After an incredible Knockouts Knockdown, IMPACT Wrestling rocked the wrestling world to its core once again. The IInspiration is coming to Bound For Glory – and they’re coming for the Knockouts Tag Team Championships. In the closing moments of Knockouts Knockdown, we learned that Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay will be making their IMPACT debut at Bound For Glory. We can now confirm that The IInspiration will compete at IMPACT Wrestling’s biggest event of the year as they challenge Decay for the Knockouts Tag Team Championships.
Having held tag team gold in the past, it’s no surprise that The IInspiration have set their sights on capturing the Knockouts Tag Team Titles. But their opponents, Havok and Rosemary, are not to be taken lightly as they have proven to be a powerful force during their title reign. Will The IInspiration become Knockouts Tag Team Champions in their very first match in IMPACT or will Decay spoil their arrival in the name of The Shadow?
As they’re about to make their debut with Impact Wrestling, tonight, at the biggest event of the year, Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay not only talked about Bound For Glory this Wednesday on a press pass but they also shared with host Gail Kim their vision of women’s wrestling and women’s tag team wrestling, their friendship, their goals, and many other things.
An inspiring debut at Bound For Glory, for the Knockouts Tag Team Championship
Jessica: “Nervousness, is that a word? Excitement, with the butterflies happening. Proud. All the emotions, a ball of emotions. And it’s all going to kind of explode on Saturday at BFG. When Cass and I say that we have been working on The IInspiration for months, I promise you, it’s been every day for months. We have been perfecting every little detail. And it’s been so creatively fulfilling for us to be able to do this. And we are just so freaking excited to show the world, to the show Impact, to show the Knockouts division, The IInspiration. It’s just it’s kind of be so much fun — that’s another word that I haven’t said in a long time.”
Cassie: “Something Jess said is proud and just feeling creatively fulfilled. We haven’t even stepped in the Impact ring yet and we’re already feeling creatively fulfilled, which is huge. We are in a position to be doing anything and everything that we have to do to win those women’s tag titles. It’s so important for us to make a statement on our debut at Impact and that is what we’re going to do.”
Cassie: “I think the right word there is that’s validating. Validating everything. Jess and I, everyone knows our story. We went to high school together. We’ve been dreaming and working of being at the pinnacle part of any women’s tag team division. We’re so excited for it to be Impact where there is such a huge emphasis placed on the women’s tag division because that’s everything that Jess and I put our time and effort and energy into. That’s what we help create and lift up and make as big as possible.”
Jessica: “It’s the biggest show of the year. So there are high expectations and we’re just ready to come to Impact and to show the world what we can do.”
Cassie: “We’ve been studying (Decay) obviously. You have to know who you’re getting in the ring with. We’re good at that. You look at Decay and you think ‘wow, they’re physically dominating’, and they work well together as a team, which is something we can respect. They have good chemistry as well. But, Jess and I are going to do whatever it takes to become champions. I know that they’re gonna fight for it as well. It’s a tall order, we have a lot to prove, but we’re up for the challenge and we’re just going to give it our damn all and we’re going to “inspire Impact” along the way.”
Being a leading force for women’s tag team wrestling
Jessica: “Obviously, our friendship was the driving force behind it. But when we started exploring Tag Team Wrestling and being like ‘oh, my gosh, we could do moves together. This would be so much fun.” So when we started exploring that aspect, that’s when the love of Tag Team Wrestling really became real for us. Then we’ve been a tag team for so long now. I’m just so grateful to be able to have a tag team partner in the ring and then in real life. But it was definitely the perfect balance of each.”
Jessica: “Our focus is being completely in the tag team division; we want to be Knockouts Tag Team champions. That’s where all our focus is going, and that’s where our focus has been the past few months. We’re always going to support each other no matter what we do, we will always be in each other’s corner, but the tag titles are definitely where our heads are, and thankfully so because this Saturday at Bound for Glory against Decay, it is going to be one of the biggest matches of our careers. We’ve got the challenge ahead of us.”
Cassie: “For the longest time, we have been fighting to show everyone what we can do, not just as individuals but as a tag team. I’ve said it a million times before, and I’ll say it every day for the rest of my life, the goal is to elevate the tag division. When we first started, we came in with a goal but we knew there was something missing, and that was a women’s tag team division. Our goal was to help pioneer that. It’s fulfilling now, to be able to really have the platform to show the world exactly what we’ve been working on. It’s been 17 years in the making and it all comes down to this Saturday at Sam’s Town Live.”
The IInspiration is coming! #BoundForGlory @CassieLee @JessicaMcKay
BFG tickets: https://t.co/IQZ1hLYRFZ pic.twitter.com/9Byl3DogZt
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) October 10, 2021
Signing with a company that inspired them
Jessica: “I grew up watching TNA/ IMPACT. Back then, I had to find the women matches on YouTube because that was the only way I could view them. I definitely was a fan growing up. And I was taken away with how incredible Gail is of course, we are such a fan of Gail. Awesome Kong was another one, she is just such a badass woman just beating people up and I loved it. IMPACT has always had such incredible women, and that’s one of the things I think is so special about it. You can trace it back all the way to the start of the company, and there’s never been a time where the women were not featured and were not in these incredible storylines. It holds a very special place to me, knowing that I spend all these years growing up watching it and striving to be a performer like all of these women.
Cassie: “I agree, I was not good with technology back then so Jess would find me the links and send me the links so that I could watch and keep up with it. I wanna point out The Beautiful People. For Jess and I, they were an IInspiration. We looked up to them because they had these two very distinct sides — there was their femininity, and they were beautiful, obviously and then they could go in the ring. And there was a time where it’s like you were only beautiful and you couldn’t go in the ring. And then it was like you could go in the ring but you were depicted as not being beautiful. And they just encapsulated all of that. And that is something Jess and I looked up to you because we feel so strongly about both sides of that. Everyone is multidimensional. We all have so many sides and layers to us. And I’m so excited for the industry of where we are now and all the women who have paved the way for us to be able to show all of our sides.”
Jessica: “The Beautiful People, I used to watch them and be like, “oh my gosh, I can be sexy,” like it clicked in my head. So, it was so cool seeing that. It’s just funny. We were always watching their entrance last week 5 years ago. Just because I was like oh how I move like them? What can I do? Like it’s just funny how it all comes full circle.”
Gail: “Being beautiful and sexy and being able to wrestle and most of all, I think, like you said, very multidimensional and I think Impact Wrestling does a great job of allowing these women to be themselves and to grow from that point whether they’re sexy, they’re wrestling or both or everything. They really embrace it all.”
Signing with a company they want to inspire
Cassie: “We’re so excited to be a part of the Knockouts division. Jess and I obviously had a big decision ahead of us about where we wanted to land and what it really came down to was the fact that the Knockouts division is just on top, across all brands, right now. It has so much talent, especially the tag division, which is Jess & I’s speciality. It was just a natural fit for us. There was nowhere else we could go that we thought could give us the best opportunity to show the world what The IInspiration is, and everything we’ve been working on these past five months. We’re so proud of everything that we have done to create The IInspiration and just make who we are bigger and better.”
Jess: The Knockouts division is just top tier, and that’s where we want to be; we want to compete with the best women from across the world. There are so many women we want to enter the ring with and that’s what’s so exciting about us in IMPACT, the possibilities are just endless. Somebody just straight off the bat that comes to mind is obviously Chelsea Green. I don’t know what she could offer the IInspiration but I just love that we can just interact with all these incredible women. But she’s definitely someone that I would love to get in the ring with.”
Jess: “It all comes down to Impact being the most inclusive Wrestling brand out there. They’re not biased against gender, against any ethnicity, what you look like, what you sound like, they include you for the performer that you are and not only that but they respect it. They don’t try and change it, don’t try and make it something genuine. That’s what I really resonate with and I know Cass and Gail are going to say the same. It’s nice to be included in a company where you can be who you are without any limitations.”
Gail: “Inclusivity is definitely a factor. I think Impact Wrestling / TNA back then has always been more progressive. WWE’s known for the Women’s Revolution but I think we did it in 2007. So I feel like we are just always ahead of our time. We’re a progressive company just like bringing in the IInspiration who look to pioneer that division. I think this is the perfect place for them to do that because they are going to get the platform and they are going to get the opportunity to do those things and I truly believe in them both.”
Cassie: “Something that Jess and I are very big on, we call it ‘the big C’, communication. We’re so excited because we can already feel how everyone is so easily able to communicate. You can ask a question and you’ll get an answer, and if there is no answer, then we’re going to get you an answer. That is huge for us, it kind of sounds like it’s not a big deal, but for us, it’s huge. We haven’t even debuted yet and we can already feel that.”
Jessica: “We already have that support straight off the bat.”
"We're excited to come to IMPACT Wrestling at #BoundForGlory where we get our much deserved and hard earned Knockouts Tag Team Championship opportunity." @CassieLee and @JessicaMcKay had a message delivered to @WeAreRosemary and @FearHavok. #IMPACTonAXSTV @gailkimITSME pic.twitter.com/ETM6haiWVO
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) October 15, 2021
The IInspiration, new name but same people and same chemistry
Jessica: “Cassie and I have been training nonstop. We may not have wrestled in a couple of months but we have been training a lot, really just perfecting what we already know. But also we have the freedom to create the IInspiration, which is what we’ve been focusing on. So we’re just so excited to show impact and show the world the IInspiration and there are so many different layers inside the ring, outside the room that we’ve been working on. It’s really exciting. I haven’t learnt how to do a jumping back moonsault yet but I’ve just been working the foundations well.”
Cassie: “She did learn the Spanish fly though. So, I will have now.”
Jessica: “There were many names thrown around. Some of them were good, some of them horrible, but it was about bouncing stuff off the wall and seeing what sticks. But Cassie, I will give props to her, she came up with the IInspiration from “Bring It On,” a classic film that we’ve all seen a million times. They call themselves “IInspiration leaders,” and she loved that and told me about it and I was like, “that’s amazing.” And it just stuck, it felt like us. It’s so crazy…now we say the word’ inspire’ 100 times a day, and I never knew that. So of course, now we’re saying the word all the time, so it definitely fits for us.”
Cassie: “What you see from us, any kind on Twitter or on TV, anything you see, literally, that is us when we’re just together in the car, at each other’s house… That’s literally how we communicate with each other. Jess will do anything to make me laugh and that’s kind of like her goal is to crack me which I love. I just think about our history together, how long we’ve been best friends and our chemistry. It’s so easy for us to be able to just be ourselves and connect with our audience. Everyone’s got a best friend. Everyone grew up with someone and you just kind of have this like secret language between each other and that’s what we are and it just connects because it like I said everyone’s got that person in their lives.”
Jessica: “I think that people can tell if something’s genuine or not. So I think the reason why our promos and interactions translate so well, it’s because it is so genuine. We literally spend every day together or talking. Last week we did a 12 hour shoot slash day together. And then on the way home, we were talking in the car. I was like we just spent 12 hours and we just started laughing. It’s just there’s nothing that we don’t talk about. She knows everything about me. I know everything about her. It’s just that unbreakable bond. So I think that’s what kind of draws people in. And I hope that they have someone like that in their lives. Cuz that’s amazing. Um but I think that’s definitely where we kind of draw that IInspiration from. It’s just our everyday lives. We just want to make it as real and as authentic as possible.”
Follow Cassie Lee and Jessica MacKay on Twitter @CassieLee and @JessicaMcKay.
Bound For Glory will air live from Las Vegas tonight at 10 PM EST (3 AM BST) on Pay-Per-View in North America and around the world digitally via FITE TV.
IMPACT Wrestling is airing on Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV in the USA and around the world on IMPACT Wrestling’s new YouTube membership Impact Insiders.
All pics, screencaps and videos courtesy of Impact Wrestling, AXS TV, Fight TV and Dan The JOBR