Candice LeRae Discusses Female Audience, Intergender Wrestling, More
WWE Mae Young Classic competitor Candice LeRae spoke to Ring Rust Radio for a new interview. You can see submitted highlights below, and the full podcast at this link.
Ring Rust Radio: While you have fought some of the best performers in the world, there are several big names left for you to fight. Wrestling fans love to talk dream matches, but who are some of the wrestlers you’ve never faced that you’d like to square against?
Candice LeRae: I would love to wrestle Kenny Omega and I didn’t realize it before, but recently I want to wrestle Cody Rhodes and part of that is because I feel like I’m converting him into liking intergender wrestling a little more than he originally thought he did. Fingers crossed. He did tweet and say I was a dream match and fans were shocked because they thought no way. Obviously, I would love to wrestle Bayley so much. She and I are both California natives and we tagged together and wrestled against each other before she was signed so would love to be able to wrestle her again. I also wish I could wrestle Asuka, that would be super cool too. I have so many people, but those four probably my top of the list with Kenny Omega be on the top of my list.
Ring Rust Radio: In recent years you've become the poster child for intergender wrestling and enjoyed more success in that area than any other woman. Do you see intergender wrestling continuing to grow and popularize over time, and do you think we could eventually see it in a company like WWE?
Candice LeRae: I do understand why WWE being a family-friendly company might shy away from it because there’s that gray area where people are thinking it promotes domestic abuse and this and that. While I understand that, I’ve had a lot of women come up to me like shaking and practically in tears and some men that will come up and say that my intergender wrestling has been very empowering for them in their lives. I don’t think there’s ever a time where other than when I very first started doing it, where I was being put in the situation it wasn’t me going after the match. I feel like there’s ways to have it done tastefully. It’s 2017 and little girls want to play sports in high school with the boys so I feel as though they should. To be fair, a punch in wrestling is not a thing. It’s illegal; you can’t throw a closed fist so guys shouldn’t be punching women in general. I don’t at all support domestic abuse or domestic violence in any way shape or form. However, if I want to compete with men and wrestle against men and I’m okay with that, then I know what I’m getting myself into. I think it’s slowly but surely becoming more and more accepted by just people in general and society in general. We are in a time of women empowerment so I have faith, someday.
Ring Rust Radio: WWE recently announced that women represent 40 percent of its audience, but it's still a rarity overall in wrestling to see women wresters featured in main-event storylines. What do you think you have to do in the promotions you work for, or women in general have to do, in order to receive more main-event opportunities?
Candice LeRae: I kind of feel like it’s match quality and honestly, I will say this: I’m a very competitive person and when I started training I always told myself that I have to be just as good if not better than the man to be treated as an equal. So, if women are going out there and saying they’re going to start wrestling and competing harder than these guys are on the show, then eventually people are going to take note. It’s going to get to the point where some of the men aren’t going to be able to keep up with the women and in those scenarios, that’s when the promoters have to think maybe we need to change things up and put the women on last because there are going to steal the show. Honestly, with some of the quality of women out there anymore, I feel like it’s going to happen more and more. It’s just a matter of promoters and promotions being more open minded to it.
