AEW's Lance Archer Discusses Evolution In Pro Wrestling

Lance Archer is undeniably a man of significant stature, but the AEW star has the ability to move around the ring like someone much smaller. Speaking on his new podcast, "The Hawk's Nest," Archer explained that he was trained by old school wrestlers, many of whom had a certain style in mind for him based on his size. However, that didn't stop him from injecting other styles into his wrestling over time.

"Everybody [was] working on new things — this [was] the early 2000s, so yeah, there was an idea of what big men were, but there was also kind of an evolution of the business," Archer said. "There always is. There's been big evolutions in the business even [in] the last few years, and that's just life."

Early in his career, Archer had people around him who reinforced the idea that it was more important to be authentic rather than fitting into someone else's idea of what a "big man" should be. As the years went on, he began incorporating more athletic moves into his repertoire, such as backflips.

"I never did anything too crazy," Archer continued. "The moonsault was probably the biggest [thing]. ... And until I landed on my head in AEW, I had never landed on my head, and it was just an easy move."

Now more than 20 years into his career, Archer is still active on AEW television. Most recently, he faced Mark Briscoe on the September 6 edition of "AEW Collision" in a losing effort.