History Wrestling / CandiceLeRae

In 2017, Candice first appeared on [[Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} NXT]], participating in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship, held then by [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka]]. She has made sporadic appearances in NXT since then. She also wrestled in the ''WWE Mae Young Classic'', defeating Renee Michelle in the first round and Nicole Savoy in the second before losing to Wrestling/ShaynaBaszler in the quarter finals. She was officially signed by WWE in January of 2018, and made her debut at ''Takeover: Philadelphia'' alongside real-life husband Wrestling/JohnnyGargano.

She had numerous feuds with the likes of Shayna Baszler and Io Shirai before [[FaceHeelTurn turning heel]] in April 2020. She's taken on the moniker "[[RedBaron the Poison Pixie]]" and is now the co-leader of [[PowerStable The Way]] (as in, "The Gargano Way").

* FireForgedFriends: With Rhea Ripley during and after the build to ''[=TakeOver: WarGames=]'' 2019. Rhea was the appointed leader of the face team for the women's [=WarGames=] match, and Candice was her first pick. Throughout the subsequent weeks and during the match itself, Candice was TheLancer to Rhea and a major help prior to Ripley hitting the Riptide on Shayna Baszler to win the match. Rhea also came to Candice's aid the NXT after Survivor Series, fighting off a freshly heel-turned Dakota Kai who was trying to victimize Candice after their fight was over, then checking she was okay.

** [=LeRae=]'s Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}} career looked to be going the same way as her ROH one. She lost her first three singles matches to Athena (NXT's Wrestling/EmberMoon), Nikki Storm (NXT's Nikki Cross) and Kay Lee Ray, while also competing in a four-way dance won by Jenny Rose (who rarely has a good win/loss record). However, just like she ''eventually'' started winning in ROH, she started winning in SHIMMER, going so far as to become one of the top three contenders for the then new Heart Of SHIMMER Championship belt before being knocked off by Nicole Savoy. Even that was after [=LeRae=] defeated both Cherry Bomb and Wrestling/CheerleaderMelissa on the the same night.
** She's been one in both her NXT appearances, both of which were battle royales to determine a number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship. [[JobberEntrance She didn't even get a titantron]]. Subverted in the Mae Young Classic, where she got to the quarter finals before giving the rub to Shayna Baszler.

* MakeWayForTheNewVillains: Mainly because Wrestling/IvelisseVelez failed to get over as a villain in Family Wrestling Entertainment. So instead, Velez became [[NominalHero a face]] by [[DracoInLeatherPants default]] that Joey Ryan and Candice [=LeRae=] got heat by screwing over twice in a row, with [=LaRae=] taking the women's title and the two being chased by Veda Scott and [[Wrestling/LondonAndKendrick Paul London]].
* TheLancer: Became this to Rhea Ripley after she took charge of the female faces in the NXT women's locker room during the build-up to [=WarGames=] 2019. Candice was Rhea's first pick for her team, and her brightly colored outfit and blonde hair contrasted with Rhea's dark brown hair and black leather ring gear. In the end they wound up winning the match together despite Dakota Kai's CavalryBetrayal.

** She and Joey Ryan are intergender tag team partners and traveling buddies, Candice has taken a page from at least one of Joey's moves in the ring and they even shared a vlog of their travels with other wrestlers. Because of this, it's easy for people to think they're a couple. Except... they've never even kissed, Candice is married to Johnny Gargano, and Joey Ryan is married to female wrestler Laura James.

* UseYourHead: Would sometimes employ headbutts as part of her arsenal, even when her opponents are hardheaded women themselves, such as Nicole Savoy or Nikki Cross. She once did this against a man, beginning a match with a headbutt to Peter Avalon's face, which knocked him down right away.
* YokoOhNo: In Universe, Chris Hero saving Candice [=LeRae=] from The Human Tornado was all well and good, but when they started dating, that caused problems, as Wrestling/ClaudioCastagnoli didn't like her and went so far as to join [=BLKOut=], a multi promotional PowerStable that The Human Tornado was a member of, just to get rid of her. And when [=LeRae=] was gone, Hero and Castagnoli were back on good terms.

* RedBaron: Was quickly called The Canadian Goddess on the indies, eventually became The First Lady of PWG. Since debuting in NXT, fans have nicknamed her Candice Wrestling, while she favored the WWE-coined moniker of The Pint-Sized Pixie. Since her FaceHeelTurn she quickly altered the latter into poison-themed variations, with Pint-Size Poison and The Poison Pixie showing up on her entrance graphics.

Candice Gargano (née Dawson) (born September 29, 1985) is a Canadian professional wrestler who debuted in 2002 as Sweet Candy, before becoming better known by the ring name Candice [=LeRae=]. She is best known for her work on the American independent circuit, for initially for the Empire Wrestling Federation before breaking out into promotions such as Wrestling/{{Pro Wrestling Guerilla}} and Wrestling/{{CZW}}. She is a former PWG World Tag Team Champion, Fighting Spirit Pro Tag Team Champion and Dreamwave Tag Team Champion with Wrestling/JoeyRyan as The World's Cutest Tag Team.

* BareYourMidriff: As is typical.

!!Candice [=LeRae=] Tropes!!:

* ActionMom: She has a son with Wrestling/JohnnyGargano.

** [=LeRae=]'s Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}} career looked to be going the same way as her ROH one. She lost her first three singles matches to Athena (NXT's Wrestling/EmberMoon), Nikki Storm (NXT's Nikki Cross) and Kay Lee Ray, while also competing in a four way dance won by Jenny Rose (who rarely has a good win/loss record). However, just like she ''eventually'' started winning in ROH, she started winning in SHIMMER, going so far as to become one of the top three contenders for the then new Heart Of SHIMMER Championship belt before being knocked off by Nicole Savoy. Even that was after [=LeRae=] defeated both Cherry Bomb and Wrestling/CheerleaderMelissa on the the same night.

* MakeWayForTheNewVillains: Mainly because Wrestling/IvelisseVelez failed to get over as a villain in Family Wrestling Entertainment. So instead Velez became [[NominalHero a face]] by [[DracoInLeatherPants default]] that Joey Ryan and Candice [=LeRae=] got heat by screwing over twice in a row, with [=LaRae=] taking the women's title and the two being chased by Veda Scott and [[Wrestling/LondonAndKendrick Paul London]].
* TheLancer: Became this to Rhea Ripley after she took charge of the female faces in the NXT women's locker room during the build-up to [=WarGames=] 2019. Candice was Rhea's first pick for her team, and her brightly-colored outfit and blonde hair contrasted with Rhea's dark brown hair and black leather ring gear. In the end they wound up winning the match together despite Dakota Kai's CavalryBetrayal.

* TookALevelInJerkass: As of her FaceHeelTurn on the April 8th edition of NXT turning on Wrestling/TommasoCiampa and aiding her husband Johnny Gargano.

** In 2009 she won the tournament to become the Alternative Wrestling Show's first women's champion, the final round being a three way dance with Morgan and Erica D'Erico.

** The final round of SMASH's 2015 Gold Tournament was a five way dance featuring Matt Cross, Trevor Lee, Tyson Dux and Biff Busick. Candice [=LeRae=] won.
* UseYourHead: Would sometimes employ headbutts as part of her arsenal, even when her opponents are hard headed women themselves, such as Nicole Savoy or Nikki Cross. She once did this against a man, beginning a match with a headbutt to Peter Avalon's face, which knocked him down right away.

* ActionMom: She has a child with Johnny Gargano.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Her current heel run with Wrestling/JohnnyGargano and the Way runs on all of them being this.

* FlippingTheBird: Does this occasionally to particularly heelish opponents. She did this to Wrestling/JohnnyGargano a whole lot, even though he more often than not was uncharacteristically nice to her. Usually beating her in intergender matches may have had something to do with that...

* HappilyMarried: To Wrestling/JohnnyGargano, both in character and RealLife.

* {{Jerkass}}: Her current heel run with real life husband Wrestling/JohnnyGargano.

* {{Kick The Dog}}: When her and Wrestling/JohnnyGargano ran over and crushed Shotzi Blackheart's tank.

* TheLancer: Became this to Rhea Ripley after she took charge of the female faces in the NXT women's locker room during the build-up to [=WarGames=] 2019. Candice was Rhea's first pick for her team, and her brightly-coloured outfit and blonde hair contrasted with Rhea's dark brown hair and black leather ring gear. In the end they wound up winning the match together despite Dakota Kai's CavalryBetrayal.

** She and Wrestling/JoeyRyan are intergender tag team partners and traveling buddies, Candice has taken a page from at least one of Joey's moves in the ring and they even shared a vlog of their travels with other wrestlers. Because of this, it's easy for people to think they're a couple. Except... they've never even kissed, Candice is married to Wrestling/JohnnyGargano, and Joey Ryan is married to female wrestler Laura James.

** Her husband Wrestling/JohnnyGargano also counts as one, as does her more regular tag partner Joey Ryan, making for pint sized double teams.

** The World's Cutest with Joey Ryan, after defeating him during one of his inter gender invitationals. She also teams with Wrestling/JohnnyGargano quite a bit, but this took a while longer, as [=LeRae=] was initially insanely hostile towards Gargano. Gargano's manners, which he rarely showed to the degree he did for [=LeRae=], eventually won her over.

* TookALevelInJerkass: As of her FaceHeelTurn on the April 8th edition of NXT turning on Wrestling/TommasoCiampa and aiding her husband Wrestling/JohnnyGargano.

After months of inactivity, due to pregnancy, along with Gargano's release from contract with WWE, Candice would be released from the company on May 6, 2022.