Report: Further Details On Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae's WWE Returns

On the September 26 edition of WWE Raw, Candice LeRae returned to the company, making her main roster debut with a victory over Nikki ASH.

LeRae made her return to the company several weeks after husband Johnny Gargano, with the pair having left NXT in 2021 due to impending parenthood, and the subsequent expiration of their deals. A new report from Fightful Select suggests that the pair maintained a cordial relationship with WWE throughout their latter NXT run and free agency, with the pair having impressed WWE management before their exits.

Whilst there were reported talks between Gargano and LeRae and the ‘major companies’, the exit of Vince McMahon from WWE and ascendancy of Triple H is believed to have been a deciding factor in the pair re-signing, with Paul Levesque having heavily pushed Gargano during his time in NXT. Indeed, even before Vince McMahon’s exit, there was reportedly interest in bringing Gargano back on several occasions.

Sources within NXT said that Gargano handled his initial exit with ‘incredible professionalism’, having spent the latter part of his run getting Indi Hartwell and Austin Theory over as part of The Way, and helping establish Dexter Lumis. Furthermore, it’s reported that Gargano indicated that he would ‘return on his timeframe’ after enjoying time off to be a father, and WWE were apparently happy to go along with it.