John Raymond Rivera (born October 28, 1982), better known by his ring name Rocky Romero (ロッキー・ロメロ, Rokkī Romero), is a Cuban-born Puerto Rican-American professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of the Don Callis Family and one-half of Roppongi Vice with Trent Beretta. Nicknamed "Azúcar" (Spanish: sugar), he is best known for his accomplishments as a tag team wrestler, and was one-half of the Havana Pitbulls, Forever Hooligans and Roppongi Vice, as well as a member of the Chaos stable until their disbandment in 2025. His tenure as the fourth incarnation of Black Tiger was also met with praise and recognition.
Rivera made his in-ring debut on September 13, 1997, and, over the years, he portrayed several different characters including luchador enmascarados (masked professional wrestlers) and has wrestled extensively in Mexico for both Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Lucha Libre AAA World Wide (AAA). In the United States, he is known for his work with Ring of Honor (ROH) as a member of No Remorse Corps, and was one of the featured wrestlers for Lucha Libre USA.
As a singles wrestler, Romero won the CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship on three occasions, the NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship, the MLW World Middleweight Championship, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (as Black Tiger) and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. In the tag team division, he is a former three-time ROH World Tag Team Champion and a record eight-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. Romero's wrestling style incorporates stiff shoot-style kicks and multiple arm-lock variations resembling mixed martial arts, competing in lucha libre style events in Mexico early in his career.
In addition to his work in the ring, behind the scenes Romero is considered one of the most influential figures in professional wrestling, working as a liaison between AEW, CMLL and NJPW, amongst many other behind-the-scenes duties. Through his work, Romero has helped forge strong ties between the three international promotions.
Professional wrestling career Early career (1997–2007) Rivera made his wrestling debut in 1997, using the ring name Rocky Romero. He was trained by Antonio Inoki at the NJPW Dojo in Los Angeles. His career has taken him through promotions in the Southern California region to Mexico, where he competed successfully for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), the world's oldest wrestling promotion, and in Japan where he has worked most notably in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), 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, defeated Tiger Mask for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. After a four-month reign, Tiger Mask regained the title from his nemesis. Romero made his debut in Pro Wrestling Noah on March 4, 2007, against Mushiking Terry, casting into doubt the future of the Black Tiger persona. Romero would then tour with Noah and teamed with Atsushi Aoki in the Nippon TV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League. He also made his debut for Inoki's new promotion, the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), defeating El Blazer.
Romero, however, did compete as Black Tiger in August 2007 in Chikara to compete for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship against champion Mike Quackenbush.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2003–2004, 2008) In late-2003, Romero began working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in Mexico, using the name "Havana Brother I", where he would team up with Havana Brother II and Havana Brother III to form a three-man team known as Los Havana Brothers. A few months later, Los Havana Brothers began working as Rocky Romero, Pinoy Boy and Bobby Quance respectively. On September 12, Romero became CMLL's first-ever World Super Lightweight Champion after defeating Volador Jr. in a tournament final. On November 14, Virus defeated Romero to win the championship, signaling the exit of Los Havana Brothers for the time being. In late 2004, Romero made a surprise return to CMLL and defeated Virus to regain the championship. After the title win, he left CMLL again, occasionally defending the championship in Southern California. In 2005, local wrestler Tommy Williams won the Super Lightweight Championship, but Romero regained it in January 2006. At that point the championship became inactive, with no mention of it.
In early 2008, Romero returned to CMLL and began working under the name "Grey Shadow", a masked gimmick, without CMLL openly acknowledging that it was Romero under the mask. No official references were given to his past with CMLL, nor any mention of the fact that Romero was a CMLL World Super Lightweight Champion.
Ring of Honor (2004–2005, 2007–2010)
Romero's main exposure in the United States came in Ring of Honor (ROH) as one-half of the Havana Pitbulls tag team with Ricky Reyes; they were also members of Homicide's stable, The Rottweilers. Their first match was on April 23, 2004, losing to The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe). On August 7, he and Reyes defeated CM Punk and Colt Cabana to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship. At Glory by Honor III on September 11, they successfully defended the titles in a four-way Ultimate Endurance match against B. J. Whitmer and Dan Maff, Jack Evans and Roderick Strong and Carnage Crew (DeVito and Loc). They lost the titles to Whitmer and Maff on February 19, 2005, ending their reign at 196 days; it was the longest tag title reign until it was eclipsed by Austin Aries and Strong later that year. He left the company at the end of 2005 to focus on working in Japan, with Romero unsuccessfully challenging Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Championship at Steel Cage Warfare in his final match at the time on December 5.
Romero returned at Dedication on January 26, 2007, ending his association with Homicide before defeating Davey Richards. The following evening, at Battle of the Icons, Romero walked out on Reyes in the midst of a match against the Briscoe Brothers. At Supercard of Honor II on March 31, Romero was introduced as the newest member of the No Remorse Corps, but he and new stablemate Richards lost to Evans and Naruki Doi. Throughout the year, they feuded with Delirious and The Resilience (Aries, Erick Stevens and Matt Cross), whom they defeated on May 11 at Reborn Again and Driven on June 23 (aired September 21). Their feud culminated on October 6 at Undeniable, with Romero and Richards defeating Stevens and Cross in a match where the losers had to leave ROH for 60 days.
Romero and Richards unsuccessfully challenged the Briscoe Brothers for the ROH World Tag Team Championship at Glory by Honor VI on November 2 and in a two-out-of-three falls match at Rising Above on November 29. They defeated Age of the Fall (Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs), Aries and Danielson and Brent Albright and Whitmer in an Ultimate Endurance match to capture the title on January 26, 2008, only to lose it to the Briscoe Brothers on April 12. After leaving ROH in mid-2008 to compete in Mexico, Romero returned on December 18, 2009, and defeated Alex Koslov the next night at Final Battle. Koslov won their rematch in Arizona on March 26, 2010, during WrestleMania weekend.
Lucha Libre AAA World Wide (2008–2010) On October 5, 2008, Romero jumped from CMLL to rival promotion Lucha Libre AAA World Wide (AAA). He made his surprise debut at the promotion's television taping in Puebla, 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 instead. However, just four days later, it was reported that Romero had left AAA, after the company had asked him to take a pay cut.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2009, 2010–present) At New Japan Pro Wrestling's Resolution '09 on April 5, Romero lost in a mask vs. title match against Tiger Mask, thus ending his role as Black Tiger.
No Remorse Corps (2010–2012)
On October 12, 2010, NJPW announced that Romero would return to the promotion in November, teaming with No Remorse Corps partner Davey Richards in the Super J Tag League as a member of the promotion's top heel stable, Shinsuke Nakamura's Chaos. 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.
Romero and Richards unsuccessfully challenged Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship at Wrestling Dontaku 2011 on May 3, 2011, but won the title in a rematch at Destruction '11 on October 10. They made their first successful title defense against Kushida and Tiger Mask on November 12 at Power Struggle. On December 23, Romero unsuccessfully challenged Devitt for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. On January 4, 2012, at Wrestle Kingdom VI, Romero and Richards lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship back to Apollo 55, but regained it on February 12 at The New Beginning. However, on May 2, they were stripped of the title after travel issues forced Richards to miss Wrestling Dontaku 2012 the following day, where the two were scheduled to defend the title against Jyushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask.
Forever Hooligans (2012–2015)
At Dominion 6.16 on June 16, Romero reunited with his former AAA partner Alex Koslov, teaming as "Forever Hooligans". On July 22, they defeated Liger and Tiger Mask to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Forever Hooligans made their first successful title defense on August 26 at a Sacramento Wrestling Federation (SWF) event in Gridley, California, defeating A.J. Kirsch and Alex Shelley. They made their second successful title defense against the Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida) on October 8 at King of Pro-Wrestling. On October 21, Forever Hooligans entered the 2012 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, defeating Liger and Tiger Mask in their first round match. On November 2, Romero and Koslov were eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by Apollo 55. On November 11 at Power Struggle, Forever Hooligans lost the title to the winners of the Super Jr. Tag Tournament, the Time Splitters, ending their reign at 112 days.
On May 3, 2013, at Wrestling Dontaku 2013, Romero and Koslov regained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from the Time Splitters, but lost it to Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Taka Michinoku) on October 14 at King of Pro-Wrestling. For the first half of 2014, Forever Hooligans received several new shots at the title, held by The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson), but failed in their attempts at Wrestle Kingdom 8 on January 4 and Wrestling Dontaku 2014 on May 3.
Roppongi Vice (2015–2017)
Forever Hooligans broke up in January 2015, when Koslov announced he was taking an indefinite break from professional wrestling. On March 1, Romero revealed he and Trent Baretta were forming a new tag team named Roppongi Vice. On April 5 at Invasion Attack 2015, the team captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from The Young Bucks, only to lose it back to them on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2015.