Recent NXT signing Lexis King opened up about receiving valuable advice from John Cena during a seminar at the WWE Performance Center.
Speaking in a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, the former Brian Pillman Jr. called John Cena’s seminar an enlightening experience.
“He actually came in did a seminar with us at the PC. And I thought, okay, I’ll go and see what see what’s going on. But man, I’m so glad I went. And it was the most enlightening. Like, it wasn’t just like, little questions that people would ask, like, Oh what’s your favourite food? No, we were getting into it, we’re talking about, contract negotiations all this different stuff, I’m so glad I went. Yeah, it was, it was amazing, and the amount of questions that we were able to ask and get to answer it.”
“You Can’t Control The Booking” – John Cena
Continuing, Lexis King recalled John Cena’s advice when it comes to character work, explaining that it’s best to become the best version of whatever character you want to portray as no one in WWE is able to control what the bookers are looking for in any given moment.
“And one of the coolest things he said, you can’t control the booking, you can’t control who’s wearing what belt or this, that or the other. He’s like, but you can be the best version of said character. And if you’re the best, like he was the rapper guy, if you’re the best rapper guy on the roster. And creative goes, Oh, we want the rapper guy to take on a huge monster. Then they’re gonna pick the best rapper guy they have and put them against the best monster character they have, and then go, oh what does the match look like?
“So it’s like, people say I’ll never pitch an idea again, let’s put it that way. He said, There’s no point in pitching anything. Because if you pitch something and they don’t use it. Now, you’re disappointed. Now you’re upset. But if you just be the best version of your character. And then they decide to choose you for these things that they created because they’re the writers, they’re going to come up with the ideas. And it’s like, they don’t want you pitching them stuff. They want to come up with it, because it’s their job.”
According to Lexis King, this sort of mentality is different from that in AEW, where wrestlers are encouraged to pitch ideas. While AEW provides more creative freedom, it also places more responsibility on its stars.
“So I think it’s kind of a contrast from the company I was at before where that was where our success came from because there was not as much of a writing team there. So anytime I would pitch out, and I’ve had successful pitches in AEW, I pitched Julia Hart to join The Blondes and I pitched the name, so I had oh, like, my pitch was successful. I must be doing something right.
“But it’s like, here in WWE, we have people for that we have right we have creative we don’t have to pitch ideas. We just have to be the best in-ring performers on the mic performers. And be the best f*cking rock and roll sleaze ball, conniving, pick me, look at me kind of guy.
“And then if I’m the best dirtbag that they have, yeah, that dresses like a rock and roll wannabee, then they’re gonna pick me for those roles. You know what I mean? They’re gonna go, you know what we really want the sleazeball guy to take on our top babyface Carmelo Hayes and then he’ll prove them wrong and prove all the haters wrong, and it’ll be a good story.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Lexis King opened up about changing his name from Brian Pillman Jr.
In regards to John Cena, the former World Champion has discussed his exit strategy from WWE.
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet and link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.