Royal Ring Roster and Bios

Heavyweights:

Koji Tanaka

Koji Tanaka was trained in the Neo Wrestling Japan system and was the Protoge of long time ace, booker, and then NWJ owner, Yoshi Hiromata. Although Tanaka was brought up under the tutelage of Hiromata, his style is greatly different, instead of adopting Hiromata's technical style, Tanaka opted for a more power-based style. His falling lariat is said to be one of the deadliest lariats in the sport today, and if that doesn't put you away, his impressive Koji Overdriver (KOd) will surely do the trick. Tanaka spent a lot of the inaugural year in Royal Ring in a bitter feud with his former teacher, and it eventually culminated with Tanaka winning the RRC Heavyweight Title in November of 2006, in a decision match to crown the first champion. The loss sent Hiromata into exile for a while. He is yet to relinquish the RRC Heavyweight belt, and as the 1st champion has racked up an impressive 7 defenses and has held the belt for 1 year and 2 months as of Janurary 1st 2008.

Finisher: Koji Overdriver (KOd) (Spinning Powerbomb)

Yoshi Hiromata

Yoshi Hiromata is a legend in the Japanese wrestling world. When he debuted in 1986 in Japan Power Puroresu, he was ripe with potential but had zero personality. He stayed at the bottom of the card for what seemed like forever. It took him one night at the end of 1989 to become an instant star. He was booked against the now retired Koshitaro Hirohito, a match which everyone expected him to loose. The first shock came when the formerly average looking Hiromata came out with a fresh new look, with a completely bald head, and goatee. Sporting an evil face mask and robes. He scared children, he heckled the fans, and made an excellent evil character. It was said that he was not supposed to win, and that he was just supposed to be fodder for Hirohito's push to the top, but not only did Hiromata win, he won spectacularly, enduring a severe beating from Hirohito (which many speculate was legit due to the fact that it's largely believed that he was not supposed to win this match), and showing tremendous fighting spirit. The fans still unnerved by Hiromata's new persona, did get behind the effort he put into the match, and he received an thunderous ovation when he hit his never before seen Blinding Sorcerer finisher and covered Koshitaro Hirohito. It is said that as soon as he stepped back into the locker room, the company knew they had the next mega star on their hands. Hiromata, who had left JPP in 1993 and started Neo Wrestling Japan, was hailed as the savior of puroresu in the 90's, putting on amazing matches with almost anyone he was in the ring with. He slowed down a bit once the millennium changed, and assumed a large role backstage first in the now defunct Neo Wrestling Japan, where he was owner/co-owner and the booker, and now in Royal Ring where he is the booker. He also has a hand in training some of the students in the Royal Ring Dojo.

Finisher: Blinding Sorcerer (Shining Wizard)

"The Mastodon" Sam Hamlin

Sam Hamlin started wrestling in the late 80's in Texas. He climbed through the indies down there for a long time, even running his own on again off again promotion Mammoth Pro Wrestling. He thought he had hit it big when he landed a contract with the WWF. Hamlin never made it out of developmental however, as his style was deemed "too stiff" for the WWF. Someone from the WWF had refered Yoshi Hiromata to him around the time of his release. Hiromata contacted him about making a trip to Japan and wrestling as a monster Gaijin for Neo Wrestling Japan. Hamlin, who had recently been released from his WWF contract took him up on that offer and the rest is history. In Japan he became an instant hit. He was teamed with Taka Ichigawa, and the two tore up the tag team ranks, winning several tag team championships, and their team, East West Blast Test, were named one of the 10 hottest teams of the 90's. In the late 90's the team split up, and Hamlin went solo with great success. He was the first gaijin to capture the NWJ World Title, and the first wrestler to ever hold the belt twice. When Hiromata sold the promotion to Matsuhiro, Hamlin decided to stick around, much to the chagrin of his friend. Hamlin who is still running Mammoth Pro Wrestling when he isn't on tour, has been responsible for bringing several American stars to Japan, including Arson, and the Cordova Bros.

Finisher: Tusk Kick (Running Yakuza Kick)

Taka Ichigawa

Taka Ichigawa started in Japan Power Puroresu in the late 80's, during which time he managed to make a solid name for himself. In 1993 when Hiromata left JPP to form NWJ Ichigawa was one of the first to jump ship. In NWJ he was teamed with Sam Hamlin. As East West Blast Test, Hamlin and Ichigawa captured the NWJ and JPP tag team titles on several occasions. By the time the team broke up in 1999 they had dominated the Japanese tag team ranks for over half a decade, and landed themselves a solid top 3 spot on the "10 hottest tag teams of the '90s" list. After the team broke up, Ichigawa went on to team with several other partners, but never captured success like he had done with Hamlin. He eventually decided to go solo like his former teammate had done. He was met with moderate success, and he eventually worked his way up to face Hamlin in a NWJ Heavyweight Title match. The match headlined one of the best selling events in NWJ history, and it catapulted Ichigawa to stardom as he covered Hamlin to capture the title. Ichigawa unlike some of his contemporaries has not slowed down with age, instead maintaining his hard hitting and methodical style. He's said several times that he feels he's got one more run with the belt left in him before he calls it quits.

Finisher: Cannon Driver (Chokeslam -> Powerbomb)

Kotaro Shinaga

Kotaro Shinaga was the undisputed ace of NWJ's only real competition in the late 90's, Tokyo Top Wrestling Organization, or T2. When Neo Japan was faltering in the early 2000's T2 took over as the number 1 wrestling promotion in Japan, largely because of Shinaga's ability to work his power style around anyone elses style and put on spectacular matches. When his contract came up at the beginning of this year, he had just dropped the T2 Crown Of The Warrior (the promotions heavyweight title), to the fast rising Kensuke Masuno, and was looking for a change. Matsuhiro Ishibashi offered him a top spot in Royal Ring, not knowing Yoshi Hiromata's dislike of him. He accepted and has yet to debut for Royal Ring which some insiders are speculating is actually due to that dislike. However, it should be noted that Hiromata says that their problems have been put aside so that they may coexist professionally and that he actually requested some time off before his debut. Shinaga has made it public that he'd love to face Hiromata to see who was the number one ace of the late 90's but so far Hiromata has said nothing about a possible match.

Finisher: Crush Deluxe(Amaze Impact)

Masayuki Inoue

Masayuki Inoue was an up and coming star in T2 and has really come into his own with some great matches with Kotaro Shinaga over the last few years. He decided to go freelance in late 2006 and has been working all over the place with matches in T2, Royal Ring, even a few shows for BGCG. Inoue knew however that he'd never get to the top unless he committed himself to one promotion. He announced his intention to sign with the highest bidder in October of 2007 and a bidding war between T2 and Royal Ring commenced. Just when it looked like T2 had the deal locked, Royal Ring made a dastardly move and cut some wrestlers from it's roster to free up money to outbid T2. Inoue signed with Royal Ring, which instantly made him enemies with the wrestlers who were terminated to afford him. The most popular of the fired wrestlers, Kanjiro Tadeshi, has vowed to return to Royal Ring and fight Inoue until one of them can go no longer (although no one is sure exactly what that means). Inoue, who has yet to make his debut as an official member of the Royal Ring roster has had several great matches here during his stint as a freelancer, his most notable being defeating Heavy Takada, and an excellent back and forth 30 min. time limit draw with Masa Fujinami.

Finisher: Northern Lights Bomb

Yujiro Sekimoto

Yujiro Sekimoto, like most of the veterans of Royal Ring got his start in Japan Power Puroresu, and then jumped to Neo Wrestling Japan sometime in the 90's when NWJ started to own the Japanese wrestling market. He was a former NWJ Heavyweight Champion, defeating Sam Hamlin for the title only to loose it back to him 4 months and only 1 defense later. He didn't let that discourage him though, and he kept on winning excellent matches. Eventually he got another shot at the gold, and in 2003 he was able to beat Taka Ichigawa for the belt in a 5 star, 50+ minute match. Sekimoto has stated that he feels that he is still in the title picture here in Royal Ring.

Finisher: Yujiro Muscle Plus (Corner Muscle Buster)

Ryo Taguchi

Ryo Taguchi would tell you that he's a free spirit. Most other wrestlers will tell you that Ryo Taguchi is disrespectful and self centered. No matter who you ask, they will tell you it hurts when he hits you. Often called the stiffest striker in the heavyweight division, Taguchi is known for taking his opponents apart with hard kicks, chops and elbows. Many feel that this could be his breakout year, as he was really starting to come into his own last year. He has started this year by upsetting Yujiro Sekimoto, and teaming with Akira Hiroyama, so it could be an interesting and successful 12 months for him.

Finisher: Go 2 Sleep

Heavy Takada

Many people believe Kinzo "Heavy" Takada got his start as a sumo wrestler, which is incorrect. Takada was actually a chef before he stepped into the ring, and had no fighting experience previous to training at the Royal Ring Dojo. It is said that one night while at work, Takada, who is a life long wrestling fan, was talking about wrestling with some of his co-workers when one of them mentioned that Yoshi Hiromata, Koji Tanaka, and Sam Hamlin where dinning in the restaurant as they spoke. Takada, who has never been a shy man, set out to meet them and possibly get a photo or an autograph. When Takada appeared before the three men, they where awestruck. Here stood a man of over 7 feet, who weighed 400+ lbs. easy. He unabashedly joined them at their table and told them about the food they were eating and engaged in casual wrestling conversation. By the end of the night Takada had secured several pictures and autographs from the Royal Ring stars. To him, it was a great night at work. Things went on as normal for several weeks, when Hiromata stopped by again. After eating Hiromata asked to speak with the "very big cook", and offered Takada a spot in the Royal Ring Dojo. Takada jumped on the offer and immediately began his training. He spent 14 months training, and made his debut late last year, utterly decimating Daiki Satou in under 3 minutes. His absolute monster size pushed him past "young prince" status and into the upper reaches of the card. Currently his matches aren't the most technical on the card, but he's definitely surprising some people with his aptitude, and he is still eager to learn and improve. Plus, he still has an enormous passion for wrestling, so everyone is expecting big things from him in the future.

Finisher: Takada Tidal Splash (Vader Bomb)

Masa Fujinami

Masa Fujinami got his start in JPP in 1985 and quickly set himself apart from the rest of his class. Not only was he more physically impressive, he also had a much better grasp on the fundamentals in the ring. Even to this day he is one of the most technically solid power wrestlers in the sport. Fujinami spent 10 years Japan Power Puroresu before jumping to Neo Wrestling Japan in early 1995. When he arrived he was immediately thrust into the spotlight by getting involved in a bitter rivalry with Yoshi Hiromata. In November of that year, Fujinami bested Hiromata and ended his 22 month long reign as NWJ Heavyweight champion. Fujinami only held the title for a short period of time, but all three of his defenses were rated as 5 star matches. He has lost a little bit of his quickness in recent years, and has been forced to rely a bit more on his power, but he still can out wrestle many of his opponents. Masa Fujinami is also responsible for helping train at the Royal Ring Dojo.

Finisher: Destiny Hammer (Final Powerbomb)

Jun Miyakama

Jun Miyakama started his career in T2 but never managed to break out there. He was brought in to Royal Ring when his contract expired with T2 in 2006. While it took him a while to break out in Royal Ring he finally did as he managed to make it to the finals of the Royal Heir Coronation tournament in 2007 before loosing to Eiji Ogoya in a great battle. That match was enough to get him noticed by most Royal Ring fans, and he's been on a steady climb since then. His goal for 2008 is two fold, one is to beat Eiji Ogoya, and the other is to challenge for the RRC Heavyweight Title.

Finisher: Apocalypse Driver (Sterness Dust)

Eiji Ogoya

Eiji Ogoya was a super talented amateur wrestler and baseball player in high school and college, and having always shown a large interest in professional wrestling, he decided to focus more on the wrestling. When he finished with school he entered the NWJ training dojo and quickly moved to the top of the class. By the time he graduated he felt that he was the best wrestler to ever step foot in the NWJ ring. Many people also believed that with enough time to master his craft that he may very well be the best. Ogoya is however, impatient, and he didn't want to wait to be the best. He quickly let the fans know what he thought of their opinions, which did nothing to win them over. He captured the NWJ Jr. Heavyweight Title after racking up an impressive streak of victories, and went on to hold that title for over 2 years. He eventually got sick of being seen as a Jr. and decided to bulk up. He took a year over seas, training and working up to becoming a legit heavyweight. When he returned, he was obviously no longer a Jr., but he hadn't bulked up to the point of looking like a heavyweight either. Ogoya quick to decry any criticism, said that was his plan, that he would be stronger, and still be able to move quickly around the ring. Ogoya kept on winning, so fans actually bought his story about wanting to be a lean heavyweight. He had a super 2006, but made no real progress towards anything either. In 2007 he won the Royal Heir Coronation tournament and was instantly thrust into the main event in Royal Ring. He has yet to get a shot at the RRC Heavyweight title, and many people believe that 2008 will be the year that he makes a serious title contention.

Finisher: Exploder Perfection (Wrist Clutch Exploder -> Back Leghook Pin)

Alexi Vorstok

Alexi Vorstok was brought to Japan by Ishibashi Matsuhiro (some say at GREAT expense) towards the end of NWJ. He was hailed as the biggest, most dominating gaijin the sport had ever seen. He sort of lived upto that by demolishing NWJ champion Koji Tanaka and scoring a clean pin on him in a tag team match. Fans went wild talking about how he was going to dominate the ring, and destroy everyone. Sam Hamlin was less than impressed with the 2 or 3 minutes that he spent in the ring during the tag match and publiclly called him out. This of course led to a Hamlin vs. Vorstok match. The match by all accounts sucked, through no fault of Hamlin's they would probably add. Vorstok really couldn't wrestle, and watching him was like watching the biggest, strongest, most uncordinated man in history. The fans booed him out of the building that night. Matsuhiro, who was still sold on this guy, continued to shove him down the fans throats though, feeding him top name after top name, until he was disliked not only by the fans, but by his co-workers as well. If it wasn't for Matsuhiro coming to his senses and folding the NWJ promotion and starting Royal Ring on the right foot with Hiromata in charge of match making it is widely believed that Vorstok would have captured the NWJ Heavyweight Title and tarnished it's legacy. Hiromata who saw a lot of potential in Vorstok, decided that he could find a spot for him on the Royal Ring roster, and has done a good job in trying to make him look like a monster without feeding him top talent. To Vorstok's credit he has improved dramaticly in the ring and is committed to staying with Royal Ring for the long haul.

Finisher: Russian Sickle (Western Lariat)

Hido Shibata

Hido Shibata got his start in 1986 in Japan Power Puroresu, opening cards with Yoshi Hiromata, Masa Fujinami, and Masaki Ogura. He and Hiromata have been friends since childhood and they grew up wrestling fans together. It took Shibata a while to get out of the opening matches, and once he did he was always busy trying to put other guys over. He was the most selfless fighter of the 90's and was finally rewarded for his great attitude by winning the NWJ Heavyweight title in 1996. He held the belt for half a year and racked up 3 farily well recieved defenses before dropping the belt to Zero-Art's (a worked shoot promotion that was extremely popular at the time) former ace, Masayuki Takudo. He's held several tag team belts, mostly with his semi-regular partner, Masa Fujinami. Currently he is part of Yoshi Hiromata's Wrestling Terrorist Control group and holds the RRC Tag Team Titles (with Fujinami).

Finisher: Impact Devastation (Avalanche Brainbuster)

Abrams

Abrams got his break in Royal Ring when he was brought over to be "enhancement talent" in last years Royal Heir Coronotion tournament. When he arrived, he was much bigger than expected, and Hiromata, knowing that the fans love huge american power wrestlers, reworked his part to have some better matches. He still didn't pick up a win, but he did manage to have some great powerhouse matches against Fujinami, Vorstok and Takada. He's been called back for several tours and appears often enough that Royal Ring has also imported his arch-nemesis, Panzer Mask as well.

Finisher: M1 (F5)

Panzer Mask

Panzer Mask was brought over to feud with Abrams after the Royal Heir Coronation tournament last year. The two have been entangled in a bitter feud for several years now, and they have had some brutal brawls in Royal Ring. Panzer Mask is slightly smaller, and slightly better at technical wrestling than Abrams. Panzer Mask is billed as being from Germany, but a lot of fans feel that he's a current Royal Ring star under a mask. It's not clear if he will be kept around after his feud with Abrams comes to an end.

Finisher: Blitzkrieg (Muso)

Jr. Heavyweights:

Ichiro Kanemura

Ichiro Kanemura is the most impressive jr. heavyweight wrestler to come along in a long time. He is a multiple time jr. heavyweight champion in various promotions, and the current RRC Jr. Heavyweight Title holder. He was introduced in Neo Wrestling Japan, but never struck it big there. Instead, he was sent to Mexico to hone his craft. When he returned to Japan NWJ was having severe money issues, and they decided to cut him from the roster, after spending a few years hitting up big indy promotions such as Dragon's Gate and Osaka Pro, he was contacted by Yoshi Hiromata about coming to work for the newly named Royal Ring Puroresu. Seeing this as his chance to shine on a bigger stage Kanemura jumped at the opportunity. He has since become VERY popular with the female fans, and is something of a cultural icon to ladies in the 13-25 year old age group. Despite his success both inside and outside the ring, Kanemura is very down to earth and humble.

Finisher: Fire-plex (Vertical Falcon Arrow)

Arson

Arson is a man of very little information. He almost never talks, and when he does it's usually his thoughts about upcoming matches or matches that just finished, it's certainly not about himself. He is definetly American, although no one knows from where. People guess he's between 25-30, but he won't say. It doesn't seem to matter to the fans though, as they let his incredible style in the ring make up for his unwillingness to open up to them. Arson started wrestling in America, working small time Indy shows. One of these shows was for Sam Hamlin's on again off again promotion Mammoth Pro Wrestling, where he impressed the gaijin megastar. Hamlin, who was working for Neo Japan at that time got a call from Hiromata and asked him to bring another wrestler over with him for the next tour, Hamlin says he thought of Arson almost at once. Arson and Hamlin travelled to Japan together a lot over the next few years, and Arson built up a great relationship with Yoshi Hiromata. When Hiromata walked on NJW, so did Arson, as he did not get along with Ishibashi Matsuhiro. Arson went back to the US to work for Pro Wrestling-Riot, where he captured their Jr. Heavyweight and No Frills titles. He recently got a call from his long time friend Yoshi Hiromata who offered him a spot on the Royal Ring roster, Arson was initially skeptical because of Ishibashi Matsuhiro's involvment, but decided that he would really like to return to Japan. He has since patched things up with an older and wiser Matsuhiro, although the two still try to distance themselves from one another when it comes to booking and business decisions.

Finisher: Firebomb (Yoshi Tonic)

Taru Kyomatsu

Taru Kyomatsu is one of the most popular, yet unknown wrestlers to ever set foot in Royal Ring. He started his career several years ago in the deathmatch promotion, Blood Guts Combat Group (BGCG), where he quickly became their top star. He won deathmatch after deathmatch, built up a cult like fanbase (who even followed him to Royal Ring), and seemed to be unstoppable. Then the unthinkable happened. He was facing Takashi Morimoto, a virtual nobody in BGCG, in a regular match, and he lost. He just couldn't hold his own without weapons and barbedwire ropes. Ashamed, he set out to learn to wrestle. He pleaded with several feds to give him a chance but was met with disappointment. Finally he tried Royal Ring, and much to his surprise they where more willing to talk than some of the smaller promotions. Hiromata explained how he could use a deathmatch worker on the roster, but Kyomatsu refused to work deathmatches until he learned the basics of wrestling. Hiromata agreed to let him hone his craft here, if he would work the occasional deathmatch. Kyomatsu still refused. Kyomatsu said he feels that the deathmatch is the pinnacle of wrestling and that a wrestler with such limited wrestling ability did not belong in such a spectacular match. Hiromata, a little taken aback by Kyomatsu's claims of deathmatch wrestling being the appex of their sport, saw the young man's eagerness to learn to wrestle and agreed to give him a spot on the roster. Since then Kyomatsu has improved greatly and has stayed true to his word to wrestle by the rules with no weapons or deathmatch elements to his matches. It's publicly known that his goal is to learn to wrestle so that he may return to BGCG and challenge the man who defeated him, and win.

Finisher: Moonassault (Triple Moonsault)

Yujiro Hashin

Yujiro Hashin has a celebrated amaresu career, which includes several national titles. He never showed a whole lot of interest in professional wrestling growing up, and instead focused entirely on amateur wrestling. When he got a little older he realized that there is big money in professional wrestling and he entered the NWJ dojo. Hashin was the last graduate of the NWJ dojo before the rebranding. He only wrestled briefly in NWJ before he was sent to America to get some experience with the entertainment aspect of wrestling. He was saddled with the Oni Hashin gimmick, a Great Muta ripoff, and he hated it. He eventually decided to return to Japan and quickly dropped the gimmick. Hashin has been coming up the jr. ranks since his return and it's obvious that he's a future player in the jr. world.

Finisher: Masterpiece Triangle (Triangle Lancer)

Takeshi Ito

Takeshi Ito is recognized as one of Japan's top full contact karate stars. He decided that to prove karate is the strongest fighting style in the world he would take on other combat sports and was quickly picked up by Royal Ring. Ito made an impressive debut late last year and KOd heavyweight Yujiro Sekimoto with a vicious kick to the head in an "Endless Struggle" (endless battle royal) match. Ito has said he will offer no quarter, and is set to take on all comers, no matter what the size disparity might be.

Finisher: any number of kicks

Jinsuke Iwada

Jinsuke Iwada, or "The Judo Rudo" as he's sometimes called by the media, has an extensive and impressive background in Judo. He also has an extensive and equally impressive habit of being the biggest jerk he can possibly be. He's been suspended numerous times, and is currently serving the first of a multi-year suspension from competitive judo, for "disorderly and unsportsmanlike conduct". While his attitude and ego do nothing to win over most fans, his skills in the ring demand attention. This has left most people split on him, some people love him due to his unique style and think his jerk-ish outbursts are just the hilarious icing on the cake, and some people can't stand him because of his demeanor and to them it taints even his best matches. Love him or hate him, he's definitely a force to be reckoned with in the Royal Ring jr. heavyweight division.

Jun Tanashi

Tanashi is the oldest member on the Royal Ring roster, being 50 years old. He started out as a very technically skilled jr. worker in the upcoming Japan Power Puroresu. He was always glanced over however, and his single title run in his 30+ year career is holding the JPP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles with Tomoaki Kawazu. He is no longer that worker. In his old age, and because of his frustration of being "held back" he has developed a very mean streak and is not above using weapons and cheap tactics to win matches. He has currently taken Ryusuke Nakagawa under his wing, telling his protoge that his skills are not going to be enough to get him by in this "cutthroat" wrestling world. Nakagawa and Tanashi are currently teaming in Royal Ring as the Blood Pirates.

Ryusuke Nakagawa

Ryusuke Nakagawa got started in NWJ as a technically sound jr. heavyweight rookie. He even went to the finals of the Neo Future tournament in his rookie year, and only just barely lost a hard fought match to Tetsuo Nagao. It was shortly after that loss that he became obsessed with winning matches. He started mildly cheating at first, but was soon taken in by Jun Tanashi, who taught him more blatent and brutal ways of winning matches. Tanashi had no idea that Nakagawa was an extreme sadist, and that his tutoring and training would bring out one of the most bloodthirsty wrestlers on this side of the deathmatch scene. Once Nakagawa turned vicious there was no stopping him, and now, only shades of his technical skills shine through. Nakagawa has vowed to help his teacher and Blood Pirate team mate achieve one more title run before his career ends, and will stop at nothing to make sure that happens.

Finisher: SanguinePlunderLock - SPL (Christo)

Kazu Narita

Kazu Narita is the first and so far, only jr. heavyweight to be invited by Yoshi Hiromata to join his Wrestling Terrorist Control group. Having made big waves with his high-flying attacks and technically solid wrestling ability in the jr. centered promotion UnGravity, where he started his career 4 years ago, he saw this as a step into the big time and wasted no time joining the ranks of WTC. During his stay in UnGravity, he managed to capture their Gold Wings title (their main singles title) 2 times, and win their annual Zero-GP tournament last year. He has stated that he wants to end the reign of Ichiro Kanemura and help Hiromata live his dream of bringing all three titles to WTC.

Finisher: Rolling Neck Breaker

Carlzilla

Carlzilla was another of Sam Hamlin's imports to Japan. Carlzilla runs another American indy promotion, Pro Wrestling Riot based in the New Mexico / Colorado / Texas / Arizona part of the country. PW-Riot works a lot with Hamlin's Mammoth Pro Wrestling and so the two have a good working relationship. Carlzilla himself has undergone a significant change in styles over the last few years. He used to be your basic indy worker, poor selling, and lots of highspots. He has abandoned that style saying that it's no fun for him and adopted a more shootfighter approach to his matches. Hamlin and Carlzilla ran an angle in the US that both of their companies were purchased by an unnamed investor and merged into one company with each of them controlling a portion of the new promotion. This led them to form a tag team called "Who's The Boss?" and the set the stage for a split up and an eventual Hamlin / Carlzilla match. The match happened with the stipulations that if Carlzilla won, he would control the entire company, and that if Hamlin one they would dissolve the merger and both companies would move on with their former owner at the helm. Hamlin won of course, but during that stint Hamlin mentioned to Carlzilla that he was looking to bring over a jr. fighter to Japan and offered to take Carlzilla along. Carlzilla jumped at the opportunity and has been a regular for NWJ and Royal Ring ever since.

Finisher: Hanging Cross Armbar

Marc and Eric Cordova

These twin brothers started working shows in 2001 in the southwestern US. For a long while they mostly stayed in the southern california indy scene, but eventually they took bookings in near by states. One of those bookings was for Mammoth Pro Wrestling, Sam Hamlin's indy fed, and Hamlin was so impressed by the two that he offered to talk to his contacts in Japan to try to get them some shows there. Both are huge fans of puroresu and couldn't turn down an offer like that. Hamlin made good on his promise and off the two went to Royal Ring, where they appeared on a few cards as opening match talent. When they went back to the states the duo managed to capture the PW-Riot Tag Team Titles. Carlzilla also put them over with Hiromata and Ishibashi, who agreed to bring them back for a PW-Riot / Royal Ring Tag Title for title match. The Cordova's won the match and captured the Royal Ring tag titles and although they have lost both titles since then, they have been a regular fixture in Royal Ring ever since.

Finisher: Cordova Special Suplex (Chickenwing Suplex) Marc
Finisher: Cordova Bomber (STO Bomber) Eric

El Patron

El Patron was trained in Mexico's biggest wrestling organization, MexiPro Lucha Libre (MPLL). He was a decent name there and captured the trios titles on several occasions with teammates Asesino and Juan Brujo (collectively known as Perros Del Mal Puro) Juan Brujo eventually gave up on wrestling and Asesino went on to become a huge singles success, leaving El Patron with no real options in MPLL. He eventually decided to head over seas and joined UnGravity in Japan. He was quickly lost in the mix there and became unhappy. Kazu Narita helped him get his foot in the door at Royal Ring and he's scheduled to make his in ring debut early this year.

Finisher: Ay Dios Mio (Tri-jump Enzuigiri)

"Sweet" Pete Good

It's a fairly well known fact that Brittish wrestler Pete Good learned to wrestle and fight in prison. He did a short stint there and had no choice but to fight as his small sized made him an excellent target for larger inmates. After prison, Good joined Fighting Aces Puroresu, "The only 'puroresu' organization based outside of Japan" or so their tagline claims, and started to train seriously to become a wrestler. Good aknowledges that wrestling saved his life, and that he would probably be a repeat offender if he didn't find something like this to do with his time. In FAP he managed to capture their hardcore title on several occassions, and nearly won their world title. It was in one of the hardcore battle royals that Good made his impression on Hido Shibata and Masa Fujinami, who were on loan to the promotion. Good out brawled 7 other opponents, and pin each one himself. It was that display of guts and stamina that prompted Fujinami to offer him the number to Royal Ring and urge him to call for a tryout. Good took him up on that offer, but was not so well recieved by Yoshi Hiromata, who simply stated, "Well he can fight, but he can't wrestle." Shibata and Fujinami both urged Hiromata to allow Good to enter the dojo for some lessons until Good decided to go home, or until Hiromata was sufficiently impressed. Good learned fairly quickly and after only 4 months Hiromata gave him the go ahead to step into the ring on the main shows. Good has been fighting in Royal Ring ever since, and while no one expects him to win a title at this point, no one will tell you that they don't enjoy his matches either.

Finisher: Good Riddance (Orange Crush)

Queens Ring Joshi

Marja Marz

Marja Marz is a 2008 graduate of the Queens Ring Dojo, and has made some waves in the 3 months she's been competing. She pulled a major upset over former JRC Champion, Yuka Nishiyama, after dismantling her with vicious kicks for nearly 17 minutes. Well she's not usually called the most technically gifted joshi wrestler, she is certainly has one of the most effective styles to come around in a long time, mixing hard strikes with just a tad bit of traditional jr. offense. She is seen by many as a future JRC Champion, and has recently entered the FPCPP Tag Team Title tournament with long time boyfriend Carlzilla (the only mixed gender tag team in the entire tournament). She's definitely got a bright future and only time will tell what she is made of.

Finisher: Ode To HBK (Superkick)

Ayame Yamoto

Ayame Yamoto is the current JRC Champion. She won the title in a back and forth war with Yuka Nishiyama in July of last year. Very little is known about her background, and she just kind of burst onto the scene and had an aura of importance about her. She works a very shoot-ish style and works the arms to prepair her opponent for her Hanging Arm Bar. She's very humble and outgoing outside of the ring, but very serious once she steps between the ropes.

Finisher: Hanging Arm Bar

Yuka Nishiyama

Yuka Nishiyama was the first JRC Champion, and pushed Royal Ring's Queen's Ring Joshi division past opening match status. She was the first woman to main event a Royal Ring card when she teamed up with Koji Tanaka to take on Yoshi Hiromata and The Amazing Hido (Hido Shibata under a mask). She also runs her own training school and says she has several students who will be making their Queen's Ring debut soon.

Finisher: Senton Atomico

Young Princes and Dojo Students

Akira Hiroyama

Akira Hiroyama was one of two graduates that where part of the class of 2006, which was the first graduating class from the Royal Ring Dojo. He has been teaming up fairly regularly with Ryo Taguchi since summer of 2007, and is looking to challenge for the tag team titles at some point in the future.

Finisher: Exploiter Suplex (Blizzard Suplex)

Taku Yamata

Taku Yamata was one of two graduates in the 2006 class at the Royal Ring Dojo. Yamata is a fast learner, and a hard worker, but he's not the most athletic member of the Royal Ring roster.

Finisher: Staggerin' Blow

Daiki Satou

Daiki Satou is a graduate of the 2007 Royal Ring Dojo class. He is gifted and humble and seems to get along well with the fans. He's got a good physique and should be a major player in the future for Royal Ring.

Finisher: Tiger Driver

Shunsuke Hiratsuka

Hiratsuka is a 2007 Royal Ring Dojo graduate. He's been called one of Royal Ring's most promising up and comers and won rookie of the year in 2007. He is pushing Hiromata and Matsuhiro to hold a "Young Princes Cup" tournament in 2008 to see who is the top graduate of the royal ring dojo.

Finisher: Hell Hammer (Hurricane Slam)

Daijiro Sasaki

Daijiro Sasaki was the first student to enter the Royal Ring Dojo in 2008 and has been making huge progress. He won entry into the Dojo by winning a battle royal style match that the public could participate in. He is learning fast and his large size has made him a huge favorite in a lot of his matches. He's already being billed as a potential future ace by some fans.

Finisher: Running Powerslam (Oaklahoma Stampede)

Satoshi Ishibashi

Satoshi Ishibashi is the second student to enter the Royal Ring Dojo in 2008. He has yet to compete in a match and very little is known about the progress of his training at this point. He is very outspoken and has already broken several dojo rules already. He's definitely one to look out for in the future.

Finisher: Unknown