The first WWE Speed Women’s Champion has been crowned.
In a match taped following WWE SmackDown on Friday in Nashville, Candice LeRae defeated IYO SKY in the finals of the WWE Speed Women’s tournament to become the first-ever champion.
candice lerae has finally defeated iyo sky for the first time and is our first ever women’s speed champion!! pic.twitter.com/rcnDUP9C8q
The tournament to crown the first champion started back in September. The match where IYO SKY advanced to the finals aired this Wednesday on X, defeating Naomi. The other semifinal match between Kairi Sane and LeRae, according to WWE’s X account, will premiere on Saturday.
SKY defeated Lyra Valkyria in the first round of the tournament, while LeRae defeated Piper Niven.
WWE entered into an agreement with X where they would air Speed every Wednesday exclusively on the social media platform. Ricochet won the first-ever tournament to become the inaugural Speed Champion. He eventually lost the title to Andrade in June, who has held the title ever since. Ricochet has since left WWE to sign with AEW.
Either IYO SKY, Naomi, Kairi Sane, or Candice LeRae will be the inaugural WWE Speed Women’s Champion.
The semifinal slate for the title tournament was confirmed today with Candice LeRae defeating Piper Niven in the last first-round match. Interference by Indi Hartwell at ringside resulted in LeRae winning. After a distraction, LeRae gave Niven a German suplex from the ropes and pinned her with a Lionsault with 24 seconds remaining of the three-minute time limit.
SKY vs. Naomi and Sane vs. LeRae are the semifinal matches for the tournament. The SKY vs. Naomi match premieres at noon Eastern time next Wednesday (October 2).
The tournament winner will become the second champion on the WWE Speed brand. Andrade holds the men’s WWE Speed Championship. The show debuted this April as part of a two-year deal between WWE and social media company X/Twitter.
A championship match will take place on the pre-show for WWE King & Queen of the Ring.
In their first title defense, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill are facing off against Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell. It will be part of the two-hour Countdown to King & Queen of the Ring broadcast that streams live starting at 11 a.m. Eastern time this Saturday. Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Big E, Kayla Braxton, and Wade Barrett will be panelists for the pre-show.
The Women’s Tag Team title match was set up on Friday’s SmackDown. Belair lost to Nia Jax in the Queen of the Ring semifinals on the episode. Backstage after the match, LeRae & Hartwell approached Belair and mocked her. Cargill then stepped in to defend Belair.
Cargill said she was going to speak with Nick Aldis about getting a tag match against LeRae & Hartwell. Later in the show, it was made official.
The Belair vs. Jax match on SmackDown included Belair selling a storyline knee injury. Belair’s hurt knee caused her to lose, giving out when she went to hit the KOD on Jax.
Cargill & Belair won the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles from Asuka & Kairi Sane at Backlash three weeks ago.
A title defense against Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark will be awaiting the team that leaves King & Queen of the Ring with the Women’s Tag Team titles. On Raw this past Monday, Baszler & Stark won a number one contender’s match.
King & Queen of the Ring is being held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The main card begins at 1 p.m. Eastern.
WWE King & Queen of the Ring 2024 (Saturday, May 25) —
Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes defends against Logan Paul
Women’s World Champion Becky Lynch defends against Liv Morgan
King of the Ring tournament finals: Gunther vs. Randy Orton
Queen of the Ring tournament finals: Lyra Valkyria vs. Nia Jax
Triple threat match: Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn defends against Chad Gable and Bronson Reed
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill defend against Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell (pre-show)
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas before Monday’s episode of Raw.
For my money, when the Creed brothers are on this show, you can’t go too far wrong.
Chelsea Green defeated Candice LeRae w/Indi Hartwell (5:29)
Chelsea Green is a devilish heel and thriving in the role. They did a nice finish here where she thwarted the good guys and made off like a bandit.
Green was in full garnering heat mode from the get-go. She walked on LeRae’s back, frequently hollered at the crowd, as well as the announcers, and even got some shots in on Hartwell to boot.
They went back and forth early on, with Green feeding LeRae so that she could get some arm drags in and a top rope missile drop kick.
They both went down when LeRae hit a German suplex on Green, but it was LeRae who got up first to get the hope. The legs were cut off her comeback when Green got her knees up to block a moonsault off the middle rope.
Green used the ropes for leverage to get a roll up but Hartwell intervened. When Green ducked a clothesline, she used the opportunity to transition into a baseball slide to take out Hartwell.
This time, Green went back to the rope-assisted roll-up and grabbed the win, leaving both LeRae and Hartwell thoroughly cheated out of the win.
The Creed Brothers w/ Ivy Nile defeated Gallus (Wolfgang & Mark Coffey) w/Joe Coffey (6:58)
It was good to see Gallus get some main roster minutes, but the Creed Brothers – particularly Julius here – continue to impress in a big way. This was fun stuff all around.
Julius and Mark started the match off together and they did some mat work. The smoothness with which Julius works around the ring was really stark here. He is a pleasure to watch.
When Julius tagged in Brutus, they both stayed in together and hit stereo fallaway slams followed by standing moonsaults and kip-ups. The crowd loved this as the brothers congratulated each other.
Gallus regained the advantage before we went to a break.
After the commercials, the match was all built around getting Julius the hot tag. When it came, the crowd was ready and completely into it.
Julius exploded into the ring, hitting four suplexes on both Wolfgang and Mark with a kip up after each. He then used a double Northern Lights suplex on both men simultaneously. This guy is seriously impressive, it’s stunning watching him work.
Gallus mounted a brief comeback after Mark used a blind tag, but they sent Mark over the top rope to isolate Wolfgang and finished him off with a Brutus’ top rope cannonball, toppling him off Julius’ shoulders.
Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Candice LeRae, and Indi Hartwell were able to compete on Monday night’s Raw after navigating significant travel issues.
The group dealt with delays and multiple flight cancelations until finally opting to make the five-hour drive from Dallas, Texas to North Little Rock, Arkansas. They arrived late Monday afternoon in time for the episode.
Gargano & Ciampa and LeRae & Hartwell won tag matches on Raw. Gargano & Ciampa defeated Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh, while LeRae & Hartwell defeated Chelsea Green & Piper Niven.
The travel issues were caused by winter weather and extreme cold. In a post on social media, Gargano detailed the experience:
9:30pm – Supposed to take off to Little Rock, ARK but de-icing terminal is frozen.
10:30pm – Deplane because all flights might be canceled.
11:00pm – Get back on the plane because we’re going to take off!
11:45pm – The crew timed out so now our flight is canceled.
Monday
12:00am – Wait in a line to get our plane ticket re-issued while calling various hotels because it’s after midnight and you can’t book them online anymore.
1:15am – Got our tickets for an 8:19am flight Monday morning.
1:45am – Arrive at our Dallas hotel.
6:45am – Wake up and find out our flight is delayed until 10am.
7:45am – Get a 30 minute workout in.
9:00am – Go back to Dallas Airport.
10:00am – New flight is now canceled.
10:30am – Drive 5 hours to Little Rock, ARK.
4:15pm – Get to Little Rock, ARK (Simmons Bank Arena)
7:15pm – #DIY gets the win against Dom and JD followed by Candice and Indi getting the win against Piper and Chelsea.
Gargano & Ciampa and LeRae & Hartwell are both being set up as potential Tag Team title challengers. The Undisputed WWE Tag Team titles are held by Damian Priest & Finn Balor. Kayden Carter & Katana Chance are the current Women’s Tag Team Champions.
This past week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut, before Monday’s Raw.
Candice LeRae defeated Xia Li (4:45)
This was a fine opener. Li got some of her stuff in and LeRae seems to be getting over.
Li made her Main Event debut, playing the heel and taking her time over everything that she did. She certainly looked comfortable enough. Byron Saxton noted that she had not quite got going over on SmackDown.
LeRae was at the top of the show last week in a winning debut performance, and seems to have something that the crowd likes. Either that or it was Li as her opponent that they disliked.
Li was methodical and burst into occasional flurries of offense, using a modified suplex at one point to throw LeRae across the ring. She tried a chin lock before LeRae broke loose and nailed her with a series of strikes in the corner.
They worked back and forth until Xi caught LaRae’s leg and got nailed with a kick to the head. LeRae stepped on her back, hit a senton and went to the middle rope for her moonsault finish to get her second win in as many weeks.
Apollo Crews defeated Akira Tozawa (7:09)
This was a solid match that was what you would expect. If Crews is back on the Raw roster, though, this isn’t the way to book him.
Before his run back on NXT, Crews had become quite the regular on Main Event. He and Commander Azeez were often tagging up or Crews would work solo with Azeez in his corner. It was an act that they grew tired of when it actually had legs.
As noted on commentary, Tozawa and Crews have worked together in a previous life and it showed. They were smooth and did the whole power vs. pace thing well.
Crews used a Perfect Plex at one point after having clotheslined Tozawa out of his boots, but as ever Tozawa was plucky to the last. He gave Crews a run for his money with a running headscissors and top rope back elbow.
After a segment where they traded kicks, including Tozawa going to town with a veritable can can of kicks, he tried to go up top for his finish, but got caught and nailed with a Samoan drop to give Crews the win.
The finish was really neat and the crowd was into it. Crews looked dominant and Tozawa continued his run of being excellent in the curtain jerker role for these pre-Raw crowds.
Final Thoughts:
This was a perfectly pleasant enough show this week. It was nice to see Crews back in action and for Li to make her show debut. The crowd certainly seem to like LeRae, so they should probably do something more with her.
This past week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the MVP Arena in Albany, New York, before Monday’s Raw.
Dexter Lumis defeated Akira Tozawa (4:11)
As always, Tozawa and Lumis were good together with Lumis getting the win and a handshake.
Lumis is certainly due a storyline having worked Main Event a lot over the last few months. There is definitely a portion of the WWE Universe who likes him, but his character is confusing now, having gone from menacing to essentially quite comical.
Tozawa managed to get Lumis off his feet with a hurricanrana, but he then no sold some of his chops and stared him down. This is where working Main Event makes no sense. If he’s so dominant, why not give him a program on Raw?
Lumis used a delayed suplex which the crowd enjoyed before using a nerve rest hold to lead in to the hope spot for Tozawa who used a rana and running high knee before going up top.
Ultimately, Tozawa took too long as he went up top for his senton finisher and thus, Lumis got out of the way. He caught Tozawa on the charge, nailing him with a side slam for the win.
Lumis did his slithering gimmick after the bell and offered Tozawa a handshake, which was accepted.
This was a little too long with too much heat, but Nox and LeRae worked well together.
Nox took most of this one with LeRae basically selling for most of it. With Cross cheerleading from the sidelines, it felt like a bigger pop when LeRae finally got her hand raised.
Before the break, Nox was in control as commentary focused on Cross. Her character is just a little bit too zany for my taste, but she does seem to be over with a certain segment of the crowd.
They ended up on the apron and Nox used a flapjack on LeRae as they went to the break.
Cross never really featured in this one, other than Nox calling her a psycho from the ring. Alas, she was there in full ring gear and did absolutely nothing other than support LeRae from the outside.
In the end, LeRae came up off the top rope with a missile dropick and a moonsault off the second rope for the win. Cross hugged LaRae after the bell, but she didn’t seem too keen on the idea.
Final Thoughts:
These were two matches that were perfectly fine with the babyfaces going over. It had been better when they were giving NXT workers the chance to work against main roster talent, but Tozawa and Lumis are always entertaining together. The women’s match at the top of the show was fine, but focused way too much on Cross’ wackiness.
Monday night’s episode of Raw featured the reunion of a former NXT faction.
The Way (Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, Indi Hartwell, and Dexter Lumis) appeared together in a backstage segment on last night’s show. In the segment, The Way refused to sign Chelsea Green & Sonya Deville’s petition for a Women’s Tag Team title shot against Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan.
There was also a tease during the segment that someone else could soon be returning. Gargano told The Way that “he’s coming back soon.” Gargano said he thought it would be great, but LeRae didn’t agree.
Though WWE hasn’t revealed who Gargano was talking about, it may have been his former NXT tag team partner Tommaso Ciampa. Ciampa has been out of action since last September. He underwent hip surgery in October of last year.
Gargano, LeRae, Hartwell, and Lumis were all selected by Raw in the WWE Draft. Hartwell was called up from NXT in the draft. She was NXT Women’s Champion when she was drafted, but Hartwell relinquished the title last week.
United States Champion Austin Theory was formerly a member of The Way in NXT. Theory is currently a heel on the SmackDown brand.
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, before last Monday’s Raw with Kevin Patrick and Byron Saxton on the call.
This was a solid opener and the Hurt Business seems to be back.
They aired some footage from two weeks ago on Raw where Alexander and Benjamin got a win over Alpha Academy with MVP in their corner. Patrick and Saxton speculated that things had gotten back to normal with the Hurt Business now.
Benjamin and MVP didn’t really involve themselves, but the crowd were into them being there and their presence gave this a feel of a more important match. Still, it seemed pointless having Benjamin there in his ring gear if they aren’t going to have him work a match.
Alexander and Tozawa have had countless Main Event matches and always work well together. They didn’t get long enough here to do what they are capable of, but this was what we’ve come to expect from them.
After Alexander taking the opening and Tozawa rallying, Tozawa kicked out of the Michinoku Driver, missed a spinning kick, and ate the Lumbar Check to give Alexander the victory.
Candice LeRae & Mia “Michin” Yim defeated Dana Brooke & Tamina (7:22)
This felt like early 1990s WWF when Vince McMahon would talk all over matches between random opponents to build up a match that was upcoming or to recap an angle that he was more interested in.
They replayed Brooke’s loss against Wendy Choo last week and discussed how Tamina and Brooke would work together. Taking on fresh faces has mainly been the job for Brooke and Tamina of late, so it seemed somehow fitting that they should tag up at some point.
As Yim came to the ring, they replayed Piper Niven’s win over her from Raw last week. And, finally, as LeRae made her entrance, they showed how Nikki Cross has been stalking her over the last few weeks. With all that being recapped, we were able to get this thing started.
The match marked both the Main Event debut for LaRae and a return for Yim as this was her first time here in over two years when she was Reckoning. It wasn’t much of a return as she spent most of it being beaten up or stuck in a chin lock.
After what felt like an age, LeRae got the hot tag and hit a top rope missile dropkick on Tamina and then used her as a battering ram to take out Brooke. She tagged in Yim who hit Eat Defeat on Tamina to leave her prone for LeRae to hit a springboard moonsault for the win.
Final Thoughts:
This was a forgettable show compared to the last year or so of episodes where we have seen fresh faces galore. Since WWE was in Canada, perhaps it meant that talent couldn’t travel, so hopefully things will return to normal next week.
The Raw women’s division was bolstered with a new addition last night.
Candice LeRae made her surprise return to WWE on last night’s episode of Raw, wrestling her first match in more than a year. LeRae is the latest wrestler to return to WWE under the Paul “Triple H” Levesque regime.
In her return match, LeRae defeated Nikki A.S.H. There was also a backstage segment later in the night where LeRae got into a confrontation with Damage CTRL. It was announced that LeRae will face Dakota Kai on Raw next Monday.
The return was a main roster call-up for LeRae, who was previously part of NXT. LeRae and Johnny Gargano welcomed their first child, a boy named Quill, into the world this February. LeRae’s contract with WWE had expired this May.
Gargano tweeted after LeRae returned last night:
Okay.. maybe Quill hasn't been my ony training partner this past month. 😏❤️
Candice LeRae made her return to wrestling on Monday night, appearing on WWE Raw.
During Monday’s show, LeRae appeared as a surprise opponent for Nikki A.S.H. LeRae scored the victory after a few minutes with a spinning neckbreaker off the top rope. Commentary mentioned that she was the wife of Johnny Gargano.
It was reported back in May that LeRae’s contract with WWE had expired, and she chose not to renew. She has been on maternity leave since last summer, giving birth to her and Gargano’s son Quinn back in February.
LeRae first signed with the WWE back in 2018, appearing regularly on NXT. In 2020, she along with Gargano, Indi Hartwell and Austin Theory formed the stable The Way. Together, Hartwell and LeRae defeated Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart to win the NXT Women’s Tag Team titles. They lost the titles at The Great American Bash 2021, which also marked LeRae’s final match prior to her pregnancy. She continued to appear on television in the following months until The Way stable disbanded.
Her profile on WWE.com was recently moved to the alumni section and according to a report from Fightful Select, her contract has expired.
The report continued to say that a WWE source stated, “If they had their way, the decision to freeze the contract during maternity leave would be ‘in her court.'”
As her contract has expired, she is not under either a 30-day or 90-day non-compete clause that would prevent her from signing with another promotion.
Along with her husband, Johnny Gargano, LeRae welcomed the birth of their first child earlier this year. Quill Gargano was born on February 17.
The 36-year-old had been with WWE since 2017, having made her in-ring debut for the company on May 3 of that year. Her last match took place at NXT The Great American Bash on July 6, 2021. Along with Indi Hartwell, she dropped the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships that night to Io Shirai and Zoey Stark.
Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae have welcomed their first child into the world.
In an Instagram post on Friday, it was revealed that LeRae has given birth to a baby boy named Quill Gargano. The baby was born on February 17 after LeRae was in labor for more than 24 hours.
The baby’s name was inspired by Marvel comics and Guardians of the Galaxy character Star-Lord, whose name is Peter Quill.
Gargano and LeRae announced that they were expecting last August. LeRae wrote that she would have to step away from physically wrestling for a while, but she knew that it would be worth it.
Gargano and LeRae began dating during their time on the indies and got married in September 2016. They worked together on-screen while in NXT.
LeRae is still with WWE, while Gargano became a free agent when his contract with the company expired this past December. Gargano addressed his future during his last appearance on NXT before his contract expired.
“I don’t know what my immediate future holds,” Gargano said. “That’s up in the air right now still. I may do some things here and there. But I do know one thing for sure — and that’s in February I’m going to start the most important job of my life. Because I’m going to be a dad.”
Since that NXT appearance, Gargano has taken time off from pro wrestling ahead of LeRae giving birth. He launched a Twitch channel in December.
NXT’s Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae are expecting a baby boy.
In a video Gargano posted on social media on Thursday, it was revealed that he and LeRae’s baby will be a boy. The baby is due to arrive in February 2022. It will be Gargano and LeRae’s first child.
LeRae’s pregnancy was first announced last month.
The gender reveal video includes Gargano joking about the ideas he had for the announcement, including “the stork” and “the prison.” The couple’s dog Pawdme then accidentally pops the gender reveal balloon after Gargano was playing catch with it.
After announcing her pregnancy last month, LeRae said that she wanted to stay on NXT television as long as possible while pregnant. LeRae wrote that she would have to take a step back from the physical side of pro wrestling for a while, but she knew it would be worth it.
Gargano and LeRae appeared on NXT this week as part of Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis’ wedding angle. The segment headlined Tuesday’s launch of “NXT 2.0.”
A tag team match has been announced for tonight’s post-SummerSlam edition of Raw.
Nikki A.S.H. & Rhea Ripley will team together against Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler on Raw tonight. Nikki and Ripley were both involved in the triple threat Raw Women’s Championship match at SummerSlam. Charlotte Flair submitted Nikki to win the title.
Nikki A.S.H. was Raw Women’s Champion going into SummerSlam. Ripley went to hit Riptide on her near the end of the match, but Nikki countered it into a DDT. Nikki then tried to hit a top rope crossbody on Charlotte, but Charlotte avoided it. Charlotte submitted Nikki with the Figure Eight to get the win.
Charlotte & Jax defeated Ripley & Nikki A.S.H. on Raw last week.
Tonight’s Raw is taking place at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. Here’s the updated lineup for the episode:
New Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro (Randy Orton & Riddle) will have a victory celebration
