Bayley names current WWE star as a major early influence

Ahead of WWE Royal Rumble 2024, Bayley reflects on some of her professional wrestling career influences.

Bayley is one of the favorites heading into the January annual extravaganza. Perhaps one among the other 29 women who will enter the Rumble could be Candice LeRae, who is a member of the RAW roster.

Being the "only California girl" that The Role Model could model after at the time, Bayley cited Candice LeRae as an early influence while speaking to the Under The Ring podcast. She also mentioned Sara Del Rey and The Canadian Ninjas.

"I would say Candice LeRae, she was the only California girl at that time, so I remember seeing her and just being like, 'Man, if I can wrestle her and get over to Southern California, that would be really cool and I could learn a lot,'" she elaborated.

Bayley continued:

"Sara Del Ray was a big one. When I first started watching SHIMMER DVDs, it was the Canadian Ninjas who were so awesome. I loved their character stuff, I loved their timing in the ring, and I just loved their personalities and everything. It’s Portia Perez & Nicole Matthews." [H/T: Fightful]

The WWE Universe often puts Candice LeRae on the list of most underutilized superstars on the roster. It remains to be seen if she will be featured in a better capacity on Monday Night RAW in 2024.

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Candice LeRae on her WWE RAW debut in September 2022

Candice LeRae's contract had expired while on maternity leave in 2021. She held the now-defunct NXT Women's Tag Team Championship alongside Indi Hartwell. In September 2022, The Poison Pixie made her debut on the company's flagship show, picking up a dominant win over Nikki Cross, then Nikki A.S.H.

When asked by WWE correspondent Sarah Schreiber on RAW Talk how it felt to make her main roster debut, Candice LeRae stated:

"Absolutely wild. Like, tonight was so perfect. They made everything even better and like, seeing everybody… Bianca, and Asuka, and Alexa, I mean, it would’ve been perfect, I guess, had I not talked to Damage CTRL, but I won’t talk about that. Let’s just talk about the happy things and how perfect and amazing tonight was, and that literally the WWE Universe was the sprinkles on top of the icing on top of the cupcake," LeRae added.

Despite reforming The Way on the main roster, all of the stars, including LeRae, Hartwell, Dexter Lumis, and her husband, Johnny Gargano, were not used much in any storyline.

Gargano is now finding considerable success after reuniting with Tommaso Ciampa. They are looking to challenge The Judgment Day for the Undisputed WWE Tag Titles in the not-too-distant future.