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Roppongi Vice

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Roppongi Vice (sometimes billed as RPG Vice) is a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Beretta and Rocky Romero. They are best known for their work in New Japan Pro Wrestling, where they are former four-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. The two wrestlers were put together as a team by New Japan.[1]

History[]

Ring of Honor (2015–2017)[]

Following the dissolution of Rocky Romero's previous tag team Forever Hooligans due to the retirement of his partner Alex Koslov, Romero announced during Ring of Honor's 13th Anniversary Show that he would be forming a new tag team known as Roppongi Vice alongside former WWE wrestler Trent Baretta, with the stated goal of challenging the then-current ROH World Tag Team Champions reDRagon for the title.[2] In their debut on the ROH Conquest Tour, Roppongi Vice defeated The Decade on March 13, and the following day won an Instant Reward Proving Ground match against reDRagon, only to lose a subsequent match for the championship.[3] At Global Wars '15, Roppongi Vice competed in a three-way match against The Addiction and The Decade on May 15, and in a six-man tag team match alongside Kazuchika Okada against Bullet Club representatives A.J. Styles and The Young Bucks on May 16, losing both matches.[3] On July 24, Roppongi Vice were defeated by The Briscoes at Death Before Dishonor XIII.[3] On March 14 of ROH TV tapings, they won a seven tag team gauntlet match to determine #1 contender for ROH World Tag Team Championships by defeating The Young Bucks after entering the match as the seventh team.[4]

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2015–2017, 2019)[]

Roppongi Vice, representing the CHAOS stable, made their New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) debut in late March on the Road to Invasion Attack 2015 tour, facing the Bullet Club in multiple-man tag matches.[3] At Invasion Attack 2015 on April 5, Roppongi Vice defeated The Young Bucks for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but lost the title in a rematch the following month at Wrestling Dontaku 2015.[3] On July 5, 2015 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall Roppongi Vice received another shot at the championship in a three-way match that also included reDRagon, but failed to recapture the title.[3] At Destruction in Kobe immediately after reDRagon defended their titles, Roppongi would viciously assault them in order to attain a championship match at King of Pro-Wrestling where they would go on to lose by a questionable three-count. During the 2015 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, Vice achieved big wins over the likes of Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask as well as the reigning champions; reDRagon. They were defeated in the finals of the tournament on November 7 at Power Struggle by Matt Sydal and Ricochet, but along with The Young Bucks, still challenged for the title after the match.

On April 10, 2016, at Invasion Attack 2016, Roppongi Vice defeated Sydal and Ricochet to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the second time.[5] They lost the title back to Sydal and Ricochet on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2016.[6]

On October 21, 2016, Roppongi Vice entered the 2016 Super Jr. Tag Tournament that began on Road to Power Struggle event. They defeated the representatives of CMLL, Angel de Oro and Titan, in the first round. After defeating Fuego and Ryusuke Taguchi in the semifinals on October 30, they won the tournament by defeating ACH and Taiji Ishimori in the finals on November 5 at Power Struggle. On January 4, 2017, at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome, Roppongi Vice defeated The Young Bucks to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the third time.[7]They lost the title to Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) at NJPW's 45th anniversary show on March 6.[8] They lost the title to The Young Bucks on June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall.[9]

On July 2 at G1 Special in USA, Roppongi Vice unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the title in a rematch. Afterwards, Romero brought up a five-year plan he and Beretta had made three years earlier, which included them winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and the Super Jr. Tag Tournament, both of which they had already done, as well as Beretta's eventual transition into the heavyweight division. Having failed to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, Romero gave Beretta his blessing to move to the heavyweight division, effectively disbanding Roppongi Vice.[10] On August 21, NJPW announced that Roppongi Vice's final match together will take place on September 16 at Destruction in Hiroshima,[11] where they defeated Bullet Club's Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi.[12] January 30, 2019 Roppongi Vice made their one night return losing to Lifeblood (Juice Robinson and Tracy Williams).

Return (2021-Present)[]

On the May 24, 2021 episode of AEW Dark: Elevation, Beretta, along with Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy, saved Romero from an attack by Ryan Nemeth, Peter Avalon and Cezar Bononi, briefly reuniting Roppongi Vice as their theme music played and they embraced in the ring.[13] Romero would return to AEW and on the December 8th, 2021 episode of AEW Dynamite would team with Beretta's current tag-team partner, Taylor, in a losing effort against The Young Bucks. After the match, The Young Bucks, along with Adam Cole assaulted the pair. Beretta made a surprise return, having been out following a neck surgery, to come to their aid. After fighting off the assailants Romero, Beretta, Taylor and the rest of the Best Friends stable celebrated in the ring while the Roppongi Vice theme music was played. Beretta and Romero opened the February 11, 2022 episode of AEW Rampage with a match against the Young Bucks, in a losing effort. They reunited again for the March 28th 2022 episode of Elevation in a winning effort against The Factory.

On the May 25, 2022 episode of Dynamite, the United Empire's Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan interrupted a match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship between FTR and Roppongi Vice, attacking both teams. The following week, Beretta and FTR were attacked by United Empire's leader Will Ospreay, who made his surprise debut in AEW along with other United Empire stablemates Aaron Henare and Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis). On the June 10, edition of Rampage, Beretta and FTR picked up a victory against Ospreay, Davis and Fletcher. On June 17, it was announced a winner takes all triple-threat tag-team match between Roppongi Vice, FTR and Cobb and O-Khan for the ROH Tag Team Championships and the IWGP Tag Team Championships was announced for the match taking place at Forbidden Door. At the event, on June 26, Roppongi Vice failed to win the ROH Tag Team Championships and the IWGP Tag Team Championships.

In wrestling[]

  • Finishing moves
    • Beretta
      • Dudebuster[14] (Cradle back-to-belly piledriver)
      • Gobstopper (Running single leg high knee)
    • Rocky Romero
      • Ankle lock
      • Diablo Armbar (Flying armbar)[15]
      • Foreign Devil (Diving double knee drop)[16]
      • High speed roundhouse kick to the head of a seated or kneeling opponent
      • Kurayami Piledriver (Cradle kneeling reverse piledriver)[17]
    • Double-team finishing moves
      • Strong Zero (Cradle back-to-belly piledriver (Baretta) / Diving double foot stomp (Romero) combination)[18]
    • Double-team signature moves
      • Soccer kick to the chest of a seated opponent (Romero) followed by standing moonsault (Baretta)
      • Stereo high knees
  • Entrance themes
    • "RPG Vice Theme" by [Q]Brick[19]

Championships and accomplishments[]

References[]

  1. ↑ Oster, Aaron 2015-08-13. Where's Trent Baretta? A Wrestler's Journey From WWE to Roppongi Vice | Rolling Stone . rollingstone.com. Retrieved on 2015-08-15. “I think New Japan had an eye on me for a bit. When Koslov decided to go, they were the ones who picked me.”
  2. ↑ ROH live coverage from Las Vegas - four way for ROH title, Alberto vs. Lethal, Bucks vs. Fish & O'Reilly . Wrestling Observer. Retrieved on 2015-07-27.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Matches<Roppongi Vice<Tag Teams Database<Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database . Cagematch. Retrieved on 2015-07-27.
  4. ↑ Sapp, Sean Ross. ROH TV Recap (3/14): Tag Team Gauntlet: Young Bucks, Roppongi Vice, ReDRagon, Addiction, More . Wrestlinginc. Retrieved on 2016-03-18.
  5. ↑ Meltzer, Dave 2016-04-09. NJPW Invasion Attack live results: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Championship . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved on 2016-04-10.
  6. ↑ ja:レスリングどんたく 2016 (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2016-05-03.
  7. ↑ NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11 live results: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega . Wrestling Observer Newsletter (2017-01-03). Retrieved on 2017-01-04.
  8. ↑ Rose, Bryan 2017-03-06. NJPW 45th Anniversary show live results: Okada vs. Tiger Mask W . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved on 2017-03-06.
  9. ↑ Rose, Bryan 2017-06-10. NJPW Dominion live results: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved on 2017-06-11.
  10. ↑ Trionfo, Richard 2017-07-03. Complete G1 Special in the USA night two report: a United States Champion is crowned, Young Bucks versus Roppongi Vice, Los Ingobernables de Japon, The Bullet Club, and more . Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved on 2017-07-03.
  11. ↑ Rose, Bryan 2017-08-21. NJPW announces Destruction cards, King of Pro wrestling matches . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved on 2017-08-21.
  12. ↑ Destruction in Hiroshima (in Japanese). New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved on 2017-09-16.
  13. ↑ Defelice, Robert 2021-05-24. AEW Dark: Elevation Stream And Results (5/24): Matt Hardy, Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page, And More .
  14. ↑ Best of the Super Jr. XX 前夜祭 (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  15. ↑ ja:ロッキー・ロメロ (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2012-10-16.
  16. ↑ NJPW 40th anniversary Tour Best of the Super Jr. XIX ～The door to the glory～ (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2012-06-16.
  17. ↑ Best of the Super Jr.XXI (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2014-06-08.
  18. ↑ Road to Invasion Attack 2015 (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. Retrieved on 2015-03-22.
  19. ↑ RPG Vice Theme by [QBrick ]. SoundCloud. Retrieved on 2015-04-19.
  20. ↑ Heavy weight class List Throne transition DataBase New Japan Pro-Wrestling . New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved on 2015-07-27.
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