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WWE Women’s Tag Team division witnessed the arrival of the IIconics on SmackDown in 2018. The duo went on to win the newly introduced Women’s Tag team Championship after defeating Bayley and Sasha Banks at WrestleMania 35 in a fatal four-way match, featuring two other teams.
Peyton Royce, one half of this incredibly resilient duo, met Billy Kay when both of them were in school. They pursued their wrestling career and ended up making their main roster debut together, as a team.
Despite having their identities morphed to represent one team, Royce continues to stand out as an individual wrestler. From being jobbers to becoming only the second team to win the Women’s Tag Team Championships, Royce’s WWE career is slowly being scripted towards greater achievements.
If booked well, Royce has the potential of moving up the roster ranks and see herself in individual Championship matches. However, that would happen only of the IIconics part way which seems highly unlikely.
Owing the possibilities, it is important to keep an eye on this bloossoming Superstar. Here are some of the facts about this Australian wrestler which you may find interesting.
#5 Training in dance laid the path for her WWE success
The one half of IIconics, Peyton Royce is in fact a trained ballet dancer. Royce was pursuing her dancing hobby before wrestling gained her interest.
The Australian wrestler initially wished to excel in dancing. In fact, she trained rigorously and excelled in the skill by the time she was eight years old. However, fate had other things stored for Royce.
As a child, she had to move around a lot. Eventually, she ended up being in the same high school as her Tag Team partner, Billy Kay.
Royce still loves to dance everytime she gets an opportunity. In fact, WWE themselves credit her incredible dancing abilities for her agility inside the ring.
#4 Initial feud with Billy Kay
The IIconics make for a convincing Tag Team when it comes to coordination inside the ring. Together, Peyton Royce and Billy Kay compliment each other extremely well. Even when they are outside the squared circle, they always each other’s back.
However, this was not always the case. In a podcast, Royce opened up about the ‘Mini-feud’ that existed between the two halves of The IIconics when they first got to know each other. As mentioned previously, both these wrestlers went to the same high school.
Apparently, the two were the only wrestling fans in the whole school. Thus, they always wanted to prove that they were a ‘bigger’ wrestling fan which led to a brief duration of rivalry.
Soon after that, both Royce and Kay started training together at the same wrestling school which led to their incredible friendship.
#3 Win-loss ratio in WWE
Peyton Royce rose to fame as a part of the IIconics. The inclusion of this female tag team turned her into one of the most sought stars, alongside Billy Kay. Ever since her SmackDown debut in 2018, Royce has competed in several matches – both tag team and individual.
Despite several bookings, the win-loss ratio does not speak in favour of the Australian wrestler. In fact, she has suffered from 169 losses in the 229 matches that she has fought in WWE.
In NXT alone, Royce lost 145 times which suggest that 72% of her matches ended in a loss. On the main roster, the stat once again suggests over 72% of her matches ending in a loss as she could pick only 8 wins in 29 matches.
Royce has also fought in 7 PPV matches and has main-evented one. Despite the underwhelming stat, Royce is booked as a strong threat towards other opponents.
#2 Lowest rated WWE match
The IIconics walked into WrestleMania 35 as contenders for the Women’s Tag Team titles in a fatal four-way match. This booking witnessed four Tag Teams come together to battle it out for the Women’s Tag Team Championships.
The IIconics were up against Sasha Bank and Bayley, Natalya and Hall of Famer Beth Phoneix, and Nia Jax and Tamina. The IIconics went on to beat Banks and Bayley in order to capture the titles. In the process, they became the second team in history to win the women’s Tag Team titles which was introduced at the Elimination Chamber, earlier this year.
However, this match was one of the lowest rated matches on the WrestleMania card, as per Wrestling Observer. Dave Meltzer granted 1.5/5 rating to this historic match of Royce’s career, which is lowest ratings that any of ger matches had ever received.
#1 Idolising Eddie Guerrero
Peyton Royce was introduced to wrestling when she was only 9-year-old. She discovered her passion for the sport when she witnessed late WWE Superstar, Eddie Guerero perform inside the ring. Royce continues to credit the legendary wrestler for her entire wrestling career.
According to the reports, Royce felt that Eddie Guerrero’s charisma and charm kept her and several other hooked on to their television. Her hero made her smile everytime he came on screen. Thus, she wanted to go ahead and do the same for others.
"It never crossed my mind that I can do that. I hate that it comes back into my head, but it was the day Eddie Guerrero died. That was it for me. I used to pray at night and tell him that I was going to do this for you because you gave me all these memories and all these feelings and I just wanted to give back to others the way you gave to me”, said the one half of Women’s Tag Team Champions.
