"I wasn't considering retiring"- Peyton Royce and Billie Kay on their WWE exits

Cassie Lee (f.k.a. Peyton Royce) has opened up about the “overwhelming feeling” she experienced after her final WWE match against Asuka.

Speaking recently on Busted Open, Lee said she had a “weird feeling” that the match was going to be her last WWE in-ring appearance. A month later, she received her release from WWE along with her former IIconics tag team partner, Jessica McKay (f.k.a. Billie Kay).

Lee and McKay appeared on the latest episode of Renee Paquette’s Oral Sessions podcast. Discussing her last WWE match, Lee clarified that she was not happy at the time but did not consider retiring.

“My last match was with Asuka, and after the match – it was like three weeks before WrestleMania – I just had this overwhelming feeling that I said to myself, ‘I’ll be okay if that was my last match,’” Lee said. “I know I wasn’t happy but I wasn’t considering retiring or something like that. I just had this overwhelming feeling, ‘You’ll be okay, I’ll be happy if this is my last match, I’ll be okay with it.’”

"My potential HAUNTS ME!" - @PeytonRoyceWWE#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/hoxG1lWV40

— WWE (@WWE) March 23, 2021

Lee’s match against Asuka took place on the March 22 episode of WWE RAW. Asuka, the RAW Women’s Champion at the time, picked up the victory in a match lasting 11 minutes.

Jessica McKay on The IIconics' WWE separation

The IIconics held the Women's Tag Team Championship in 2019

The IIconics were forced to separate in August 2020 after losing against The Riott Squad’s Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott on WWE RAW.

Asked if she could relate to Cassie Lee's feelings after the Asuka match, Jessica McKay discussed her struggles following their tag team split.

“The split was rough,” McKay said. “I didn’t know who I was as a singles competitor and that was very confronting, having Cass not with me anymore. I remember I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll have to walk to the ring and she’s not gonna be to my left, so don’t look to your left, or don’t hold your hand out because she’s not gonna be there. You’re gonna look weird.’”

📸 @BillieKayWWE with the photo-op on #WWERaw! pic.twitter.com/UVn81Wm7kP

— WWE (@WWE) April 6, 2021

McKay added that she did not leave her house for three weeks after being informed of her WWE release. She also said she would have struggled more with her WWE exit if Lee had not received her release on the same day.

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Please credit Oral Sessions and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.