How to Uncover the True Reason Behind the Iiconics

The IIconics are actually pro wrestlers named Peyton Royce and Billie Kay, but those weren't their original names. They were born in Australia as Cassandra Mcintosh (Royce) and Jessica McKay (Kay). Even when they were young, it was obvious that they were meant for a successful career in wrestling. However, it took some time for their winning partnership to become clear, and they faced some significant challenges along the way.

Both Mcintosh and McKay went to the same high school, Westfield Sports High, in Fairfield West, Sydney, Australia. Westfield is a regular school that focuses a lot on sportsas part of the curriculum.

This worked well for the future wrestling stars because they were both big sports fans and wanted to improve their skills as much as they could.

They received training from Madison Eagles, a well-known professional wrestler from Australia.

It might seem clear now that the two of them were meant to be together, but it definitely didn't start out that way.

The truth is, when Mcintosh and McKay were in high school together, they weren't friends at all. Both extremely ambitious and eager to succeed in the world of wrestling, they were actually unfriendly towards each other, seeing each other as rivals.

"It's funny," McKay told WWE reporterLilian Garcia. "Because we didn't like each other, but we never actually spoke, so there was this silent rivalry between us."

Little did they know that one day they would come together and make history with their friendship.

It was their next step in the world of sports that would eventually bring these former rivals together on the same side.

Both of them became part of the Pro Wrestling Women’s Alliance (PWWA) in Australia during their younger years, beginning their wrestling journeys in the same circles. McKay joined first, in 2007, and later, in 2009, Mcintosh also became a part of the roster.
They, of course, knew each other from high school, but neither of them was expecting what would happen next.

It was during their time together at PWWA that the two former rivals ended up building a real-life friendship. It wasn't just a professional working relationship as part of a wrestling storyline, but an actual genuine connection.

McKay recalled in a WWE video how the two of them eventually came together.
"I really feel like fate intertwined our lives and was like, 'You two are going to be together forever and are going to change the world,'" she said. "I was like, 'I'm on board. I'm on board for life.'"

After building their strong friendship, they knew that wherever life took them, they would go there together. As fate would have it, in 2015, both of them signed developmental deals for women’s professional wrestling in the U.S.—both with WWE.

Because of their evident charisma as a pair, they were promptly teamed up on screen for the WWE training roster NXT.
Finally bound together officially by work as well as their friendship, they made their NXT debut in 2015, using the names Jessie McKay and KC Cassidy.

McKay and Cassidy made their TV debut in October 2016. Around this time, they began regularly teaming up for matches.

Despite the support and strength they drew from each other while working together, for some reason, they only seemed to win matches when competing individually.

While their partnership was gaining them a following due to their evident chemistry and charisma together, they were somewhat lacking in championship success as a team.

Nonetheless, the two of them knew that the key to their success was in sticking together through thick and thin.

Despite their strong bond and the undeniable skill and strength possessed by both of them, McKay and Cassidy somehow were failing to make the mark they really wanted to on the NXT roster.

They weren’t exactly performing poorly and could certainly hold their own, but championships and titles continued to remain out of their reach. Additionally, they didn’t seem to be gaining the same levels of fan following as some of their rivals.

McKay and Cassidy believed in themselves that together they were truly Iconic—but how could they convince the rest of the world?

The solution was to alter their partnership in an unexpected way. They didn't need to change their relationship or fighting style, but they just needed a bit of a shake-up in their image.

So, the next time McKay andCassidy appeared on screen, they transformed into Billie Kay and Peyton Royce—and together they were now known as The Iconic Duo.

It was indeed a bold name to give themselves, but anyone who saw them together couldn’t deny that the chemistry between the two was nothing short of legendary.

Even though they appeared to have found the right combination, the superstar pair's name was set to change once again.

For some reason, "The Iconic Duo," despite being popular with fans, didn't quite sit well with WWE bosses. Some people suggested that there might be an issue with trademarking the name, and that it might have already been claimed by someone else.

Whatever the reason, this legendary pair next appeared at WrestleMania 34 in 2018—now known as The IIconics.

After their appearance at WrestleMania 34, The IIconics were well on their way to WWE stardom. In 2018, they were drafted from NXT to the full SmackDown roster.

While they didn't immediately win any titles, they made a significant impact, using their strength to take down champion Charlotte Flair. Their move against Flair resulted in her losing the title to Carmella.

The IIconics hadn't quite won the title for themselves, but they had certainly grabbed attention.

Only a week after their first appearance, where the crowd had already been impressed by their super-dominant energy and confidence together, The IIconics returned to SmackDown to face Asuka and Becky Lynch.

Despite being newcomers to the roster, the unstoppable duo showed no signs of hesitance or inexperience. They defeated Lynch and Asuka with flair, officially winning their first match on the main brand.

But it was what would happen next that would truly change things for them forever.

At the end of the year, Royce and Kay were amazed and honored by the announcement that they would be competing in the inaugural Women’s Tag Team Championship.

"When we found out the women's tag team division was going to be created, we were so excited just to be a part of the Elimination Chamber,” Kay said to Asbury Park Press. “We were so grateful to be a part of that match because we really wanted to help pioneer this division. Just being a part of it was incredible.”

But it wasn’t just a great honor to be included in this championship. It was also a significant challenge, and meant facing some of the toughest—and sometimes meanest—opponents on the roster.

Leading up to facing them at WrestleMania, The IIconics started a feud with Sasha Banks and Bayley, aka The Boss’N’Hug Connection.

The two teams had clashed in an episode of SmackDown, and The IIconics emerged victorious.

The heat was now on between the two duos—but who would take the title?

The IIconics didn't manage to secure the inaugural Tag Team Championship, losing out to their bitter rivals. However, they continued to prove themselves as a formidable force and returned the following year stronger than ever.

In 2019, they made history when they faced The Boss’N’Hug Connection once again at WrestleMania 35. This time the odds were in their favor, and they defeated The Connection in the Elimination Chamber.

The IIconics were finally more than just iconic—they were Women’s Tag Team Champions.

Not only that, but they were the first Australian wrestlers to ever win a WrestleMania title.

The IIconics' record-breaking win was significant news across the WWE fandom. However, it was also met with a fair amount of controversy.

Before the match, the Boss’N’Hug Connection had seemed like the clear frontrunners for the title. Rumors circulated that the WWE creators had a last-minute change of heart, informing the competitors right before the match that the victors had been switched.

There were rumors that Banks and Bayley staged a locker room protest immediately after the match, and Banks was not seen in the ring for several months afterward.

In addition to facing a harsh reaction from Banks and Bayley fans, the IIconics were dealt another blow of negative coverage.

Around this time, Peyton Royce was shocked when she read a cruel article poking fun at her appearance.

"When that incident happened, I was going through a really tough time with self-esteem and confidence with my image,” she confessed in a WWE interview. “Coming out to the main roster - there's such a light on you, especially with social media. Everybody has so much access to give you their opinion… their comments would just hurt me so badly.”

But the IIconics wouldn’t let any haters ruin the excitement of what they had achieved. For them, they were just happy to be part of the historic progress being made in women’s wrestling at the time, and to be performing in the legendary venue of Madison Square Garden.

"I'm just going to throw a little pun your way, but Madison Square Garden is an iconic venue, so to speak," said Kay. "So the fact that we get to perform there… is just really exciting.”

Peyton Royce also shared how glorious it was that she and her best friend had finally achieved the very thing they had been dreaming of for all these years.

“That was easily the greatest night of our lives, of our careers, so far,” she said. “It was so much more than a dream come true for us. For it to happen at WrestleMania, all of our dreams coming true with the Women’s Tag Team titles, everything came full circle for us.”

After their victory at WrestleMania, The IIconics faced tough competition to hold onto their title. They had several super-exciting and challenging matches where various teams and duos attempted to take it from them, but they managed to hold off all competitors and retain the crown.

That is, until they lost it to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross in a fatal-four-way elimination tag team match. After a 120-day run, their title reign had come to an end.

Even though they were no longer official championship holders, the IIconics had proven themselves to both the other women on the roster and to WWE fans worldwide.

Not only did they beat out stiff competition to win the title and hold onto it for a whopping 120 days, but they also solidified their personas as some of the toughest heels in the SmackDown brand.

The IIconics were bold, brassy, and a force to be reckoned with, both in and out of the ring—and the fans loved it.

One thing the IIconics became known for wasn’t just their sharp and vicious attitude in the ring, but also the hard time they would give journalists and reporters in their post-match interviews.

Woe betide the interviewer who would ask them a question they didn’t like, with the bold Australians happily ripping into their interview technique and skill as a journalist.

“You have GOT TO be joking!” became almost a battle cry for the IIconics and their fans, in their legendary Australian drawl, as they made a meal of yet another hapless interviewer.

Despite their reputation for being pretty fierce to anyone they meet, the IIconics’ deep connection and affection for each other is clear to see.

Whether they are playing the role of a heel or not, in any situation, it’s evident that the friendship between these two goes way beyond the average WWE storyline or script.

Even in interviews outside of the WWE universe, you can see the two of them answering and laughing together, finishing each other’s sentences, and completely in sync.

And it’s not just fans and viewers who have noticed the strength of this connection.

Though we often see partnerships between competitors in women’s wrestling, even sports reporters have commented on the clear strength of the IIconics’ friendship.

“You’re seeing real friends,” wrote Sonal Lad of Fansided’s Daily DDT. “Going through a journey to do something they’ve always dreamed about. You kind of wish you had a friend like that. It also makes them unrivaled in the ring when they wrestle together.”

Though the IIconics are well-known for the strength of their friendship with each other, they are not always so mature and respectable on the stage.

Fans and reporters alike delight in the duo’s spectacular reactions whenever they win—but actually, when they lose is often even more entertaining.

The tantrums and meltdowns thrown by the IIconics when they lose a title or a match often go viral, and the pair are praised worldwide for their comedic timing and performances.

As well as being hilarious for the fans to enjoy, critics and interviewers have also noted that the IIconics’ comedy styling in their performances goes well beyond most of the skits and sketches delivered by other wrestlers.

Just what is the secret to their iconic wit?

“It’s all 100-percent real, hands-down,” Kay said to TV Insider. “Every reaction, emotion, and facial expression you see, we do in day-to-day life. That’s where we pull our inspiration from our real life and our real-life interaction. I love that we can say that.”

Outside of the ring, The IIconics are often making headlines for their personal lives as well as their achievements within the wrestling world.

In 2019, Peyton Royce (Mcintosh) announced that she had become engaged to Ronnie William Arneill, otherwise known by his AEW ring name Shawn Spears and his WWE name Tye Dillinger.

The couple was rumored to be dating for several years, but neither had confirmed the relationship.

But Royce made it official when she posted a photo of the two of them on Instagram, with her wearing her sparkly engagement ring.

Even though they had kept their relationship under wraps for a while, after confirming the engagement, Royce seemed a lot more comfortable speaking publicly about it.

"He is the most supportive man to me,” she said to Lilian Garcia. “He was right outside … when we got back from WrestleMania. He was the one face I wanted to see and he was right there. I get really homesick, but I get to go home to my fiancé, and I'm lucky to get to do that, and I know how loving and supportive he is."

Even though Royce has now become more comfortable opening up, Billie Kay still prefers to keep her personal life out of the spotlight.

"My family's gone through a lot,” she revealed in a WWE interview. ”So I like to be the shield that protects them from the world because it can be really nasty at times. I signed up for this life and I'm fine being in the public eye. I can take anything you can throw at me, but my loved ones didn't… I would prefer not to showcase that."

Hot off the heels of their WrestleMania title reign, the fans were confused by what happened to the IIconics next.

There hadn’t been any announcement about it, but it looked like the WWE had moved The IIconics from the SmackDown roster and into the Raw brand.

This was very odd because it appeared that the pair had simply been quietly moved from one roster to another, with the new listings appearing on the WWE website but with no explanation.

What was going on? Did the IIconics want to make this move—or was all not well behind the scenes?

Please write in English language.

More confusion was in store for fans of the IIconics when they realized that they suddenly seemed to have disappeared from their screens.

Of course, it’s not unusual to go a match or two without seeing your favorite competitor, but several months had now passed since their last match—when they were defeated by Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair on Raw.

Where could the IIconics have gone? What was the reason behind their sudden disappearance?

The question was on everyone’s lips, but no one seemed to know the answer.