The IInspiration Quit The Wrestling Business

Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay to explore new opportunities away from the squared circle.

by Andrew Pollard
The IIconics
WWE

In some surprising news, it's been announced that The IInspiration are departing the wrestling business in order to pursue opportunities away from the squared circle.

Taking to Twitter, Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay released a joint statement from themselves and IMPACT Wrestling's Scott D'Amore.

Lee and McKay were most recently in action at this past weekend's IMPACT Countdown to Rebellion, where they were unsuccessful in challenging for the Knockouts Tag Team Championships currently held by The Influence's Madison Rayne and Tenille Dashwood. Of course, it was Rayne and Dashwood who defeated The IInspiration for those titles at the Sacrifice PPV last month.

Advertisement

The former IIconics have been with IMPACT Wrestling since October, having debuted at Bound for Glory 2021 and won the Knockouts Tag Titles in their very match in the company. By beating Decay's Rosemary and Havok for the gold on that night, that meant The IInspiration are the only team in history to have held the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles and the IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Tag Team Titles.

Prior to signing with IMPACT, Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay were amongst the post-WrestleMania 37 round of WWE releases that were put down to further "budget cuts" by the promotion. The two had been with WWE since 2015, and were put together as a tandem shortly after signing with the company.

Advertisement

What's next for Lee and McKay remains to be seen, but the ridiculously talented duo have shown skillsets that reach way beyond the wrestling business. The best of luck to whatever is next for The IInspiration.

Right, now it's time to console our own Adam Wilbourn, who is utterly heartbroken at this news.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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.