AEW Star Believes They “Need to Be Rebuilt”

One of All Elite Wrestling’s most prevalent issues is its embarrassment of riches. The young promotion has one of the deepest rosters in professional wrestling history, yet only has three hours of weekly television to play with. While some talent have their spots on the card secured, others have to battle to get their minutes on either TBS or TNT. Stars like Miro, Andrade El Idolo, and Malakai Black have all expressed their frustrations with their lack of storylines, with only Black of that bunch being brought back in the recent weeks.

Another one of those disgruntled stars is former IWGP United States Champion Lance Archer. Archer burst onto the AEW scene in March 2020, aligning with WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts and feuding with Cody Rhodes. After being defeated by Rhodes in the finals of the AEW TNT Title tournament, Archer has rarely been featured on pay-per-view, as his most memorable matches have come in televised title matches.

Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Archer clarified his recent “stop bulls–tting” promo from the Road to Tokyo Dome event that was directed at AEW.

“Everybody lets something out here and there, once in a while. There was a little angst coming out,” Archer said (h/t Fightful). “I don’t take anything away from my time with every company I’ve been a part of. There are not a lot of places and opportunities that can and do allow the talent to go and be part of other bookings, companies, and places. I’m very grateful for my job. I don’t want my frustration to come across as I’m being ungrateful or not happy with the job that I do have. I just know what I could and should be doing.”

Archer acknowledged that while he has had major moments in AEW, he feels that he needs to rebuild himself if he is going to recapture the momentum he had in 2020.

“I’ve be a part of the company and big situations,” Archer continued. “I think I’ve created a base to who I am in the company, but things have kind of gone awry. I’m okay with the idea of a slow rebuild and reinventing myself and finding my place within the company to get back to fighting for those championships. I understand, right now, just jumping into that picture, may or may not be something that the fanbase can accept because you have guys like MJF that just absolutely encapsulated the wrestling world, Ricky Starks, and all these names that have been built to that point. I have a good base, I think I need to be rebuilt, and I think I can.”

As for what that rebuild could look like, Archer hopes it would still come alongside his manager.

“I would love to still be with Jake. He’s worked on his health,” Archer said. “He’s gotten his health under control, he was recently in San Antonio talking with the company and they are happy with where he’s at and what he’s doing. It could be a great part. I don’t think there was ever a point where Jake and I grew apart, there was just situations with his health and the direction I was going that separated us, but it didn’t take us apart. I didn’t turn on him, he didn’t turn on me. It’s possible he and I could be back together.”

Archer’s most recent AEW match came on November 18th, when he was defeated by Ricky Starks on AEW Rampage.