Rocky Romero

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-American professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

He is a member of Chaos.

He also makes appearances for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), and Major League Wrestling.

Also known by his nickname "Azúcar (sugar in Spanish)", he is best known for his accomplishments as a tag team wrestler.

He was member of tag teams like The Havana Pitbulls/Los Cubanitos, Forever Hooligans, and Roppongi Vice.

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 masked luchadores and has wrestled extensively in Mexico for both Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and Lucha Libre AAA World Wide.

In the United States, he is known for his work with Ring of Honor 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.

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).

In late-2003, Romero began working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in Mexico, using the name "Havana Brother I, 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.

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.

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.

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 at 196 days, a record they held until 2005 when it was eclipsed by the team of Austin Aries and Roderick Strong.

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.

Romero made his debut in Pro Wrestling Noah on March 4, 2007, versus Mushiking Terry, casting into doubt the future of the Black Tiger persona.

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.

At NJPW's Resolution '09 on April 5, Romero lost in a mask vs. title match against Tiger Mask, thus ending his role as Black Tiger.

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.

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.

On January 26, 2008, 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.

Romero and Richards later lost the titles to the Briscoe Brothers, and Romero later left ROH in mid-2008 to once again compete in Mexico.

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.

He returned at Final Battle 2009, where he won a match against rival Alex Koslov.

They had a rematch on March 26, 2010, in Arizona during WrestleMania weekend, which Koslov won.

On July 4, 2010, Romero turned rudo and joined La Legión Extranjera instead.