Birth name | Lance Vance Hoyt |
---|---|
Born |
Gause, Texas, United States |
February 28, 1977
Residence | Austin, Texas, United States |
Spouse(s) | Tessa Molzhon (m. 1995) |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Breakdown Dallas Hoyt Lance Archer Lance Hoyt Lance Rock Lance Steel Shadow Vance Archer |
Billed height | 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) |
Billed weight | 120 kg (260 lb) |
Billed from |
Dallas, Texas Austin, Texas |
Trained by | Solo Fiatala |
Debut | July 2000 |
Lance Vance Hoyt (born February 28, 1977) is an American professional wrestler, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as Lance Archer, regularly teaming with Davey Boy Smith Jr. as the Killer Elite Squad (K.E.S.).
He is also known for his work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he wrestled as Dallas and under his real name. He is a four-time NWA World Tag Team Champion (twice with Kid Kash while the title was under the TNA banner and twice with David Hart Smith Jr.). He also worked in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Vance Archer.
In 2000, Hoyt began training as a wrestler under Solo Fiatala, and debuted in July 2000, facing Tarzan Taylor in his first match. He spent the next four years working on the Texas independent circuit, using the ring names Lance Steel and Breakdown, the latter being a character created in the spur-of-the-moment by Hoyt in Corpus Christi when he had forgotten his usual ring attire and was forced to wrestle in his street clothing. Hoyt's most notable tenure within the Texas independent circuit was in Professional Championship Wrestling (PCW), where he debuted in 2000 as Shadow, a dark heel character. Throughout his time in PCW, he faced notable opponents including Paul London and Ahmed Johnson and early in his tenure, he created a stable called "The Dark Circle". Hoyt later left PCW upon signing with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) before later making his returned to the promotion in 2006 under his real name, while using his former Shadow ring name simply as a nickname. Soon after his return to PCW, Hoyt proceeded to win the Tag Team Championship with Wally Darkmon in 2006. Beginning in 2008, Hoyt reverted to his Shadow ring name and gimmick, while also adopting a mask. This was short-lived, however, as Hoyt unmasked and suddenly began using his Rock 'n Rave Infection gimmick from TNA a few months later. Following his release from TNA, PCW announced they had released Hoyt from his contract, which turned out to be a storyline, leading to Hoyt revealing he had a PCW "legends contract". Hoyt would go on to briefly become the commissioner of PCW before it was announced that he had signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment.