Splitting Up The IIconics Was Peyton Royce's Idea

Don't blame WWE for breaking up the IIconics...

by Andrew Pollard
The IIconics
WWE

With many a wrestling fan having been in disbelief at WWE's decision to split up the IIconics last August, it turns out that Cassie Lee, aka Peyton Royce, was the one who suggested she and Billie Kay/Jess McKay split.

Speaking to Chris Van Vliet (as per WrestlingNews.co), Lee revealed how she pitched the break-up of this most beloved tandem as she wanted to try her hand in the singles ranks.

As Cassie detailed:

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"I hope Jess isn't upset with me saying this. I wanted to go single. There were things I wanted to take off my bucket list as a singles competitor. I vocalised that to Jess in January last year, but I didn't do anything about it. I told her where I was at. I didn't go and try and get us broken up or something like that. This was in the PC era, and Jess was out for a week. I had this random singles match. I don't even remember who it was against. Vince loved it. He said, 'You're good. What are we doing? I said to him, 'If it is possible in the future plans, and I'm not saying right now, but in the future, I would like to see what I can do on my own. I'm so comfortable with Jess. I feel we can conquer the world together, but I want to see what I can do for myself'."

The pairing of Royce and Kay were forced to split up after losing to the Riott Squad on the 31 August 2020 episode of Raw. By October, Kay was drafted to SmackDown, where she would eventually end up teaming with Carmella. As for Peyton, she'd remain on Raw and soon be put in a makeshift tag team with Lacey Evans.

Both Peyton Royce and Billie Kay would be a part of WWE's post-WrestleMania 37 mass releases.

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That noise you can hear in the distance? That's Adam Wilbourn screaming into the ether at having to relive the IIconics' break-up all over again...

Senior Writer
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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 day job, 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. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.