Over the past couple of years, fans saw a few stars jump ship from All Elite Wrestling to WWE. Big names such as Cody Rhodes, Jade Cargill, and even CM Punk. Another name in the list is Lexis King. Formerly known as Brian Pillman Jr. in the Jacksonville-based promotion.
During the latest episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Lexis King opened up about his run in NXT. He also shared whether there was any discussion about using Brian Pillman Jr. in the Black and Gold brand.
“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 fantasized 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.”
How did the name Lexis King come about?
King also shared the story about how Lexis King was born.
“So this funny, the name, it was never supposed to be this like royalty come out on a throne kind of thing. And it kind of still isn’t. I would say a little bit more of a rock and roll, you know, kind of guy. I mean, I do have a cane. But I’m not going to come out and be cosplaying as a king. But the name has a lot of meaning behind it. And then sure, there are little things that we can play off of, but, the true meaning was that it was my stepfather’s name. It was my little sister’s last name. And the first name was my older sister’s name. So my older sister Alexis was actually an indie wrestler. She was going by the name Sexy Lexie Pillman.”
“My father adopted her when she was young. Her real name was Alexis Reed. But my father did adopt her. She wasn’t biologically a Pillman when she took on that name, and she was traveling, and she was also a dancer. That’s how she made most of her living with dancing. And she passed away in a tragic car accident, so I wanted to honor her, she died when I was about 15. And then my little sister Skyler, I thought I’d just put their names together and make a cool name.”
Lexis King wrestled previously under the name Alex King
The former AEW wrestler also revealed that in his first match in the independent scene, he wrestled as Alexis King.
“I actually wrestled my very first indie match as Alex King. So this is an idea and a creative thought that has rested in my mind for six years. For as long as I’ve been wrestling, as soon as I got on a training. It’s funny Lance Storm, my trainer, he was like, I don’t know about using the name Pillman, it’s a lot of pressure, maybe you should throw on a mask and go by, you know, some gimmick name for a while. I’m thinking sh*t I’m not hiding this. I can’t do a bunch of flippy spots and cartwheels. I got to show my face. But I was like, well, maybe no one will know who I am. I’ll just use a fake name.”
Have you enjoyed King in WWE NXT?
