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5 Reasons Why Lance Archer Is The Perfect Heel For Japan

Posted: Jul 26th 2016 By: notballet.tumblr.com

For most wrestlers who are misused and underutilized by WWE and TNA their career becomes a long and lonely wandering of the wastelands that the independent circuit can some times be. If you managed to shine bright enough in your five minutes of fame in one of the big two companies then you may be able to draw decent crowds and money, and some guys genuinely relish working community centres as much as they do arenas, but it’s a lucky few who are able to carve out a niche there as well as the one they had on the big stage. Inexplicably perhaps given his experiences in TNA and WWE, Lance Archer (real name Lance Hoyt) has become one of those lucky few. In both of America’s 2 biggest promotions Archer’s pattern of early success descending slowly into ignominious jobbing was remarkably similar. Within a month of his arrival in TNA in 2004 he and Kid Kash had captured the NWA World Tag Team belts and later became a firm fan favourite as a singles competitor earning himself the nickname “Hoytamania”, but was used poorly by management in a series of unexciting feuds and fizzled out his final year and a half in the company as one half of The Rock n Rave Connection with Jimmy Rave who, obvious talent aside, were a gimmick team never intended to be anything other than jobbers.

This hit and miss track record became definitely more miss than hit when he joined WWE. He spent only 6 months in developmental in FCW before making it to ECW where he went undefeated for 3 months and picked up 2 pinfall victories over Tommy Dreamer, but he came out on the short end of a brief feud with Shelton Benjamin just before ECW folded which essentially ended his push. He looked set to “make an impact” on Smackdown not long after as one half of The Gatecrashers tag team with Curt Hawkins, but with The Nexus invading main events on RAW and obliterating the ringside area around the same time the team’s attacks on Christian and MVP seemed like small potatoes in comparison, and they had very few in-ring wins to their name as well. Getting future endeavoured at the end of 2010 surprised nobody, but what he has achieved since in New Japan Pro Wrestling since is staggering when weighed against his earlier exploits.

Rather than fading into the background in the Suzukigun stable he often appears to be more like Minoru Suzuki’s number 2, not only winning the G1 Climax Tag League with the Suzukigun head honcho but also finishing off 2 for 1 in his singles feud with former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Togi Makabe all in his first year in the promotion. In 2012 he fared just as well, gaining a fearsome reputation for eliminating more men than anyone else in any 8 or 10 man tag team elimination match he enters and of course finally picking up some gold alongside Davey Boy Smith Jr. as The Killer Elite Squad, now entering their 6th month as IWGP World Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. He may have come up short two weeks again in his first shot at singles glory in Japan when he lost in a challenge for Shinsuke Nakamura’s IWGP Intercontinental Championship, but the way he dominated that match and the twinfold facts that he had Nakamura down for the 3 while the ref was knocked out, and broke the plane of the ropes when the champ picked up the win mean this is unlikely to be the end of the matter. Either way there is no denying it, Lance Archer is the most promising gaijin in all of Japan right now. Why though, when he couldn’t rise to the top of the pack in his native USA, has this giant from Texas made such an impact in the land of the rising sun?

5) He is in good company, but doesn’t need them for success

Lance Archer could hardly have picked a better group of friends to get noticed with in Japan. His stablemates are some of the most heavily decorated stars in all of Puroresu, notably Minoru Suzuki and Kengo Mashimo having held the top prizes in All Japan Pro Wrestling and ZERO1 respectively while Yoshihiro Takayama is one of only 3 men in history to have held the top title in AJPW, NJPW and Pro Wrestling NOAH. Former WWF star Taka Michinoku’s run as AJPW Junior Heavyweight World champ is nothing to be sniffed at either, and along with Davey Boy Smith Jr.’s Hart family connection those are alliances that will perk up the attention of western fans too. He’s got friends in high places, but it’s a safe bet that Archer will be able to roll without them when the time comes. Not only has this been proven by his close-fought battle with Shinsuke Nakamura at the 41st Anniversary, but more often than not his team relies on him and not vice versa, with many of Suzukigun’s big tag team victories in the last 18 months hinging on Archer’s eliminations.

4) He is big, but fast enough to keep up with the Puroresu style

The importance of agility as a larger wrestler, especially when working in Japan, cannot be understated. While being quick on their feet and able to fly may have been surprising qualities for the legendary Bam Bam Bigelow and Big Van Vader given their 400 plus pound frames it might seem natural for the 6'9’’ and 275lb Archer. Arguably though a man of Archer’s measurements is often less sturdy on his feet than a squatter superheavyweight like Bigelow or Vader. For proof think of other tall but lean competitors down the years like Barry Windham, Johnny Ace, Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns and how off-balance they could sometimes be. Archer definitely belongs in the same class as Mike Awesome and Matt Morgan of guys who can always move with grace despite their immense size, yet for that rare blend of stature, raw power and agility he perhaps most resembles his fellow Texan, The Undertaker. Which neatly leads us on to point number 3…

3) His in-ring style is fresh yet indebted to his predecessors

As said in the last point, Archer’s lineage from The Deadman extends to more than just using his chokeslam and apron legdrop, and he has other points of comparison to some legendary superheavyweights too. I could write a whole article picking apart Archer’s style and his influences (and praising his innovation of the inverted crucifix powerbomb) but the most important to mention are his huge Vader-esque top rope moonsault and decapitating lariat a la Stan Hansen (another Texan by the way), two of the most successful gaijin in history. It’s not a wild jump of the imagination to think that Japanese fans will make those visual comparisons to Vader and Hansen when he pulls out those moves, but even more important than taking his cues from all the right places Lance Archer had another important skill those guys had, and that is…

2) He can wrestle lengthy and interesting matches

Few big guys have it and it is why WWE favour superheavyweights who win by squash matches, but it is also a prejudice that has made it tough for athletic and conditioned big guys to get ahead in America in the past decade. Matt Morgan may be able to crack the code if he ever wins the TNA World Heavyweight title, but he’s had so many false-starts in that company I think it may never happen, and immensely talented guys like Chris Masters, Mike Knox and Luke Gallows seem destined to never hold titles because of it. All those guys have that skill and are seeing it go to waste, but for Archer it may be the key to his singles success in NJPW.

1) He has a phenomenal look and ring presence

It might seem superficial to end on a discussion of Archer’s aesthetics rather than his physical abilities, but the importance of look and persona cannot be understated when it comes to non-native wrestlers in Japan, where language is not an option for getting over with the audience. Big Van Vader managed it with his cartoon villain appearance even before he started tearing his opponents apart, Machinegun Karl Anderson does it with his poses, Stan Hansen did it just by the aura of violence that accompanied the man everywhere- Lance Archer does it with a subtle use of symbols that ring truer than words. Sure simply being so big, so long of hair and so bearded would probably be enough on his own, and barb wire tattoos are an international sign of badassery, but his ring gear and nickname definitely play a part too. The post-apocalyptic biker hoodie and leather jacket and spitting water at the audience are staples of American heels both at home and in Japan, but there is a lot of meaning to be taken from the bloodied katanas made up of deconstructed stars and stripes on his tights also. Regardless of language, that clearly marks out Archer as a man of violence, a man without a country who fights not for a way of life, but as a way of life. It’s a menacing look that perfectly matches his moniker of The American Psycho, a name perfectly signifying the misanthropic, almost sociopathic in-ring style. It’s a long way from a guy who once made his way to the ring in matching denim and a top hat with a guitar hero controller, that’s for sure.

Conclusion…

After the dissolution of Bad Intentions due to Giant Bernard returning to WWE as Tensai, and Karl Anderson’s limited skills sure to keep him at mid-card status, the opportunity for another gaijin to really make his mark in their wake has opened up. It’s not just convenient opportunity that has made Lance Archer that man though, it’s everything about him. His billing in the sub-headline match at the 41st Anniversary show a fortnight ago couldn’t make it any plainer- he is the number two gaijin in Japan right now behind only Prince Devitt. Given the way Devitt wrestled rings around Hiroshi Tanahashi for most of that headline match and took the IWGP World Heavyweight champ to the absolute limit it seems likely that the intense and technical Irishman will have a run with NJPW’s biggest prize in the not too distant future, a certainty only questioned by TNA’s apparent interest in Devitt. If it’s not going to be The Best Around who achieves it first then mark my words, Lance Archer will be the first non-Japanese wrestler to hold a major Japanese World Heavyweight title since Brock Lesnar did it back in 2005.