Rocky Romero

John Rivera
	Rivera 2012
Data
Ring name	Black Tiger ; Black Tiger IV ; Rocky Romero; Gray Shadow ; Black Emperor ; Azteko
Additions to names	"Azucar"
height	170 cm
Fighting weight	82 kg
birth	October 28, 1982 ; Havana , Cuba
Announced from	Havana , Cuba
Trained by	Antonio Inoki; Bill Anderson ; Jesse Hernandez ; Negro Casas ; Togi Makabe
debut	September 13, 1997

John Rivera (born October 28, 1982 in Havana ), better known by his ring name Rocky Romero , is a Cuban wrestler . He currently appears regularly at various independent promotions . One of his greatest successes to date was receiving the ROH World Tag Team Championship three times .

Career

Beginnings

Rivera trained in different countries. In the USA he trained under Jesse Hernandez at the School Of Hard Knocks in San Bernardino , California . In Japan he trained at the New Japan Dojo (the wrestling school of New Japan Pro-Wrestling ) under Antonio Inoki and Togi Makabe . Rivera also trained in Mexico with Consejo Mundial De Lucha Libre under Negro Casas .

Independent

After completing his training, Rivera performed in various independent promotions . His first title, the EWF Tag Team Championship , he won with Ricky Reyes at the Empire Wrestling Federation . With this he formed a tag team for a long time .

From 2002 to 2004 Rivera appeared several times in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

On September 12, 2003 , Rivera won the newly introduced CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship at Consejo Mundial De Lucha Libre .

In July 2004, Rivera made his debut with the Ring of Honor (ROH). There he formed the Tag Team The Havana Pitbulls with Ricky Reyes . On August 7, 2004 , they won the ROH World Tag Team Championship from The Second City Saints ( CM Punk and Colt Cabana ). In late 2004, Rivera and Reyes joined the stable The Rottweilers (consisting of Homicide , Julius Smokes and Low-Ki ). With this they feuded against Bryan Danielson . On February 19, 2005, Rivera and Reyes gave the ROH World Tag Team Championship to BJ Whitmer and Dan Maff . Rivera returned to NJPW in May 2005. There he appeared as a black tiger with a mask. At NJPW he won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship from Tiger Mask IV on October 8, 2005 .

In January 2006 Rivera took part in the 16 Carat Gold Tournament at Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) in Germany .

In March 2007 he signed a contract with ROH. There he joined "No Remorse Corps" ( Davey Richards and Roderick Strong ). These feuded Rivera against the Stable "Resilience" (consisting of Austin Aries , Matt Cross and Erick Stevens ). 26 January 2008 won Rivera with Davey Richards ROH World Tag Team Championship . They gave the title to The Briscoes (Jay and Mark Briscoe) on April 12, 2008 .

In 2008 Rivera appeared several times at Consejo Mundial De Lucha Libre as Gray Shadow . In October 2008 he formed the Tag Team Caribbean Syndicate with Negro Casas at NJPW . Together they participated in the G1 Tag League .