After competing at the inaugural Mae Young Classic in 2017, Dawson signed with WWE in early 2018 and debuted for the NXT brand, where she became involved in her husband Johnny Gargano's feuds before becoming a singles competitor.

In 2020, Dawson joined Gargano, Indi Hartwell, and Austin Theory to form the villainous faction The Way, until it dissolved the following year.

After being in a marching band where she played flute and piccolo, Dawson went to an unspecified college and earned a degree in culinary arts, and worked at Universal Studios Hollywood as a baker for a few years.

LeRae spent the rest of the year in intergender competition, facing wrestlers including Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Roderick Strong, John Morrison, T. J. Perkins and Chuck Taylor.

[21] Throughout early 2010, they teamed with a variety of male wrestlers to face each other, until LeRae defeated Von Eerie in a match in June to end the feud.

[30] On July 27, LeRae and Ryan defeated The Young Bucks in a Guerrilla Warfare match to win the PWG World Tag Team Championship.

[32] The following night, LeRae entered the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles tournament, where she defeated Rich Swann in the first round before losing to Johnny Gargano in the quarter-finals.

[33][34] LeRae and Ryan finished out the year with successful title defenses against Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano in October, and Daniels and Kazarian in December.

[37] LeRae's final PWG match took place at Mystery Vortex IV, where she made a surprise appearance in a losing effort against Trent?

[38] On January 10, LeRae teamed with the Golden Storm Riders in a losing effort against Happy Motel (Antonio Honda, Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo).

[5] In September 2013, LeRae debuted for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), teaming with Greg Excellent in a loss to Cherry Bomb and Pepper Parks.

[50] LeRae first began appearing for Family Wrestling Entertainment (FWE) in late 2013 as the mystery tag team partner of Joey Ryan at the Open Weight Grand Prix Final event.

On October 3, LeRae and Ryan defeated Ivelisse Vélez and Tommy Dreamer at Refuelled Night One following interference from Drew Galloway.

[55] The following month, on June 7, 2014, she won Dream Wave Wrestling's Tag Team Championship with Ryan, but they lost the title the next day.

[72] After a few months of investigation, it was revealed that Gargano was the mystery attacker of Aleister Black, a storyline in which Nikki Cross was the witness.

[80][81][82][83] In the end of May, LeRae aligned with Io Shirai who was feuding with Shayna Baszler and her allies Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir.

[84][85][86][87][88] The alliance between the two ended after a month, after Shirai lost to Baszler for a second time, despite LeRae's attempts to help her during their steel cage match.

[90][91][92][93] In September, LeRae was inserted in a fatal four-way match to determine the #1 contender to Shayna Baszler's NXT Women's Championship, which she won after pinning Mia Yim.

[105] Gargano and LeRae began appearing together more frequently as a power couple as they feuded with Mia Yim and Keith Lee.

[106] At TakeOver: In Your House on June 7, LeRae, Dakota Kai and Raquel González lost to Mia Yim, Tegan Nox and Shotzi Blackheart.

[112][113][better source needed] Facing off against champion Io Shirai in a renamed Tables, Ladders and Chairs match on October 28, LeRae once again failed to win the title, despite having been assisted by Indi Hartwell (then presented as a masked figure), who was stopped by Halloween Havoc host Blackheart.

[116][better source needed] The following week on NXT, LeRae was featured in a segment alongside Gargano, Hartwell, and Austin Theory, in which they started referring to themselves as The Way – a stable consisting of the four.

[121] On July 6, the pair would drop the titles to the newly-formed team of Io Shirai and Zoey Stark at the Great American Bash after the returning Tegan Nox attacked LeRae, costing her and Hartwell the championship.

[122] The Way would officially disband later that year, following the announcement of LeRae's pregnancy, the expiration of Gargano's contract with WWE, and Theory's call-up to the Raw brand.

[127] At Elimination Chamber: Perth, LeRae and Hartwell challenged the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors for the titles in a losing effort.

[129] At King and Queen of the Ring, LeRae and Hartwell lost another title match against the new tag team champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill.