I was fortunate enough to catch up with Lance Archer before he and Will Ospreay are set to kick off the 2019 G1 Climax Tournament this Saturday in his own backyard of Dallas, Texas.
In this first transcription of the interview,”The American Psycho” has a lot on his mind as he readies for his rematch against the “Recently Knighted-By-Rollins Little Guy,” including besting his newfound foe as well as settling other scores in his return to the tournament. Archer also talks about the significance of the G1 starting for the first time in the United States and how it can serve as an educational moment for American fans.
Lance Archer on the growth of the G1 Climax Tournament:
“When I started with New Japan eight years ago in 2011 the company was big in Japan, but it wasn’t the company it’s become today. It didn’t have the global viewing and expansion that it has today and I didn’t even understand the scale of what was going to be going on. I started with the company in June of 2011 and then was brought in for the G1 the first time, and I didn’t know. They were just like, “Oh yeah, you’re coming back for the G1,” I went, ‘Okay cool,’ not knowing the scale of the tournament itself and what it meant for the company and the way it was changing and even that first year that I was a part of it the G1 was still kind of growing in what it’s become today…
“It’s one of those things where the company has grown, the tournament has grown. I’ve done the tournament before where we did nine shows in eleven days and now it’s 19 shows over a month plus time. It’s expanded, it’s grown it’s gotten bigger, there’s more visibility, more and more people are traveling from everywhere to come see it.”
“For me it’s an exciting and huge deal for me to get back in the G1 and especially for the fact that it’s starting here in Dallas, TX.”
On how the A Block is full of revenge matches for him:
“A lot of guys in my block, including Ospreay, are in my aspect, they’re revenge matches. Will bested me in the New Japan Cup, but that was a match where, again, I’ve been a tag team wrestler for many years now with [Davey Boy] Smith and K.E.S. and whatnot, so me in a singles situation is something that most fans don’t get to see.
It’s always funny to me because I know what I can do, but I think there’s a lot of people who don’t and when Will and I were able to go out and produce the match that we did, there seemed to be a lot of people – Will is kind of on a hot streak right now. He’s on fire. He’s been very visible in a singles situation for the last year or so for sure. Where as I hadn’t been so when he and I had a match that we had, people were like, ‘Wait a second, Lance can do that. Okay, cool.’ I’m not bragging, I’m just saying it’s just one of those situations where I know what I can do and I know what I can produce, but a lot of world didn’t and working with Will in the New Japan Cup opened a lot of people’s eyes so I think that’s why if anyone is talking about this match, it’s kind like, ‘Oh, I wonder what they can do now on the G1 stage.’ I am as well and I’m kind of looking it as a revenge match cause I owe him for the New Japan Cup and the same goes for Tanahashi and Okada. I faced Okada in both the G1 and the New Japan Cups and unfortunately he’s bested me in those, and Tanahashi the same with G1s, he’s bested me in those. Fale in the New Japan Cup a couple years ago, he bested me in that. So I owe a lot of these guys, I want to get some revenge there.”
Archer continues to talk about looking forward to facing new opponents in the tournament and earlier talks upon his time in college football and how his faith has always been a huge part of his life in and out of the ring. More on that to come, but the full audio interview is below:
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)
