Lance Archer Talks WWE Tryout, FCW, "Everybody Dies"

In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Lance Archer went into detail about his "everybody dies" catchphrase.

"I always say, everybody dies, and people say does that include you and I say yes, but I just have to be last. I’ve been around the world in this business. There have been a lot of opportunities that have stepped in front of me that I didn’t take full advantage of so there is that underlying meaning to everybody dies. It means everybody’s career ends at some point.

I’ve been lucky and blessed over 20 years now and still going strong at a top level with a top company in the business. I’m beyond blessed. But, at some point, it will come to an end. I don’t know when and I don’t plan on it being anytime soon, but this has been my biggest and best opportunity in the business with the waves AEW is making in wrestling.”

Archer also spoke about when he got a tryout with WWE.

“Around 2000, WWE asked how tall I was. I said 6ft 6in. They asked how much I weighed. I told them 210 which I was at the time. They said, ‘yea, call us back when you’re around 250 or 260.’ Without saying it, they were letting me know I needed to do some stuff to get bigger.”

He also spoke about his time in FCW.

“It was a confidence level I did not have in myself not understanding who I was or how I should be or how I should present myself. Japan helped me discover myself. AEW is benefiting from that. I finished up with TNA on a Tuesday. My contract went null and void on a Wednesday. I was down in Tampa for a tryout on Thursday and had a contract in my hand within a week. I literally had no time in between my TNA and WWE stuff. Going to FCW was good for me. Some people said I should be going straight to TV.

Once I got there and then understanding how they do business, especially back then, being in FCW was very valuable to me, but I still didn’t have the confidence. FCW existed in obscurity. When I debuted on their ECW product, I had short hair, no facial hair, no jacket, nothing. That was decided five minutes before the doors opened. I had hair down to the middle of my back, a goatee, and I had this big bad ass biker jacket I wore.

I had this image and this personality and this mentality in FCW that was from my understanding was the reason why I got brought up. But, literally 5 minutes before doors opened, I’m standing in the ring and Vince and Johnny were talking to each other. I didn’t know what they were saying. Then Johnny said, ‘Hey kid, come here.’ I said what’s up. He said, ‘Cut your hair.’ I asked if I was on TV tonight. He said yes, so I said, ok, whatever.

I chopped my hair off and shaved my face and they had me lose the jacket. I say I became “big guy #3” that day on the video game. You can’t help but be shaken by that to a small degree because it’s not like we are doing all this and this is the direction we need you to go. It’s just like, nope, cut your hair, shave your face, lose the jacket, go. I’m like, what do you want me to do? They said, “I don’t know. That’s for you to decide.”