NJPW star Rocky Romero recently spoke with TalkSport about a variety of topics, including how he ended up competing at this weekend’s Bloodpsort V, and whether he thinks he can link up with the Good Brothers somewhere down the line. Highlights are below.
How he ended up competing at the upcoming Bloodsport event:
Josh and I have had many discussions since he took over Bloodsport and made it his own and he always wanted a Japanese presence and we talked about it. You know, I used to train with Josh Barnett back in the original L.A. Dojo back in probably 2002 or 2003, so training with him and having some similar thoughts and ideas of professional wrestling, we’re fans of that original UWF style. So he knew I always wanted to do some cool projects like this when it comes to Bloodsport, presenting professional wrestling in a different way.
On training at the LA Dojo with Antonio Inoki:
It’s definitely a part of my DNA coming up in that strong style of professional wrestling. That catchers-catch-can style that is the base of that and Inoki is one of the student of the master, Karl Gotch, it trickled down to my generation and the guys that wrestled and were training at the L.A. Dojo. Josh was there putting his spin and his lighting on it and at that time an active MMA competitor and an active wrestler. Training with Inoki wasn’t easy [laughs]. And we took butt kickings in that dojo day in, day out from many teachers. Josh, Justin McCully, we would have Ken Shamrock come in every day and teach us how to manipulate leg joints, knee joints and stuff like that. So you never knew what you were going to walk into and you were constantly in this bubble of different styles. Steve Blackman came in one day and was showing us how to do front kicks! So you just never knew and it was really cool. To do this now and at this level, and you saw how it was presented on the first show, it’s just really, really cool and I’m glad to be apart of it.
On possibly linking up with the Good Brothers in the United States:
I’d truly love for those guys to come back to Japan at some point. Obviously with the pandemic that’s been difficult, but I’d love to see them come back. Maybe there is a world where Rocky joins Gallows and Anderson in a New Japan ring. That’s never been done before, we’ve always been on opposite sides. I think that could be cool. But in North America, I’m open to it. There might be some convincing that I’d have to do in the head office, but I think it would be cool and especially as so many walls have come down in the pro wrestling business as of late, never say never for sure.
