I know tonight wasn't about anyone trying to get "over"

[Deleted]

But I'm officially sold on Lance Archer.

I'd been pretty "meh" on him, but it finally clicked with me in the 6 man. He's not JUST a hoss, he's a very athletic and fast hoss that makes sure to not just limit himself to the standard big man moves while still doing things that make sense for a man his size to do them, if that makes sense.

[Mozenrath]

I think he honestly is a more refreshing face than heel, so that helps. I am a fan, anyway, but he just has felt more in his element since going basically face in the aftermath of his title match with Mox.

Additionally, I feel like tonight was really good for Private Party. They got to mix it up and hit their big spots, but also got to show decency in turning down Matt's attempt to cheat. I think that was a good bit of character development.

[Derk!]

I've always dug his athleticism, but he just works better as a face/tweener than a monster heel.

[Deleted]

Dec 31, 2020 2:20:40 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I think he honestly is a more refreshing face than heel, so that helps. I am a fan, anyway, but he just has felt more in his element since going basically face in the aftermath of his title match with Mox.

Additionally, I feel like tonight was really good for Private Party. They got to mix it up and hit their big spots, but also got to show decency in turning down Matt's attempt to cheat. I think that was a good bit of character development.

In truth, he works so well as a tweener/face that he needs his own Bell-Gong/Glass-Shatter type thing at the start of his intro for crowds to pop to.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Tonight absolutely worked in getting guys over. These guys showed up to work, they showed up motivated as hell, and while it was a Brodie first night, I saw a lot of praise heaped on quite a few talents in particular like Colt, Silver, Stu, Archer, etc.

His Tweener/Face role is something I really hope they continue to lean into, he works so well with it and he can still obliterate people

Dude's legit, I'm glad he's finding his place, and honestly, if he kept the Brodie look, I'd approve, he looked awesome

[Deleted]

He's definitely a lot more interesting in a face role.

[King Devitt: Scrum Guzzler]

Dec 31, 2020 2:43:59 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

Dude's legit, I'm glad he's finding his place, and honestly, if he kept the Brodie look, I'd approve, he looked awesome

110% agreed, it just looked right on him.

[Bad Moon]

I noticed him and Blade working especially well together. A lot of really cool stuff in there, mostly them building to a spot where in a normal tag-team match you would expect that Archer is gonna get cut off so they can get the heat on him, but he just no-sells it and keeps going. I don't know if that was Archer's or Blade's call, but it worked to make Archer look like a monster.
The fact that he can do stuff like the Great Sasuke rope-walk into a moonsault at his size is phenomenal, obviously, but he's just as good at the little things as he is at the big moves. Like, Brian Cage and Luchasaurus are really agile big men as well, but Archer with the right opponent just has an extra edge in creativity.

[Ishmeal Loves Kaseyhausen]

There's something about a dude who uses his partners to beat up his opponent, then let's the partners do the same with him.

I've been on the Archer train since day 1, and hope a face/tweener run comes out of this.

[Bang Bang Bart]

I think Lance's already in that face/tweener role with his feud against Eddie Kingston and the Family. That said, once that feud ends, it'd be cool if he got a good run next year. Archer vs. Omega & Good Brothers could be a fun feud.

[Deleted]

Archer for a while had been someone always dealt a bad hand. I swear you place him 10-20 years ago or even 10 years after he was born he would have been or would be a huge name somewhere. When I started watching TNA he was in the Rock N Rave Infection, great workers, terrible gimmick (shout out to Rave whose career was recently ended). His WWE run has his hair cut and he is just another big man. NJPW he doesn't really take off until Smith leaves. His 2019 career renascence was a highlight of the year. He comes to AEW to a (not great) debut and a feud with Cody that sadly was hindered by COVID.

So glad this face run is off to a great start. Him versus Kingston is a match in 2021 I am really looking forward to.

[HMARK Center]

Even beyond Archer, I'm pleasantly surprised how they were able to run a tribute show that still managed to further some angles and let people mostly remain in character (Dark Order obviously being much more babyface than usual being the exception, of course). They managed to get heat on The Acclaimed without having to resort to anything cheap to get it, they gave a reminder that Britt vs. Rosa is still on the horizon with Britt giving a proper heel promo while still giving a "Big Rig" shout out, MJF remains the ultimate douchebag heel, etc.

It goes without saying, but that's not an easy thing to do. I don't fault any promotion that does a tribute show where the matches are basically outside of any currently ongoing storylines, it's a situation nobody wants to be in, but it was cool to see the matches hit that right note while not having to really sacrifice characters or stories to do so.

[Bang Bang Bart]

Dec 31, 2020 12:19:18 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Even beyond Archer, I'm pleasantly surprised how they were able to run a tribute show that still managed to further some angles and let people mostly remain in character (Dark Order obviously being much more babyface than usual being the exception, of course). They managed to get heat on The Acclaimed without having to resort to anything cheap to get it, they gave a reminder that Britt vs. Rosa is still on the horizon with Britt giving a proper heel promo while still giving a "Big Rig" shout out, MJF remains the ultimate douchebag heel, etc.

It goes without saying, but that's not an easy thing to do. I don't fault any promotion that does a tribute show where the matches are basically outside of any currently ongoing storylines, it's a situation nobody wants to be in, but it was cool to see the matches hit that right note while not having to really sacrifice characters or stories to do so.

I think what made it work was that the heel heat was quickly offset by the faces giving them comeuppance for their heinous actions (Acclaimed getting thrown by SCU to the Young Bucks and Colt Cabana; Eddie Kingston getting laid out by Lance Archer, Grayson, Evil Uno, and Jake Roberts; Brodie Jr. smacking MJF with the kendo stick; Britt Baker being attacked by Thunder Rosa; Team Taz thwarted by Sting and Darby finally joining forces).

[Cyno]

Archer the past few weeks has been showing what made me love him during his New Japan run. I think he shines in the face/face-leaning tweener role, too.

Granted, he was technically a heel in NJPW, but Suzuki-gun was too much fun to boo most of the time. The crowds almost always popped when he knocked down hapless ringside extras lol.

[dynamitekidd]

I’ve liked him the whole time but yeah going kinda face has helped a lot. When a guy like him is a straight up heel it’s easy to seem like just another big mean guy we’ve seen a hundred times. He should follow Jake the Snake, even when he was super over as a face, he still felt dangerous.