Lexis King says signing with WWE was a ‘necessary transition’

Lexis King says he suffered from self-doubt during his AEW run. 

The former Brian PIllman Jr. took part in an interview with Chris Van Vliet recently and opened up about having a newfound sense of confidence since he's been in WWE. 

King said:

I spent so many months of my career at the previous company just second-guessing myself, am I really any good? Am I worth it? A lot of self-doubt. And just to see how my career has done a total 180 since then, it went from just sitting in the back and filming a few dark matches in Orlando, here and there, six-minute tag matches, barely getting in the ring and feeling the canvas.

Now I’m sitting on a throne, and I’m making my entrance in the biggest wrestling company in the world. They have this confidence in me and it kind of fuels me, I now have confidence in myself.

When asked about signing with WWE last year, King responded that it was a "necessary transition" after it became apparent AEW was not going to use him further. 

King continued: 

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. 

In the months leading up to his contract expiring last July, Pillman was only used sparingly in AEW. While he wrestled frequently on episodes of Dark and Dark: Elevation, he hadn't wrestled a match on AEW television since losing to Swerve Strickland on the February 1, 2023, edition of Rampage.