Johnny Gargano And Candice LeRae Gain Praise From WWE Higher Ups On Their Return

[Liz]

Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae are back from free agency, and WWE sources say that they maintained a good relationship throughout their last year in NXT, as well as his their time off.

One WWE source said that Gargano remained on most in WWE's good side all the way through his contract expiring, not signing a new deal, and even free agency. We're told that he'd made it clear to WWE that he would return on his time frame, and they were happy to follow that. Several NXT sources said that Gargano handled his exit from the company with "incredible professionalism," mentioning that he went out of this way to work with and get over young talent like Austin Theory and Indi Hartwell, while helping to establish Dexter Lumis. It was well known within NXT that Gargano took pride in this, especially since he knew that he would be taking time off in December as far as a year ahead of his deal expiring.

We're told that Gargano and Candice LeRae were talking to "the major companies" in the month prior to Johnny rejoining WWE, though we weren't given much context outside of that IMPACT Wrestling didn't seem to be a serious consideration.

When Vince McMahon lost power, several within the company had indicated to Fightful that they felt way more confident that Gargano would be heading back to WWE. They believed that Triple H being in power was a tipping point that accelerated the move.

Several times even before Triple H took power, there was interest in bringing Gargano to the main roster. Unanimously, those we've spoken to have been positive about the return of Gargano and Candice.