Lance Archer Teases Future IWGP World Heavyweight Title Match

Lance Archer has done pretty well for himself in New Japan Pro-Wrestling since making his way to the promotion in 2011. He has held the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship twice and, along with Davey Boy Smith Jr., the IWGP World Tag Team Championships on three occasions. However, NJPW's top prize — the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship — has eluded Archer his entire career; the "Murderhawk Monster" has never even received a title shot to this point.

On January 4, Jay White will defend the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against the winner of this year's G1 Climax, Kazuchika Okada, in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 17. With Okada and White's match quickly approaching, Archer hit Twitter to tweet the following: "It's easy. I want to fight the winner of Wrestle Kingdom! @rainmakerXokada @JayWhiteNZ IDGAF! LETS GO! @njpw1972 @njpwglobal Don't FEAR THE FIGHT!" His words were in response to a video NJPW had posted of him stating that he was interested in finally winning the title.

Archer represented AEW in the G1 this past summer, where he was positioned in Block A. While Archer finished the tournament with six points, it was not enough for him to move on, as Okada won the block with 10 points, defeating Archer in the process. Archer's three victories in the block came against Toru Yano, Tom Lawlor, and JONAH, who recently returned to WWE as Bronson Reed. This was Archer's sixth G1 Climax, however, he has yet to make it to the Finals in any of his appearances. In each G1 between 2011 and 2014, Archer ended up with eight points; in 2019, he finished with six.