Lexis King Welcomes Avery Styles To Join BirthRight In NXT

Lexis King Says Door Is Open For Avery Styles To Join BirthRight In WWE NXT

Following a main-event victory on the September 22 episode of WWE NXT, BirthRight leader Lexis King made it clear that the door is wide open for Avery Styles—the son of WWE legend A.J. Styles—to potentially align with the second-generation faction.

BirthRight (Lexis King, Uriah Connors, and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo) closed out Tuesday’s broadcast on The CW with a six-man tag team win over “Super” Sean Legacy, E.K. Prosper, and Zilla Fatu. Following the match, King joined Bully Ray on Busted Open After Dark, where the topic of Avery Styles joining BirthRight was brought up.

King praised the young talent’s work ethic, pointing out how respectful he was during a recent backstage visit to NXT:

“Of course. I mean, have you seen the kid work? Of course. He’s phenomenal, no pun intended. He’s a very talented young man. He’s also very well-spoken, very respectful, was raised by someone who I admire, someone who I look up to, a very respectful man, a very incredible performer. So the amount of discipline and the amount that it took A.J. to get to that level, I guarantee that as much as he’s around his kid, his kid has absorbed every bit of that. That kid shaked every hand in NXT.”

King also reflected candidly on his own early days on the independent circuit as Brian Pillman Jr., admitting he struggled with an entitlement complex before finding his footing in WWE:

“Now, I will say, when I was on the indies, I wasn’t setting up rings and stuff but, I had that chip on my shoulder. I thought people owed me something. I was a piece of sht. I was a bad indie, second-gen guy. I think people had sympathy for me because I lost my father so they gave me a little bit of a pass… It’s a little bit different. He’s still here on this earth with his father. In a way, he has to compete with him in a way.”*

Pointing to Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power, King emphasized Law 41—Avoid stepping into a great man’s shoes—and explained how joining BirthRight could help Avery carve out his own identity away from his father’s shadow:

“Unfortunately for Avery Styles, the best wrestler to ever have the last name Styles is gonna be A.J. Styles. You kind of see that with our group now. We’ve all got different names; we’ve got our own identities… It allows us to completely step out and disregard the shadow of our parents, and I think if Avery came to BirthRight — he’s gonna come to NXT — he can carve his own identity, create his own name, develop his own finish, his own offense. He’s incredibly talented. I’ve only seen a couple of matches and I mean, the kid blows me away every time.”

While Avery Styles is currently signed to TNA Wrestling and aligned on-screen with Frankie Kazarian, the ongoing working relationship between WWE NXT and TNA keeps the crossover possibility very much alive.

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