Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay, The IInspiration (formerly, the IIconics in WWE) made a surprise return at TNA Wrestling’s Against All Odds pay-per-view. The former TNA and WWE women’s tag champs hit the stage after the current TNA Women’s Tag Team Champions, Ash and Heather of The Elegance, celebrated their six-person tag win over Xia Brookside, Harley Hudson, and Myla Grace.
Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay are an Australian tag team that first hit it big in WWE as Peyton Royce (Lee) and Billie Kay (McKay), the IIconics. They were a very polarizing comedic tag team with piercing voices and awkward promos (see below), but fans loved them or loved to hate them. They won the Women’s Tag Team Championship, held by Bayley and Sasha Banks, at WrestleMania 35 in a match that also featured the teams of Nia Jax/Tamina and Beth Phoenix/Natalya. They held the belts for 120 days before losing them to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.
The duo was forced to break up shortly after that and then were placed onto separate shows. Without their comedic chemistry, WWE creative struggled to book them well as singles competitors, and they ended up being released from the company in early 2021.
Lee and McKay signed with Impact Wrestling (now TNA Wrestling) later that year as The IInspiration. They made their debut at TNA’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view, defeating Decay (Rosemary and Havok) for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship. They held the belts for a little over four months before losing them to Madison Rayne and Tenille Dashwood at TNA’s Sacrifice PPV. Six weeks later McKay and Lee announced that they were stepping away from wrestling indefinitely. Their June 7 appearance at Against All Odds (below) was their first major show since then.
Lee and McKay have a tendency to show up, claim gold immediately, and leave town shortly thereafter. Expect them to take the tag belts off of The Elegance Brand, only to lose them after a short reign as champs. Their TNA contracts are reportedly short-term, but they do have the option of sticking around if there is mutual interest. The IInspiration has already announced indie dates in July, so the stay could be for only a month.
If the duo decides to extend their stay, then it is very possible to see both singles and tag runs for them. They are notorious for sticking their noses into other wrestlers’ business, so it is easy to book them either way.
The IIconics/IInspiration are a team that can really grate on one’s nerves. They are funny at first, but fans cool to them quickly. As I said above, I can see this run at TNA being another hit-and-run affair where they are transitional tag champs and then disappear to do the same elsewhere. This will work out great during WWE’s deal with TNA because it will mean that they have the opportunity to appear on WWE programming again as well. Their nails-down-a-chalkboard personalities would fit in well in segments on NXT. In fact, I think that an appearance there would be…IIIIII–conic!
If you love sports, download Stadium Rant from the Apple App Store and join one of the fastest-growing social sports communities. Be sure to follow us on socials too — you can find all our profiles on our Linktree.
