15 WWE Break-Ups That IMMEDIATELY Backfired
5. The IIconics Can’t Survive Alone (2020)
Bayley and Sasha Banks were really the only concrete duo WWE's new Women's Tag Team Title division had for a while when the idea launched in 2019, but something special was brewing on NXT. Peyton Royce and Billie Kay were turning heads and earning rave reviews for their delusional antics on the developmental brand, and it seemed like destiny that they'd inject some much-needed heel life in these new belts when they arrived on the main roster.
After debuting on SmackDown in April 2018, The IIconics memorably won the titles one year later at WrestleMania 35. This should've been the beginning of a dominating period, but it wasn't to be. By August, WWE had moved on to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross as the new champs. Later, The IIconics split due to a storyline on the 31 August 2020 Raw, and both appeared teary and emotional during a sit-down promo with WWE's YouTube channel afterwards.
Weeks later, they'd gone their separate ways in the 2020 Draft - Kay went to SmackDown, and Royce stayed on Raw. Splitting these real-life mates who had come up in the wrestling business together and still had so much to offer collectively was a mistake. Neither one stayed the course individually, although Billie did try to make something of herself as a buffoonish comedy act before being released.
Some combos just need each other. This 'Iconic Duo' (their original name on NXT) fit into that category. Overnight, WWE cost themselves one of the only positive things fans had to say about the usually ineffective Women's Tag Team division. Terrible decision, lads.
Not very IIconic.