CM Punk: Lexis King ‘will shock a lot of people’ before his career ends
CM Punk praised NXT’s Lexis King during a recent interview.
In an interview with Complex held before the Royal Rumble, Punk listed Carmelo Hayes, Oba Femi and others as up-and-coming wrestlers he sees big things in the future for. He also mentioned Lexis King as being someone he feels will “shock a lot of people” before his career is done.
Punk said:
“The pipeline is just jam-packed full of people. You mentioned Oba. Trick just showed up on SmackDown. Carmelo Hayes has been holding it down. Even then, there are still so many people that I think are just like ‘next up,'” Punk said before turning his attention to King.
“Lexis King, I think, is in line to do great things. He’s a lot different than a lot of those people. I think he almost has to work harder. Like an Oba Femi is obviously a first-round blue chip prospect. I think a guy like Lexis King is viewed more like me back in the day, where they look at him and are like, ‘Okay, I don’t know if I get it.’ So he has to work that much harder.”
Punk continued:
“He’s really open to ideas. His mind is not closed. He’s one of the guys that I think will shock a lot of people when it’s all said and done. When it’s time to hang up the boots, they can look back at his career and think, ‘This is a guy who maybe I didn’t think much of when I first saw. He put the work in, he busted his ass and became really, really good.’”
The 32-year-old son of Brian Pillman has been with WWE since the summer of 2023. He debuted that August in a series of vignettes, revealing his NXT name and character. His last match on NXT programming was an eight-second loss to Tavion Heights in a WWE Speed match on the December 30 episode (taped December 17). He teamed with Charlie Dempsey on NXT’s house shows in Tennessee last week.
Punk’s full interview with Complex is available below. His comments about Lexis King come in around the 18-minute mark of the video below.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.