New Japan Pro-Wresting’s IWGP United States Champion, Lance Archer, recently spoke with Busted Open Radio. During their interview, the Suzuki-gun member spoke about his journey to singles gold in NJPW. He also detailed the moment he found out he would be winning the vacant championship.

Archer pointed to this past summers G1 Climax tournament as a turning point for him. He ended the tournament with six points, impressing NJPW personnel and fans with his aggressive attitude and in-ring skills.

“This business changes on a dime daily,” he stated. “You have your ups and downs, goods and bads. Luckily, I have been a part of New Japan Pro Wrestling for eight years and it’s been a great run with a lot of cool things and amazing experiences. When K.E.S [Killer Elite Squad] ended I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen as far as a single’s wrestler with New Japan and with G1 the opportunity came about and I took every chance."

He admitted that he looked at the tournament as an opportunity to change himself, evolving as a singles competitor in the process. It was a decision that the company got behind and supported.

“I didn’t even know what was going to happen and then the G1 and all the night through it kind of exploded like, holy crap, what the hell is going on? Even with myself, that was a kind of experience. The time and opportunity came about with the opportunity with Jon Moxley not being able to make it out to Japan and then changing the match to a title match between Juice Robinson and me and then ultimately capturing the U.S Title. It has been a whirlwind and a cool one. I’ve worked really had to get to this point so now it’s time to work even harder.”

Turning his attention to his title victory, Archer confessed he “didn’t see it coming.”

“I was flying into a typhoon and didn’t know what was going on when I got to Japan,” Archer admitted. “Like everybody, we all had some crazy travel issues and I literally landed at 2 pm on the day of the show and the show started at 5 pm. I didn’t find out anything until I got there as far as the match and all of that that was concerned.”

Archer stepped into the championship match as then-champion Jon Moxley was unable to travel to Japan due to adverse weather conditions. He defeated Juice Robinson to claim his first major singles championship in his 19-year career.