Brian Pillman Jr.

In February 2017, Pillman announced he would be following his father's footsteps becoming a professional wrestler. He was trained by Lance Storm at his school, the Storm Wrestling Academy, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.[9][10]

Pillman's first match was on December 18, 2017, when he used the ring name "Alex King", a tribute to his sisters Alexis Reed and Skylar King.[11] Pillman made his professional debut for Combat Zone Wrestling on January 28, 2018, at Dojo Wars 162 against Mike Del for the CZW Medal of Valor Championship.[12] Pillman was defeated in the match by submission. Pillman would have one more match in CZW, in a tag team match, teaming with Teddy Hart and facing Anthony Bennet and Jimmy Lloyd at Super Show V on January 26.[13][14]

On January 18, 2020, Pillman was a surprise 16th entrant in a 16-man Battle Royal at IWC Reloaded 6.0. He did not win the match, but he appeared in the Main Event, helping IWC Heavyweight Champion Jack Pollock win the match. After the match, Pillman revealed he has signed a contract with IWC, and that part of his contract was a shot at the IWC Championship at the promotion's February event. On February 15, Pillman defeated Sam Adonis, Aramis, Lance Archer, Black Taurus, Michael Elgin, Andrew Everett, and Alex Zayne in a War of Attrition match to win the vacant Warrior Wrestling Championship. The title was left vacant due to injury to former champion Brian Cage.[15][16] On September 12, 2020, in Washington, Pennsylvania, he won the Super Indy Championship[17] for IWC.

In late 2018, Pillman signed a contract with Major League Wrestling (MLW). When he first came in, he was mentored by his father's World Championship Wrestling rival Kevin Sullivan.[18] He then turned on Sullivan and joined forces with Teddy Hart and Davey Boy Smith Jr., creating the New Era Hart Foundation.[19][20][21][22] This took place in a backstage segment where Pillman attacked Sullivan with a cane, causing Sullivan to bleed.[23] On July 9, 2021, it was reported that Pillman was no longer working with MLW as his contract had expired.[24]

In May 2019, Pillman was a participant in the Casino Battle Royale at All Elite Wrestling's inaugural pay-per-view event, Double or Nothing. In July 2020, with MLW shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pillman began to appear in All Elite Wrestling (AEW), wrestling on both their flagship show Dynamite, and their online show Dark. Pillman remained contracted to MLW, but was allowed to work for AEW as well.[3] He made his in ring return on the July 7th episode of Dark in a losing effort against Shawn Spears. After this, Pillman was used as mostly as an enhancement talent losing to the likes of Brian Cage and Eddie Kingston.

In late July, Pillman began teaming with fellow AEW newcomer Griff Garrison, still competing mostly on Dark, adopting the team name The Varsity Blonds, a tribute to Pillman's father.[25] On May 11, 2021 Julia Hart started aligning herself with The Varsity Blonds and made appearances with them for several months.[26] On July 12, 2021, Pillman signed a full time deal with All Elite Wrestling making him an official member of the roster.[27] His contract expired on July 11, 2023, ending his time with AEW.[28]

On July 16, 2023, it was reported by PWInsider that Pillman had a tryout at the WWE Performance Center.[29] He was officially assigned to NXT in late August and videos promoting his debut began airing in September, changing his name to Lexis King, a second iteration of his "Alex King" name.[30][31][32] He competed in his first match on October 24 on Night 1 of Halloween Havoc, defeating Dante Chen.[33]