Backstage Report On Former TNA Stars The IInspiration Signing With AEW

The IInspiration, Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay, are officially "All Elite" following AEW's most recent trip to Australia. The former TNA and WWE Superstars made their surprise debut for AEW at the company's "House Rules" event in Brisbane, Australia on February 15, with the duo becoming the latest members of the AEW roster.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select revealed more details about The IInspiration signing with AEW, confirming that Lee and McKay have signed multi-year deals with the company after a lot of speculation. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer noted that Lee and McKay were likely heading to AEW after finishing up their time with TNA in January, with Sapp confirming The IInspiration joining the company was basically a forgone conclusion and that things were finalized around one month ago.

Lee and McKay's TNA contracts actually expired shortly after the Bound For Glory pay-per-view in October 2025 according to Sapp, and that the two women were working without deals ever since. So when they dropped the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championships to The Elegance Brand on the January 15 episode of "TNA Impact," most people knew that they would be leaving. Despite this, Sapp noted that The IInspiration's split from TNA was amicable. As far as any WWE interest was concerned, Sapp was told by WWE sources that if the duo weren't involved in any plans regarding the Royal Rumble event on January 31, they would likely be on their way to AEW. Sure enough, Lee and McKay never showed up at the Royal Rumble and are now officially on the AEW roster.

The IInspiration join the long, and seemingly still growing, list of wrestlers that Tony Khan has signed to AEW this year. Lee and McKay join fellow former TNA performers Jake Doyle and The Rascalz, former WWE Superstars Tommaso Ciampa and Andrade El Idolo, and fellow Australian star Lena Kross who was confirmed to be "All Elite" following her appearance at Grand Slam Australia on Valentine's Day.

As previously mentioned, AEW has added a lot of people to its roster this year and we haven't even made it out of February. I'm all for wrestlers making money and having a place to work, they all deserve so much for what they do to their bodies for our enjoyment. Having said that, there does need to be some damage control when it comes to some of these signings, and The IInspiration are a prime example.

On the surface, it makes sense to bring Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay into the company. The AEW Women's World Tag Team Championships were recently introduced, and once the makeshift teams of Mercedes Mone and Athena, Alex Windsor and Riho, and the team of Queen Aminata and Jamie Hayter all evaporated for one reason or another, you're only really left with a few teams that could actually challenge The Babes of Wrath for the titles. The IInspiration are one of the few women's tag teams that actually come as a package deal and aren't necessarily two singles wrestlers who just so happen to work as a team from time to time.

However, Lee and McKay, for as nice as they seem as people and as entertaining as they are, kind of go against the slogan of AEW which is "Where The Best Wrestle." To put it simply, The IInspiration as in-ring performers don't even come close to the quality that AEW already has in its women's division. Just look at the women who were involved in the Blood and Guts match in November 2025, would anyone be able to say that they think either Lee or McKay are better than any of those women? Maybe Harley Cameron just on the basis that she's still quite green, but even then she has been one of the most improved wrestlers in all of American wrestling over the past 12 months. That's not even mentioning the likes of Queen Aminata, Billie Starkz, Deonna Purrazzo, Riho, Hikaru Shida, Alex Windsor, Thunder Rosa, and so many others that are just better than The IInspiration on a fundamental level.

Despite improving in recent years, the AEW women's division is still confined to one match on "AEW Dynamite" and a couple of backstage segments for the most part. They get a bit more room to play with on "AEW Collision" but that's because it's the show less people watch. Adding two more wrestlers to an already inflated roster that can't get on TV to begin with just seems like a backwards move. It's not the career killing signing that some people on social media have framed it as, but after a year of being very selective with how he signs people, Tony Khan seems to be spending money as if there's a hole burning in his pocket.

I would love to be proven wrong about this sort of thing, but I don't see what AEW gains by signing The IInspiration.