AEW's Lance Archer has competed in several promotions across his career, and taken up many different gimmicks as well, but some fans might have remembered him as "Vance Archer" from his brief stint with WWE." However, according to Archer on "The Hawk's Nest," his journey into WWE wasn't easy, and if it wasn't for three specific names in the promotion, he might've never been signed.

Archer described his WWE tryout as a "test" by the promotion, and claimed that they had several bad experiences with guys who were transitioning from TNA to WWE at the time. Archer surmised that WWE were also trying to test his attitude and noted that several of his friends in WWE went to bat for him to get the job. "Kurt Angle sent an email, like I said, Dusty [Rhodes] was a supporter of mine, the late Andrew [Martin] or 'Test' — he reached out to Johnny Ace at the time and said 'Hey, you should give this kid a chance,'" he recalled. "So I had several people — those people included — who reached out for me on my behalf." 

Additionally, Archer noted that his TNA release prior to joining WWE was difficult, as the promotion tried to hold onto him despite planning to release him, but as soon as his contract expired, he went to Tampa, Florida to have a private tryout with FCW. "A few of the guys that were a part of that tryout were Trent Barretta, his tag partner at the time, Caylen Croft, Brian Cage and I had a singles match and I did three different matches," he recalled.