Former WWE Title Holder Open To Royal Rumble Appearance

This major Adam Wilbourn favourite is open to making a WWE Royal Rumble return.

by Andrew Pollard
Peyton Royce
WWE

Having previously turned down a spot in the 2022 women's Royal Rumble, Cassie Lee, aka Peyton Royce, is now open to a Rumble appearance should the chance arise again.

Speaking on the Ring the Belle podcast (via SEScoops), the former WWE Women's Tag Team Champion noted:

"Yeah, I’m open to it, for sure. I would love that. It’d be so good to catch up, and I mean, it’s the Royal Rumble. We said no last time because we were still pretty hurt about [the IIconics' WWE release] but, I feel healed now and I feel like I’d love to do that if the opportunity came.”

Under the Peyton Royce moniker, Cassie was with WWE from 2015 until April 2021, with her and tag team partner Billie Kay/Jessie McKay part of the market leader's many budget cuts-driven releases of the pandemic days.

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In the aftermath of their WWE departure, Lee and McKay landed in IMPACT Wrestling as the IInspiration, where they had a 133-day reign as the Knockouts Tag Team Champions. The pair's six-month run with the Anthem promotion came to an end in April 2022 when they were granted their release.

As alluded to, WWE reached out to the IInspiration for spots in the 2022 women's Royal Rumble while they were the Knockouts Tag Champs, but the duo rejected this offer despite IMPACT giving its approval. This was the one and the same Rumble where then-reigning Knockouts Champion Mickie James famously made an appearance.

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Cassie Lee last wrestled in October for WSW in Syndey, Australia, while Jessie McKay was last in action in April 2022 when the IInspiration came up short in trying to regain the IMPACT Knockouts Tag Team Titles from Madison Rayne and Tenille Dashwood. In the time since, Jessie gave birth to a son last December, while Cassie and her husband Shawn Spears are currently expecting their second child. Of course, Spears himself is now back with WWE, having made his shock return to the NXT brand in February.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.