After the buzzing Rumors over the past few weeks, WWE announced yesterday that they have signed Ricochet, War Machine, and Candice LeRae and they will now report to the Performance Center.
Trevor Mann, more popularly known as Ricochet, is one of the biggest independent wrestling stars today. He has competed in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Dragon Gate, Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG), Chikara, and Lucha Underground. Ricochet is a two time Battle of Los Angeles (BOLA) winner (2014 and 2017), competing alongside indy superstars such as Marty Scurll, Kevin Owens, Kenny Omega, Johnny Gargano, and AJ Styles, to name a few. Mann is also the winner of New Japan’s 2014 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Ricochet is also most likely known for his match against indy star Will Ospreay, which went viral on social media.
Ricochet would most likely do the best in NXT for a while. Even the biggest indy stars have benefitted from NXT, take Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Bobby Roode for example. With a little bit of WWE grooming, he could avoid being lost in the cruiserweight shuffle.
War Machine is a tag team most known for their work in Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Made up of Hanson and Raymond Rowe, they’ve been a team since 2014 and are former ROH Tag Team Champions and two-time IWGP Tag Team Champions. This team would likely go to NXT before the main roster, as they aren’t as successful as Ricochet and Candice LeRae and could use a bit more preparation before making it to the main roster. Raymond Rowe is engaged to Sarah Logan of Smackdown’s Riott Squad, but due to the similarities between War Machine and the Bludgeon Brothers, this may be disregarded and War Machine may go to Raw.
Candice LeRae is arguably the most popular women’s wrestler that isn’t signed to WWE until now. She has competed for numerous independent wrestling programs such as NJPW, ROH, TNA, CZW, and most popularly, PWG. LeRae is also known for her phenomenal inter gender matches against stars like Kevin Owens, Adam Cole, Drew Gulak, and the Young Bucks. She often teamed with Joey Ryan as the “World’s Cutest Tag Team”. She has participated in BOLA and got to the second round, where she lost to her husband, Johnny Gargano.
LeRae is sure to make an impact in the women’s division and would easily be able to thrive on the main roster, though she may benefit from working in NXT. Either way, she will be a star and will capture the championship of whatever brand she’s placed on. Hopefully, bringing Candice into WWE will bring to light her achievements against both men and women in independent promotions.
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