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Rocky Romero (2018)

98 Pts.



2018 continued a transition for Rocky Romero that began in the second half of 2017. Beretta’s graduation to the heavyweight division left him without his longtime Roppongi Vice partner, and at King of Pro Wrestling in October 2017 he revealed that the promised new “Roppongi 3K” were actually SHO & YOH, otherwise known as Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu, ex-young lions returning from overseas excursion. Romero quickly settled into a new role as their manager, spokesperson (even though as SHO & YOH tell us during nearly every promo together they never have any idea what Rocky is actually saying), and only occasional wrestler.

When Romero did step into the ring in 2018 his results were mostly negative. He won just 4 falls but lost 32; his -28 fall differential was the fourth-worst mark among non-young lions in NJPW, behind only Gedo (-32), TAKA Michinoku (-57) & Toa Henare (-68). You may have noticed a pattern there since Gedo & TAKA are also part-time wrestlers who double as managers (Henare meanwhile is just barely removed from YL status, and some might argue he still belongs there, though to me once you get your own gear and music you no longer qualify). The “player-coach” role doesn’t tend to result in many victories in New Japan, and nor should it probably. But unlike those three, Rocky did pick up a singles victory this past year, defeating young lion Yuya Uemura on April 21st during the Road to Wrestling Dontaku tour, so good for him! People also seemed to generally enjoy his increasingly frequent guest spots on the English commentary as well, which was another thing he had going for him. And as mentioned in his 2018 highlight, Romero finished off his year right, pinning a heavyweight (!) on the second-to-last event of the year. This somewhat comically introduced us to his new singles theme song for the first time, since we would have had no reason to hear it before this; he doesn’t get many singles matches and he doesn’t win many falls, but he has a steady role in New Japan as a veteran hand, which is more than a lot of pro wrestlers can say for themselves.