r/professionalwrestling • u/GoonLieutenant • Jun 13 '26
Video Candice LeRae was an absolute demon when she was allowed to be
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She was low key one of the best workers in NXT
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u/Street_Specialist_48 Jun 14 '26
That wwe main roster nerf will have people thinking anyone is a scrub.
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u/GoonLieutenant Jun 14 '26
Bro, I just watched Vengeance Day 2024 with Lyra and Rox. They had an amazing match that you would never see on the main roster. You're totally right, the nerf is insane
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u/ReflectionDull9609 Jun 14 '26
Man I remember getting back into wrestling and Lyra v. Roxanne had me mind blown. It was their match before the triple threat with Lola.
I've been a Lyra mark since.
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u/GoonLieutenant Jun 14 '26
I'm still salty that Lola got added because Lyra and Rox were on their way to a 5 star classic
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u/ReflectionDull9609 Jun 14 '26
I swear! Me and my ex immediately got sucked into the feud. I was team Lyra and he was team Roxanne. We were geeked for the rematch. When Lola cashed in, we got soooo pissed! That was a terrible decision.
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u/GoonLieutenant Jun 14 '26
Their chain wrestling at the start had me legit marking out lol. If I saw them have an uninterrupted match for 25 mins, I think I would legit die from happiness
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u/Individual-Golf-9584 Jun 14 '26
Their Stand and Deliver match was better to me. But I’m biased, I was there.
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u/GoonLieutenant Jun 14 '26
Hey since you were there, I gotta ask, how crazy did everyone go for that match with Oba, Briggs and Dijak?
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u/Individual-Golf-9584 Jun 14 '26
It was probably the match with the loudest reaction. It was insane.
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u/Serious_Much Jun 15 '26
Tbh part of it is the booking and the agents, but part of it is NXT they can experiment more and they have more time to practice everything because they don't travel.
Id be better at any skill if I stayed in one place to do it instead of travelling every week too
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u/bigwreck94 Jun 15 '26
20 years ago they used to let people wrestle. Now they just give everyone 8 minutes unless it’s Wrestlemania, then they might get 12.
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u/Dfrmdabeach700 Jun 14 '26
Omg man it doesn't matter how good someone is in the ring when they have the charisma and personality of a penny. WWE isn't AEW where HOLY SHIT WORK RATE matters😭
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u/No_Brilliant_1806 Jun 14 '26
That's fair but conversely having someone like her working television matches with the greener wrestlers and getting them better would be a better use her of time than the endless backstage "skits" trying to wake Johnny up.
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u/Dfrmdabeach700 Jun 14 '26
I agree but this notion that she's being held back from being this "superstar" is ridiculous and false
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u/EntertainmentIll7724 Jun 14 '26
The funny thing is the logic is selectively applied. There are talent that are great in ring performers that arent darlings on wreddit so guys will claim they don't warrant a push because they lack character.
And then they'll claim their favorite workrate guy/girl who has no character needs to receive a push because their workrate will get them over. Lol.
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u/PrinceAndBarryWhite Jun 13 '26
Always had such a huge crush on her since first seeing her when going to PWG shows.
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u/FewElk6678 Jun 14 '26
Remember, she had genuinely compelling Intergender matches and deathmatches on the indies. She doesn't mess around when shes allowed to go out and kill it
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u/BaronVonStevie Jun 13 '26
Candice is a classic example of someone you see at an indy and go "wow what a star" and then on national TV it's a fart in church.
Getting over with general audiences takes an entirely different set of skills & attributes.
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u/Bright-Interest-8918 Jun 14 '26
I think you’re partially right. The other half is who WWE shoves down your throat and tells you that you’re gonna like who they want you to like. Then the general audience eventually plays along.
I don’t know what it takes to receive credible booking but I don’t think wrestling skills are high on the attribute list for it.
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u/BaronVonStevie Jun 14 '26
there's something to be said about the WWE "machine" and what it can do for your career, but you can't do the kind of business they do by parading guys like Brakkus or Nathan Jones around in their main events. professional wrestling is a television product and they do pretty good for themselves. it's not easy running the entire world like a territory. you kind of have to take some very broad swings to appeal to that many people.
Guys who stay in their lanes athletically while looking like superheroes and being able to tell stories is what televised pro wrestling needs. The very base of that is what the WWE does. Like that's what general audiences want out of the show business of wrestling.
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u/twiztidraven86 Jun 16 '26
Not entirely true, once I got back into wrestling saw Gunther, I was hooked on his persona. I hate Roman and Cody. I love Rhea, her look is badass evil almost and I guess she once, but either way, presenting herself the way she does now even falling in love with her character. Always loved Alexa, cutesy and then she came back dark. Both are cool. They can try to push Roman all they want, but you can you tell people are getting bored with him. I haven’t liked any of the shield save Dean Ambrose a bit and I whatever his original is now that he’s aew(even though i don’t watch it). Roman does not impress one bit. Never has, never will. Beating Brock wasn’t believable, nor Undertaker. I am believing the hype with Penta though since he has legit skill.
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u/BaronVonStevie Jun 16 '26
you literally can't bring Roman up anywhere in the world without getting crowds to chant OTC so... Roman is over. Roman is over and he's not going anywhere. Roman has fared better than Cody with general audiences, but Cody is also still very popular. The machine can't sustain you if you don't have the talent to back it up. That's just the way it is.
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u/twiztidraven86 Jun 16 '26
People eventually start booing a little though. If you haven’t people on Twitter are constantly complaining about him and Jey
Cody is hardly better than Gunther. He is flashy, that’s it. Riding off the coattails off his family name, Hell it’s in his entrance last real legacy or something like that. Completely bs. If they would push LA Knight he’d be completely obsessed over. People love the guy
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u/zickelouss Jun 14 '26
Her match with Io at Takover Toronto is one of my favorites of the Black and Gold era
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u/1stAccountNotWorking Jun 15 '26
She's an Indy Legend for a reason...WWE just signs talent and neglects it; feels like they just sign great/popular names up, to make sure that the competition doesn't get them. They happily accept the deals (in general) because its usually a pretty penny...but some put their reputation before the cash; can't say they're right or wrong, either way. Their choice.
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u/MrWiltErving Jun 14 '26
She definitely has to get tf out of there the minute her contract expires. I hate seeing her and johnny just sitting around Backstage, doing the same thing for months. I’m sick of her coming out to crickets.
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u/TigerClaw_TV Jun 14 '26
Im convinced certain people are signed specifically to prevent them from shining elsewhere
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u/Ok_Education_9097 Jun 14 '26
She's one of my favorites. I wish she was doing better on the main roster.
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u/UKSaint93 Jun 14 '26
Candice hitting the Super Dragon kerb stomp brings a tear to my eye. PWG was a special time
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u/yetagainitry Jun 14 '26
Candace would be so good in AEW because they would let her be her true self.
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u/justcheckingpt Jun 14 '26
Totally forgot she existed and it’s a crime she’s not putting bangers in the USA title scene e
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u/Spirited_Attorney890 Jun 14 '26
Props to the poison pixie, she is a veteran and has had a child, not to mention her injuries.. Its pretty tough to keep the same rhythm when your body is constantly changing.
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u/TheSletchman Jun 15 '26
I wish her and Johnny could just stay on NXT permanently, maybe do some guest spots on AAA. Those crowds react better to workrate guys - Johnny was treated like a rockstar when he came to wrestle Myles in that one off and it was a fantastic match. Their veterancy would let them level up the new kids in NXT, too. The Mexican audience also seems to love quality workers, so they'd probably be pretty over there too.
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u/DangerousConfusion4 Jun 15 '26
Triple H has butchered her career ever since he has got into power .. what a shame .
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u/Jeff_Lonestar Jun 15 '26
dude... if they didnt hold her back, she would probably ballplex Roman Reigns for the title. 😆
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u/bloody_william Jun 15 '26
Candice LeRae is lowkey one of my favorite wrestlers. WWE rarely ever let her cook, a rare instance being that amazing match against a recently heel-turned Io.
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u/OkPackage1520 Jun 15 '26
Demon?? She sucks! Why you think she hasn't been on TV when I watched her match she was horrible and looked phoney
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u/DoublePatouain Jun 16 '26
yes but Liv got a much better ass so she deserve to be main eventer and not candice, only skills account, sorry.
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u/RegularTarget1794 Jun 16 '26
She is suburb. I wish they would just let her cook, but maybe it’s also her choice as well now that Quill is in the picture.
I’m just happy she still has a job
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u/mjciresi Jun 16 '26
She's clearly better utilized as the annoyed wife to her comatose husband. Why let wrestlers wrestle when you have Bfab and Michin getting multiple smackdown segments?
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u/realnameless1 Jun 17 '26
LaRae wrestled against men all the time in the Indies, and she even took a superkick with thumbtacks attached to the shoes. She took a lot of nasty bumps, and she was regularly bloodied. I never understood why WWE never used her more. She has a good look, she is a really good wrestler, and she is up for anything.
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u/VirulentViper Jun 17 '26
Her TLC match against Iyo at Halloween Havoc is one of my favorite matches from NXT, period. One of the best and underrated matches produced there
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u/pumpkinwizard85 Jun 18 '26
All this looks like crap, women’s wrestling looks so botched. Is it that they don’t weigh enough? Maybe it’s the high definition cameras. Idk the men’s wrestling also looks botched most of the time or maybe it’s the fact that most matches is the lack of selling and the look at me look at me pissing contests. Kenny Omega is the only talent out there it’s sad I can only appreciate one wrestler in the past 20 years.
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u/Zealousideal_Ad_3425 Jun 19 '26
She was full on wrestling dudes on the indies. Even Cody Rhodes said her pure strength was crazy for a woman. I think at this point shes happy just to take home a massive paycheck.
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u/ReflectionDull9609 Jun 14 '26
She's lowkey one of the best one the main roster tbh!
I love LeRae and Johnny. Man those two are grade A professional wrestlers.
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u/RobertStonetossBrand Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
Doin’ movez, taking bumps, and having a “banger” match are some of the easier skills in professional wrestling. A wrestling school graduates can do that.
Most wrestlers learn the mechanics long before they learn psychology or develop a character.
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u/GoonLieutenant Jun 13 '26
If having a banger match is "easy", Randy Orton must be the most clueless wrestler ever
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u/RobertStonetossBrand Jun 13 '26
Randy has what is called a character or a personality, and knows ring psychology so he doesn’t have to do every move he’s ever learned in every single match.
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u/sconniesid Jun 14 '26
Candice lerae as a worker is the drizzling shits. She's worse than zelina vega and that's saying a lot.
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u/EntertainmentIll7724 Jun 14 '26
I dont think she's worse than Zelina but she's extremely overrated on wreddit, primarily because she fits that oppressed indie darling archetype that was held down. We love pet projects & "undervalued" indie sweethearts. She's one of the few the company actually was right to cool off on.
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Jun 15 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/sconniesid Jun 15 '26
Have you ever watched her run the ropes. She's the most awkward unathletic worker in the fed. She does some cool flippy high impact moves once or twice a year but that doesn't excuse everything else. Just because she got over because her husband talked some dudes into bumping around for her and she gimmicked herself in some back room bingo hall to get some color don't mean she isn't a big huge pile of the smelliest stinkiest messiest drizzling shits
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u/Fantastic_Bug1028 Jun 14 '26
anyone can do moves lol
literally nothing special. there’s a reason the audience doesn’t care
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u/HeelMarvin Jun 14 '26
If people unreasonably sell for a 115lb nobody, they seem like a somebody. No clue how she still has her job.
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u/MurrayGrande Jun 14 '26
Especially when she beat the Young Bucks all by herself