| Roppongi 3K | |
|---|---|
 Logo of Roppongi 3K | |
| Tag team | |
| Members | Sho Tanaka / Raijin /Sho Yohei Komatsu / Fujin /Yoh Rocky Romero (manager) |
| Name(s) | Raijin and Fujin Roppongi 3K Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu The Tempura Boyz[1] |
| Billed heights | Sho: 173 cm (5 ft 8 in)[1] Yoh: 171.5 cm (5 ft7+1⁄2 in)[2] |
| Combined billed weight | 178 kg (392 lb)[1][2] |
| Debut | March 3, 2013[3] |
| Disbanded | August 16, 2021 |
| Years active | 2013–2021 |
| Trained by | NJPW Dojo[1][2] |
Roppongi 3K was aprofessional wrestlingtag team consisting of Japanese wrestlersSho andYoh, active from 2013 to 2021 in the junior heavyweight tag team division ofNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). They were managed byRocky Romero from late 2017 until their split.
After training together in NJPW's dojo since February 2012, the two began wrestling in the federation asyoung lions under their full namesSho Tanaka andYohei Komatsu in November of the same year, starting a feud with each other the following month. They became tag team partners on March 3, 2013, until the promotion sent them on an overseas learning excursion in January 2016 which notably saw them wrestle inConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) under the namesRaijin andFujin, and inRing of Honor (ROH) asThe Tempura Boyz. The duo returned to NJPW as Roppongi 3K during theKing of Pro-Wrestling event on October 9, 2017, now managed by Romero and a part of theChaosstable. The name established them as the spiritual successors of Romero's teamRoppongi Vice, which had amicably disbanded earlier the same day; the "3K" came from Romero's claim that Roppongi 3K were 3000 times better than Roppongi Vice.
Within their first 30 days back in NJPW, Roppongi 3K would win theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in their return match, and become the first team to win theSuper Jr. Tag Tournament, NJPW's premier junior heavyweight tag team tournament, as the reigning champions. They would go on to become five-timeIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions and win the following two editions of the Super Junior Tag League, becoming the first team (and individuals) to win it twice and later extending their record. In August 2021, during the2021 edition of the tournament, the duo suffered a losing streak, leading to Sho turning on Yoh and disbanding the team.
BothSho Tanaka andYohei Komatsu entered theNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) dojo in February 2012 and made their debuts for the promotion the following November during theNJPW NEVER Openweight Championship Decision Tournament event, both losing toTakaaki Watanabe in singles matches (on November 15 for Tanaka, and November 19 for Komatsu). Their second match would be against each other on the first night of theRoad to Tokyo Dome event on December 6, which resulted in a draw via time limit.[1][2] This would mark the start of astoryline rivalry against each other during the rest of the event.[1]
Tanaka and Komatsu started wrestling as atag team on March 3, 2013, during theRaising An Army Memorial Series event,[3] although they would also regularly keep on feuding; after yet another feud, they would ultimately start focus on their work as a team in September 2015 during the final days of theRoad to Destruction event in September 2015.[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 promotionConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL).[5][6] They were the first rookies sent as a team sinceNo Limit (Tetsuya Naito andYujiro Takahashi) in 2009.[7] They wrestled their NJPW farewell matches as a tag team across the six shows on the followingFantastica Mania 2016 tour, a joint event between NJPW and CMLL; their final effort was a loss in a non-title match againstCMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team ChampionsGuerrero Maya Jr. andThe Panther on January 24, 2016.[8]
After Komatsu and Tanaka fully transitioned to CMLL, the company redubbed them Fujin and Raijin respectively, after the Japanese gods ofwind andthunder.[7] In the Mexican promotion, Fujin and Raijin came under the guidance ofOkumura, a 12-year veteran of Mexican wrestling, andKamaitachi, a previous NJPW rookie sent to CMLL, with the four forming a new version of theLa Ola Amarilla /La Fiebre Amarilla ("The Yellow Wave" / "The Yellow Fever")stable.[9][10] As a trio with Kamaitachi, they were dubbedLos Kamikazes de Oriente ("The Kamikazes of the Orient").[11] Fujin and Raijin debuted for CMLL on February 2 inGuadalajara, making theirArena México debuts five days later.[12] AtHomenaje a Dos Leyendas, the two, together with Okumura and Kamaitachi, lost againstDragon Lee,Máscara Dorada,Místico andValiente in aBest two-out-of-threeAtómicos "Lucha Libre rules" tag team match.[13]
During their time in Mexico, Tanaka and Komatsu also worked for other local promotions, including Desastre Total Ultraviolento (DTU) and Liga Elite.[14][15]
Tanaka and Komatsu remained in Mexico until September 2016, when they relocated to the United States where they resumed using the individual names of Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu, while taking on the monicker of "The Tempura Boyz" as a team; they most prominently worked inRing of Honor (ROH) during that time.[1][16] They would lose their debut match againstColt Cabana andDalton Castle on October 1 tapings before going on to lose toCheeseburger andWill Ferrara andThe All Night Express on the first and second nights of theGlory By Honor XV event respectively.[17][18] They would unsuccessfully challengeThe Young Bucks for theROH World Tag Team Championship on January 14, 2017, and again on June 3, before teaming up with Canaba to unsuccessfully try to capture theROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship from Dalton Castle andThe Boys.[19][20] On June 18, they defeated Xyberhawx2000 as a part of theChikara event The Johnny Kidd Invitational 2017.[21] In July 2017, Tanaka and Komatsu took part in NJPW's two-dayG1 Special in USA event that the promotion held inLong Beach, California.[22][23] The following week, they traveled with the NJPW crew to take part in an event held byRevolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) inLondon, England.[24]
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On September 16, 2017, at NJPW'sDestruction in Hiroshima show, theRoppongi Vice tag team ofBeretta andRocky Romero had their final match together before amicably splitting up. Later that night, Romero confrontedIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team ChampionsFunky Future (Ricochet andRyusuke Taguchi), revealing that he was now the manager of a new, secret team dubbed "Roppongi 3K", with the name coming from Romero's claim that Roppongi 3K were 3000 times better than Roppongi Vice were.[25][26] Even after Roppongi 3K were confirmed as the next challengers for Funky Future's titles, the identities of the two wrestlers were kept secret.[27] On October 9 atKing of Pro-Wrestling, Roppongi 3K were revealed as the returning Tanaka and Komatsu, now billed individually as "Sho" and "Yoh", who defeated Funky Future to capture the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in their return match, which was also their first title opportunity in NJPW.[28][29] Through their affiliation with Romero, Sho and Yoh also became part of theChaos stable.[30]
Later that month, Roppongi 3K entered the2017 Super Jr. Tag Tournament for the first time, defeatingHirai Kawato andKushida in the first round andLos Ingobernables de Japón (Bushi andHiromu Takahashi) in the semifinals, before defeatingSuper 69 (ACH and Ryusuke Taguchi) in the finals atPower Struggle on November 5, becoming the first team to win the tournament as the current Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.[31][32][33][34] On January 4, 2018, Roppongi 3K lost the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship toThe Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) atWrestle Kingdom 12, before winning it back on January 28 atThe New Beginning in Sapporo.[35][36] They soon dropped the titles toSuzuki-gun (El Desperado andYoshinobu Kanemaru) on New Japan's 46th Anniversary Show, in athree-way tag team match, which also involved Bushi and Takahashi (the latter being their former CMLL stablemate as Kamaitachi).[37] They would then lose their title rematch on June 9 atDominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, but would fail to regain the titles.[38]
Sho and Yoh they entered the 2018 Super Junior Tag Tournament, which was now using a point-based system instead of brackets; they would go on to win 5 matches out of 7 and scoring 10 points; they would then face the other two top-scoring teams, Desperado/Kanemaru and Bushi/Shingo Takagi, both ofLos Ingobernables de Japón, in a three-way tag team match atPower Struggle where Roppongi 3K became the first team (and individuals) to win the tournament twice.[39] The three teams would face off again on January 4 atWrestle Kingdom 13 for Desperado and Kanemaru's IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but Bushi and Takagi would win the match.[40] At NJPW's 47th Anniversary Show on March 6, Roppongi 3K defeated Bushi and Takagi to win the titles for a third time, eventually losing them toBullet Club (El Phantasmo andTaiji Ishimori) on June 16 at Kizuna Road.[41][42] After Yoh pinned theGuerrillas of Destiny'sTanga Loa during a 10-man tag team match at Destruction in Kobe, Roppongi 3K received a title match for G.O.D.'sIWGP Tag Team Championship at Fighting Spirit Unleashed (their first opportunity at the title), but were unsuccessful.[43][44]
Roppongi 3K entered their third Super Junior Tag Tournament in October 2019, winning five matches out of seven and scoring 10 points like the previous year to advance to the finals on November 3 atPower Struggle, where they defeatedSuzuki-gun (El Desperado andYoshinobu Kanemaru) to become the first three-time winners of the tournament.[45] As the result, they received a match for theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship againstBullet Club (El Phantasmo andTaiji Ishimori) on January 5, 2020, atWrestle Kingdom 14; they were successful at the event, becoming four-time champions and gaining their first win at Wrestle Kingdom. However, during theNew Japan Cup of 2020, Yoh injured his knee in a tournament match againstBushi and both had to relinquish their championships. While Yoh was away, Sho was making a lot of impact by himself, disputing theNEVER Openweight Championship againstShingo Takagi, the vacatedNEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship and even theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship againstHiromu Takahashi. When Yoh returned in March 2021, he focused on teaming with his partner again to regain the titles they never lost from then-champions Desperado and Kanemaru. On April 4 at Sakura Genesis, Roppongi 3K regained their belts by defeating Desperado and Kanemaru.[46] However, on June 23, they once again lost the belts to the very same team they dropped them to two years prior, Phantasmo and Ishimori. This initiated friction between the two, due to Yoh getting pinned in every match they were involved.[47] It all came to a head on August 16, when the team was shockingly eliminated following an 0–3 start at theSuper Junior Tag League (with Yoh once again getting pinned or submitting in every match) and after another loss to Desperado and Kanemaru, Sho attacked Yoh, ending their eight-year partnership. Both faced each other atWrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome on September 4, where Sho defeated Yoh by submission, and after the match, it was revealed that Sho was defecting fromChaos to Bullet Club, being part ofEvil's sub-group,House of Torture.[48] Following the loss, Yoh was inactive in the ring, until November, where he participated in theBest of the Super Juniors tournament. Yoh finished second in the block with 14 points, overtaking Sho who he defeated on the final day, avenging his loss inTokorozawa.[49] However, in the Best of the Super Juniors final, Yoh would lose to Takahashi.[50]
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