11 months ago
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NXT superstar Lexis King, known as Brian Pillman Jr. in AEW, recently spoke with Chris Van Vliet, where he discussed several topics. Among them were his decision to leave AEW for WWE, his dad’s legacy in WWE, John Cena’s advice, and more.
Below are some highlights from the interview:
King on leaving AEW for WWE:
“I mean, it wasn’t so much of a decision as it was just a necessary transition. I think my time came up at AEW, and it was a great, great run, a great deal financially, I did very well there. But like I said, just that sort of that self-doubt of not knowing the future, not knowing if I’m going to be used, or if I’m going to do anything? Well, it was pretty apparent when they didn’t re-sign me that I wasn’t going to be doing anything there anymore. So God bless agents and attorneys that picked up the phone that day, my contract was up and got the conversation started. I think I got a paycheck from both companies in the same month. That’s how quickly the ball got rolling. Because you’re so worried it’s like, Oh, my God, like, are they gonna pick me up right away? Am I going to be able to go there? But now the ball got rolling and the King was crowned pretty quickly.”
King on not being Brian Pillman Jr. in WWE:
“I don’t want to get into the details. But like when I first got there, like everything was just Brian Pillman Jr, yada, yada, yada. And then I had some talks, they gave me the whole, you know, we can’t keep your name kind of talk. And I thought, well, I don’t want to make it seem like that’s a bad thing. Honestly, I’ve always sort of fantasised about having my own wrestler name. Because my whole career I’ve had his name. My whole life I’ve had someone else’s name I’ve been I’ve been walking around for 30 years with someone else’s name. Brian Pillman is a name that my father made. He made that name on his own. There’s not much I can add to it.”
King on John Cena:
“He actually came in and did a seminar with us at the PC. And I thought, okay, I’ll go and see what see what’s going on. But man, I’m so glad I went. And it was the most enlightening. Like, it wasn’t just like, little questions that people would ask, like, Oh what’s your favourite food? No, we were getting into it, we’re talking about contract negotiations all this different stuff, I’m so glad I went. Yeah, it was amazing, and the amount of questions that we were able to ask and get to answer. And one of the coolest things he said, you can’t control the booking, you can’t control who’s wearing what belt or this, that or the other. He’s like, but you can be the best version of said character. And if you’re the best, like he was the rapper guy, if you’re the best rapper guy on the roster and creative goes, Oh, we want the rapper guy to take on a huge monster. Then they’re gonna pick the best rapper guy they have and put them against the best monster character they have.”
