The IIconic Billie Kay: WWE’s low key MVP since 2015

Billie Kay is the gift that keeps on giving every time she’s in front of a camera. 

The Royal Rumble has come and gone for another year, and it did not disappoint. Bianca Belair and Edge picked up the big wins, both of which were well deserved. But Billie Kay was also involved in the Women’s Royal Rumble match and she was amazing.

It wasn’t because she pulled off some big elimination save or because she eliminated a record number of competitors. No, Billie Kay did what she does best, inserting some heart and soul into the event, making it that much better of a match.

Billie Kay comes to NXT

The last few years have seen several talented female wrestlers from Australia make their way to WWE and find success. Both Rhea Ripley and Toni Storm became champions in NXT UK, with Ripley repeating that feat in NXT.

But there was also a tag team made up of two close friends, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay. They spent years working the Australian indies together. Kay would also make a name for herself in Shimmer during that time.

Billie Kay and Peyton Royce would both sign with NXT, eventually becoming a heel tag team called The Iconic Duo. They worked incredibly well together, eventually debuting on the main roster in 2018 as The IIconics. At WrestleMania 35, they won the Women’s Tag Team Championships.

This was, obviously, a huge moment for both of them. Not only did they become champions at WrestleMania but they had become huge fan favorites thanks to their undeniable chemistry and ridiculous antics. In particular, Kay has been unafraid to get a bit weird.

All good things…

Naturally, The IIconics couldn’t be champions forever and would lose the titles to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. They continued to operate as a tag team, building their fan base. Unfortunately, WWE didn’t see them remaining as one cohesive unit.

It’s long been speculated that Vince McMahon is not a fan of tag team wrestling. Whether that’s true or not, it’s difficult to argue that WWE’s tag team division is not generally well booked. There’s a reason that FTR couldn’t wait to get out the door.

Vince reputedly viewed Peyton Royce as a singles star, so he broke The IIconics up. No one was happy about this as they were popular. They were also one of the few actual tag teams in the Women’s Division. The rest were pretty much just pairs of random singles competitors.

With a pending push for Royce on Raw, Billie Kay was moved to SmackDown as part of the 2020 draft. Fans were immediately concerned that this would be the death knell for Kay’s WWE career, that she would cool her heels in catering until she was either released or asked for her release.

Billie Kay hands out headshots

What fans have learned about Billie Kay in the past few months is that she should never be counted out. Well, unless she is literally being counted out of a match. In the figurative sense, Kay should never be counted out.

Once on SmackDown, Billie Kay started a ridiculous gimmick where she gave out headshots and resumes to basically everyone and anyone. She would show up during backstage segments, matches, and at the announcers’ desk. The crazy part is that this worked.

Like Rusev Day or the Fashion Police, Kay beat the odds and has built a gimmick that fans are behind. It’s funny, it’s different and Billie Kay is exceptional with it. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine someone without Kay’s comedic talents and magnetic personality pulling this off.

A big part of her success has been her strange interactions with The Riott Squad, another great tag team. Something about her pestering them to join up just amplifies the situation. There is enough momentum behind this gimmick that it could lead her anywhere.

The Royal Rumble calls

The most recent place this gimmick took Billie Kay was the 2021 Royal Rumble. She has competed in it before, but not like this. Billie joined the match at number four but spent the majority of her more than eight minutes outside of the ring.

She was handing out headshot/resume combos and trying to form alliances. Eventually, a returning Jillian Hall signed up and they briefly worked together. While Billie didn’t win the Rumble, she did create a memorable moment and that’s also incredibly valuable.

Peyton Royce, on the other hand, has largely faded into the background. Vince reputedly changed his mind about her singles push, instead of putting her in a makeshift tag team with Lacey Evans that went nowhere. In fact, that team has already come to an end.

Lacey is now part of a rather high profile feud that involves both Charlotte Flair and Ric Flair. Since that started, Peyton has more or less disappeared from Raw. And fans were worried about Billie Kay getting the short end of the stick when The IIconics came to an end.

There has been a lot of talk about The IIconics reforming, which would be good for Peyton Royce. But Billie Kay is on to something on SmackDown that needs to be fully explored. Right now, she’s the low key MVP that WWE needs on the Women’s Division roster.