she defeated
Aliyah in her first match back.[76][77][78][79]
In the end of May, LeRae aligned with
Io Shirai who was feuding with
Shayna Baszler and her allies
Jessamyn Duke and
Marina Shafir.[80][81][82][83][84] The alliance between the two ended after a month, after Shirai lost to Baszler for a second time, despite LeRae's attempts to help her during their
steel cage match.[85] This led to a match between the two, that took place at
NXT TakeOver: Toronto on August 10, where Shirai defeated LeRae.[86][87][88][89] In September, LeRae was inserted in a fatal four-way match to determine the #1 contender to Shayna Baszler's NXT Women's Championship, which she won after pinning
Mia Yim.[90][91][92][93] LeRae received her title match on the October 2 episode of NXT, but lost.[94] On November 23, at
NXT TakeOver: WarGames, she competed in the first-ever Women's WarGames match as part of
Rhea Ripley's team, where LeRae and Ripley secured the victory against Baszler's team.[95][96] The next night at
Survivor Series, LeRae competed as part of Team NXT, in the first-ever 5-on-5-on-5 Women's
Survivor Series elimination match, where she was one of the survivors alongside Rhea Ripley and Io Shirai.[97]
On the September 23 episode of NXT, LeRae competed in a battle royal to determine the #1 contender for Io Shirai's NXT Women's Championship, which she won by eliminating Blackheart.[105] LeRae teamed up with Gargano the following week in a "Champions vs. Challengers" tag team match against Shirai and
Damian Priest, where the former were victorious.[106] At
NXT TakeOver 31 on October 4, LeRae failed to win the title.[107] On the October 14 episode of NXT, LeRae was successful in gaining yet another NXT Women's Championship match at
NXT: Halloween Havoc with a consecutive win over Blackheart.[108][109][better source needed] Facing off against champion
Io Shirai in a renamed
Tables, Ladders and Chairs match on October 28, LeRae once again failed to win the title, despite having been assisted by
Indi Hartwell (then presented as a masked figure), who was stopped by Halloween Havoc host Blackheart.[110][better source needed] An incensed LeRae felt that Blackheart cost her the Women's Championship, so she swore revenge by stealing and destroying Blackheart's toy tank in front of her, leaving Blackheart an emotional wreck and kicking off a feud between the two. On the November 18 episode of NXT, it was announced that LeRae would lead one of the two women's teams (Team Candice) against that of Blackheart (Team Shotzi) in the second-ever women's
WarGames match at
NXT TakeOver: WarGames on December 6,[111] where LeRae's team was victorious.[112][better source needed]
The following week on NXT, LeRae was featured in a segment alongside Gargano, Hartwell, and
Austin Theory, in which they started referring to themselves as
The Way – a
stable consisting of the four.[113][114] On the January 22, 2021, episode of
205 Live, LeRae and Hartwell defeated the team of Cora Jade and
Gigi Dolin in the quarterfinals of the
Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament, which marked the first time that a women's match has ever taken place in the brand's history.[115][116] On the May 4 episode of NXT, she and Indi Hartwell defeated
Ember Moon and
Shotzi Blackheart in a Street Fight to win the
NXT Women's Tag Team Championship.[117] On July 6, the pair would
drop the titles to the newly-formed team of
Io Shirai and
Zoey Stark at the
Great American Bash after the returning
Tegan Nox attacked LeRae, costing her and Hartwell the championship.[118]
The Way would officially disband later that year, following the announcement of LeRae's pregnancy, the expiration of Gargano's contract with WWE, and Theory's call-up to the
Rawbrand. LeRae remained under contract with WWE while on
maternity leave until May 6, 2022, when her contract expired after deciding not to renew it.[119]
On the March 11 episode of Raw, LeRae turned
heel by showing a more aggressive side and in particular, taunted
Maxxine Dupri over the death of her real-life brother.[125][126][unreliable source]
Dawson married fellow professional wrestler
Johnny Gargano at
Disneyland on September 16, 2016.[130] They have been featured in a short-documentary on their dynamics as a wrestling couple.[131] On August 12, 2021, the two announced that LeRae was pregnant with their first child.[132] The child, Quill Gargano, was born on February 17, 2022.[133]
Dawson is an avid fan of
Disney movies, as well as
NHL team the
Anaheim Ducks.[7] She has three brothers, one of whom was adopted by her parents when she was in high school.[134][better source needed]
^SimoneSDH.
"Candice LeRae – WWE 2K20 – Roster". TheSmackDownHotel – The Home of WWE 2K20, WWE 2K19, SuperCard & all WWE Games.
Archived from the original on March 22, 2020. Retrieved March 22, 2020.