Lance Archer Recalls His Interactions With Vince McMahon

AEW/ROH star โ€œThe Murderhawk Monsterโ€ Lance Archer recently appeared on an episode of The Snake Pit with Jake Roberts, where he talked about a number of topics including why his WWE career didnโ€™t work out.

Archer said, โ€œWhy didnโ€™t it work out? I donโ€™t know. I think you could put โ€” different people go through different things and have different experiences everywhere they go. I think my very short time there was a very different time in the business for the company, for myself. I remember I had a conversation with Batista one time because he was still heavily involved when I first got on the road with them. And he was like, โ€˜Man, I wouldnโ€™t want to be a heel in this day and age wrestling,โ€™ because โ€” and this was like 2009 also. Because he was like, โ€˜Itโ€™s so hard to be a heel. Because all the little basic bad guys heel things that we used to could do to cheat. What heโ€™s saying, like when he first got into the business or even when he first got on the road with them, theyโ€™d have kind of been taken away. You know, they were looking at it more straight sport-oriented, very kind of like โ€” the UFC had such a strong influence. They were extremely PG back then. So there were just so many things that we just werenโ€™t allowed to do to be a heel. And you know, Iโ€™m not saying that that really is what caused my time there not to be good. I think there were goods and bads.โ€

On his WWE debut:

โ€œMy story about when I even debuted there. And this is like November of 2009. Iโ€™d been down in Florida at FCW, which is pre-NXT and all that stuff. And I got called up on the road, I literally was at home. I think it was like a Saturday, and I got a call or an email or something. It was like, โ€˜Hey, we need you for TV on Tuesday,โ€™ which is when they take Smackdown and ECW at the time. And you know a lot of times guys and girls get put up on the road, and itโ€™s just to take a look at them. See what they can do, see what they can offer. Then, decisions were made later. I was debuting on their ECW product, because this was before NXT even existed. So I debuted an ECW product, and nobody had told me. And it wasnโ€™t till the morning of when Joey Styles, who was still heavily involved with the website stuff, he basically came to me and he was like, โ€˜Oh, hey, man, itโ€™s good to see you on the road. Iโ€™ll get all your information for your profile later.โ€™ And I went, โ€˜My profile later?โ€™ And he goes, โ€˜Yeah, youโ€™re debuting tonight.โ€™ โ€˜Okay.โ€™โ€

โ€œAnd then fast forward, you know, weโ€™re at the arena, weโ€™re getting ready, and everythingโ€™s kind of being set up and whatnot. And at the time I had long hair, and I had this very strong biker gimmick look going on. And this was something Iโ€™ve been doing in FCW for a long time, or the six months Iโ€™ve been there. And I remember being in the ring for about five minutes before the doors opened. The former owner of the company โ€” weโ€™ll leave it, figure out who that is. He and another guy [imitates John Laurinaitis] who talks like this. Hey, kid, whatโ€™s up? You know who Iโ€™m talking about. They were standing there talking to each other while Iโ€™m standing in the ring. I mean, itโ€™s literally like five minutes before doors are going to open. The staff is coming in, theyโ€™re seeing us all standing around there. Theyโ€™re literally about to start letting fans rush into the building. I mean, literally like five minutes before the doors. And all of a sudden the raspy man voice goes, โ€˜Hey kid, come here?โ€™ Itโ€™s like, โ€˜Whatโ€™s up, man?โ€™ He goes, โ€˜Weโ€™re cutting your hair.โ€™ I go, โ€˜Okay, am I still on TV tonight? And he goes, โ€˜Yeah, but you know, go do it.โ€™ And so they went and sent me to the hair and makeup lady, and she started chopping at my hair. And again, I had hair down to my butt almost. And she chopped it up like. They wanted to originally do like this weird Bieber look, and my hair wouldnโ€™t do that. And I looked like I had a mushroom head. But they did take me into the big bossโ€™s office. Theyโ€™re like, โ€˜Okay, howโ€™s this?โ€™ And he goes, โ€˜Yes, I like it! Get out!โ€™ Itโ€™s like, โ€˜Okay.’โ€

On his time in WWE:

โ€œI always say they turned me into Big Guy #3, you know. And I debuted, and I did my thing. And for a few weeks, it was going really fun and strong. And then ECW itself shut down. Shelton Benjamin and I had a few fun good matches. Kind of had to the second last ECW show, we had a nice hardcore match, an ECW Rules match or whatever they call it back then. But then, you know, everything kind of went on the shelf, and I didnโ€™t know what was going on. They put me on SmackDown, but I didnโ€™t do anything for like three or four months. And then Brian Myers โ€” or Curt Hawkins, as he was then โ€” called me one night when we got somewhere in Virginia or something like that. And he was like, โ€˜Hey, man.โ€™ He goes, โ€˜Uh, you at the hotel?โ€™ And I was like, โ€˜Uh yeah, you?โ€™ And he goes, โ€˜Yeah.โ€™ I go, โ€˜Cool, man. Are you back on the road?โ€™ He goes, โ€˜Remember that angle I pitched way back when you first showed up in the company?โ€™ And I was like, โ€˜Yeah?โ€™ He was, โ€˜Well, theyโ€™re gonna put us together.โ€™ And then it was like, โ€˜Okay, cool.โ€

โ€œAnd then the next day, you know, they were like, โ€˜Weโ€™re gonna film all these vignettes, weโ€™re gonna do all this stuff to kind of started introducing you guys.โ€™ And then as the day went on, nothing happened. As the day went on, nothing happened. As the day went o, nothing happened. And then theyโ€™re like, โ€˜We donโ€™t have time to do that. So you guys just go do a dark match.โ€™ So we did. โ€˜Weโ€™ll get to it next week.โ€™ And then the next week came, and same thing. They were like, โ€˜Weโ€™re gonna film all this stuff, you guys are showing up, weโ€™re gonna film you in front of the trucks like youโ€™re invading,โ€™ and blah, blah, blah. Nothing ever happened. It was just, all of a sudden that they threw us on Superstars or something like that. So our debut together was on Superstars. And then fast forward to a few matches on Smackdown. And then it just kind of disappeared. You know, there was no real explanation to it. So, why didnโ€™t it go? Well, I donโ€™t know. I mean, thereโ€™s probably a lot of reasons, and somebody didnโ€™t like me, who knows what the case was. But it just didnโ€™t, it was what it was. It ultimately led to the best time in my career when I started working with Japan. You know, Iโ€™d worked in Japan a few times before that. But not knowing how influential Japanese wrestling would be to me in my career. Had I just maintained my existence there, it probably would have never happened. So you know, blessing in disguise. It only lasted a very short period of time. You know, like, two years under contract, a year and a half on TV or something like that. So I donโ€™t know. You tell me why it didnโ€™t work.โ€

On his interactions with Vince McMahon:

โ€œI had very short ones, dude. Like, to the point where the night I was debuting, basically he was like, โ€˜Donโ€™t fuck it up. You only get one chance to make a first impression.โ€™ I was like, โ€˜Okay.โ€™ And then I think later, there was one moment when I was walking down the hallway and heโ€™s like, โ€˜Hah! You guys are kicking ass, I love it!โ€™ And he just walked out. And that was about it. I didnโ€™t have much more interaction during my whole time there. I do remember โ€” so the funny story. Basically, that time between ECW and when I was on SmackDown, I was working dark matches here and there. And this was before anything was all taped and put on, whatnot. And so anyway, I go and do this match โ€” I think it was actually the dark match that Hawkins and I did together for our first time.โ€

โ€œAnd we do the match, we come back to the curtain. And Billy Kidman, whoโ€™s at gorilla at the time. Heโ€™s like, โ€˜Heyโ€“โ€˜ And my name then was Vance. He was like, โ€˜Hey Vance!โ€™ I was like, โ€˜Whatโ€™s up man?โ€™ He goes, โ€˜Vince likes a beard?โ€™ And I went, โ€˜โ€ฆwhat?โ€™ He goes, โ€˜He likes your beard!โ€™ โ€˜Okay.โ€™ And I kind of gave him a thumbs up and went off. Later, because I still had to go down and do the FCW Thursday tapings at the time that they were doing. He told the story afterward. And I think it was just kind of like a, โ€˜Hey, you never know whatโ€™s going to draw somebodyโ€™s attentionโ€™ story. And so basically what happened was, I guess we were out in the ring, and weโ€™re doing our thing. And I can only guess that they did a close-up on my face. Iโ€™d been growing a beard for several months at this point. So it had gone from pretty close shaven in ECW to pretty grizzled beard going on. And I had shaken his hand and said hello for three months straight. But again, I was never somebody that was on his radar, so he didnโ€™t pay attention ever. And then this one time like, Iโ€™m sure he was in his office and we were just on the screen, and they just did a close up on my face. And the beard was popping at the moment. And he called into Billy, and Billy told me. And I think I remember like, the next week was when we were on Smackdown for the first time. So it was a really interesting experience that he liked my beard.โ€

You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.

(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)