Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, aka The IIconics, were this week’s guests on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia. The new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions spoke about how close they are in real life, and said it wasn’t always that way growing up in Australia. The two said they had a ‘rivalry’ of sorts, but have grown to be inseparable today:
Billie Kay:
“We travel together, everyone knows that. If you follow us on Instagram we’re always posting shooting stuff on our phone. So we travel together and we work together. But we also spend our off days together. She’s the only person I really want to see on my off days. So that’s how deep this connection and sisterhood goes for us. It’s not just, ‘Oh we’re a tag team in storylines and on TV.’ No this is actually real and has been 15 years in the making. And we really do consume each other’s lives. And we spend every single second together.
It’s funny, because we never liked each other, but we never actually spoke. There was this silent rivalry between us. WWE Superstars used to come out to where we used to live and do autograph signings. I saw one time Peyton was ahead in the line. We used to spend hours trying to be the first in line. So, sometimes she would be second or third and I’d be sixth or seventh. I just knew she went to the same high school, I didn’t know who she was. I was like ‘Damn it.’ And then the next time I’d be ahead in line and we’d just shoot each other looks and stuff. There was just this silent rivalry. Years later, when Peyton joined the wrestling academy that I attended, and we spoke for the first time…”
Peyton Royce:
“I just want to jump in for a second – when I was so young that I wanted to be a wrestler, I had an idea of what school I wanted to go to in Sydney. So in my mind, that’s where I was going when I was of age. So, on my birthday I go out to dinner and I see a poster on the door and it says “pro wrestling” so it immediately draws my attention. So I look at the poster and it’s Billie. She’s the front and center of the poster. And I said, “Oh my god I’m going to go to this school because I know her and I want to wrestle too!” I wouldn’t have chosen that school unless I saw Billie on the poster. That just clicked. But it was also ‘I want to be with her doing this.’ This was a couple of years after the ‘silent rivalry.’ After time had passed.”
Billie Kay:
“So time had passed, yeah I love that, because I feel like fate came together and intertwined our lives and was like ‘You two are gonna be together forever, and you guys are gonna change the world.’ I’m onboard. I’m onboard for life. Yeah, she joined PWA, and the first time we spoke – and I say this all the time – it’s like, in the romantic movies, where the heavens open up and the two people come together and fall in love – it’s like love at first sight. That’s what happened. That’s exactly what happened.”
Billie also went on to explain that once they became friends they wanted to stick together for the long haul, something that seemed unlikely at times in NXT. She explained that some within the company wanted them to flourish on their own, but the duo wanted to stick together and still fight to do so to this day:
Billie Kay:
“It’s hard to explain. In NXT, we wanted to be together, and they wanted us to find our own individuality. We tried to do that, but it just didn’t feel right. So I’m glad we were able to come together. We’ve always fought to be together and we’ve always stuck by that. Whether it’s storylines or interviews, even a signing. We want to be represented together. We are a team. So it’s something that we just want to stand by. It’s just something we fight for every day.”
Related: The IIconics Thank Australian Fans After WrestleMania Victory, RAW After Mania’s Greatest Debuts
Listen to “The IIconics: Peyton Royce and Billie Kay – Capturing Your Dreams” on Spreaker.
