Brian Pillman's Son Has Sights Set On WWE Career, Reveals Which Former WWE Star Inspired Him

Brian Pillman is a name the majority of wrestling fans are familiar with, a promising WWE talent who died at just 35-years-old of a heart attack while under contract with the company. Pillman, a close friend of the Hart family, was seen as a visionary that rose to prominence in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Now, nearly twenty years after his death, his son, Brian Pillman Jr, is hoping to follow in his father's footsteps.

"I will tell you right now that I think the company that will benefit the most from me becoming a wrestler would be the federation [WWE]," Pillman Jr. told Wrestle:List in a recent interview. "Just because they have the trademarks, they have the name and they have the merchandising of my father. So I think it would be wise for me to go there. Obviously at the end of the day we want to make a good living for ourselves and we want to make it as big as we can."

Pillman Jr, who is just getting his start, understands experience is key before making it to WWE.

"I think it might be smart for me to perform on the indies for while to get experience in the event that I might not make it, that way I'd still make a living for myself," said Jr. "I will say that making it to the big leagues, making it to WWE would be a dream come true. It would be the ultimate goal to follow in my father's footsteps."

As a next generation talent, Pillman Jr. takes his inspiration from Cody Rhodes, a second-generation professional wrestler turned international superstar.

"One guy I look to, to compare what my possibilities would be is Cody Rhodes," said Pillman Jr. "Obviously he had the father and the whole legacy going for him and he went to the WWE and it wasn't a good fit for him. He didn't want to go with their plans and he had bigger plans for himself. Just seeing him thrive and doing so well on the independent scene has given me more options."

Because he was only three-years-old when his father died, Pillman Jr. says he knew him just as other wrestling fans knew him, a loose cannon professional wrestling gimmick.

"Unfortunately, being as I was so young, I really had no recollection of him as a father in my home life, but I did get the chance to see him on TV as a kid," Jr. recalled. "One of the things I really remember watching on TV was the dress match. I remember me and sister were crying and saying 'Our dad would never wear a dress' we were so upset. That was one of the big moments I actually remember as a kid on our big screen TV. It's really strange, as his son I never really got to know Brian Pillman as a father. I only knew him in the same vein as every fan out there knew him, and that was his television personality and his loose cannon persona."

You can read more quotes from Brian's interview with Wrestle:List by clicking here. We also have the audio embedded in the video above.

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