The IIconics’ Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay are waiting for the next chapter of their wrestling careers to kick off, but still face some obstacles before it can happen.
Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay were the latest guests on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette and they spoke about their WWE releases in April, and went into detail about how they got (and reacted to) the unfortunate news.
McKay said she was going about her normal routine, which including getting a spray tan for the SmackDown taping the next night. She got the call from WWE and thought it’d be a normal work-related call, but finding out she was being released was a shock.
“I couldn’t say anything. I was like, ‘What?!?’ and I was speechless. This is a lot, then the phone call wrapped up, it ended, and I was frozen. I walked out on the back patio and my husband was out there with our puppy. We joke a lot, and you know how there’s always like fake wrestling news, all that kind of stuff, but I was just like, ‘babe, I’m not joking, I got released.’ And his face dropped, and seeing that made my heart break even more. Honestly, we just spent the next two hours crying together out on the patio and it was like 4:30 when it happened. I rang my family at about 5, spoke to all of them and they’re just so loving and supporting so that helped, but it was just a shock. I just wasn’t expecting it at all, and then my husband went and got me donuts, so that was nice.”
Lee then explained that she was getting a massage when her husband (Shawn Spears) knocked on the door and said she should look at her phone. She got a text from Jessica about her own release, as well as a missed call and text from WWE.
“I was like, ‘Well, I’m done.’ So I tried to call back and there was no answer, but I wrapped up that massage real quick. ‘I’ll have to rebook you, mate!’ Ronnie and I sat on the couch just waiting for the call to come back and thank gosh he was home, because if this was a typical Wednesday and he was at work and I was home by myself, oh boy,” Lee said. “I can’t even imagine dealing with that alone in my house. He was reassuring me that everything was going to be OK. ‘You’re fine, it’s going to be OK. I promise you’ and I just felt this overwhelming sensation of relief, like the world lifted off of my shoulders almost.”
Lee said that the call lasted about 60 seconds, noting that she said she saw it coming based on the texts and Tweets, but it still wasn’t easy. She said there was that period of relief, but she also spent the next day feeling very said and questioning what she did to deserve being let go.
“I just had to realize that it wasn’t something I did or didn’t do. We were good employees, we were the first ones there at TVs, we dressed like professionals and Superstars, we were polite, respectful, and I know we didn’t do anything wrong. We were just victims of budget cuts,” Lee explained, “so that’s something that I had to just realize and know is the truth. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
Episode 6 our Pork Chops!!
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After the pair talked about being split up to work as singles acts before their WWE releases took place, Cassie Lee explained that plans for their future are still in a bit of a holding pattern due to needing their work visas.
“The difficult thing for us is that—this is a whole thing but, we still don’t have our green cards. So, we’re not allowed to work until we get those or until we can find some sponsorship anywhere else. It’s like, we’re so excited, we have all this freedom and we have so many ideas, but pump the brakes, because we can’t do any of it. So it’s like this podcast that we’re doing, we’re not making any money off it or anything like that,” Lee noted, “it’s purely just to get our name out there and kind of try and stay relevant. It’s been tough just knowing we have all these things we wanna do but can’t do it.
Paquette noted how people might not understand how much performers depend on a visa and green cards, adding that it’s something that loomed over her as well. Now a US citizen herself, Paquette said it’s a really important part of a performer’s life and it can be stressful as well.
“We’re just in this holding pattern right now. There’s literally nothing we can do, it’s just waiting. We’ve been in this process for four years which is basically unheard of,” Lee explained, “but [the fact is] that no one could control the pandemic, whatever, government, all that kind of stuff.”
McKay added more context, saying she doesn’t think people truly understand how hard the process is, and they aren’t even sure when “almost there” will happen.
“I don’t think people understand it properly. Obviously, I’m so glad we’re talking to you because you get it. People are like, ‘Well, what do you want to do now?’ and it’s like, ‘Well, nothing, because I can’t legally work here in this country.’ People think it’s like you apply for a green card and it comes in the mail with a balloon, like ‘Here’s your green card, here you go!’ This shit takes years, and we’ve been through the ringer with this, with getting things denied and having to switch the process over because of the pandemic. It keeps backing on, and it’s year after year after year. We’re almost there,” McKay said, “but almost there could be a year away, and that’s the thing. We just don’t know.
“People say, ‘It’ll work itself out’ or ‘Surely your former employer will help out’ and stuff like that—no. We’re in this together. It’s just us doing it by ourselves now, so it’s been stressful. It’s just another added stress after getting released. We didn’t know what would happen, we were like, ‘Do we have to leave the country?’ ‘Do I have to sell my house?’ We had no idea how it works. Thankfully, we can stay here, but yeah,” McKay noted, “it’s just that added stress, it’s a lot. Thankfully, we hope it’s going to work itself out in the next six to twelve months.”
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