Early career (2000–2009) In 2000, Hoyt began training as a wrestler under Solo Faitala, They lost the titles to
D'Lo Brown and
Apolo the subsequent week, then regained them from Brown and Apolo the week following that. Left without a partner, Hoyt teamed with
Chris Candido to face
Sonny Siaki and
Apolo in a
cage match at
Lockdown. In the course of the match, Candido suffered a serious leg injury and was stretchered out, and Hoyt was pinned shortly thereafter. He lost to
Monty Brown at
Bound for Glory and was involved in the 10-man Gauntlet match later in the night to determine the number one contender for
Jeff Jarrett's
NWA World Heavyweight Championship. He returned to TNA at
No Surrender in the Triple Chance Tag Team
battle royal as a partner to
Ron "The Truth" Killings, but he was one of the first eliminated from the match. Hoyt made his Spike TV return, teaming with Killings to defeat
Matt Bentley and Kazarian. Hoyt participated in the
Fight for the Right Tournament, where he was one of the last two remaining men, making it to the third stage of the match. He lost to Abyss, who won a bye to the tournament finals for a shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Even so, he wrestled Ron Killings in the quarterfinals of the tournament on the November 2 episode of
Impact!, but was defeated. At
Genesis, Hoyt and Killings defeated
Austin Starr and
Alex Shelley with
Kevin Nash at ringside.
The Rock 'n Rave Infection (2007–2009) After Killings was given a new program, Hoyt started teaming up with the
Voodoo Kin Mafia (VKM). His role with the team seemed to be that of a friend and bodyguard, watching their backs during their matches, and working the occasional six-man tag team match with them on
Impact!. At
Slammiversary, VKM defeated
Basham and Damaja when
Kip James pinned Basham, but Hoyt turned his back on VKM when Kip was about to attack
Christy Hemme. He kissed Hemme after the match, thus re-establishing himself as a heel. He changed his ringname to Lance Rock on the July 17 episode of
Impact!, where he defeated
Matt Morgan shortly after Morgan. Since then, The Rock 'n Rave Infection defeated the teams of
Abyss and Matt Morgan,
Latin American Xchange, and The Prince Justice Brotherhood (Super Eric,
Shark Boy, and
Curry Man), the latter of whom soon began a feud with The Rock 'n Rave Infection. On February 10, 2009, Hoyt was released from his TNA contract. He wrestled his last match in TNA on the February 26 edition of
Impact!, teaming with Rave and losing to
Beer Money, Inc. in an "
Off the Wagon Challenge". For his first match, he teamed up with Jon Cutler and was defeated by
Duke Rotundo and Vic Adams. His ring name was then tweaked to Vance Archer. After defeating several enhancement talents over the following weeks, Archer defeated
Tommy Dreamer on the December 8 episode of
ECW. Archer continued his winning streak when he once again defeated Dreamer on the December 17, 2009, episode of
WWE Superstars. On the December 22 episode of
ECW, Archer defeated
Goldust in an "ECW Homecoming" qualifying match to advance to a battle royal where the winner would face the
ECW Champion Christian at
Royal Rumble for the ECW Championship. He then started a
feud with
Shelton Benjamin, which saw Archer lose to him via disqualification on the December 31 episode of
Superstars. However, Archer's unpinned streak was left intact. On the January 12, 2010, episode of
ECW, Archer was unable to win the "Homecoming Battle Royal" as he was eliminated by Benjamin. The next week on
Superstars, Archer was defeated by Benjamin, thus breaking his streak of not being pinned. The two continued to exchange victories, as Archer defeated Benjamin on the February 2 episode of
ECW while Benjamin defeated Archer in a no disqualification match the following week. at
WrestleMania XXVI, Archer competed in a 26-man pre-show battle royal where he was eliminated. Following the disbanding of the
ECW brand, Archer competed in dark matches and in FCW, and was eventually moved to the SmackDown brand, forming a tag team with
Curt Hawkins. They made their television debut as a team on the May 13 episode of
Superstars, defeating two local competitors. After the match, Hawkins stated that he and Archer had been given a 30-day contract to "make an impact". The team made its
SmackDown debut on the May 21 episode, winning another squash match. In an attempt to make an impact, the duo attacked
Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and
Christian on consecutive episodes of
SmackDown on June 4 and June 11, which they followed up on by defeating both in a tag team match on June 18. The next week the duo was officially named "The Gatecrashers". On the June 25 episode of Smackdown, The Gatecrashers and
Dolph Ziggler lost to Christian, MVP and
Kofi Kingston in a six man tag team match. On the July 9 episode of Smackdown, The Gatecrashers defeated Christian and
Matt Hardy. On the August 5 episode of
WWE Superstars, The Gatecrashers defeated
Trent Barreta and
Caylen Croft. On the August 19 episode of Superstars after Archer's match with MVP ended in a no contest and a tag team match was made where The Gatecrashers defeated MVP and
JTG. On the August 26 episode of Superstars. The Gatecrashers lost to Trent Barreta and Caylen Croft. On the September 9 episode of Superstars, The Gatecrashers lost a rematch to Caylen Croft and Trent Barreta. On the September 24 episode of Smackdown, The Gatecrashers lost to
Big Show in a handicap match. The team came to an end on the October 7 episode of
Superstars after a match between Archer and
Chris Masters. Archer accidentally struck Hawkins outside the ring, after which the two argued and a distracted Archer lost the match. Afterwards, Hawkins assaulted Archer. Archer returned to singles competition on the November 4 edition of
Superstars, losing to
Luke Gallows. On November 19, 2010, Archer was released from his contract along with five other wrestlers.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2011–2015) On May 15, 2011, Hoyt made his debut for
New Japan Pro-Wrestling, during the promotion's first-ever tour of the United States, attacking
Satoshi Kojima after a match. The following day it was announced that Hoyt, under the ring name Lance Archer, had joined
Minoru Suzuki's
Suzuki-gun, who had recently begun feuding with Kojima. Archer made his in-ring debut on June 18 at
Dominion 6.18 in
Osaka, teaming with Suzuki in a tag team match, where they defeated Kojima and
Togi Makabe. Three days later, the Suzuki-gun team of Archer,
Taichi and
Taka Michinoku was eliminated from the J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament in the first round by Kojima, Makabe and
Tomoaki Honma. In August, Archer took part in the
2011 G1 Climax, where he managed to win four out of his nine matches, including defeating former
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Togi Makabe in his opening match, finishing eighth out of the ten wrestlers in his block. Archer had his to date highest profile match in New Japan on September 19, when he was defeated by Togi Makabe. In the
2011 G1 Tag League, Archer teamed with Minoru Suzuki and, after four wins and one loss, the team finished second in their block, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On November 6, Archer and Suzuki first defeated the
CHAOS Top Team (
Shinsuke Nakamura and
Toru Yano) in the semifinals and then
IWGP Tag Team Champions Bad Intentions (
Giant Bernard and
Karl Anderson) in the finals to win the 2011 G1 Tag League. On November 12 at
Power Struggle, Archer and Suzuki failed in their attempt to capture the IWGP Tag Team Championship from Bad Intentions. On February 12, 2012, at
The New Beginning, Archer, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, Taka Michinoku and
Yoshihiro Takayama of the Suzuki-gun took a dominant 5–1 win over
Kushida,
Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe,
Wataru Inoue and
Yuji Nagata in a ten-man elimination tag team match, with Archer scoring eliminations over Kushida, Tiger Mask and Inoue. Afterwards, Archer and Takayama challenged
Tencozy (
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) to a match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. On March 18, Archer and Takayama were unsuccessful in their title challenge. On July 22 at Kizuna Road, Archer, Suzuki, Michinoku and Taichi defeated
Prince Devitt,
Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe and Yuji Nagata in an eight-man elimination tag team match, with Archer scoring three of his team's four eliminations. Following the match, Archer had a staredown with Makabe, building up to their upcoming match in the
2012 G1 Climax tournament. The match took place on August 1, the first day of the tournament, and saw Archer pick up the win over the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion for the second year in a row. After four wins and three losses, Archer headed to the final day of the tournament on August 12 tied at the top of his block, however, a loss to
MVP in his final match caused him to get eliminated from the finals. in February 2012 In the aftermath of Suzuki-gun's July 22 win, Archer had also made a challenge for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, held by Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima, but did not specify who his partner for the match would be. On August 13,
Harry Smith, later renamed Davey Boy Smith, Jr., was revealed as Archer's partner and the newest member of Suzuki-gun. On October 8 at
King of Pro-Wrestling, Archer and Smith, now known as the
K.E.S. (Killer Elite Squad), defeated Kojima and Tenzan to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. K.E.S. made their first successful title defense on November 11 at
Power Struggle, defeating Tenzan and Kojima in a rematch. From November 20 to December 1, K.E.S. took part in the
round-robin portion of the
2012 World Tag League, finishing with a record of four wins and two losses, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament in the second place in their group. On December 2, K.E.S. defeated Always Hypers (Togi Makabe and Wataru Inoue) to advance to the finals of the tournament, Archer's second in a row. Later that same day, K.E.S. was defeated in the finals of the 2012 World Tag League by Sword & Guns (
Hirooki Goto and Karl Anderson). On February 10 at
The New Beginning, Archer and Smith defeated Tenzan and Kojima for their third successful defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championship. On March 3 at New Japan's 41st anniversary event, Archer unsuccessfully challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for the
IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On April 5, Archer and Smith made their fourth successful defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championship against Nakamura and
Tomohiro Ishii. On April 20, Archer and Smith defeated Ryan Genesis and Scot Summers in
Houston,
Texas, to not only retain the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but to also win the NWA World Tag Team Championship. On May 3 at
Wrestling Dontaku 2013, K.E.S. lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship back to Tencozy in a four-way match, which also included
Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano, and
Manabu Nakanishi and
Strong Man, though neither Archer nor Smith was involved in the finish. K.E.S. received a rematch for the title on June 22 at
Dominion 6.22 in a three-way match, which also included Iizuka and Yano, but were unable to regain the title, when Kojima pinned Archer for the win. On August 1, Archer entered the
2013 G1 Climax. The tournament concluded on August 11 with a match, where Archer defeated his tag team partner Davey Boy Smith, Jr., costing Smith a spot in the finals and giving Archer a record of four wins and five losses. On November 9 at
Power Struggle, K.E.S. faced Tencozy and
The IronGodz (
Jax Dane and
Rob Conway) in a two-fall three-way match. In the first fall, they lost the NWA World Tag Team Championship to The IronGodz, but came back in the second to defeat Tencozy for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. From November 24 to December 8, K.E.S. took part in the
2013 World Tag League. After winning their round-robin block with a record of five wins and one loss, they were eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by their old rivals, Tencozy. On January 4, 2014, at
Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, K.E.S. lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to the winners of the tournament,
Bullet Club (
Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson). K.E.S. received a rematch for the title on February 9 at
The New Beginning in Hiroshima, but were again defeated by Bullet Club. On May 25 at
Back to the Yokohama Arena, K.E.S. failed to regain the NWA World Tag Team Championship from Tencozy in a three-way match, which also included Rob Conway and
Wes Brisco. On June 21 at
Dominion 6.21, K.E.S. received another shot at the NWA World Tag Team Championship, this time in a regular tag team match, but were again defeated by Tencozy. From July 23 to August 8, Archer took part in the
2014 G1 Climax, where he finished tied sixth in his block with a record of four wins and six losses. On October 13 at
King of Pro-Wrestling, K.E.S. defeated Tencozy to regain the NWA World Tag Team Championship. From November 22 to December 5, K.E.S. took part in the
2014 World Tag League. The team finished their block with a record of four wins and three losses, narrowly missing the finals of the tournament.
Pro Wrestling Noah (2015–2016) On January 10, 2015, K.E.S., along with the rest of Suzuki-gun, took part in a major storyline, where the stable invaded a
Pro Wrestling Noah show. During the attack, K.E.S. beat down
GHC Tag Team Champions TMDK (
Mikey Nicholls and
Shane Haste). This led to a match on February 11, where K.E.S. defeated TMDK to become the new GHC Tag Team Champions. In May, K.E.S. made it to the finals of the
2015 Global Tag League, where they were defeated by
Masato Tanaka and
Takashi Sugiura. After ten successful title defenses, K.E.S. lost the GHC Tag Team Championship to
Naomichi Marufuji and Toru Yano on May 28, 2016. K.E.S. regained the title from Marufuji and Yano on November 23. They lost the title to
Go Shiozaki and
Maybach Taniguchi on December 3. Two days later, it was announced that Suzuki-gun was gone from Noah, concluding the invasion storyline.
Global Force Wrestling (2015) On May 6, 2015,
Global Force Wrestling (GFW) announced Hoyt as part of their roster. He made his debut for the promotion on August 14, losing to
Nick Aldis. On August 21, K.E.S lost to
Bullet Club (
Doc Gallows and
Karl Anderson) in the quarter-finals of the GFW tag team title tournament.
Return to NJPW (2017–present) in 2017|thumb The entire Suzuki-gun returned to NJPW on January 5, 2017, attacking the Chaos stable with K.E.S. targeting
IWGP Tag Team Champions Tomohiro Ishii and
Toru Yano. On February 5 at
The New Beginning in Sapporo, K.E.S. unsuccessfully challenged Ishii and Yano for the IWGP Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, also involving Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma. Following the event, Archer was sidelined with a herniated disc in his lower back, which would require surgery and sideline him for a significant amount of time. After this injury, Archer changed his
Blackout finisher to avoid a future injury. Instead of a sitout reverse crucifix powerbomb, he began to perform a reverse crucifix powerbomb. Archer returned from his injury at G1 Finals on August 13, when he and Smith attacked IWGP Tag Team Champions
War Machine (
Hanson and
Raymond Rowe) and
Guerrillas of Destiny (
Tama Tonga and
Tanga Loa). On September 24 at
Destruction in Kobe, K.E.S. defeated War Machine and G.O.D. in a three-way tornado tag team match to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship for the third time. At the end of the year, K.E.S. took part in the
2017 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of five wins and two losses, failing to advance to the finals due to losing to block winners G.O.D. in their head-to-head match. On January 4, 2018, at
Wrestle Kingdom 12, K.E.S. lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to
Los Ingobernables de Japón (
Evil and
Sanada). In June 2018, the K.E.S. made two appearances for American promotion
Ring of Honor (ROH), who has a partnership with NJPW. They lost to the
Bullet Club on June 15, and
the Briscoe Brothers on June 16; the latter match being for the
ROH Tag Team Championship. Then K.E.S. competed in the
2018 NJPW World Tag League in December 2018, ending with 18 points, therefore failing to advance to the tournament finals. In June 2019, Smith left NJPW, disbanding the K.E.S. and leaving Archer as a singles competitor. Shortly afterwards, Archer competed in the
2019 G1 Climax, his first participation since 2014; he participated in the A Block, with a final standing of 6 points, failing to advance to the finals. At
King of Pro-Wrestling on October 14, Archer replaced
Jon Moxley to defeat
Juice Robinson to win the vacant
IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, his first singles championship in NJPW. He successfully defended the championship against
David Finlay at
Showdown in San Jose on November 9. Archer lost the title to Moxley in a
Texas Deathmatch at
Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 4, 2020. On February 26, Archer signed with
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and his profile was removed from NJPW's official website, signaling his departure from NJPW. Archer finished with a total of 6 points, failing to advance to the semi-finals. Archer returned to NJPW in November, teaming with
Minoru Suzuki in the
World Tag League, where the team finished with 8 points, failing to advance to the finals. At the World Tag League and
Best of the Super Juniors finals, Suzuki announced the disbandment of Suzuki-gun by the end of the year. The final match between the faction took place on December 23, where the team of
Taichi,
Zack Sabre Jr.,
Yoshinobu Kanemaru and
Douki defeated Suzuki, Archer,
El Desperado and
Taka Michinoku. After the match, each of the Suzuki-gun members spoke about their memories as a part of the group and thanked leader Suzuki. The night ended with all members posing with the Suzuki-gun flag, only to be interrupted by former member
Takashi Iizuka, causing all nine men to pose in the ring, behind the Suzuki-gun flag. In April 2023, NJPW announced a tournament to crown the #1 contender for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, with Archer being named as one of four participants. At NJPW Collision in Philadelphia, Archer defeated
Fred Rosser to advance to the tournament final. At
Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-jo Hall, Archer was defeated by
Will Ospreay in the tournament final.
All Elite Wrestling (2020–present) Championship pursuits (2020–2024) On February 26, 2020, Archer signed a multi-year deal with
All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He made his debut appearance on the March 11 episode of
Dynamite as a client of
Jake "The Snake" Roberts and he made his in-ring debut on the April 1 episode of
Dynamite, defeating
Marko Stunt. he defeated
Colt Cabana in the quarter finals, and
Dustin Rhodes in the semi-finals, but lost in the finals to
Cody at
Double or Nothing on May 23 after boxer
Mike Tyson prevented Roberts from interfering on Archer's behalf. On September 5 at
All Out, Archer won the
Casino Battle Royale match to become the number one contender for the
AEW World Championship. On October 14 at the
Dynamite Anniversary Show, Archer failed to win the championship in a No Disqualification match against
Jon Moxley. He returned in November coming to the aid of Death Triangle against Butcher and the Blade, and Eddie Kingston, turning
face in the process. On the December 2 "
Winter Is Coming" special episode of
Dynamite, Archer and The Lucha Bros. (
Rey Fénix, and
Penta El Zero Miedo) lost to Eddie Kingston, The Butcher, and The Blade. On The Dynamite Tribute Show for
Brodie Lee, "
Brodie Lee Celebration of Life", Archer teamed with
Evil Uno and Stu Grayson against Kingston, Butcher, and The Blade. Archer dressed up as Lee's classic look, with his team winning. On the February 24, 2021, episode of
Dynamite, Archer defeated former ally Rey Fénix to qualify for The Face of The Revolution Ladder Match at
Revolution. At Revolution, Archer faced
Cody Rhodes,
Scorpio Sky,
Penta El Zero M,
Max Caster, and surprise entrant
Ethan Page, with Sky winning. After Revolution, Lance Archer confronted
Sting and
Darby Allin, who was
TNT Champion at the time. In May, Archer challenged new TNT Champion
Miro to a match at
Double or Nothing. At Double or Nothing, Miro defeated Archer. On the July 14 episode of
Dynamite, Archer challenged
Jon Moxley to a rematch for the
IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship in a Texas Deathmatch, which Moxley accepted. The next week at
AEW Fyter Fest Night 2, Archer defeated Moxley to become a record-tying two time champion. The next week at
Fight for the Fallen he retained the championship against New Japan's
Hikuleo, setting a match against
Hiroshi Tanahashi at
NJPW Resurgence which he lost thus ending his reign at 24 days, which is the shortest reign in the title history. In early September, he realigned himself with a debuting Minoru Suzuki, and subsequently rejoin the Suzuki-gun stable, reverting to a
heel in the process. At
Rampage: Grand Slam, the duo were defeated by Moxley and
Eddie Kingston in a
Lights Out match. Archer was a participant in the Casino Ladder match, won by
Adam Page. He then participated in the eliminator tournament for an AEW World Championship match where he faced
Eddie Kingston in the first round. Archer was scheduled to defeat Kingston, but due to falling on his head after a botched moonsault, the match was quickly ended with Kingston rolling up Archer for the win. Later, it was discovered that Archer suffered a jammed neck as a result of the botched spot. After being sidelined for a few months with the neck injury, Archer made his AEW return on the January 12, 2022, edition of
Dynamite, attacking and setting his sights on
AEW World Champion Adam Page. This would lead to Archer reuniting with Roberts, briefly aligning with Dan Lambert of
American Top Team, and challenging Page to a
Texas Death Match on the February 9 episode
Dynamite. On the April 27 episode of
Dynamite, Archer would wrestle
Wardlow, losing via pinfall. After being announced for NJPW's
G1 Climax 32 in July, Archer defeated
Nick Comoroto at the
AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door Buy-In. In November 2022, Archer participated in the AEW World Championship eliminator tournanmet, where he was eliminated by
Ricky Starks in the first round. In June 2023, Archer formed an alliance with
The Righteous (
Dutch and
Vincent), teaming with them in various trios matches. On July 15 at
Battle of the Belts, Archer unsuccessfully challenged
Orange Cassidy for the
AEW International Championship.
The Don Callis Family (2024–present) On the October 8, 2024, episode of
Dynamite, Archer was acquired from Jake Roberts by
Don Callis to join
The Don Callis Family. On the next episode of
Dynamite, Archer formed a tag team within the Don Callis Family with
Brian Cage, later known as "
Murder Machines". In April 2025, Cage suffered an injury, putting Murder Machines on hiatus, though Archer would continue as a singles wrestler with The Don Callis Family. ==Other media==