Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Lance Archer on signing with AEW, Jake Roberts, his WWE contract, what "Everybody Dies" means

Episode Date: November 10, 2020

AEW star Lance Archer talks with Chris Van Vliet from his home in Austin, TX. He talks about what made him want to sign with AEW, the opponents he is looking forward to facing, what his time in WWE as "Vance Archer" were like, the meaning behind the phrase "Everybody Dies", how he came up with the Murderhawk Monster nickname, his favorite matches from NJPW and much more!  Support the show by supporting our sponsors:BOSLEY - Get a free info kit and a $250 off gift card by texting CVV to 203-203https://www.bosley.com/lp/chrisvanvliet/ INDEED- Get a $75 credit to boost your job post by going to http://indeed.com/BlueWire BETONLINE- Get a new sign-up bonus by using the promo code BLUEWIRE at http://betonline.ag Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast episode is brought to you by Coors Light. These days, everything is go, go, go. It's nonstop hustle all the time. Work, friends, family. Expect you to be on 24-7? Well, sometimes you just need to reach for a Coors Light because it's made to chill. Coors Light is cold-loggered, cold filtered, and cold package. It's as crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies.

It is literally made to chill. Coors Light is the one I choose when I need to unwind. So when you want to hit reset, reach for the beer that's made to chill. Get Coors Light and the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart. Celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden Colorado. I'm Chenay Ogumicay. I'm Lisa Leslie, and we're very excited to tell you about our new podcast with Blue Wire, front and center.

Lisa and I are breaking down what's going on in our lives, in the world, and keeping it 100. We're also learning from amazing guests as well, like. Emmanuel Acho. People that show love to me, I forever got their back. Divica A. Fox. If the foundation isn't right, then the rest of it's going to go wrong from there. And more. Subscribe to front and center today. I always say, everybody dies and then people go, does that include you? And I go, yeah, but I just have to be last. It's Chrysomania, brother. That's a great question. Look at you, man. With the powerful questions. Woo!

This is the Chris Van Vleecho. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris! Oh, welcome back again to the Chris Van Fleet Show. Thanks for being with us on another audio adventure. This episode is brought to you by Bosley, Indeed, and Betts Online. And yeah, we made it happen. The Murder Hawk Monster is here on the podcast, finally. By the way, we find out why his nickname is the Murder Hawk Monster.

and how he came up with that. A huge thank you to Lance Archer for joining me for this conversation. And as you'll see, he is absolutely nothing like his character on TV. If it's your first time here, make sure you're subscribed on whatever platform it is that you're listening on so you don't miss out on any future interviews or future episodes. Take a screenshot. Let us know that you're with us on this one. Tag us on social media. I am at Chris Van Vleet.

Lance is Lance underscore Hoyt and man, so many new reviews last week. And thank you so much. I think this is the biggest week we've had in a while, if not ever.

And we're getting ever so close to that goal of 2,000 reviews. And I'm going to keep reading one out on every single episode as we get to that goal of 2,000 reviews by May 19th. Specific goals get specific results. My birthday is May 19th.

So 2,000 reviews. we've got some time. I think we can make this thing happen. Appreciate you for being along on this ride and especially appreciate Easy E.S. For this review. Get this man a TV show. Best of the best podcast.

Man, that is, wow. Okay. The Joe Rogan of wrestling podcasts. Fun, exciting, and profound interviews. Great questions. Awesome. Attitude. Love to start my day with a great CVV pod on my way to work.

Thank you to Chris and his team. Having a popular podcast is great, but Chris needs his own talk show on TV ASAP. Wow. Get with the program, WWE Network. Well, thank you so much, sir. That is very kind. And I feel like I should have paid you

to say all those nice things about me. I'm not so sure that all of those are accurate, but I appreciate the very kind words in any case. And please keep those reviews coming. And you know what? I'm definitely going to have another TV show. one day, I'm just, I'm not exactly sure what that TV show is going to be or, or when that TV show is going to be. But if you follow me on Instagram, you know that I'm literally up for trying anything,

skydiving, bungee jumping, I've swam with alligators, drove a tank. Yeah, you get the idea. I'll do anything. And I'm thinking maybe that can be worked into a TV show one day. I don't know. Until then, though, you're going to keep seeing these adventures on my YouTube channel. Before we get to Lance Archer, guys, listen up. If you're wrestling with what to do with hair loss, then I can pin this down for you. Go to Bosley. Bosley is America's number one hair restoration expert. Bosley can help you keep the hair you have and put hair where you need it most.

And today, listeners of the Chris Van Bleed Show can get started by learning more with a free info kit and $250 off gift card. text CVV to 203-203. And the earlier you take action, the more options you're going to have for keeping your hair. Millions of people all over the country have turned to Bosley to help find solutions for their hair loss. People trust Bosley, and so should you. Bosley offers the latest technology and the only permanent solution for hair loss. Get started with a free info kit today by texting CVV to 203-203.

That's CVV to 203-203. Okay, Lance Archer made a huge statement when he made his AEW debut on Dynamite back in March on the last show before fans weren't allowed to be in attendance in the arena. We talk about what led to his signing with AEW, how he made a name for himself in New Japan and how he discovered the monster

that is the Murder Hawk monster in Japan. We talk about him. him working in WWEF in 2009 and 2010. The opponents that he's looking to face now, his favorite matches so far, and so much more, ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Lance Archer. Lance, welcome to the show.

What's up, man? We've talked about making this happen for a while, and here we are, we're doing it. Finally, finally. Finally. Your hair has never looked better, I think. That's what I say each time she does because she does a good job, but, you know.

How much of this is your actual hair? Now it's actually kind of easier to tell where the blonde is. That's actually my hair because I bleached it out right before the moxie match. So when you go through, you know, the rest of like your regular life with hair like this, what are the reactions that you get from people? The funny thing is, I think the hair has actually become as much or more recognizable than I am. you know and especially in in this world we live in where everybody's wearing masks and stuff and your face is covered I get stopped all the time just because they go they recognize the hair they see the hair if it's in when it's out it's a little bit different like I didn't have it in the other day and some guys saw that we had you know aew masks on and he was like oh you guys like that AEW and I was like yeah just a little bit you know and then uh

then he was informed that you know I worked there and it's like trying to figure it out and then you know I didn't have the braid in so I was like yeah I don't have the hair and you know You know, The Murder Hawk Monster, Lance Ardeny. He goes, oh, my God. Like, he freaked out once he figured it out. But, like, not having the heroin is such a signature thing right now. Right. Who came up with the name, the Murder Hawk Monster? I did, I guess.

Yeah, it was one of those things where it was like, I changed the air. So last year when the G-1 happened, you know, it was one of those situations where I took it upon myself. I was like, this is a big opportunity for me. You know, initially I wasn't even in the G-1 for that year. they were starting in Dallas. I was going to be on that show, but then I was included into the G1. And, you know, I've been a part of a great tag team, KES, killer lead squad for many years.

And this was my first real coming out party as a singles wrestler in New Japan since before Smith had joined New Japan, you know, back in 2012. And KES had gotten started. So, yeah, I just, I did everything I could to change every part of me that was known to the wrestling world. You know, and the G1 was such a huge platform. we were going to be live on Access TV in the United States of America, New Japan Pro Wrestling was. So it was just one of those situations where I was like, I'm going to change everything. And the initial hair was not the braid. It was more of a crazy poofed-up Mohawk thing.

And we started calling it, you know, this crazy Mohawk and this and that. And I was like, oh, it's not a Mohawk. It's a murder hawk. And then I was like, oh, it's morphed into the murder hawk monster, you know. And just, you know, everybody's had their little monster monikers in the professional wrestling world throughout the history and time of the business. But I just thought it was fun to say, Murder Hawk Monster.

Yeah, you know, when you look at all the different looks you've had since your career started, like it's evolved, like a ton. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Somebody posted a video from early T&A stuff, you know, and I had the long hair, but it was kind of bleached blonde in different areas.

And everybody's like, oh, my God, it's the same dude, you know, people not realizing that I was the same guy that Ben as I am now and so on and so forth. It's fun. It's been an interesting morph. if I think anybody that's had a long career has had a lot of different images and looks for the most part. You know, a few guys get lucky and catch a gimmick that just lasts throughout history and time that

they never have to change. But, you know, even some of the biggest names of the business, the Stone Cold Steve Austin's and the Canes and even Undertaker prior to being Undertaker, you know, he had his images and stuff prior to that, you know, and so you start looking at those guys and the history of who they were, you know, a grant, again, much more successful people than I've been. But at the same time, you have to understand, you know, it's, the entertainment world and things morph and change. And I think you have to adapt. If you don't, you can grow stale really quick and die off really fast.

Has anybody told you with the current facial hair that you have now, that you kind of look like Leev Schreiber? No, I modeled after Limmy from Motorhead. Oh, yeah, totally. I don't know, it's just something about the shape of your face. I'm like, Leev Schreiber, you look just like him. This is a great compliment. He looks like me.

He looks like me. He looks like me. I don't look like him. There is it. Yeah. You know, after you've been everywhere in your wrestling career, you've worked for everyone. I've been fired from a lot of places. Did you foresee A.W becoming a possibility? You know, I don't know. It was one of those things like, you know, when all this really started last year and it all started close to about this time, you know, it was December of 2019 when I just finished up the New Japan.

league tour literally two days prior and an AW came to town to Dallas, Texas. And so I went there to just see some friends and whatnot because there's a lot of people there that I've been around the business with and become really good friends with. And that was kind of where the, I think the seed was planted just because people were asking, you know what my situation. And at that time, my situation with New Japan was that I didn't have a full-time contract. I was still running under the old system, you know, the tour by tour, that's kind of just how they did business with the Geige and the foreigners through the history of wrestling. You know, it was just you show up, you sign a little deal, you write work to tour.

That's your contract. When it's done, you're finished as far as that contract's concerned. But I've done that for at that point, you know, eight and a half years with New Japan. You know, and so I didn't go looking for a job, but ultimately that's kind of what happened, you know, and I've been lucky and blessed in a lot of different ways. Like you said, I've been worked in a lot of different places from TNA to WWE for a short cup coffee, you know, showed up in Ring of Honor a few times, worked down to Mexico, AAA, and different places like that, you know, so I've bounced around, I've been a journeyman, to say

the least. Well, your debut is like so impactful. Did you know when you signed on that you were going to be tossing around Marco's stunt in your debut? No, I had no idea. You know, there's obviously lots of different, you know, ideas and thoughts as to exactly what my debut was going to be, you know, even just the walkout with Jake and I in Salt Lake before the world shut down was, you know, that was kind of a morphed thing. You know, it had gone back and forth with being more action-packed to an actual match to different things. And then it was decided, you know, we'll just do it more subtly with you and Jake,

just kind of saundering out there and sitting by ringside and, you know, maybe acting like you're going to come over the rail. But then, you know, Jake's the voice of reason, the evil voice of reason, to say the least. you know and then and then the debut which you know we did everything uh in Atlanta for that was that was when everything really shut down and for you know wrestling as we are knowing it now was really going it was really the initial deals you know working and we did it you know working with our peers as the audience and just that little bit of ambiance that was sound you know even our guys and girls you know yelling and screaming and booing and cheering helped tremendously you know not having to

do that in an absolute dead. D-A-Rena was so much better than, you know, the unfortunate aspects of a lot of wrestling when it first started and went down. Yeah, and I feel like, you know, Marco is so small. You are so big by comparison. Right. Was there any limitations of like, all right, man, like, I could. I could literally do anything to you.

Were there any limitations on that match? No, none, none whatsoever, you know. And Marco, he's a tough little son of a bitch, man. You know, he's one of those guys that you look at him and you see him. If you don't know him, you're like, man, he's just, like you said, he's such a small dude, but he is a tough little dude, man. You know, he got tossed and thrown from here to Timbuktu in that match especially. You know, that's been his whole career.

And he's still running and gunning going full of spunk fighting attitude, man. You have to respect him for that, you know, you know, I say everybody dies and somehow he survived. You know, I let him live, you know, I tossed him, killed him and destroyed him. But, you know, I didn't want to just completely end his life. I'm glad you brought up everybody dies because I think a lot of people look at that as like, you know, Lance Archer could kill everybody. Everybody dies. But I think there's also like a double meaning to that, like almost questioning your own mortality. Everybody dies. Let's try to claim

in as much as we can while we're alive here. Right. I always say everybody dies and then people go, does that include you? And I go, yeah, but I just have to be last. Is there a certain element of that though where it's like everybody dies? So I like, I got a real that there's opportunities in front of me. I got to take those things. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, I mean, again, I've, like you brought up, you know, I've been around the world in this business, professional wrestling, you know, from every company here, there, and everywhere. You know, and there's been a lot of opportunities that have stepped in front of me that I didn't take full advantage of. So definitely there's, there's kind of that, that underlying meaning to everybody

dies. And it's like, you know, everybody's career ends at some point. I've been lucky and blessed over 20 years now and still going strong and at a top level with a top company in the business of professional wrestling. So I'm beyond blessed. But at some point, it will come to an end. I don't know when and I don't plan on being anytime soon. But, you know, this has been my biggest and best opportunity in the business and, you know, the waves that AAW is making in the whole world of professional wrestling from, you know, the very first, you know, all-in event. You know, I was very supportive of that simply for the fact that I knew what it could do to help change the business professional wrestling. You know, TNA now Impact Wrestling has been around for so long, and it's amazing that they're still

around, and it's awesome they're still around because it presents opportunities for guys and girls to have a place to work and at a top level place. But what AEW was doing, is doing, and will do in the business professional wrestling is just really, really cool. And the opportunities that, like I said, started it all in. And then the company itself is born AEW. And then the first TV program, you know, coming on TNT and then the extension of the contract and everything that just we keep doing, man. For me, like you said, going back to the whole mantra of everybody dies, it's like, take your chance now.

Don't let anything pass you by kick ass now and apologize later if you have to. And I feel like because you're making such an impact in AEW, you kind of like this 20-year overnight success for a lot of people who maybe wasn't more familiar with your work. Right. It's been funny, you know, because there'll be sometimes when people, you know, I consider myself, you want to say I'm a form or anything. I guess I would say I'm a former New Japan guy. But there's a lot of people that, you know, New Japan was growing and becoming a more world-based company and had access TV for a few years. You know, and New Japan World gave them more opportunities for the fans around the world to see it and watch it on a regular basis. But it was still, it was still kind of a niche market.

And there are people that were like, oh, wait. that's the dude he was in WWE or oh man that was I remember him from TNA and I'm like that was 15 years ago you know stuff like that you know and it's like people like where has he been what's he been doing it's like I've been wrestling the entire time but you know some people because they only see what they see in the U.S. market when I showed up in A.AW it changed the game you know because people like said it was like I've been doing this for 20 years I never stopped I never slowed down but a lot of people didn't know because they only knew you know TNA from 2005 or they only knew my you know very very short, ugly stint in WWE, 2009, 2010.

You know, so it's one of those things. It's kind of funny when people start saying that. And I'm like, no, I never stopped. Well, you've made such a splash in AEW, but then it was taken to the next time. I'm a big guy. I see what you did there. But also the fact that you're partnered up with Jake Roberts. I mean, I feel like that brings it to a whole new level.

So is that something that you knew when you signed on that you were going to be partner with him? not when I signed on. I did, you know, again, before everything really shut down, they came to Austin, Texas, and I went down there and had some conversations, and that was when it was first brought up the idea. And there were a couple different options, and Jake and I just seemed to be the best fit. And, you know, Jake being Jake and the legend he is, his ability to go out there and cut the promos he can cut. For me, you know, again, we talk about the fact that I've been out of the U.S. market for, you know,

nearly a decade at that point. And he was a perfect tool in that aspect to help reintroduce me to the U.S. audience, you know, because people know, you know, the legend that is Jake the Snake Roberts. They know when he gets on the microphone, you're paying attention, you're listening. So if he's talking about me and talking well about me, you're going, hmm, let's see what Lance is about. And for the people who either forgot about me, didn't know about me or whatever the case is, it was amazing reintroduction into the U.S. market working with Jake the Snake Roberts. I mean, I'd like to believe, you know, the few opportunities I've had on the microphone with AEW I've shown that I can speak.

And, you know, my crazy post-match interviews that I would do in Japan would show that, you know, there's a crazy monster that can actually say some words without tripping on himself too much. But that Jake is the perfect person to help me be in a reader. There, I'm tripping on my words now. Be reintroduced to the U.S. market in a way that, you know, just by myself wouldn't have been the same. The Japanese style of wrestling is so different from the American style of wrestling. So what is it that you learned there that you're now bringing into AEW? I brought AEW a true, true monster. I'm not saying that we don't have some monsters now because we absolutely do,

but I don't think that even the U.S. market, even within AEW, even with, in my opinion, a lot of the companies that exist today that people are watching, they weren't going to get the monster they were getting in the Martyrhog monster. because I believe that I was channeling my Brouser Brody, my Stan Hanson guys that really made their names. Vaders, you know, people know Vader,

but Vader made his name and became the monster that Vader was because of his time in Japan. And I think that's what I learned over there. It was something in someone that I always needed to be. I just didn't know how to be that guy, you know, in my early parts of my career. And the great thing, and I always tell people when they ask,

it's like, what did Japan do for you? How did it help you? And it helped my confidence in a way that I'd never had before, you know. I didn't hear a lot of knows when I was in Japan. It was always like, yeah, yeah, very good, very good, but more big, more strong, more monster. I'm like, all right, you want more monster. I'm going to keep doing crazy things, you know.

And it morphed and it changed from, there was a time, you know, again, before the world went nuts, that, you know, I was coming out and spitting water and throwing water and going through the audience. and I'd carry like nine bottles of water. You know, everybody would always try to count the bottles of water that keep pulling out of my pants. And, you know, and the fans loved it, like making signs and holding their kids up. Like, please spray my baby with your water from your mouth, you know. And it was pretty crazy, cool experience, you know, and scaring kids, you know,

getting in their face and making them cry while their dads laugh because they loved every moment of it and things like that, things you can't get away with in the U.S. You know, and so that's what I was doing. I was channeling that monster that. I think you can really only find in Japan, and I was bringing it to the U.S. market. If there's someone who's maybe not familiar with the work you did in New Japan, what are, you know, two or three matches that they need to go watch right now? Oh, man.

Well, I mean, I think the one that I think most people saw on it, again, it was kind of that reintroduction, that coming out party because it was on live TV in the U.S. was the match with Will Osprey at last year's G1 opening. You know, I think the people who did know me, and even New Japan kind of was like, you know, Lance is good and he'll do his job and, you know, we think we know what we're going to get from him. And we're okay with that. And then I was able to go out there and Will, you know, he's one of those guys like AJ Stiles that if you have a bad match with Will, there's something really wrong with you. But I think I was able to step up in a way that people absolutely didn't expect to see from me.

The same could be, again, I brought up AJ Stiles. You know, AJ and I had a match in the 2014 G1 Climax. and it was one of those amazing matches. Again, AJ Stiles, if you have a bad match with AJ, there's something really wrong with you. You know, Toggi Makabe was a guy that I was kind of what we called married to when I first started with the company. And he helped me really develop, you know, at the time I was calling myself the American Psycho. And he kind of helped develop that original initial American Psycho. And, you know, Minora Suzuki, who's just known as a bad, bad man, you know, murder grandpa's the size. some people like to call him.

You know, he helped to develop me, you know, in the time that I was with in Suzuki Goon. And, you know, obviously all the tag matches that Smith and I had, you know, the different title matches we had at the Tokyo Dome, this real good one with Smith and I against Yvonne Sonata from a few years ago at the Tokyo Dome. And, you know, there's just, I mean, like I said, it's almost nine years worth of matches that people could go and look up. So there was a handful of great ones right there.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. As you look at the AEW roster, you've worked a handful of people, but who are you really excited to get in there with? Oh, man. And that was a cool part. I mean, part of the decision even coming to AEW was, you know, who would you like to work with? And there were so many guys that I'd never even stepped in the ring with, you know, Cody.

I'd never worked with Cody before, you know, we've known each other. We'd been around each other, a little bit of time in WWE. Then obviously he came over and did some stuff in Japan and New Japan and Ring of Honor when I was doing stuff with them. but we never actually stepped in the ring together. You know, now Brody Lee. Brody is a guy that, you know, he did a lot of good stuff in Japan, you know, and a different company that I was in and at different times. But I think he and I can step in the ring.

Brian Cage and I have stepped in the ring several times on like the independent level and whatnot, but we've never done it on a major stage. And we've always had amazing chemistry balancing, you know, his style and my style and creating something I think that you don't get to see from a lot of big men in the business. I mean, Omega, you know, a guy that I never got to wrestle while. I was in New Japan. Pop was, you know, or PAC, you know, he's somebody that, you know, hopefully he's coming back and with the world opening up a little bit,

he'll be back working more often. There might be an opportunity to work there. Gosh, the list goes on and on with guys that I've never even stepped in the ring with that are in AAW that I think can have, I can have amazing matches with them and matches that most people didn't think that they were going to be able to see, you know. One of the matches I got to have leading up to my match with coach, Cody was with Dustin, and Dustin and I had only wrestled one time ever before in, in WWE when he was doing gold dust, and that was, you know, 10 plus years ago. And then when we stepped in the ring together, I think we did something fun and special that, and two guys that, again, who hadn't touched in 10 years.

And it only wrestled one time before prior to that. Moxley and I, the only two times we've ever stepped in the ring together were at the Tokyo Dome and then just recently on Dynamite. And we've had an amazing good chemistry and such good fights there. And, you know, there's, again, so many guys, I can't wait to actually step in the ring with Eddie Kingston and put his, put his teeth down his throat. And we've never had, we've never had that chance yet. Yeah, I think you turned a lot of heads when you put that poor guy through the ceiling. Did that just happen spur of the moment, or did you guys go, all right, this is what we're going to do. I'm going to put you through the ceiling.

It was one of those cool moments that kind of morphed into that. The guy's name is Kentucky. if you watch a lot of Darby stuff, he gets killed by Darby a lot. Yeah. And he was one of those guys. He was there. And, you know,

I'd kind of come up with the scenario, the scene, you know, where they were trying to interview us. And I just go in and destroy an entire locker room of guys. And, you know, the guys that were all there were extremely cool to get the crap beat out of them like they did. And Kentucky was one of those that, again, he's a little more over the top and willingness to take crazy stuff.

And one of the deals was like, what if you throw him into the ceiling? And they're like, that sounds amazing. Let's try it. And we did two takes and that was the second one. Oh, no. But it was great because he went into the ceiling and then I threw him through a trash can and I dumped him in a trash can on the way out. So it was a cool moment and cool experience.

And for anybody that's seen any of Kentucky stuff on Darby's Instagram, like he's kind of like, he's like the new age jackass, I feel like. Absolutely. he's steva with the death wish yeah i think what was actually worse than being thrown through the ceiling is the bump that he then took you know 10 feet down to the ground where he just collapses onto the ground yeah and then i i think on one of the darks i actually carried him out by his belt and chunked him onto the stage so if you're suffering from hair loss then i've got the answer for you go to bosley for everyone listening to this podcast right now

Now, Bosley is giving away a free info kit and $250 off gift card when you text my name, CVV, to 203-203. Bosley offers the latest technology and the only permanent solution to hair loss. People all over the country trust Bosley, and Bosley is considered America's number one hair restoration practice. Bosley offers both surgical and non-surgical solutions, and the sooner you take action, the more options you'll have. to keep your hair or put hair where you need it most. Two out of three men will experience some degree of hair loss by the age of 35. But with today's technology, you don't have to live with hair loss. Get started today with a free info kit and $250 off gift card. Just text CVV to 203-203. That's CVV to 203-203. Even though sports may have taken a little bit of a break in 2020,

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to bet online today and take advantage of all the great sign-up bonuses. Don't forget to use the promo code bluewire at betonline.ag. That's bluewire, all one word. Bet online, your online sportsbook experts. I imagine you've always been like a pretty big guy. Like how tall were you at age 13? Oh, 13, I don't know. I mean, I graduated high school. I mean, I'm a little over 6'6 now, you know, with boots on 6-8. You know, I think I graduated high school at like 6-4, grew a couple more inches, you know, as I went into college and whatnot. But I was, I'm not like a massive dude to begin with, but even then coming out of college

or a high school. You're pretty big dude. I'm okay. But, you know, back then I was 6-4, 6-5, like 198 pounds. So I was real, real, real thin beanpole, you know, and football was my game and I wanted to be a quarterback and whatnot. So, you know, I wasn't really looking to try to put on any size. I was just looking to have a strong arm and be a good quarterback.

And it wasn't until I got out of football that I, you know, was interested in wrestling and kind of got into wrestling. And I had a conversation with somebody from WW one time. And this was many, many years ago, I want to say around 2000 or so, 2001 maybe. And they were like, oh, how tall are you? And it's like, oh, six, six. And they're like, oh, I'd send him a pitcher and they liked the pitcher. And they're like, how much do you weigh?

And I think at the time, I was like, two, oh. 505, maybe 210. I went, yeah, 205, 210. They went, yeah, call us back when you're around 250, 260. Wow. They were like, basically like, you know, without saying it, they were like, you need to do some things to get a little bit bigger. And how bigger are you now? I think around 260, legit. There you go. It only took you 20 years. No. So 20 years, 20 years and a couple pieces. That's it. So was it, was it, football was like, career path that you wanted to be on in high school? He thought, I'm going to be a pro football player one day? I mean, you live in Texas. That's life there. Yes, absolutely. You know, it was one of those

things like I went to a little small high school. I mean, we had like a total of 88 people graduate in the year I graduated. And I think only 66 people actually walked to that day. And so it was a tiny little high school and whatnot. Yeah, I wanted to be a quarterback. You know, I would go out to our football field at night. And there was literally one big spotlight that's shown on one of the goalpost. So I would take a tire and hang it from that goal post in the middle of the night and I'd take me, you know, five or six footballs, whatever I had laying around the house, different sizes, Nerf balls to regular balls, whatever. And I would just go and do dropback passes for a couple hours every night, you know, until my mom was yelling at me from the house.

You know, and then I tried to go to college and tried to play. The first school I went to was called Howard Payne University. We had 11 quarterbacks show up to camp. You know, it was an NAI school at the time, so they didn't have the NCAA restrictions as far as the number of players that could be, you know, even in camps and whatnot. So we had 11 quarterbacks when I showed up.

You know, and the coaches kind of had their preconceived desires of who they were going to be playing and stuff. And so Howard Payne didn't really work out and hopefully transferred to a school now called Texas State University, but it was southwest Texas and ultimately graduated from there. And I tried to play one season, but again, you know,

they did have the NCAA restrictions, but there were still, I think there were seven or eight quarterbacks when I showed up the camp. Wow. It was one of those things like it just, I wasn't ever the chosen one. So I was always, you know,

number six or seven on the depth chart when I'd show up. And I'd do pretty well, but I was never really getting past any practice squad stuff. And ultimately got out of football and was just, you know, going to school and bouncing at clubs in Austin, Texas.

And I was a fan of pro wrestling until, you know, the owner of my club knew a guy that randomly started a wrestling school in Austin, Texas called the Southwest Wrestling Federation and a guy that just probably shouldn't have started a school. I think when he first started the school, Ivan Putzky was his head trainer. And Scott Putzky was around. And they were doing the training. And actually, Paul London was one of his first students in there.

But then Paul left within like, the first six months and started touring and doing his thing. Ivan and the guy who started the school had a filing out, so they left. So when I showed up, the guy who trained me was a guy named Solo Fidela, just this Hawaiian dude, Samoan dude, that he was just a really good dude, really cool cat. But, you know, he didn't really teach me anything psychologically about the business. He just taught me, here's how you punch, here's how you kick, here's how you fall, here's how you do these moves.

and there was one other dude in the class, and me and him, you know, beat the crap out of each other about two or three times a week. And, you know, I didn't really start learning the business, the psychological aspect of it, until I started traveling with a bunch of Sean Michael's kids because he had a school in San Antonio, Texas. Right.

But actually, they offered to let me come to the school, but the price was too expensive and I couldn't afford it. So I started traveling with them, and that's kind of how I started really learning the business on the road and Texas Independent Wrestling. Did you actually get to, take some knowledge from Sean as well or just from his students? No, no, no, Sean, you know, Sean started his school.

And from my understanding, like, his first couple classes he was pretty well involved with. And a lot of the guys I traveled with were actually in the first couple of classes. You know, American Dragon or Daniel Bryan was a part of one of those first two classes. Spanky was a part of that. And then a lot of the guys that I was traveling with, you know, they were actually a part of those first couple classes. And then I think Sean had his own kid at the time. and then I think a kid actually suffered a pretty serious neck injury in one of the classes. And those couple things combined, kind of soured Sean from being there.

The school was still going on. Rudy Boy Gonzalez was the main trainer there. So he's the one that I dealt with mostly when I would go around there and the students that were traveling with me to go places. And we were driving to an independent company in Dallas, Texas, called PCW Professional Championship Wrestling. and they actually ran a weekly show and had a TV show in Dallas, Texas. So it's my dog Buster's coming to say hello. Hey, Buster. Oh, wow.

Just a little pop. Yeah, no, he's a, he's a Labarweeney is what we've figured out. And I think this is about as big as he's going to get. He looks like a Labrador. He looks like a Labrador, but he's actually like a mix. So this is about the big as he's going to get. What a great mix. Yeah.

I'm really curious about your quarterback style. Who, which way back would you, would you compare it to? I don't know. I don't know if I truly had anybody that I would be compared to. I mean, I was a traditional like pocket passer. I wasn't, I got dropped back pocket pass. Yeah, yeah, I was straight up, you know. And actually in high school, I convinced my coach because we didn't do any kind of shotgun.

I got my center. And like for about a week or two, we just, we, after practice, we'd sit there and not get him to do shotgun snaps. And like I showed my coach. So look, we can do this. And it's like, oh, okay. And he added it into the. offense. So it wasn't even something that we had. So, again, I was just a very traditional, you know, Dan Marino-esque, I guess, without being

as good as Dan Marino ever. I never would have come close to being Dan Marito. But, you know, I guess in since the tall, that kind of style, you know, not extremely mobile, mobile enough, but not extremely mobile, but just a drop back in the pocket, you know, maybe some, some sprint out type passes and stuff like that. But nothing, yeah, nothing of what today's quarterbacks can do. No, no Patrick, no Patrick Mahomes here, man. Yeah, I know that boy. He's, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, who, who were some of the wrestlers that you looked up to when you were a fan growing up? See, I didn't start watching wrestling until my, like, sophomore year in high school. So, and Sting was the guy that, that got me into it when he took on

the crow persona. And I don't even remember how I started watching it. I think, again, I was just, I liked the movie the crow. Um, and I think I must have just randomly, accidentally turned. And I'm, on WCW and there was Sting, standing in, you know, full crow-esque, you know, standing in the rafters with the crow thing going. I'm like, who's this guy and what's going on? You know, not knowing his history and, you know, how big of a name he already was in the business. And then not learning that to later, but, you know, just seeing that and going, well, I want to see what else happens here. And so I was a big WCW mark, as we like to say, a fan. And, you know, I didn't miss a nitro, I think, from there on out.

Was there a certain person that you've stepped into the ring with? in your career and you've been like, I can't believe I'm wrestling this person. You know, no, I don't think so. I mean, there's, I think my, my career has been more of situational rather than person. You know,

obviously I've had a few times where, you know, my short time in WWE where I got to go toe to toe with cane and guys like that, you know, and stuff of that nature. And those were cool moments to think of, you know,

so a fun story in this breaking K-Fa, I'm sorry. ladies and gentlemen. So this is my fun story. There was a moment we had a random like battle royal on Smackdown. And I remember we were all, you know, everybody's in the ring. And it had everybody from SmackDown at the time, you know, Ray Mysterios and Keynes and all this stuff.

So, you know, all the young guys who were just, you know, starting on the company and whatnot, you know, we'd obviously go with each other and we'd go to people who were comfortable with and stuff like that. Fit Finley, who was one of the guys that, you know, helped train a lot of us and would come down to FCW and work with slot. So he was a guy that a lot of us were comfortable with. So we kept going to fit. And I think if you could pull up the video of that battle row, and I don't remember when it was 2009 somewhere,

you'd see a lot of the FCW guys that, you know, just been on the road or been on UCW prior to that. We kept going over to fit. And then we'd immediately fit and we'd go over to Kane. And it was because we'd get to fit and we'd start beating up Fit. Vitt would be on the ground. He'd be saying stuff. And we go, go to Kane. So you just see guys go from Fit straight to Kane. And Kane was just getting so frustrated and fed up with it. It was like, we just were like ants coming at him and he throw this big upper coming, get away for me. It was funny. You know, in WWE, I don't, I don't know if a lot of people really realize this. You were in a WrestleMania. Yeah, I was pre pre-network. You know, you had to get the DVD if you wanted to see my moment. Yeah, and that's a really cool moment.

Like talking about as far as are there any guys that I go, man, I can't believe I'm in here. And that was one of those, you know, I could be sour. I could be bitter about my time there. But what good does it do me? It doesn't help me move forward in wrestling or life or whatever. And that was a cool moment to get to lace up the boots and walk down the ramp and get in the ring at a WrestleMania. And it was the pre-show Battle Royal that they would do pretty much every year. And I remember Tyler Rex was a good buddy of mine at the time.

And he was like right behind me, I think, when we were walking down the ramp, it was just one of those moments. I think they said there was 72,000 people at that mania that year in Arizona. And there's probably 30 or 40,000 in the building at that point because everybody's still filtering in or whatnot while we're doing this battle war. And I just remember they were playing the generic music as all the different wrestlers had down to the ring for the battle royal. And it was huge, huge, long rampway and whatnot. It was just one of those cool moments. I look back at Rex and I was like, bro, can you believe this? And it's like, oh, this is too damn cool.

you know, again, that we actually got to wrestle at a WrestleMania, even though it was just a pre-show battle oil that Yoshitatsu won. Why couldn't you be Lance in WWE? Why did you have to be Vance? This was still a time when, you know, there was no acknowledgement of anything prior to WWE, really. You know, nobody really got past that. I think Punk was like one of the only guys that had carried his name over

from his time prior to WWE in that era. And Vance was a name that Dustin. came up with. And I just, you know, they always had you submit as many names as you wanted to try to come up with a name for you down in FCW. And FCW was another thing that, you know, it was their developmental territory, but you kind of existed in obscurity. Whereas now with NXT, if you're on NXT TV, the wrestling, their audience knows

those guys and girls, you know, so it's kind of hard to just be nothing and disappear. And so Vance was a name again that Dusty came up with. And Archer is actually my dad's first name. So that's why I wanted to use. Actually, when I was first using the name, I remember, you know, there were reports out that, that, you know, former Lance Hoyt of TNA is doing a Robin Hood gimmick because of the Archer name, which was absolutely untrue. There was no truth to it whatsoever. I never donned green tights and carried a bow and did anything like that. So, which was funny. I was just like, no. What does the tattoo on your left arm here say? The left arm? It says, give justice each one to those that you judge. And this one says, the Lord is my strength, my fortress, and my refuge. Jeremiah 2112 and 1619. Wow. So what was the first

tattoo you ever got? It was, there was a 10 that is underneath this sun. And it was, I just turned 18 and a bunch of us from high school were like, let's go get tattoos. And we went to a tattoo shop and we got there and every single person punked out of it, you know, to say the least. And I was like, well, I was like, I'll get one, but I don't want to pay for it. And so they paid for it. I think it was like 25 bucks to get a number 10. That was my high school football number 10. Literally just the number 10. I think I added eagles underneath it at some point later. And then ultimately the sun covered all that up. Yeah, at what point were you like, all right, that's got to go. I'll cover this stuff now. I think once, you know, I really gotten out of football and I was like,

oh, that doesn't really mean what it did then. You know, I think maybe if I did stay in football, I would have left the 10 and just done stuff around it. But, you know, yeah, once I got out of football and, you know, the number 10 eagles wasn't going to be the same meaning in the future. I decided to be covered up. And this is even morphed. It was just a black sun at one point. And then I added some depth to it and some color to it. What do you think is the biggest thing you've learned since being partnered up with Jake Roberts?

As far as, you know, wrestling, I'm pretty, I understand myself really well. Sure. You know, you can always obviously learn. There's always, there's some amazing people around AEW that can. always help me grow and even the youngest talent that are coming up because this is a whole new era of professional wrestling you know the guys and girls that are doing what they're doing in 2020 obviously you know i'm making myself sound old weren't doing that when i first started so i can always learn from them in the ring whether it's you know the youngest person on our roster or somebody who's been

around this business longer than i have um but with jake i think the one thing that he's helped me tremendously with you know in the promos you know i got my first real chance i cut a small short one on dynamite prior to the moxley match that was good. And then I got to do one on dark that was on Tuesday night, you know, and whatnot. And that was my first real chance to really speak. And I think that's one of the things that he's helped me out the most with, you know, understanding a cadence,

understanding how to speak and what to say and when to say it. And, you know, creating an emotional inflection when you say what you say, you know, the same with what you do in the ring, but doing it now on the microphone. him because he's amazing. You know, when he's focused and he has a direction with what he wants to say, almost nobody better in the business. You know, knowing what you know now, and of course hindsight's 2020, if you could go back,

is there anything you think you could change so that you wouldn't have been released from WWE? You know, I always say that if I'd have done, like, what AEW is benefiting from now is my time post-Japan. I always say if I had gone from like TNA straight to Japan and then probably showing up in WWE, I think it's just it's a confidence level that I did not have in myself, not understanding who I was, what I should be, how I should present myself, you know, the monster that is now, the Murder Hawk monster.

Japan just helped me discover myself in a way that is at, like I said, AW's absolutely benefiting from that. And if and when I had done that prior to going to WWE, because I literally like, I finished up with TNA on a Tuesday. My contract went Nolan Void on on Wednesday. I was down in Tampa doing a trial on Thursday and then had a contract in my hand within a week. So I literally had almost no time in between my T&A and WWE stuff. Going to their FCW product was really good for me.

Some people are like, oh, you should just go straight to TV. And it's like once I got there and once understanding how they do business, especially back then, being in FCW was very valuable to me. me, but I just still didn't know the confidence because, like I was saying, FCW existed in obscurity. When I debuted on their ECW product, I had short hair, no facial hair, you know, no jacket, nothing. And that was decided about five minutes before doors open. I had I had hair down to the middle of my back, a goatee, like I've been sporting in AW down to here, I had this big, badass biker jacket that I wore, all these different, this image and this personality and this

mentality that I had in FCW that was, from my understanding later, that was the reason I got brought up. Yeah. But like literally like five minutes before doors open and I'm standing in the ring and Vince and Johnny are talking to each other. So I don't know what they're saying. And Johnny's like, hey, kid, come here. So what's up, Johnny? Cutting your hair. It's like, I'm on TV tonight and goes, yeah. All right, whatever. You know, and they chop my hair off and shave my face and had me lose the jacket. And, you know, I always say I became big guy number three that day, you know, on the video game.

And, you know, you can't help but be shaken by that to a small degree because there's not really, it's not like we're doing all this and this is the direction we need you to go. It's just like, nope, cut your hair, shave your face, lose jacket, go. And it's like, well, what do you want me to do? I don't know. That's for you to decide. And you're like, okay, here I go. And like I said, some guys and girls can just like,

that and they figure themselves out in a split second and go and do it. But I think, again, if you're any kind of an artist and you have a mentality of, you know, who you are and what you're trying to do and what you're trying to be, and then all of a sudden, that's completely taken away from you and told to go be something completely, not necessarily completely different, but not knowing what you were, you know, it can be mind boggling to say the least. Yeah, it's kind of, it's almost like it's like a clean slate almost. Like you had, you'd built up this whole thing and then like, right. Right. Yeah. You literally like they took me into. see Vince after they cut the hair and they're like, Vince, what do you think? He goes, yes,

we're going to break you down so we can build you up. I went, then you like it. He goes, yes, now, get out. So I left his office with that note, you know. Like I said, it was never a bad situation. It was just I didn't know what I should be. And like I said, the confidence that I have now coming from Japan. I didn't have then. If I'd had it, it would have been a very different story, in my opinion. I'm blown away sitting here talking to you that you're 44 years old. Like you're the youngest. Hey, hey, hey, hey, not 44 yet. Not 44 yet.

43. Sorry. Everybody dies. I'm going to have to start with you, man. What is the secret to maintaining this youth? You know, God's blessed me beyond understanding or deservedness. You know, continuing to push myself on a physical level, you know, trying to control my diet. And, you know, it's just doing all the little things that help a human being keep moving forward.

You know, it's, we live in a way. world now where a lot of people just don't want to go and get off their couch. And I think that's the thing is I've never let myself sit still. And, you know, I make sure I go to the gym every day. And stretching has become such a huge part of my life, you know, and when you're younger, you don't think about those things. You know, now that I'm a seasoned person, you know, it's become a big part of my daily routine, you know, stretching and understanding my body and pushing myself, but not pushing myself past a point of, you know, just being injured or something like that. And, you know, you know, you know, it's just, you know, keeping a positive outlook on thing. You know, there's a lot of talking about all the time that I've had in the business. There were several times from getting let go from TNA to getting let go from WBE, you know, mentally those things can weigh on you if you let them. And I just looked at them as bumps in the road. And I said, you know, okay, cool, what's next? How do I keep moving forward? Which direction can I go now? You know, like I said, with TNA, as like as soon as I knew my time there was ending, I had somebody reaching out on my behalf,

which ultimately got me a job there. And as soon as I found out my time with T&A or excuse me, WWE ended, I reached out because I'd gone to Japan a couple times before and worked like a small tour with All Japan. And I had a connection in Japan. I said, can you reach back out to All Japan? They did. All Japan agreed, but then tried to cut the money.

I got them to agree to at least the same money that I had prior to my WWE spent. And then they just decided they weren't going to spend the money on any foreigners. so I had that same person reach out to New Japan. And I think New Japan, all they knew about me at the time, this was 2011, he's a big guy, he just left WWE, so sure, we'll take a look at him. I showed up in Philadelphia because they were doing a small East Coast tour. And it was one of those moments where, like, Tiger Atari, I'd known him for years because he'd come around TNA and whatnot.

Kojima, who was a champion at all Japan at the time. And then Suzuki, my history was Suzuki, the very first. first match I ever had in Japan was with a small independent company called Makahen. It was in a very tiny place that was like a 200, 300 seat, you know, building. And I had a tag match against Suzuki, Minoro Suzuki, did not know anything about Suzuki, his history, you know, with his shoot fighting and pancreas and all that stuff. And I remember I came in, I kicked him one time because he was beating up my partner. And he didn't sell, he didn't move, he didn't budge, he just turned and looked at me real evilly. And I just went cool. I guess I'll get up.

out the ring right now because I didn't know what else to do because he was just like, and I was like, murder grandpa is going to get me. And I didn't know anything about him, you know. So my history around Suzuki has been from the very first match I ever had in Japan. He was in all Japan at the time when I did my small thing with all Japan. And then fast forward to 2011 being paired with him and being the original Geishun member of Suzuki Goon. You know, and just that partnership or excuse me, those relationships that are made with different people helped spawn, you know, my nearly decade-long career with New Japan. Yeah, I've been following you on Twitter for a while, and I'm very curious to know why you

hate mint chocolate so much. Because it's horrible. It's nasty, man. It's like, it's like you took chocolate and found your toothpaste and went, this will be good and put your toothpaste on it and ate it. It's absolutely horrendous, man. Just stick with pizza, pineapple and alipanos, bro. That's the good stuff. Pineapple does not belong on pizza, sir. absolutely belongs on pizza. It's sweet and sultry, and then you throw some jalapenos in to get it make kind of spice. It's good for you. It's all like mushy when you bite into it. It's the weirdest thing.

I hate it. Pizza, pizza, pizza is mushy. What are you talking about? Pizzas, yeah, I just think that is sacrilegious. That's what that is. Well, you go eat your toothpaste and chocolate now I'm doing my blissful pineapple pizza. You know, I like to say, be great and be grateful. So, like to end every interview by asking you, what are three things that you're grateful for right now? Well, I'm absolutely grateful for my relationship with God. I mean, I know some people are on board with that and some aren't. And if you aren't, that's cool. This is how I feel about things because I think without God, I would not be here today 20 years later in the wrestling business. I would not be sane at all because this world is crazy to begin with. I'm grateful for my family

because they've been absolutely supportive of my crazy career and the business of professional wrestling and traveling around the world and doing all the silly things that I've gotten to. And then, you know, I'm grateful for my health for being only 43 years old and still being in pretty decent sheep and, you know, no major injuries to this point.

You know, I had one back surgery back in 2017 that, you know, New Japan took care of me on and then have been great since then. So it's one of those things. So God, family and health, man. those are the three things I'm absolutely grateful for. This was great. And I'm looking forward to seeing you as the AEW champion.

I'm sure it's happening sometime soon. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Eventually, you know, they're not going to stop me. Like I said, my little promo, I'm like the Jason Borges of AEW. I'm never going to stop coming. You can kill me as many times as you think you killed me, but I'm never going to stop coming. This was great. Lance Archer.

Thank you so much, man. I appreciate you having me on, man. Well, there you have it. Lance Archer. Ladies and gentlemen, and isn't it amazing to see how warm and kind and nice the man behind the monster is, he's a future champion for sure, especially with him being aligned with Jake Roberts. So cool hearing that insight about him being paired up with Jake Roberts. Take a screenshot. Let us know what really stood out for you in this interview.

Tag us on social media so we can share it and so we can say hi. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. Lance is at Lance underscore Hoyt. And in doing the research for this interview, it's really interesting seeing how many different looks that he's had during his career. If you have some time this week, if you have any time this week, you know, when you're not leaving review or subscribing, do a quick Google search for Lance Hoyt, Vance Archer, Lance Archer, you know, whatever you want to type in there. And you'll see some photos from 10-ish, 12-ish years ago and you'll be like, that's the same guy. It's just amazing what he's transformed himself into. And I know that there's a lot going on in the world right now,

but I've said it many times before. I'll say it again. The quote that John Cena said during his interview stood out for me so, so much. And it's so worth repeating. Control the controllable. And as Jimmy Dean famously said, I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.

I feel like Lance Archer has adjusted. his sales quite a bit and look at him now, sailing off to become the AEW champion. Was that a prediction? I think that's a prediction. It's going to happen. I think it's going to happen. So be great, be grateful. Have a great week. We'll see you on Thursday for another ridiculous chat with the good brothers, the talking shop boys, back on the CVV show. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, But there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley.

Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of then? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987.

I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.