Lance Archer has had a number of battles with Will Ospreay dating back to their time in NJPW, and Archer recently looked back on their history. The AEW star spoke about his matches with Ospreay on the latest Murderhawk Mailbag, and you can see highlights below (per Wrestling Inc):
On the start of his rivalry with Ospreay in NJPW: “That was kind of — his real initial rise in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, he was really taking off, you know, he’d already gained a lot of popularity through different situations and different matches… I was really known as a tag team guy. I wasn’t known as a singles guy, and he was known as one of the hottest Super Juniors in the world moving up into the Heavyweight division. So, it was a big clash of styles and you know, he got the best of me on that one as well, but it opened up the eyes of a lot of people as to what I was able to do.”
On their G1 Climax match in 2019: “It was one of the matches that really — for me — kind of set me on a new path, you know, and it opened the eyes because it was on live TV in the States back in 2019… That was the birth of the ‘Murderhawk,’ was that night against Will in the G1 2019, and I came out victorious in that one.”
On Ospreay beating him in the tournament leading into All In last year: “He bested me in that one, and he went on and did what he did, so this was our fourth meeting — our first time in AEW since he’s joined the company officially, our first time fighting each other in the US, you know, in all [this] time and all these years.”
On Ospreay’s rise in the wrestling world: “Will is on the hottest of hot streaks you could possibly have as far as professional wrestlers are concerned, and rightfully so. He’s called the Billy Goat, but that Goat references to being how great and amazing he is, and he truly absolutely is one of the greatest wrestlers to ever step foot in the ring, you know. I always liken him to like AJ Styles and guys like that.”
On Ospreay’s match with MJF at All In: “I hope he wins it because I want a title match with him, so I can kick his ass and take that title from him.”
