Candice LeRae to make next WWE championship defense after recent controversies
WWE fans are waiting patiently to see if Candice LeRae continues her recent trend of controversial defenses of the Speed Women's Championship. The veteran superstar has had a few high-profile matches recently and is now gearing up for a title defense that will be special, despite the direction the Stamford-based promotion chooses.
The Poison Pixie won her first World Wrestling Entertainment singles title by becoming the inaugural WWE Speed Women's Champion in October. LeRae beat Piper Niven in the opening round, then defeated Kairi Sane in the semi-final, and finally topped IYO SKY in the championship final. Her first two title defenses ended in controversy as she retained over Natalya and Zoey Stark via five-minute Time Limit Draws. The 39-year-old was then accused of setting these finishes up just to retain.
Today's new episode of WWE Speed saw Michin defeat Shayna Baszler in the semi-final, with 48 seconds left on the three-minute clock. Sol Ruca defeated Katana Chance in last week's tournament opener, and next Wednesday's semi-final episode will see Ruca and Michin clash. The winner will be named the new number-one contender for a title match against LeRae on April 11 or 18.
LeRae vs. Ruca would be a first-time-ever bout, but if Michin is the number-one contender, she and LeRae would revive their storied history. Candice won their first singles bout in October 2015 at AIW, then they reunited in February 2019 at NXT, defeating Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez twice. While they feuded a little in NXT, the veteran superstars have teamed up nine times on the main roster since 2023.
Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano take WWE fans behind the scenes
Johnny Gargano has released his latest YouTube vlog, featuring wife Candice LeRae and son Quill. The new upload from the DIY grappler includes footage from the trip to Italy for SmackDown in Bologna. This is the second of three vlogs from The Road to WrestleMania 41 Europe Tour that just wrapped on Monday.
Johnny Wrestling began sharing vlogs, Twitch highlights, and other content after launching his JohnnyGargano channel on January 4, 2010. Candice LeRae features heavily, and the channel currently has 72,400 subscribers with 89 videos and 2,791,344 video views as of this writing.
