While Kazuchika Okada hasn't even debuted in AEW yet, with his arrival expected in the next week at Revolution or Big Business, though far from guaranteed, it looks like the “Rainmaker” has already found himself with an interested party eager to mix it up with the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the ring once more: Lance Archer.

On paper, the pairing makes sense, right? Okada and Archer are far from unacquainted, as they have wrestled 25 times over various shows and events for New Japan, but none of those matches were decided on American soil, leading to a whole new world of opportunities for the duo in AEW should they both be in the promotion.

Discussing the possibility of working against the “Rainmaker” on Casual Conversations with The Classic, Archer embraced the challenge of wrestling Okada once more, as he knows few performers are as captivating as Okada.

“I mean, if he shows up in AEW, The Rainmaker knows what he gets into when he steps in the ring with me. I got the luxury of the honor of being around him when he first returned back to New Japan, when The Rainmaker was born, making his debut at Wrestle Kingdom, and then watching him skyrocket as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, wrestling him time and time again in G1s and other scenarios, and then the pandemic hit, and couldn’t go back to Japan. But I’d signed on with AEW at the time, so for me, it was good timing professionally because nobody knew the pandemic was coming, but I signed with AEW in early 2020,”  Lance Archer told Casual Conversations with The Classic via Fightful.

“Obviously, everything changed, the pandemic came, but New Japan, it was a very difficult place because of the travel restrictions that existed. So I didn’t get to go back to Japan for almost over two years, and then finally got to go back in summer of 2022. My final day of the G1, which was an odd G1 to begin with because the fans were still not allowed to cheer. We’d have full houses, they could clap, they could ‘Ooh’ and ‘Ah’, but there was no loud cheering and chanting of names or singing songs or anything like that. So it was a different and new experience. But I got to work with Okada, with an opportunity to move on in the tournament, but he bested me. But the match itself was one of my most memorable matches.”

After spending parts of the last decade wrestling together both in singles action or as members of their respective factions, Chaos and Suzuki-Gun, it would be pretty incredible to see the duo mix it up once more in AEW, whether they as come as part of a proper feud or simply as a moving piece inside of a much larger narrative. Either way, considering their history, Archer is open for the challenge, as many of his greatest matches as a pro came against some of AEW's new NJPW transplants.

Lance Archer is ready to welcome Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada.

Continuing his conversation with Casual Conversations with The Classic, Lance Archer reflected on his pre-existing history with both Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada, noting that AEW is lucky to have landed two of the top performers around.

“A lot of people were, from my understanding, were very happy with it, very excited about it. It was kind of another one of those, they know who Okada is. He’s The Rainmaker, he was the heavyweight champion many times over, biggest star in New Japan at the time, and one of the biggest in the history of New Japan, and I’ve had a couple of those moments in my career. Will Ospreay, who just showed up with us, having matches with him where people knew who Will Ospreay was and how amazing he is, and was at the time, but they just didn’t understand what I was able to do in the ring. When I stepped it up with him, it opened a lot of people’s eyes. Fast-forward with Okada, it was kind of the same scenario in the G1. If he does, I’m excited about knocking the teeth out of the Rainmaker yet again.”

Is it a tad unusual to imagine a future where the top of the AEW card looks a heck of a lot like the top of New Japan cards a few years back? Sure thing, if Ospreay wins the World Championship at All In 2024, he could very well see top challenges from Okada, “Switchblade” Jay White, and – assuming a healthy recovery – Kenny Omega back to back to back to close out the year. Still, if that happens, the real winner will be the AEW fanbase, as those are some top-tier matches that should get everyone excited about the future.