Roppongi Vice

Roppongi Vice (sometimes stylized as RPG Vice) is a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Trent Baretta and Rocky Romero who currently compete for All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

They are best known for their work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where they are former four-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. The two wrestlers were put together as a team by NJPW, but wrestled their first match as a team in their American affiliate Ring of Honor (ROH).

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. 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. 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. On July 24, Roppongi Vice were defeated by The Briscoes at Death Before Dishonor XIII. On March 14 of ROH TV tapings, they won a seven tag team gauntlet match to determine #1 contender for ROH World Tag Team Championship by defeating The Young Bucks after entering the match as the seventh team.

On March 10 at the 15th Anniversary Show Roppongi Vice was unsuccessful against The Hardys in a Las Vegas Street Fight for the ROH World Tag Team Championship, The Young Bucks were involved in the match also.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2015–2017)

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. 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. 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. 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 Jyushin 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. They lost the title back to Sydal and Ricochet on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2016.

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, Ángel de Oro and Titán, in the first round. After defeating Fuego and Ryusuke Taguchi in the semifinals on October 30, they won the tournament by defeating A. C. H. 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. They lost the title to Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) at NJPW's 45th anniversary show on March 6, before regaining it at Road to Wrestling Dontaku day 3 on April 27. They lost the title to The Young Bucks on June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall.

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. On August 21, NJPW announced that Roppongi Vice's final match together would take place on September 16 at Destruction in Hiroshima, where they defeated Bullet Club's Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi. Both Romero and Beretta remained members of Chaos, with each transitioning into a new role. Beretta moved into the heavyweight division, wrestling in singles competition and as a part of his long-standing tag team Best Friends with Chuckie T, while Romero became a manager for the new junior tag team Roppongi 3K.

All Elite Wrestling (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. Romero would return to AEW and on the December 8, 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 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 28, 2022, episode of ''Elevation'' in a winning effort against The Factory. They would later appear on the May 18, 2022, episode of ''Dynamite''. On the May 25, 2022, episode of ''Dynamite'' they faced off FTR for the ROH World Tag Team Championships; however, the match ended in a no contest after a mid-match interruption by United Empire's Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan. This led to a triple-threat tag-team Winner Takes All match between the three teams being scheduled at AEWxNJPW: Forbidden Door for the ROH World Tag Team Championships, and Cobb and O-Khan's IWGP Tag Team Championships.

Championships and accomplishments

*New Japan Pro-Wrestling
**IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ( 4 times)
** Super Jr. Tag Tournament (2016)
* ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated''
** Ranked Beretta No. 91 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''PWI 500'' in 2017
** Ranked Romero No. 84 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''PWI 500'' in 2017
*WrestleCircus
**WC Big Top Tag Team Championship (1 time)

See also

*Roppongi 3K
* Best Friends

References

External links

Baretta's New Japan Pro-Wrestling profileRocky Romero's New Japan Pro-Wrestling profile

{{Super Jr. Tag Tournament

All Elite Wrestling teams and stables
Independent promotions teams and stables
New Japan Pro-Wrestling teams and stables
Ring of Honor teams and stables
Chaos (professional wrestling) members
Roppongi