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Active WWE Superstar lands a backstage role in the Stamford-based promotion.

There have been several former superstars who found themselves a spot backstage in WWE, with some landing a role as a match producer. There are wrestling legends like Pat Patterson and Abyss, while there are more recent stars like Bobby Roode, Jason Jordan, and even Tyson Kidd.

As it turns out, a current and active star has also begun taking on this role, Candice LeRae. According to TC of WrestleVotes, the SmackDown star has been learning how to produce matches behind the scenes. So far, Candice has produced matches for WWE Main Event, including the one that took place ahead of this week’s Friday show at the Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona, between the Street Profits and Los Garza.

I spoke with a source who tells me Candice LeRae has been learning how to produce matches behind the scenes.

She has been a producer for matches for WWE Main Event, including the one being filmed before #SmackDown in Tempe tonight between The Street Profits & Los Garza.

— TC of WrestleVotes (@TCwrestlevotes) October 24, 2025

Candice has been with WWE since 2017 but decided not to renew her contract in May 2022. However, she returned months later in September that same year. LeRae is currently on the SmackDown brand and occasionally partners up with Tommaso Ciampa and her husband, Johnny Gargano.

Top WWE Star Considers Candice LeRae Underrated

In an August interview with SPORTBible, Rhea Ripley was asked which WWE star she thinks is underrated. Initially, she answered that there’s a lot and it’s hard to pinpoint just one. However, she eventually named Candice LeRae. The Eradicator noted that she worked with the SmackDown star since and NXT and praised the latter’s in-ring knowledge.

“Itâ€s hard to pinpoint anyone specifically, but I feel like thereâ€s a lot, especially in the womenâ€s division. There are so many women that I know are so amazing at what they do, and they donâ€t get enough TV time or the opportunities to really show everyone what they can do. Someone that I love is Candice LeRae, and going through NXT with her and how her brain works and how she goes out there, and sheâ€s like the vet in the ring, she knows what to do and she keeps everyone calm and sheâ€s got ideas and itâ€s just like I wish that someone like her would get more of an opportunity.â€

In other news: WWE Legend goes all out to surprise Chelsea Green.

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This WWE star has high praise for Paul Heyman.

WWE Superstar Titus Oâ€Neil was a recent guest on TMZâ€s Inside The Ring. When asked who he currently sees in the company who are set to be future World Champions, Oâ€Neil named Bron Breakker, Oba Femi, and Trick Williams.

“Yeah, Bron Breakker, for sure,†Titus Oâ€Neil said. “The big Nigerian out of NXT… Oba [Femi] I think is World Champion material now. Trick Williams, I think, is another one that you know will have shown and proven that, like people will get behind him. Heâ€s got tremendous upside.â€

Oâ€Neil would then focus his attention on Bron Breakker, giving credit to Paul Heyman for the acceleration of the former NXT Championâ€s career on the main roster.

“Bron Breakker is definitely going to be a world champion here [in the] very near future,†Titus Oâ€Neil continued. “Heâ€s special. And I think being paired up with Paul Heyman is obviously going to accelerate when that trigger is pulled.

“You canâ€t be around Paul Heyman for five minutes without being better in this business… Paul Heyman is, in my opinion, the unsung hero of that company when it comes to helping develop talent characters like teaching them how to the art of communication, the art of storytelling. I donâ€t think that thereâ€s many people in the business, if any, that are better than Paul Heyman.

“If you look at Roman Reigns prior to getting with Paul Heyman, itâ€s night and day. Look at the historic run that Roman Reigns went on, and the character development throughout the entire process, and how Roman no longer needs Paul Heyman… He is a bonafide movie star in the making.†[H/T: WrestlingNews.co]

READ MORE: WWEâ€s Future Plans For Bron Breakker — Report

What do you make of Titus Oâ€Neilâ€s comments? Do you see Heyman as an unsung hero in WWE? Let us know your overall thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.

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AJ Styles isnâ€t just thinking about retirement—heâ€s already got WWE making moves behind the scenes to make sure his farewell isnâ€t forgotten.

During the WWE Crown Jewel kickoff show, Styles made it known that 2026 is when he plans to hang up his boots for good. He got real about aging, family life, and walking away while still proud of what he brings to the ring. Styles said he doesnâ€t want to become a shell of himself in the squared circle.

“Iâ€m getting old, folks. Listen, if I could find the fountain of youth and take a couple of sips, Iâ€d wrestle for the rest of my life. But you know, I am getting older, and the fear of embarrassing myself is getting closer.â€

He made it clear that his priorities are shifting away from the ring and toward the people closest to him.

“There comes a time in a manâ€s life when he has to take care of business, but when business is done, itâ€s time to take care of his family. I need to spend time with my family. The whole idea of wrestling and having an amazing future in this business is to be able to retire one day, and in 2026, I will retire.â€

Now, WWE is preparing for the end. According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the company is already talking about how to handle Styles†retirement, confirming that conversations have started internally.

“There is a plan in play for how to handle AJ Styles†retirement in 2026.â€

Itâ€s not locked in yet, but WWE doesnâ€t want him fading into the background without a proper exit.

“Itâ€s not fully locked in or anything, but the idea is, ‘Weâ€re gonna do something.â€â€

The internal belief is solid—Styles is done after next year, “So yeah, they believe heâ€s retiring next year.â€

Styles†journey has been nothing short of legendary. From TNA to NJPW to his WWE debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble, heâ€s stacked title wins and five-star matches with ease. WWE knows it canâ€t let him walk quietly. This retirement is being treated as a real moment—and if anyoneâ€s earned that, itâ€s AJ Styles.

AJ Styles†time in the ring might be winding down, but WWE seems ready to give him the kind of goodbye that fans and legends alike can respect.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.

Do you think AJ Styles should retire at Wrestle Mania or go out with a personal match on his own terms? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.

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  Bradford DoolittleOct 13, 2025, 11:34 PM ET

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  • MLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com
  • Former NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com
  • Been with ESPN since 2013

MILWAUKEE — Few teams have a lineage of great pitching as long as that of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise. With this postseason, Blake Snell is making that star-studded line longer by one.

Snell dominated the Milwaukee Brewers over eight innings Monday, leading Los Angeles to a 2-1 Game 1 victory in the National League Championship Series before a packed house at American Family Field.

“That was just so good from the start,” said Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose sixth-inning homer broke a scoreless tie. “Sometimes it takes an inning or two for someone to settle in. [Tonight] it was from the get-go.”

Snell held Milwaukee to one hit in going a full eight innings for only the second time in a career that has netted him a pair of Cy Young Awards. He struck out 10 and picked off the only baserunner he allowed — Caleb Durbin, who singled in the third.

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Snell became the first pitcher to face the minimum through eight innings in a postseason game since Don Larsen threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. The only longer outing in Snell’s career was the no-hitter he threw for the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 2, 2024. Has he ever felt as locked in as he did Monday?

“The no-hitter, yeah,” Snell quipped.

Snell improved to 3-0 in a postseason during which no other starting pitcher has recorded two wins. He is the second Dodgers pitcher to win his first three playoff starts for the franchise, joining Don Sutton (1974).

If Los Angeles keeps winning, Snell will get more chances to add to his numbers, but for now, his 0.86 ERA over three outings is the second best for a Dodgers left-hander in a postseason (minimum 20 innings), behind only Sandy Koufax’s legendary run (0.38 ERA over three starts) in the 1965 World Series.

This is the kind of company Snell knew he’d be keeping when he signed with the Dodgers before the season.

“Even playing against them, watching, it was just always in the back of my mind, like, I wanted to be a Dodger and play on that team,” Snell said. “To be here now, it’s a dream come true. I couldn’t wish for anything more.”

Snell’s gem continued the Dodgers’ stretch of dominant starting pitching that began over the last month of the regular season and has propelled a postseason run for the defending champs, positioning them for a repeat despite an offense that has at times struggled to put up runs in the playoffs.

Dodgers starters are 6-1 with a 1.65 ERA so far in the postseason, logging six quality starts in L.A.’s seven games.

“Our starting pitching for the last seven, eight weeks, has been — I don’t know if you can write enough words in your stories about our starting pitching,” Freeman said. “It really has been amazing. They seem to feed off each other.”

But no Dodgers’ starter is on a run quite like that of Snell, who is hoping to win his first championship ring with the team he lost to as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2020 World Series.

Despite Snell’s dominance, the Dodgers still had to withstand a ninth-inning push by the stubborn Brewers and understand the series is just getting started. Still, with the way Snell is rolling, he’s conjuring names of Dodgers present and past, like Koufax, Kershaw, Sutton, Valenzuela and Hershiser.

“I feel like the whole postseason I’ve been pretty locked in, pretty consistent,” Snell said. “Different outings, but eight innings, went deeper. The last three I felt really good, really locked in. Consistent. Similar.”

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A former AEW Women’s World Champion is nearing her return to All Elite Wrestling after missing nearly a full year of action, and is reportedly committing her future to the company as well.

It was recently announced that former AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida had her US visa renewed after not appearing on television since the November 20 episode of “AEW Dynamite.” To go along with her brand new visa, Dave Meltzer reported in the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Shida has not only returned to the US, but she has also signed a new contract with the company. It’s currently unknown how long the contract will last or how much money Shida will be making over the next few years, but she remain as part of the AEW roster for the foreseeable future.

While she’s been back in Japan, Shida has remained active by competing at various events across the country, even crossing paths with fellow AEW stars Willow Nightingale, Emi Sakura, and even Kota Ibushi. Her most recent match took place on September 7 at OZ Academy’s “Flowers of the Cemetery” show where she teamed up with former IWGP Women’s Champion Syuri to take on Sonoko Kato and Joshi legend Aja Kong.

Before her lengthy absence from AEW, she was one of the most decorated members of the women’s division, and still holds a number of records that have yet to be beaten. Shida still holds the record for the longest individual reign with the AEW Women’s World Championship, holding the title for 372 days between 2020 and 2021. In October 2023, Shida made even more history by defeating Saraya on that year’s Title Tuesday edition of “AEW Dynamite” to become the first-ever three-time AEW Women’s World Champion, before being defeated by “Timeless” Toni Storm at Full Gear in November, who in turn became the second woman to hold the title three times.

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Another WWE departure has rocked the NXT system—this time involving one of its most visible authority figures. Stevie Turner, who recently served as the on-screen General Manager of WWE EVOLVE, has revealed that her time with the company has officially ended.

Turner made the announcement on October 10, just months after being introduced in a prominent role tied to WWEâ€s developmental programming on Tubi.

“My time with WWE has come to an end. Iâ€ve had a brilliant time and Iâ€m so excited for the future 😆 see you soon!â€

Turner was appointed GM of WWE EVOLVE during the March 26, 2025 episode, serving as the assistant to NXT GM Ava. She played a supporting but visible part in WWEâ€s newest brand rollout, offering fans a glimpse into the next generation of talent.

Her exit comes as a surprise considering WWE EVOLVE had just started to establish its identity, with Turner taking a key role in guiding the showâ€s early direction. With her departure now official, the EVOLVE brandâ€s future leadership dynamic is unclear.

Stevie Turner previously competed as part of the NXT UK roster before making her way to NXT and later transitioning into a backstage role for EVOLVE. She remained active on-screen as a central figure helping to shape the showâ€s narrative.

What do you think about Stevie Turner leaving WWE just months into her EVOLVE GM role? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.

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Although the exact length of his deal remains unknown as of writing, one half of New Day Xavier Woods reportedly resigned a multi-year deal with WWE last month when his own contract expired.

This may have left some questions about his tag team partner Kofi Kingston’s current status with WWE, but it appears as if there may be an answer now. Fightful Select has reported that Kingston penned a new contract with the company “at some point earlier this year”. Kingston’s new contract is also said to keep him signed across the next five years until 2030.

Kingston’s most recent televised match came on the September 29 episode of “WWE Raw”, during which he came up short against LA Knight in singles competition. He also holds a loss against recent rival Penta from the September 15 episode of “Raw”, and unsuccessfully challenged Psycho Clown and Pagano for the AAA World Tag Team Championship alongside Grayson Waller (replacing Woods who announced he had not been medically cleared) at WWE x AAA Worlds Collide on September 12.

Kingston initially signed with WWE back in 2006 as part of their then-developmental brand Deep South Wrestling. He went onto become a four time Intercontinental Champion and a two time United States Champion as a singles competitor, joining forces with Woods and now former stablemate Big E as part of New Day in 2014 to become a seven time WWE Tag Team Champion before later dethroning Bryan Danielson as WWE Champion at WWE WrestleMania 35 in 2019.

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According to a new report, Xavier Woods signed a multi-year extension with WWE last month.

Fightful reported the news on Tuesday, noting that his contract would have been up in September had a deal not been reached. Negotiations are said to have gone down to the wire.

Woods, Big E, and Kofi Kingston signed five-year deals with WWE in December 2019, although Woods may have had injury time added onto his, pushing its expiration to last month. He missed much of 2020 after suffering an Achilles tendon rupture.

Woods first signed with WWE in the summer of 2010 as a 24-year-old. Prior to that, he wrestled in TNA Wrestling as Consequences Creed from 2008 to 2010, once holding the promotion’s tag titles along with Jay Lethal. He also had one tour with New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2010, teaming with Kota Ibushi in the Super J Tag Tournament, where they lost in the opening round to Gedo and KUSHIDA.

Xavier Woods has re-signed with WWE on a multi-year contract, myself and @FightfulSelect are reporting.

A lot of details, including when his deal was up and how negotiations went are up for subscribers pic.twitter.com/1q4tAwNPpS

— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) October 7, 2025

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Santos Escobar is very likely to be leaving WWE in the coming days. The leader of Legado Del Fantasma reportedly will not be signing a new deal, making him the latest in a long line of Mexican stars who have failed to break through on the main roster. Escobar is not the first wrestler from Latin America to struggle on SmackDown or RAW, but his departure further raises the question: why has the company never managed to find the elusive “next Rey Mysterio�

Rey Mysterio: The Benchmark WWE Canâ€t Replace

One of the smartest creative decisions WWE made in the early 2000s was to bring back Rey Mysterioâ€s mask when he joined the company. He had lost it in WCW, a call Eric Bischoff has defended, but putting it back on him for WWE proved to be a masterstroke. The mask became the centrepiece of a 20+ year merchandising juggernaut, helping Rey connect with young fans.

The challenge since has been finding someone to replicate that success. WWE has tried repeatedly, but none of their attempts, from Sin Cara to Escobar, have stuck in the same way as Mysterio.

Why US Promotions Struggle With Lucha Stars

Promoters in the United States have long tried to tap into the Mexican market by importing Lucha Libre talent. WCW, ECW, TNA, AEW, and WWE have all attempted to make household names out of Luchadores. Only WWE, through Mysterio, has truly managed to do so at scale, yet they have been unable to strike gold twice.

Is the Lucha Mask the Problem?

Some have argued that the mask itself is the stumbling block. WWE requires performers who can tell stories both in the ring and on the microphone. Masks that cover the full face will limit facial expressions and can hinder promo delivery, so it’s difficult to emote and build a connection with the televised and in-building audience.

Reyâ€s mask works because it reveals enough of his face to convey emotion, while his distinctive eyes and even his custom contact lenses enhance his look. Contrast that with Mistico/Sin Cara, whose mask covered too much, muting his expressions. In Mexico, where masks themselves carry deep storytelling symbolism, this isnâ€t a problem. But WWEâ€s audience relies more heavily on visible emotion, there needs to be stories told at every element.

That being said, Escobar didnâ€t even wear a mask for most of his NXT and main roster run. So if it isnâ€t the mask, what went wrong?

Booking, Not Talent

The issue lies in how Escobar was booked. In NXT, he thrived as a charismatic, ruthless leader of Legado Del Fantasma, where the group had purpose, identity, and presence. But when they debuted on SmackDown, their momentum was immediately blunted. Instead of being positioned as a major heel faction, they were absorbed into Rey Mysterioâ€s rebooted Latino World Order. Escobar was no longer the star of his own story, but a supporting act to someone elseâ€s.

This is a pattern WWE has repeated. Andrade, Kalisto, Gran Metalik, Sin Cara, and even Alberto Del Rio at times all suffered from inconsistent creative direction. The performers had the talent, but WWE failed to sustain their momentum.

The Rey Mysterio Problem

The truth is that WWEâ€s obsession with finding “the next Rey Mysterio†has been part of the problem. Rey is unique, he’s a once-in-a-generation athlete who combined the Lucha style with US-friendly storytelling ability and mass-market appeal. His mask became iconic because of who he was underneath it.

By forcing new Mexican and Lucha-inspired wrestlers into Reyâ€s shadow, WWE sets them up for disappointment. Instead of searching for a replacement, the company needs to allow the next star to carve out their own identity, not inherit someone elseâ€s.

There are many that could do it: Penta, Rey Fenix, Dragon Lee…but WWE’s track record is not exactly glowing.

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Laredo Kid is officially done with TNA—for now.

The former TNA Digital Media Champion has confirmed his departure from the company in a statement shared on social media. After years of thrilling fans with his high-flying style, Laredo Kid is now stepping away from the promotion that helped showcase his talent to a broader audience.

In a message posted to Twitter, the luchador thanked TNA for the journey and made it clear he hasnâ€t closed the door on a possible return.

“Thank you for everything to this great company and family @ThisIsTNA. I appreciate your tremendous support. I hope to return to work in the future. Weâ€re on a new path.â€

Laredo Kidâ€s final TNA match took place on the May 24, 2025 edition of iMPACT. Though still under contract at the time, he gradually shifted his focus toward other opportunities—including appearances at AAA x WWE crossover events and independent shows beyond the TNA umbrella.

Kidâ€s TNA run included winning the TNA Digital Media Championship at Rebellion in 2024, a moment that stood out during a competitive stretch for the promotion. While his departure adds to the growing list of talent shakeups across the wrestling world, the door is clearly open for a comeback down the line.

Do you think Laredo Kid will return to TNA someday? Or is he better suited for a fresh start elsewhere? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.

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