Rocky Romero

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2010)
Rocky Romero

Romero in March 2009.
Ring name(s) Rocky Romero
Black Tiger IV
Grey Shadow
Mr. Azucar
Tornado Azteca
Billed height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Billed weight 175 lb (79 kg)
Born October 28, 1982 (1982-10-28) (age 29)
Havana, Cuba
Resides Los Angeles, California, United States
Billed from Havana, Cuba
Trained by Kevin Quinn
Jesse Hernandez
Bill Anderson
Antonio Inoki
Shinya Makabe
Negro Casas
Debut September 13, 1997

John R. Rivera (born on October 28, 1982) is a Cuban American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Rocky Romero[1] and as the fourth incarnation of Black Tiger. As Romero he was one half of the tag team The Havana Pitbulls (formerly Los Cubanitos), along with Ricky Reyes. He also was a member of the No Remorse Corps in Ring of Honor with Roderick Strong and Davey Richards. Romero and Richards are former ROH World Tag Team Champions in the stable and in 2011 revived the name in New Japan Pro Wrestling, where they went on to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Romero's wrestling style based around stiff shoot-style kicks and multiple armlock variations.

Contents

[edit] Career

Romero debuted in 1997. He has received training in the New Japan Dojo in Los Angeles and for some time now has been a regular trainer there. His career has taken him through promotions in the Southern California region to Mexico, where he competed successfully for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (the country's longest-running promotion) and in Japan where he has worked most notably in New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he was chosen to become the fourth incarnation of Black Tiger, the villainous gaijin opponent of Tiger Mask (in this case Tiger Mask IV). On October 8, 2005, Romero, as Black Tiger IV, defeated Tiger Mask IV for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. After a four month reign, Tiger Mask IV regained the title from his nemesis.

[edit] Mexico (2003–2010)

In late 2003, Romero began working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. On September 12, Romero became CMLL's first-ever World Super Lightweight Champion after defeating Volador Jr. in a tournament final. Romero has since won the title two more times and is currently in his third reign. In early 2008, Romero began competing as the Grey Shadow, a masked gimmick. However, on October 5, 2008, Romero jumped from CMLL to rival promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración while still holding the CMLL World Super Lightweight Title. He made his surprise debut at the promotion's television taping in Puebla and was announced as a member of Sean Waltman's D-Generation MEX stable at the show. On July 4, 2010, Romero turned rudo and joined La Legión Extranjera.[2] However, just four days later it was reported that Romero had left AAA, after the company had asked him to take a pay cut.[3]

[edit] Ring of Honor (2004–2005)

Romero's main exposure in the United States came while he was one half of the Havana Pitbulls tag team, with partner Ricky Reyes, in Ring of Honor where he and Reyes set a record for the longest reign as ROH Tag Team Champions, a record they held until it was broken by the team of Austin Aries and Roderick Strong.[4] While in ROH, he and Reyes were also members of Homicide's stable, The Rottweilers. He left the company at the end of 2005 to focus on working in Japan.

[edit] Japan and the independent circuit (2007–present)

Romero made his debut in Pro Wrestling Noah on March 4, 2007 versus Mushiking Terry, casting into doubt the future of the Black Tiger IV persona, although his participation in the debut show of the Inoki Genome Federation could have been more of an issue. Romero, however, did compete as Black Tiger IV in August 2007 in Chikara to compete for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship against champion Mike Quackenbush. At NJPW's Resolution '09 on April 5, Romero lost in a mask vs. title match against Tiger Mask IV thus ending his role as Black Tiger.[5] On October 12, 2010, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that Romero would return to the promotion in November, teaming with Davey Richards in the Super J Tag League, as a member of the promotion's top heel stable, Shinsuke Nakamura's CHAOS.[6] The five day long tournament ended on November 13, with Romero and Richards winning their block and advancing to the finals, where they were defeated by their CHAOS team mates Jado and Gedo.[7] On May 3, 2011, Romero and Richards unsuccessfully challenged Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.[8] On May 21, Romero won Mach-1 Pro Wrestling's the Hall of Fame Cup, defeating Ryan Taylor, Famous B and Karl Anderson.[9] On October 10, 2011, Romero and Richards defeated Devitt and Taguchi in a rematch to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the first time.[10] Romero and Richards made their first successful title defense on November 12 at Power Struggle, defeating the team of Kushida and Tiger Mask IV.[11] On December 23, Romero unsuccessfully challenged Prince Devitt for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.[12] On January 4, 2012, at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, Romero and Richards lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship back to Devitt and Taguchi.[13]

[edit] Return to ROH (2007–2010)

He returned on January 26, 2007 by defeating Davey Richards. The following evening, Romero walked out on his longtime partner Reyes in the midst of a match against the Briscoe Brothers. On March 31, Romero was introduced as the newest member of the No Remorse Corps. Romero and new stablemate Davey Richards lost to Jack Evans and Naruki Doi. Rocky Romero has been touring with NOAH recently and is currently teaming with Atsushi Aoki in the NTV Jr Heavyweight Cup. He also made his debut for Antonio Inoki's new promotion the Inoki Genome Federation defeating El Blazer. On January 26, Romero teamed with Davey Richards and defeated the teams of The Age of the Fall (Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs), Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson, and Brent Albright and B.J. Whitmer in an Ultimate Endurance match to capture the World Tag Team Championship.[4] Romero and Richards later lost the titles to the Briscoe Brothers,[4] and Romero later left ROH in mid-2008 to once again compete in Mexico. He returned at Final Battle 2009, where he won a match against rival Alex Koslov.[14] They had a rematch on March 26, 2010, in Arizona during WrestleMania weekend, which Koslov won.[15]

[edit] Lucha Libre USA:Masked Warriors (2011)

Rocky Romero debuted on Lucha Libre USA:Masked Warriors on an episode premiering on 10/8/11. He debuted with Magno against the tag team Treachery with Magno gaining the pinfall on Rellik off of Romero's Cuban Cutter

[edit] In wrestling

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • International Wrestling Council
    • IWC Tag Team Championship (1 time)[18]
  • Millennium Pro Wrestling
    • MPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ricky Reyes[18]
  • SoCal Uncensored
    • Tag Team of the Year (2001) with Ricky Reyes[21]
  • Toryumon
    • Young Dragons Cup Tournament (2004)
  • Ultimate Pro Wrestling
    • UPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ricky Reyes[18]

[edit] Luchas de Apuestas record

See also: Luchas de Apuestas
Wager Winner Loser Location Date Notes
Mask Tiger Mask IV Black Tiger IV Tokyo, Japan 02009-04-05 April 5, 2009 IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship vs. Mask match.[5]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/r/rocky-romero.html
  2. ^ Pérez Canto, Rodrigo (2010-07-06). "Rocky Romero a la Legión Extranjera" (in Spanish). Boxylucha.com. http://boxylucha.com/triple-a/1051-rocky-romero-a-la-legion-extranjera.html. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
  3. ^ Boutwell, Josh (2010-07-09). "Viva La Raza! Lucha Weekly". WrestleView. http://wrestleview.com/viewnews.php?id=1278693147. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
  4. ^ a b c d "Ring Of Honor Tag Team Championship". Ring of Honor. http://www.rohwrestling.com/rohworldtagteamtitles.php. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  5. ^ a b "(Results) New Japan, 4/5/09". Strong Style Spirit. 2009-04-05. http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw/?p=538. Retrieved 2011-01-23. 
  6. ^ "SUPER J TAG LEAGUE teams and lineups revealed!". Strong Style Spirit. 2010-10-12. http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw/?p=2182. Retrieved 2010-10-12. 
  7. ^ "(Results) New Japan, 11/13/10". Strong Style Spirit. 2010-11-13. http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw/?p=2276. Retrieved 2010-11-13. 
  8. ^ "レスリングどんたく 2011" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. http://www.njpw.co.jp/match/detail_result.php?e=173. Retrieved 2011-05-03. 
  9. ^ "M1W The Hall Of Fame Cup results". Cagematch.de. http://cagematch.de/?id=1&nr=62564. Retrieved 2011-05-23. 
  10. ^ a b c "Destruction '11" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. http://www.njpw.co.jp/match/detail_result.php?e=412. Retrieved 2011-10-10. 
  11. ^ "Power Struggle" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. http://www.njpw.co.jp/match/detail_result.php?e=469. Retrieved 2011-11-12. 
  12. ^ "Road to Kingdom 1st" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. http://www.njpw.co.jp/match/detail_result.php?e=487. Retrieved 2011-12-23. 
  13. ^ "NJPW 40th anniversary Tour. レッスルキングダムⅥ in 東京ドーム" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. http://www.njpw.co.jp/match/detail_result.php?e=470. Retrieved 2012-01-04. 
  14. ^ Caldwell, James (2009-12-19). "Caldwell's Ring Of Honor PPV Report 12/19: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of ROH's first online PPV - Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black". Pro Wrestling Torch. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/PPV_Reports_5/article_37521.shtml. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
  15. ^ "Past Events". Ring of Honor. https://www.rohwrestling.com/live/events/past-event. Retrieved 2011-10-14. 
  16. ^ "G1 Climax Special 2011" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. http://www.njpw.co.jp/match/detail_result_game.php?e=394&c=3328. Retrieved 2011-10-10. 
  17. ^ http://www.myspace.com/romeroism
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h "Rocky Romero". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/r/rocky-romero.html. Retrieved 2009-08-04. 
  19. ^ "Independent Wrestling Results - September 2003". onlineworldofwrestling.com. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2003-09.html. Retrieved 2008-07-05. 
  20. ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 500 - 2007". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Wrestling Information Archive. http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/pwi/pwi50007.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-01. 
  21. ^ "SoCal Uncensored Awards 2001". SoCal Uncensored. Archived from the original on 2005-02-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20050213053904/http://www.socaluncensored.com/titles/awards/scu01.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-26. 

[edit] Media

  • Let the Gates of Hell Open: The Best of The Rottweilers – ROH DVD

[edit] External links

Portal icon Professional wrestling portal
Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa  · Dr. Wagner, Jr. and Kendo Kashin  · Jushin Liger and Great Sasuke  · Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka  · El Samurai and Jushin Liger  · Gedo and Jado  · Jushin Liger and Minoru Tanaka  · Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru  · Jushin Liger and Koji Kanemoto  · American Dragon and Curry Man  · Koji Kanemoto and Wataru Inoue  · Hirooki Goto and Minoru  · El Samurai and Ryusuke Taguchi  · Dick Togo and Taka Michinoku  · Minoru and Prince Devitt  · Legend (Akira and Jushin Liger)  · No Limit (Tetsuya Naitō and Yujiro)  · The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin)  · Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) (current)  · El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto  · Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi)  · No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards and Rocky Romero)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rocky_Romero&oldid=469507995"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages