Christopher Romero (February 10, 1966 – July 7, 2021) was an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

, better known by his ring name Chris Youngblood. A second generation wrestler, he was the son of

Ricky Romero Ricardo Romero Jr. (born November 6, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays. Prep career After spending three years at Garfield High School, Romero graduate ...

and the brother of

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

and

Jay Youngblood Steven Nicolas Romero (June 21, 1955 – September 2, 1985) was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Jay Youngblood. He wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance's Jim Crockett Promotions in a tag team with Ricky Ste ...

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Chris Romero was the son of

. He began his pro-wrestling training at the age of 13 and made his professional debut as Chris Youngblood in 1985. He started teaming with brother

in 1986 upon their older brother

Jay Jays are a paraphyletic grouping of passerine birds within the family Corvidae. Although the term "jay" carries no taxonomic weight, most or all of the birds referred to as jays share a few similarities: they are small to medium-sized, usually ...

's death. Chris and Mark had success in the

World Class Championship Wrestling World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), later known as the World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA), was an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed McLemore, by ...

World Wrestling Council The World Wrestling Council (WWC; Spanish: "Consejo Mundial de Lucha") is a professional wrestling promotion based in Puerto Rico. It was originally established as Capitol Sports Promotions in 1973 by Carlos Colón, Victor Jovica, and Goril ...

and also as The Tribal Nation in the

Global Wrestling Federation Global Wrestling Federation was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Dallas, Texas. It started in June 1991 and folded in September 1994. At one time its shows were presented on the ESPN television network. Often the promotion p ...

and the

United States Wrestling Association The United States Wrestling Association (USWA) was a professional wrestling promotion based in Memphis, Tennessee. The company was founded when the Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association merged with the Dallas-based World Class Champions ...

. In the USWA, Chris turned heel and wrestled for manager

Skandor Akbar Jimmy Saied Wehba (September 29, 1934 – August 19, 2010) was an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager better known by his ring name Skandor Akbar (which translates as "Alexander the Great"). Akbar led the villaino ...

's "Devastation Inc." as Pronto. During this time Chris had a feud with a young up and coming

Stone Cold Steve Austin Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson and later Steven James Williams; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American media personality, actor, producer and retired Professional wrestling, profes ...

World Wrestling Council

Chris and Mark had a very successful run in being one of the most popular tag teams in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and added numerous Tag Title reigns under their belts. But on July 17, 1988, The Romeros were in the locker room when a wrestler named José Huertas stabbed and killed

Bruiser Brody Frank Donald Goodish (June 18, 1946 – July 17, 1988) was an American professional wrestler who earned his greatest fame under the ring name Bruiser Brody. He also worked as King Kong Brody, the Masked Marauder, and Red River Jack. Over the year ...

. Huertas went to trial but did not do any jail time for the crime. The WWC did nothing to help convict Huertas and The Romeros left the WWC right after the incident and went on to sign with

Ted Turner Robert Edward Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He founded the CNN, Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, ...

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National W ...

where he and Mark were known as "The Renegade Warriors". The two were frequently used on WCW TV and had numerous feuds with

The Steiner Brothers The Steiner Brothers are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Rick Steiner (real name Robert Rechsteiner) and Scott Steiner (real name Scott Rechsteiner). The brothers wrestled as amateurs at the University of Mich ...

and

The Road Warriors The Road Warriors, also known as the Legion of Doom, were a professional wrestling tag team originally composed of Road Warrior Hawk (Michael Hegstrand) and Road Warrior Animal (Joseph Laurinaitis).. They performed under the name "The Road W ...

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling

In the late 1990s Chris began using the name "The Visionary" Chris Romero. Chris completed many Japanese tours as a singles competitor where he gained victories over ECW's own,

Rob Van Dam Robert Szatkowski (born December 18, 1970) better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam (frequently abbreviated to RVD) is an American professional wrestler. Known for his unique ring style—which includes his variety of kicks, acrobatic movemen ...

. Chris later formed a Tag Team in Japan's

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion (FMW-E) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fir ...

with "Super" Leatherface. The team got notable wins over Tag Teams like

Jado (born September 28, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler, manager and booker better known by the ring name . He is best known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as part of a tag team with his partner Gedo. Jado and Gedo's care ...

and

Gedo Gedo (, , , or ''Ghedu'') is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in Jubaland, southern Somalia. Its regional capital is Garbahaarreey. The region was formed during 1974 and is bordered by the Ogaden in Ethiopia, the North Eastern Province ...

, and

Masato Tanaka is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan where he was a FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship#Title History, one-time FMW Brass Knuckle ...

and Tetsuhiro Kuroda. The two were constant top runners for the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Titles until Chris went into semi-retirement in late 1999 due to a

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injury.

Semi-retirement

Chris worked in numerous independent promotions across the State of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

including the Texas-based NWA Southwest where Chris was at one point in top contention for the

NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship The NWA Texas Championship is a professional wrestling title that has existed since the 1930s. Though its exact date of creation isn't known, it is among the oldest championships used in professional wrestling today. The title has used a variety ...

. During that time, he also teamed up with his nephew "Radical" Ricky Romero III against numerous teams including The Lone Star Connection. In 2005, Chris began booking shows and wrestling part-time for Panhandle Wrestling Federation, later renamed West Texas Wrestling Legends, an independent promotion exclusive to

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County ...

. In 2006,

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

showed interest in hiring Chris as a Producer for training and scouting talent. A few months later in April 2007, Chris began running Romero Academy of Wrestling out of the Amarillo-based Wrestleplex. The Wrestleplex was also home to the newly renamed Professional Wrestling Federation (formerly known as West Texas Wrestling Legends) where Chris was also the booker and manager to a stable known as "Bloodline". Bloodline was the first stable of its kind consisting only of second and third generation superstars "Radical" Ricky Romero III, Cody Jones and Mike DiBiase Jr. Then four months after PWF's resurrection, Chris Romero resigned from the promotion on August 14, 2007. With him he took the top tier title of the PWF, the West Texas Wrestling Legends Heritage Championship, which he owned. A couple of weeks after leaving PWF, Chris made a rare wrestling appearance on August 29, 2007, in

Socorro, New Mexico Socorro (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, sə-KOR-oh'') is a city in Socorro County, New Mexico, Socorro County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is in the Middle Rio Grande Valley AVA, Rio Grande Valley at an elevation of . At the 2020 ...

, at

New Mexico Tech The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech or NMT), formerly New Mexico School of Mines, is a public university in Socorro, New Mexico, United States. It offers over 30 Bachelor of Science degrees in technology, the scien ...

for the locally based L.A.W where he defeated up and comer Nick A. Demus in a match that saw Chris seriously injure his

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

. Chris Romero continued to run Romero Academy of Wrestling, now ROW 101 until his death, and started his own independent wrestling promotion named Renegade Outlaw Wrestling, which has been running shows every even numbered Friday night in the Historic NAT Ballroom in Amarillo, Texas since October 2007. He continued to work in the independent circuit. On June 28, 2011, he lost to the Cuban Assassin for FUW in Largo, Florida. He reunited with his brother, Mark in 2019 teaming together in Puerto Rico.

Death

Romero died on July 7, 2021, at the age of 55. He was buried beside his father in Llano Cemetery.

Championships and accomplishments

Cauliflower Alley Club The Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America. Established in 1965 by Mike Mazurki and Art Ab ...

**Family Wrestling Award (2015) – with

and

Mark Youngblood Mark Romero (born July 21, 1963) is an American former second generation professional wrestler better known by his ring name Mark Youngblood. Professional wrestling career Mark Romero is the son of Ricky Romero. He started wrestling as Mark Yo ...

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA be ...

**NWA Australasian Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mark Youngblood *

World Wide Wrestling Alliance The World Wide Wrestling Alliance (WWWA), previously known as NWA Ohio, was an American professional wrestling promotion. However, NWA Ohio Owner & Promoter Dave Nelson's claim of ownership of the WWWA name is disputed. History Founded by promo ...

**WWWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *

WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship The WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship was a third-string tag team championship that was defended in the World Wrestling Council The World Wrestling Council (WWC; Spanish: "Consejo Mundial de Lucha") is a professional wrestling promotion base ...

( 3 times) - with Mark Youngblood **

WWC World Tag Team Championship The WWC World Tag Team Championship is the tag team title contested for in the Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican professional wrestling promotion, the World Wrestling Council. History Abroad (2017) On February 11, 2017, Thunder and Lightning defended t ...

( 6 times) - with Mark Youngblood *Professional Wrestling Federation **PWF Brass Knuckles Championship (1 time) *''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' **PWI ranked him #331 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

in 1991 **PWI ranked him #100 of the 100 best tag teams during the

PWI Years ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

with Mark Youngblood in 2003 *Southern Championship Wrestling **SCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Youngblood, Chris 1965 births 2021 deaths American male professional wrestlers American professional wrestlers of Mexican descent Faux Native American professional wrestlers Chris Youngblood Sportspeople from Amarillo, Texas WWC World Tag Team Champions