Rocky Romero

Real name: John Rivera
Height: 5’7″
Weight: 175 lbs.
Date of birth: October 28, 1982
Born: Havana, Cuba
Pro debut: September 13, 1997
Trained by: Jesse Hernandez &
Bill Anderson
Finishing move: La Bamba

Biography

– Rivera began his career in the late 90s, wrestling as ‘Rocky Romero’ in several southern US independent promotions
– In 2000, Romero began teaming with Ricky Reyes as ‘Los Cubanitos’
– On April 29, 2001, Los Cubanitos defeated Aggravated Assault (Malice & Mayhem) to win the EWF Tag Team Titles, but would lose them back in their first defence a few months later
– On February 16, 2002, Los Cubanitos defeated Aggravated Assault (Malice & Mayhem) to regain the EWF Tag Team Titles
– On April 19, Los Cubanitos defeated Threat & The Nomad to retain the EWF Tag Team Titles
– On June 22, Los Cubanitos defeated PHAT (Devon Willis & Eric Matlock) to retain the EWF Tag Team Titles
– By the summer of 2002, Romero & Reyes had changed their tag team name to ‘The Havana Pitbulls’
– In October 2002, The Havana Pitbulls travelled to Japan to work a tour for NJPW
– In the summer of 2003, Romero began competing for Mexico’s CMLL
– On September 12, 2003, Romero defeated Volador Jr to become the first CMLL World Super Lightweight Champion
– On September 26, The Havana Pitbulls (Romero & Ricky Reyes) defeated Los Chivos (Enigma de Oro & Kayam) to win the EWF Tag Team Titles
– In April 2004, The Havana Pitbulls debuted for Ring Of Honor
– On August 7, The Havana Pitbulls defeated The Second City Saints (CM Punk & Colt Cabana) to win the ROH Tag Team Titles
– On August 28, The Havana Pitbulls defeated Special K (Izzy & Dixie) to retain the ROH Tag Team Titles
– At Glory By Honor III, The Havana Pitbulls defeated Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer, Generation Next (Roderick Strong & Jack Evans) and The Carnage Crew (DeVito & Loc) in an Ultimate Endurance Match to retain the ROH Tag Team Titles
– On October 2, The Havana Pitbulls defeated Special K (Angel Dust & Dixie) to retain the ROH Tag Team Titles
– On November 5, The Havana Pitbulls defeated Generation Next (Roderick Strong & Jack Evans) to retain the ROH Tag Team Titles
– The next day, The Havana Pitbulls defeated BJ Whitmer & Dan Maff to retain the ROH Tag Team Titles
– At All Star Extravaganza II, The Havana Pitbulls defeated Nigel McGuinness & Chad Collyer to retain the ROH Tag Team Titles
– On December 10, Romero defeated Virus to regain the CMLL Super Lightweight Title
– The next day, Romero won the Toryumon Young Dragons Cup, defeating Hiromi Horiguchi in the final
– On January 15, 2005, The Havana Pitbulls (Romero & Ricky Reyes) defeated Steve Corino & CM Punk and The Carnage Crew (DeVito & Loc) in an Ultimate Endurance Match to retain the ROH Tag Team Titles
– On March 5, The Rottweilers (Romero, Ricky Reyes & Homicide) won the ROH Trios Tournament, defeating Generation Next (Jack Evans, Roderick Strong & Austin Aries) in the final
– On April 22, The Havana Pitbulls (Romero & Ricky Reyes) defeated Los Chivos (Enigma de Oro & Kayam) to win the EWF Tag Team Titles
– On August 25, Romero (as Black Tiger) defeated Jason Rumble to win the NWA Junior Heavyweight Title
– On October 8, Black Tiger defeated Tiger Mask to retain the NWA Junior Heavyweight Title and win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
– On October 30, Black Tiger defeated Koji Kanemoto to retain the IWGP and NWA Junior Heavyweight Titles
– On November 12, Black Tiger defeated Ace Steel to retain the NWA Junior Heavyweight Title
– On January 21, 2006, Romero defeated Tommy Williams to win the CMLL Super Lightweight Title
– On January 29, Black Tiger defeated Tengkwa to retain the NWA Junior Heavyweight Title
– At TNA Lockdown 2006, Black Tiger, Hirooki Goto & Minoru defeated Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley & Sonjay Dutt
– On May 19, Black Tiger won the Best Of American Super Juniors Tournament, defeating Roderick Strong in the final
– On August 25, Romero defeated Mikey Nicholls to retain the CMLL Super Lightweight Title
– On October 29, Romero defeated Super Astro to retain the CMLL Super Lightweight Title
– At Death Before Dishonor V, No Remorse Corps (Romero, Roderick Strong & Davey Richards) & Matt Sydal defeated The Resilience (Austin Aries, Matt Cross, Erick Stevens) & Delirious
– At Glory By Honor VI, No Remorse Corps defeated The Vulture Squad (Ruckus, Jigsaw & Jack Evans)
– At Final Battle 2007, Romero defeated Ernie Osiris
– On January 26, 2008, No Remorse Corps (Romero & Davey Richards) defeated The Age Of The Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black), The Hangmen Three (Brent Albright & BJ Whitmer) and Austin Aries & Bryan Danielson in an Ultimate Endurance Match to win the ROH Tag Team Titles
– At ROH’s 6th Anniversary Show, No Remorse Corps defeated The Vulture Squad (Ruckus & Jigsaw) to retain the ROH Tag Team Titles
– At Supercard Of Honor III, No Remorse Corps again defeated The Vulture Squad to retain the ROH Tag Team Titles
– Black Tiger lost his mask at NJPW Resolution 2009 and Romero retired the character shortly thereafter
– At AAA TripleMania XVII, Romero, Charly Manson & X-Pac defeated El Zorro, Escoria & Ozz
– At Final Battle 2009, Romero defeated Alex Koslov
– On August 8, 2010, Romero defeated Steve Pain to win the LLII Title
– On May 21, 2011, Romero won the M1W Hall of Fame Cup, defeating Karl Anderson in the final
– In September 2011, Romero began working full-time for New Japan
– At Destruction 2011, No Remorse Corps (Romero & Davey Richards) defeated Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles, but would lose them back at Wrestle Kingdom
– At The New Beginning 2012, No Remorse Corps (Romero & Davey Richards) defeated Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi) to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– At Dominion 2012, Romero, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Yuji Nagata, Wataru Inoue & Captain New Japan
– On July 22, Forever Hooligans (Romero & Alex Koslov) defeated Tiger Mask & Jushin Thunder Liger to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– On August 26, Forever Hooligans defeated Alex Shelley & AJ Kirsch to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– At King Of Pro Wrestling 2012, Forever Hooligans defeated Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– At Wrestling Dontaku 2013, Forever Hooligans defeated Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles, having lost them at Power Struggle in November
– At Dominion 2013, Forever Hooligans defeated Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– On July 20, 2013, Forever Hooligans defeated Suzuki-gun (TAKA Michinoku & Taichi) to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– On July 27, Forever Hooligans defeated reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) to win the ROH Tag Team Titles, but would lose them to The American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) just over a week later
– At Death Before Dishonor XI, Forever Hooligans defeated The American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– In a dark match prior to Power Struggle 2013, Forever Hooligans, YOSHI-HASHI & Yujiro Takahashi defeated KUSHIDA, BUSHI, Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan
– At Invasion Attack 2015, Roppongi Vice (Romero & Trent Beretta) defeated The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– On January 24, 2016, Romero won the Percy Pringle III Memorial Cup, defeating Kevin Martenson in the final
– At Invasion Attack 2016, Roppongi Vice (Romero & Trent Beretta) defeated Matt Sydal & Ricochet to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles, but would lose them back at Wrestling Dontaku a month later
– At Death Before Dishonor XIV, CHAOS (Romero, Trent Beretta & Toru Yano) defeated BULLET CLUB (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Yujiro Takahashi)
– At Power Struggle 2016, Roppongi Vice defeated ACH & Taiji Ishimori to win the Super Junior Tag Tournament
– At Wrestle Kingdom 11, Roppongi Vice defeated The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– At The New Beginning In Sapporo 2017, Roppongi Vice defeated Suzuki-gun (TAKA Michinoku & Taichi) to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– On April 27, 2017, Roppongi Vice defeated Suzuki-gun (TAKA Michinoku & Taichi) to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
– On May 28, Romero defeated Scorpio Sky to win the UWN Television Title
– On June 24, Roppongi Vice (Romero & Trent Beretta) defeated The Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) to win the WrestleCircus Big Top Tag Team Titles
– The next day, Romero fought Scorpio Sky to a no-contest to retain the UWN Television Title
– On July 22, Roppongi Vice (Romero & Trent Beretta) defeated The Lucha Brothers (Rey Fenix & Pentagon Jr) to retain the WrestleCircus Big Top Tag Team Titles
– The next day, Romero defeated Tristan Archer to retain the UWN Television Title
– In August 2020, Romero began competing for NJPW’s US-based STRONG project
– At Final Battle 2021, Romero, Brody King, Tony Deppen & Homicide defeated Taylor Rust, Tracy Williams, Eli Isom & EC3
– At Dynamite’s 3-year Anniversary Show, Roppongi Vice (Romero & Trent Beretta) fought ROH Tag Team Champions FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) to a double DQ
– On the AEW Full Gear 2022 pre-show, Romero, Trent Beretta, Chuck Taylor, Orange Cassidy & Danhausen defeated The Factory (QT Marshall, Nick Comoroto, Aaron Solo, Lee Johnson & Cole Karter)
– On January 20, 2023, Romero defeated Volador Jr to win the NWA Historic Welterweight Title, ending Volador’s 4+ year run with the belt
– On February 4, Romero defeated Yuya Uemura to retain the NWA Historic Welterweight Title
– On March 4, Romero defeated Lince Dorado & Jake Crist to retain the NWA Historic Welterweight Title
– On March 18, Romero defeated Dan The Dad to retain the NWA Historic Welterweight Title
– At Fantastica Mania Mexico 2023, Romero defeated Volador Jr to retain the NWA Historic Welterweight Title
– At NJPW STRONG Independence Day 2023, Romero & Eddie Kingston defeated BULLET CLUB (KENTA & Gedo)
– At MLW Slaughterhouse 2023, Romero defeated AKIRA to retain the NWA Historic Welterweight Title and win the MLW Middleweight Title
– At the 2023 MLW/WTF One-Shot, Romero defeated Mascara Dorada to retain the NWA Historic Welterweight and MLW Middleweight Titles
– At MLW SuperFight 2024, Romero defeated Ichiban to retain the MLW Middleweight Title
– At Fantastica Mania Mexico 2024, Romero & Taiji Ishimori defeated Mascara Dorada & Templario
– On the All In 2024 pre-show, Romero, Kip Sabian, Action Andretti, Dante Martin, Darius Martin, Tommy Billington, Lio Rush & Kyle Fletcher defeated Jay Lethal, Alex Reynolds, John Silver, Anthony Ogogo, Ariya Daivari, Satnam Singh, Isaiah Kassidy & Marq Quen
– At Capital Collision 2024, Romero, YOSHI-HASHI & Kevin Knight defeated Bullet Club (David Finlay, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney)