On September 26th, Candice LeRae made her return to WWE and her debut on WWE Raw. As Nikki ASH awaited her mystery opponent, the crowd in Edmonton, AB, Canada were delighted to see the Poison Pixie for the first time since leaving WWE NXT after she announced her pregnancy with husband Johnny Gargano. Candice LeRae made quick work of the Almost Superhero, pinning her following a swinging neckbreaker from the top rope. This caused Nikki ASH to rip off her superhero mask, and she hasn’t competed on television since.
Candie LeRae‘s husband Johnny Gargano returned to WWE the previous month on August 22nd, where he was confronted by former The Way stablemate and Mr. Money in the Bank Austin Theory. When Theory tried to claim that he’s surpassed his former mentor in the wrestling business, he became the victim of a swift superkick from Gargano.
Candice LeRae says it was “difficult” keeping her husband’s return a secret
In a recent interview with MuscleManMalcolm, Candice LeRae revealed how far in advance she knew about both her debut and that of her husband on WWE Raw.
“Johnny and I both knew for sure about a week before he debuted. I knew for a while. Keeping it a secret was very very difficult. We really, in this day in age with so much social media and so many things leaking, and trying to keep that a secret was difficult.
“Him being a secret was a little harder. Me being a secret was easy but hard because I was going with him to train as his training buddy, but it was just, ‘I’m just training with him.’ Then people weren’t expecting me to be ready to come back so soon. Not even Triple H was. When we said, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ He was like, Oh, okay.’ Everyone was surprised. I’m glad that, in this day and age, we were able to be genuine surprises.” (h/t Fightful)
On the most recent episode of WWE Raw, Candice LeRae teamed with Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair. Despite their best efforts, Dakota Kai and IYO SKY emerged victorious from the bout. Full results from the October 17th episode can be found here.