Roppongi 3K

Roppongi 3K
Logo of Roppongi 3K
Tag team
Members Rocky Romero (manager)
Sho Tanaka/Raijin/Sho
Yohei Komatsu/Fujin/Yohey/Yo/Yoh
Name(s) Roppongi 3K
The Tempura Boyz[1]
Heights Sho:
173 cm (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Yoh:
171.5 cm (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)[2]
Combined
weight		 178 kg (392 lb)[1][2]
Debut March 3, 2013[3]
Years active 2013–present
Trainer NJPW dojo[1][2]

Roppongi 3K, also known as Roppongi 3000 or RPG3K, is a professional wrestling tag team made up of Japanese wrestlers Sho and Yoh. Trained in the dojo of the New Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion, the two came together as a team, when NJPW sent them together on an overseas learning excursion in January 2016, first to the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion and then to the United States, where they worked most notably for Ring of Honor (ROH) as The Tempura Boyz. Sho and Yoh, under the team name Roppongi 3K and managed by Rocky Romero, returned to NJPW in October 2017, winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in their first match back and the 2017 Super Jr. Tag Tournament the following month. Named after the Roppongi district of Minato, Tokyo, the team's name also references Romero's claim that Sho and Yoh were 3000 times better than his previous tag team, Roppongi Vice. Roppongi 3K are former 2 time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.

History

Sho (left) and Yoh (right) as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions in November 2017

Both Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu entered the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) dojo in February 2012 and made their debuts for the promotion the following November,[1][2] eventually starting a storyline rivalry against each other.[1] Tanaka and Komatsu wrestled their first match together as a tag team on March 3, 2013,[3] but did not start teaming regularly until September 2015, following the conclusion of a singles match series between the two.[4] On January 6, 2016, NJPW announced that Tanaka and Komatsu would be leaving the promotion at the end of the month for an overseas learning excursion to their Mexican partner promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL).[5][6] NJPW had previously sent rookies such as Hiromu Takahashi (Kamaitachi) and Kyosuke Mikami (Namajague) to CMLL. Tanaka and Komatsu, however, were the first rookies sent as a team since No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi) in 2009.[7] They wrestled their NJPW farewell matches as a tag team across the six shows on the following Fantastica Mania 2016 tour.[8]

CMLL gave the two new ring names, dubbing Komatsu "Fujin" and Tanaka "Raijin", after the Japanese gods of wind and thunder.[7] In the Mexican promotion, Fujin and Raijin came under the guidance of Okumura, a 12-year veteran of Mexican wrestling, and Kamaitachi, the previous NJPW rookie sent to CMLL, with the four forming a new version of the La Ola Amarilla ("The Yellow Wave") stable.[9][10] The group was later also billed as La Fiebre Amarilla ("The Yellow Fever") and Los Kamikazes de Oriente ("The Kamikazes of the Orient").[11] Fujin and Raijin debuted for CMLL on February 2 in Guadalajara, making their Arena México debuts five days later.[12] During their time in Mexico, Tanaka and Komatsu also worked for other local promotions, including Desastre Total Ultraviolento (DTU) and Liga Elite.[13][14]

Tanaka and Komatsu remained in Mexico until September 2016, when they relocated to the United States, where they began working as "The Tempura Boyz".[1] They most notably worked for the Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion,[15] where they unsuccessfully challenged for both the ROH World Tag Team Championship and the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship.[16][17] In July 2017, Tanaka and Komatsu took part in NJPW's two-day G1 Special in USA event that the promotion held in Long Beach, California.[18][19] The following week, they traveled with the NJPW crew to take part in an event held by Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) in London, England.[20]

On September 16, 2017, at NJPW's Destruction in Hiroshima show, the Roppongi Vice tag team of Beretta and Rocky Romero had their final match together before amicably splitting up. Later that same show, Romero confronted IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi, telling Taguchi that he was not the only coach in the game and that he was bringing in a team that was bigger and faster than them, dubbing the new team "Roppongi 3K".[21] This name came from Romero's claim that Roppongi 3K were 3000 times better than Roppongi Vice.[22] Afterwards, while Roppongi 3K were confirmed as the next challengers for Ricochet and Taguchi, the identities of the two wrestlers were kept secret.[23] On October 9 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Roppongi 3K were revealed as the returning Tanaka and Komatsu, billed as "Sho" and "Yoh", who defeated Ricochet and Taguchi to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.[24][25] Through their affiliation with Romero, Sho and Yoh also became part of the Chaos stable.[26] Roppongi 3K then entered the 2017 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, defeating Hirai Kawato and Kushida in the first round and Los Ingobernables de Japon (Bushi and Hiromu Takahashi) in the semifinals to advance to the finals of the tournament.[27][28] On November 5 at Power Struggle, Roppongi 3K defeated Super 69 (ACH and Ryusuke Taguchi) in the finals to win the 2017 Super Jr. Tag Tournament.[29][30] On January 4, 2018, Roppongi 3K lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome,[31] but won it back on January 28 at the New Beginning in Sapporo. They soon dropped the titles to the team of El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru on New Japan's 46th anniversary.

Championships and accomplishments

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Sho". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Yoh". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  3. 1 2 旗揚げ記念日. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Road to Destruction". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  5. ↑ 新日の小松と田中が無期限海外武者修行. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). January 7, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  6. ↑ Macklin, Matthew (January 6, 2016). "New Japan Pro Wrestling news & notes". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  7. 1 2 新日・小松＆田中「俺たちメヒコで神になるぜ！」. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). January 19, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  8. ↑ 小松洋平、田中翔の“無期限海外遠征”が決定！ 『Fantastica Mania』全6大会で“壮行試合”が実現！. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). January 7, 2016. Archived from the original on January 8, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  9. ↑ Valdés, Apolo (February 14, 2016). "Llegaron refuerzos japoneses al CMLL". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Con Fujin y Raijin, Ola Amarilla dispuesta a conquistar México". Plano Deportivo (in Spanish). February 20, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Invictos, los kamikases del ring". Periódico El Popular (in Spanish). Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  12. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (February 15, 2016). "February 15, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Daniel Bryan retires". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Campbell, California. p. 27. ISSN 1083-9593.
  13. ↑ "DTU Supremacia 2016 - Pachuca". Cagematch. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  14. ↑ Vacah, José (March 31, 2016). "Liga Elite: Resultados primera jornada 2016: Bobby Lashley aniquila al Toro Blanco". Superluchas (in Spanish). Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Card finalized for Dearborn on October 15". Ring of Honor (in Japanese). Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  16. ↑ Howell, Nolan (February 5, 2017). "ROH Wrestling: Dijak stakes his claim for Scurll's TV title". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  17. ↑ "7/29 ROH TV taping spoilers: Full results of upcoming television shows (spoilers)". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. July 31, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  18. ↑ Radican, Sean (July 1, 2017). "Radican's 7/1 NJPW G1 Special In USA (night 1) report – tournament begins to crown first IWGP U.S. Champion, Okada defends IWGP Hvt. Championship against Cody (Rhodes)". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  19. ↑ Radican, Sean (July 2, 2017). "Radican's 7/2 NJPW G1 Special in USA (night 2) report – semi-finals and finals of IWGP U.S. Title Tournament, Tanahashi defends IWGP IC Title vs. Gunn, Young Bucks-RPG Vice". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  20. ↑ "RevPro British J-Cup results: Matt Riddle vs. Tomohiro Ishii". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. July 9, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  21. ↑ Rose, Bryan (September 16, 2017). "NJPW Destruction in Hiroshima results: Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  22. ↑ 【10月9日（月・祝）両国の全カード決定！】Kushidavsオスプレイ！ 棚橋が飯伏とタッグ戦！ 噂の“Roppongi 3K”がJr.タッグ挑戦！ Cody、スカル、ザックも参戦！. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). September 25, 2017. Archived from the original on September 25, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  23. ↑ Rose, Bryan (September 24, 2017). "New Japan reveals full card for King of Pro Wrestling". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  24. ↑ "King of Pro-Wrestling". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  25. ↑ Rose, Bryan (October 8, 2017). "NJPW King of Pro Wrestling live results: Kazuchika Okada vs. Evil". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  26. ↑ "King of Pro-Wrestling". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  27. ↑ 【新日本】ジュニアタッグＴで旋風！Yoh&ShoがKushida組撃破. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). October 24, 2017. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
  28. ↑ Macklin, Matthew (October 30, 2017). "Super Junior Tag League semi-finals: NJPW 10/30 Road to Power Struggle in Tokyo, Japan live report". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  29. 1 2 Currier, Joseph (November 5, 2017). "NJPW Power Struggle live results: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  30. ↑ 【新日】Yoh&ShoがジュニアタッグＴ圧巻Ｖ. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). November 6, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  31. ↑ Renner, Ethan; Currier, Joseph (January 3, 2018). "NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 live results: Okada-Naito, Omega-Jericho". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  32. ↑ "IWGP Jr. Heavy Tag Weight Class". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved October 9, 2017.
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