Lance Archer made an immediate impact in AEW, aligning himself with Jake Roberts and beginning a feud with the Rhodes family.
Archer built up his name in New Japan, especially over the last year with great in-ring matches during the G1 Climax 29 and his IWGP United States Title bouts against Juice Robinson and Jon Moxley. But Archer believes the pairing with Roberts was perfect in introducing him to a potentially new audience.
"A couple different people were pitched," Archer recalled on Talk is Jericho. "Jake was the deciding factor; his style, persona. His personality and mine were similar but different, a yin and yang. He's smooth and cool with how he says stuff and what he does. The Murderhawk Monster is very chaotic and kick your teeth in. It was intriguing. Jake is a legend and me, being in Japan, there's still a huge audience that didn't know anything. It was a great transition to take somebody like Jake, who becomes the guy who re-introduces me to the American audience."
When asked about learning from Jake, Archer replied, "He's been awesome because he's not somebody who tries to change me. He loves what I'm doing. But he goes, 'Try this, with this.' And it's amazing advice that anybody at any point should listen to."
Roberts was unable to help Archer at Double or Nothing as Archer was defeated by Cody in the finals of the AEW TNT Title tournament.
Elsewhere during the interview, Archer details his process in choosing AEW over NJPW. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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