Lexis King Discusses Ring Name, Not Being Brian Pillman Jr. In WWE NXT

Former AEW star Brian Pillman Jr. has transformed into Lexis King since joining "WWE NXT," but there's a good reason why he hasn't kept his father's name in his new home. Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on his podcast "Insight," King was asked about the name change and if there was any possibility of seeing him in WWE as Brian Pillman Jr. rather than Lexis King.

"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," King said. "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.'" King admitted that he was open to having a different name in WWE as he felt like he had been walking around with someone else's name. "Honestly, I've always sort of fantasized about having my own wrestler name," King said. "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."

As Pillman Jr., he competed at AEW's inaugural pay-per-view, Double or Nothing 2019, before signing a full-time deal with the company in 2021. His AEW contract expired in July 2023, and he was signed to a WWE contract just a few months later, debuting on the "NXT" brand in October after a series of vignettes.

Please credit "Insight" when using quote from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.