FanSided Exclusive: NJPW’s Lance Archer on the G1 Climax

In an exclusive interview with FanSided, New Japan’s Lance Archer discusses his ascension from tag team player to main event talent.

Lance Archer has spent the better part of his 19-year career as a journeymen wrestler. His breakout performance in the 29th NJPW G1 Climax has show that the American Psycho is on his own and ready to show New Japan Pro Wrestling and the world at large that he’s ready to prove he has so much more to offer.

In this exclusive FanSided interview, Lance Archer sits down to talk about why this year has been different and what the future holds for the monster gaijin of Suzuki-gun.

Fansided: What’s been the difference in this G1 from previous G1s? Is there a difference in your mindset?

Lance Archer: Yeah, absolutely. You know, this is my fifth G1, but it’s been like five years since I was a part of the G1. We (Suzuki-gun) were gone from New Japan for two years, working with (Pro Wrestling) NOAH and then came back and I had an injury last year.

There’s so many amazing fighters, wrestlers, competitors, whatever you want call ’em and we weren’t a part of it last year. (Former tag team partner, Davey Boy Smith Jr.) and I, we were still part of the team (Killer Elite Squad) and New Japan kind of saw us as just tag team wrestlers.

So this year when I was going to be in the G1, and it was at a time when Smith chose to leave the company and whatnot, I just saw it as, this is my chance. This is my opportunity. This is a make it or break it moment. This is, you know, they’ve (New Japan) only seen you as a tag team guy for years and initially I wasn’t supposed to be part of the G1 and I was added in at a later time, so I knew that I had to do everything I could to step up and make them see that I was so much more than just a tag team guy.

I knew that I had to do everything I could to step up and make them see that I was so much more than just a tag team guy.

Whatever preconceived notion they had of me in the company, I had to change. That’s why I changed my image. That’s why I’ve changed my style to a degree. I had to step up I think in every aspect trying to prove (myself) to the New Japan office and the people making decisions, and the world of professional wrestling that are watching right out there. So many eyes were on the G1 Climax in comparison to anything that I was part of the past, I just saw it as every chance in the world right now and I get no other (chance) if I failed on my own, at this point, so I knew I had to succeed.

That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do each and every time that I’ve stepped out there: do something new, do something bigger, do something stronger, be something that people didn’t even know that I was before. And I’d like to believe that’s actually doing that job right now and I have two more matches with SANADA and EVIL to continue to prove the world that I’m something that they should be paying attention to.

FanSided: Do you feel more could have been done with Killer Elite Squad?

Lance Archer: In talking about the past, there were bumps in the road. Like KES as a team was always held at a very high level. We were always kept in a very high-profile spot. Our first couple years with New Japan, we were IWGP (Tag Team) Champions two different times, defended the titles two times in the (Tokyo) Dome before we left. Then we went to Pro Wrestling NOAH where we held the GHC tag team titles for like a year and half and had like 10-plus defenses, which is the most in GHC history.

So it’s not like we were held down, but we were also part of the company (New Japan) at a time when it didn’t have as many eyes on it. Then when we came back in 2017, unfortunately I went down with an injury and so that slowed the road of KES and everything. Then when I came back, we did recapture that titles for the third time, but there were so many great teams. We were having some amazing matches with GOD (Guerrillas of Destiny) and War Machine and stuff like that, but the company was still having to try to move and learn in new directions.

Unfortunately, a lot of the bumps in the road and the slowdowns and our separations have hindered what KES could have been had it had the visibility that the company has now. Now that Smith has made his choice and he’s not a part of the company anymore, for myself, it’s just things that I see. Seizing an opportunity and seizing the moment to do something special with myself. I know I don’t have forever in this business and I have to do something now so that I can have a now and a future.

FanSided: You’re a 20-year veteran who’s hit his stride as a singles competitor. Why is this the best version of you?

Lance Archer: I know I’ve prided myself with always trying to grow in this business. I’ve been a part of professional wrestling for 19 years. There’s a lot of guys I don’t think can say that, and most of those, 15 years, have been a part of major companies. Five years for TNA, two years with WWE and eight here with New Japan now. It’s always trying to find new ways to reinvent myself and to step my game up. I’m always, in my opinion, trying to prove to the world that I not only have been there but I belong and belong in bigger and better places.

I’m always … trying to prove to the world that I not only have been there but I belong and belong in bigger and better places.

I think the wrestling world has changed tremendously with how guys and girls wrestle in 2019, in comparison to when I started in 2000. You know, so it’s an evolution of myself and the business and things of that nature. So I see this as an opportunity to be the best version of myself because I don’t have a chance to not be the best version of myself. This business is so quick to get rid of you and be done with you and you’re yesterday’s news. If you’re not doing something to step it up and be something better than you were yesterday, they’ll forget about you as quick as they saw you.

As good as my G1’s been, if I let off the gas pedal at all in the next two matches, the business would probably spit me out just as fast as they decided to accept me, or whatever the case may be. I see this is the best version of myself simply for the fact that I’m motivated to continue to prove to the world that I’m not only a big, tall guy, but I’m a big, tall guy that can go.

FanSided: With wrestling moving into worldwide prominence again, why is NJPW the best fit for you?

Lance Archer: I think i’ve told this story in the past, when I first arrived in Japan, one of the things that I got time and time again was they wanted more. They wanted bigger, they wanted stronger. The adjective I got a lot was more “monster.” They wanted me to be more scary, more strong, more big, more monster, more monster, more monster. I was never really held back.

Unfortunately, in my time with some of the other companies in the states, there were times they went, “yeah, but we can’t have you doing that right now. We don’t need to do and that right now. We need you at a five right now, not a 10,” which is very weird. You know, if I wasn’t the one that they were deciding to push, they wanted me only to be at a certain spot or level.

They wanted me to be more scary, more strong, more big, more monster, more monster, more monster. I was never really held back.

Whereas when I got to New Japan, even as the new guy and throughout my time, I’ve never been held back. It’s never been them going, “yeah, don’t do that.” You know, it’s always been like, “that’s great, but if you can, give us bigger, stronger, better, more monster.” You know, and I think that’s what makes New Japan a perfect fit for me. They’re always wanting that next step and that next generation.

I had a talk with the booker before the G1 started and my plan was kind of (to) change everything about me. My Image, my wrestling and things like that. You know, he’s like, “that’s great, we want to see something new. If you want to give us that, but don’t know lose that monster.” You’re not losing the monster. You’re not going to lose the monster. You’re just getting a bigger, better version of him. They were — they were excited about it, but they didn’t know what was coming.

FanSided: After your match with Zach Saber Jr., where do you stand with Suzuki-gun? Is it time for you to move out on your own?

Lance Archer: You know, those are decisions that I don’t really get to make. New Japan really exists around its groups. You have CHAOS. You have Bullet Club. You have other babyfaces that are just kind of there because they’re the good guys. But then you have Suzuki-gun and that’s how kind of New Japan exists. That’s how the storylines kind of go. Oh, and I can’t forget about Los Ingobernables de Japon because they’re really the hottest group that exists right now.

That’s how New Japan operates its businesses, around these groups of guys and because a lot of the wrestling we do are six man’s (tag team matches), eight man’s, 10 man’s and so on so forth on these tours, which help tell stories for the title matches at whatever next big show that’s coming up. So to say that I would leave Suzuki-gun and just do my own thing, it’s really hard to do something like that in New Japan because everybody’s kind of factioned in these groups and that’s kinda how you move forward is within the group.

FanSided: As we wind down the G1 and start the build toward Wrestle Kingdom, where do you see yourself?

Lance Archer: I don’t know, in the sense of what the company has planned for me but my plan is again, not to take my foot off the gas pedal. It’s just to keep showing them stuff that they’ve not seen before from me, not expected from me. Hopefully that starts to have them make decisions to go, “man, we need to do something bigger and better with this guy.”

I am a humble guy and I’m very appreciative of every opportunity I ever received, but I’d like to believe they put me in the G1 knowing who I was, not knowing who I was going to be for them moving forward. So I’d like to believe that I surprised them in a way that now they’re going, “that’s not what we expected. So now we need to do something better and bigger with this guy.”

I’d like to believe that I surprised them in a way that now they’re going, “that’s not what we expected. So now we need to do something better and bigger with this guy.”

Whereas, maybe they just thought, “oh well, we know who Lance Archer is, we know who the American Psycho is, we know he’s a tag team guy. We know he’s a good utility player for the company.” But now I’m hoping with the performances that I’ve been able to put on, and like I said, I have two more to go and I still have to show out in those, and if I can do that I’m hoping that I’ve changed some perceptions, and I’ve changed their minds about me moving forward. They’re going, “okay that’s not what we expected and we’re really happy. Now we got something different and new, and now we gotta do something cool with that.”

FanSided: As career highlights go, where does having that Dallas crowd erupt when you applied the Everybody Dies Claw on Will Ospreay rank?

Lance Archer: It is really cool. Actually, I started using the Claw on the tour prior to the G1. It’s one of those things, it was kind of part of that evolution and knowing that I was going to get to perform in Dallas, Texas, home of the Von Erichs for who the claw was one of their most famous maneuvers in all professional (wrestling), is really special.

In 2019, where it’s all about wrestlers doing some of the most amazing and acrobatic things that anybody’s ever seen anybody do in a live performance, for the fanbase — and it seems to be accepted, in my opinion, with what I’ve read on social media and my friends, family, and so on so forth — that the claw, a maneuver that’s been this business since the 20s and 30s, and whatever and made famous by the Von Erich’s has now been accepted into 2019 professional wrestling in a very awesome way.

The fact that I got to use it to win a match in Dallas, Texas made it beyond cool. I mean, it’s hard to explain how cool it was.

The NJPW G1 Climax 29 runs through August 19. Watch live at NJPW World and same-night shows on Saturdays on AXS at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/6:00 p.m. Pacific. Follow Lance Archer on Twitter @LanceHoyt.