Lexis King recently appeared as a guest on the “INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet” podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the WWE NXT Superstar spoke about John Cena giving him advice on WWE contract negotiations, his departure from AEW and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts.
On John Cena giving him advice on his WWE contract negotiations: “He actually came and did a seminar with us at the PC. I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll see what’s going on.’ I’m so glad I went. It was the most enlightening…it wasn’t just little questions that people would ask. We were getting into it. We were talking about contract negotiations and all this different stuff. It was amazing, the amount of questions we were able to ask and get answered. One of the coolest things he said was, ‘you can’t control the booking and who is wearing what belt, but you can be the best version of said character.’ He was the rapper guy. If you’re the best rapper guy on the roster, creative goes, ‘We want the rapper guy to take on a huge monster.’ They’re going to pick the best rapper guy and put him against the best monster character. I’ll never pitch an idea again. He said, ‘there’s no point in pitching an idea.’ If you pitch something and they don’t use it, now you’re disappointed and upset. If you just be the best version of your character and they decide to choose you for these things that they created because they are the writers and they come up with the ideas. They don’t want you pitching stuff, they want to come up with it because it’s their job. It’s a contract from the company I was at before where, that was where our success came from because there is not as much of a writing team there.
“I had successful pitches at AEW. At WWE, we have people for that. We have writers and creative, we don’t have to pitch stuff, we just have to be the best in-ring performers and on the mic performers and be the best Rock N Roll conniving, look at me, pick me kind of guy. If I’m the best dirt bag that they have and dress like a Rock N Roll wannabe, they’re going to pick me for that role. I’m not going to go to the office, ‘I really want to do a program with so and so.’ I’ll never do that again. John Cena told me he never pitched an opponent his entire career.”
On his AEW departure: “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 gonna be able to go there? But now the ball got rolling and the King was crowned pretty quickly.”
Check out the complete interview via the YouTube player embedded below.
