Top champions' contracts are up days after competing in major WWE-TNA event

WWE and TNA just wrapped up their first official combined event, NXT vs TNA: ShoWdown, featuring the best of the best that both brands have to offer. As it turns out, two of TNA’s top stars, Knockouts Tag Champions The IInspiration, are days away from becoming free agents.

Known as Peyton Royce and Billie Kay in WWE, The IInspiration’s Cassie Lee and Jess McKay returned to TNA Wrestling back in June, immediately confronting The Elegance Brand. At the September 27th tapings, which aired on October 2nd, The IInspiration defeated Heather by Elegance and M by Elegance to capture the gold for a second time. This came weeks after Ash by Elegance had to relinquish the TNA Knockouts World Championship, a moment that unfortunately signalled the end of her career.

Prior to their title bout, The IInspiration were added to an NXT vs TNA Survivor Series match, siding with Mara Sade and new TNA Knockouts World Champion Kelani Jordan. The foursome put on a great fight, but would ultimately fall to Team NXT. Now, it seems that Lee and McKay’s contracts are almost up, and days away from a title defense.

The IInspiration are NEW Knockouts World Tag Team Champions | TNA iMPACT! October 2, 2025

Per a report from Fightful Select, The IInspiration’s TNA deals take them through this weekend’s Bound For Glory event, where they’ll defend against The Elegance Brand. According to Fightful, those within TNA are working to keep the pair in the company, and a deal is expected to be done.

The IInspiration’s success post-WWE departure

It’s been over four years since the pairing formerly known as The IIconics was released from their WWE contracts. The team was split before their departure, a move Cassie Lee revealed after the fact was her idea.

By October 2021, the duo were in TNA, then IMPACT Wrestling, debuting at that year’s Bound For Glory event. Their first match, against Decay’s Havok and Rosemary, also earned them their first Knockouts Tag Team Title run. It was a historical moment in pro wrestling, as they became the first tag team in history to win the women’s tag titles in WWE and TNA.

Their run was short, departing from the promotion and wrestling as a whole by April 2022. They also ran a podcast, Off Her Chops, for a few years before ending it in 2024. Outside of all of that, Lee and McKay also became mothers, with McKay’s son being born in December 2023 and Lee’s following in June 2024.

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alt=”Greg Bush” height=”72″ width=”72″>

Greg is a pro wrestling writer at Sportskeeda. He has been an avid wrestling fan since he was able to do elbow drops off bunkbeds at the age of three. He’s gone through the highs and lows of the Attitude Era, Ruthless Aggression, and PG eras and lived to tell the tale, with his favorite wrestler of all time being Diamond Dallas Page. His other favorite star is the late great Bray Wyatt.

Greg has contributed to sites like Bleacher Report before joining Sportskeeda in 2017 as a content writer and editor. If you’ve ever checked out the various wrestling shows through our live coverage, chances are you’ve read Greg’s work. Apart from the world within the squared circle, he also keeps track of other sports such as American football, baseball, golf, boxing, and MMA.

His goal with his writing is to be able to mentally take readers right into the action through his words. Greg strives to ensure his readers get nothing but the best and most accurate information by always checking and using only the best and most reliable sources.

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