J. R. Kratos

J. R. Kratos (born June 20, 1982) is an American professional wrestler, appearing for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), where he is a former NWA United States Tag Team Champion (with Odinson) and a former NWA World Tag Team Champion. He also makes sporadic appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

J. R. Kratos
Born	(1982-06-20) June 20, 1982 (age 42) Pacifica, California, U.S.
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	J. R. Kratos Kratos
Billed height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)[1]
Billed weight	286 lb (130 kg)[1]
Trained by	Supreme Pro Wrestling Academy Josh Barnett
Debut	February 26, 2012

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Kratos' early career started in the Northern California independent pro wrestling scene where he debuted for Supreme Pro Wrestling.^[2][3] From 2012-2019, Kratos wrestle for All Pro Wrestling on a constant basis.^[4][5] He has also competed in several GCW Bloodsport events after he attended a seminar held by Josh Barnett with Timothy Thatcher and Jeff Cobb.^[5]

All Japan Pro-Wrestling

Kratos competed for All Japan Pro Wrestling during their Excite Series tour in February 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[5][6]

National Wrestling Alliance

On November 11, 2020, Aron Stevens and Kratos defeated Eli Drake and James Storm to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship. On June 6, at When Our Shadows Fall, Stevens and Kratos successfully defended their titles in a three-way tag team match against The War Kings (Jax Dane and Crimson) and Strictly Business (Thom Latimer and Chris Adonis).^[7] On August 29, at the NWA 73rd Anniversary Show, they lost the titles to La Rebelión (Bestia 666 and Mecha Wolf 450).^[8] On December 4, at Hard Times 2, Stevens and Kratos failed to beat The OGK (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) for the ROH World Tag Team Championship.^[9]

In 2023, Kratos began teaming up with Odinson, dubbed The Immortals. Having been named to the Crockett Cup tournament,^[10] The Immortals reached the quarterfinals of the tournament, where they had lost to the Midnight Riders.^[11][12] On October 28, at Samhain, they defeated Daisy Kill and Talos to win the NWA United States Tag Team Championship.^[13] On April 16, 2024 episode of NWA Powerrr, Kratos and Odinson vacated the titles in order to challenge for the NWA World Tag Team Championship at NWA Hard Times, which they were unsuccessful at winning.^[14][15][16]

New Japan Pro-Wrestling

Main article: Team Filthy

On November 6, 2020 episode of NJPW Strong, Kratos made his NJPW debut teaming with Rust Taylor to defeat Jeff Cobb and Rocky Romero. During the match Tom Lawlor was spotted by Kevin Kelly.^[17] Before Lawlor's match with Fred Rosser, it was confirmed that he aligned himself with Kratos and Taylor forming the New Japan version of Team Filthy.^[18] Lawlor stated that he teamed up with Kratos and Taylor because he was looking for a fight team that would be the strongest ever seen.^[19] Just one week after their formation, Danny Limelight would turn on Romero and join Team Filthy.^[20] Together, Team Filthy was victorious against Cobb, Romero, Rosser, and P. J. Black in an eight-man tag team match.^[21]

On the October 16, 2021 episode of Strong, Kratos entered a long-running feud with Alex Coughlin spurred on, in part, by his victory against him in Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 4. Kratos would lose against Coughlin twice at the January 29, 2023 episode of NJPW Strong and 2023's Battle in the Valley respectively. During his time on Strong, Kratos also revived a title shot against Fred Rosser for the Strong Openweight Championship on the November 22, 2022 episode of Strong. Kratos had his first NJPW event in Japan at NJPW Independence Day events at Korakuen Hall.

Discography

Music videos

Year	Song title	Artist(s)
2016	"Never Ever"[22]	Strfkr

Championships and accomplishments

• All Pro Wrestling
  • APW Universal Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• Gold Rush Pro Wrestling
  • GRPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • GRPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Colt Stevens
  • Golden Thrones Tournament (2016) – with Nicole Savoy^[23]
• National Wrestling Alliance
  • NWA United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Odinson^[13]
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Aron Stevens
• Premier Wrestling
  • Premier Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• Pro Wrestling Revolution
  • PWR World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• Supreme Pro Wrestling
  • SPW Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Ranked No. 124 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2021^[24]

References

1. "Profile of JR Kratos". Cagematch. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
2. "Kratos early matches". Cagematch. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
3. NorCal Tonight - Season 2 Ep. 5 - JR Kratos, April 29, 2017, retrieved January 2, 2024
4. "Kratos wrestling career". Cagematch. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
5. JR Kratos Interview: NJPW STRONG, talks to do BKF, All Japan tour, 2020 AEW TNT Title open challenge, June 9, 2023, retrieved January 2, 2024
6. "Kratos AJPW". Cagematch. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
7. Powell, Jason (June 6, 2021). "NWA When Our Shadows Fall results: Powell's live review of Nick Aldis vs. Trevor Murdoch for the NWA Championship, Serena Deeb vs. Kamille for the NWA Women's Title, Aron Stevens and Kratos vs. Thom Latimer and Chris Adonis vs. Crimson and Jax Dane for the NWA Tag Titles". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on November 20, 2021. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
8. Cook, Ryan (August 29, 2021). "NWA 73rd Anniversary Show Results: Nick Aldis vs Trevor Murdoch, Kamille vs Green". Fightful. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
9. Carey, Ian (December 4, 2021). "NWA Hard Times 2 live results: Eight title matches". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Archived from the original on January 6, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
10. Tessier, Colin (May 15, 2023). "Yabo the Clown and Ruffo the Clown, Flip Gordon, More Added To 2023 NWA Crockett Cup Tournament". Fightful. Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
11. "NWA Crockett Cup 2023 PPV live results: Night 1 with EC3 title match & 24-team tournament". June 3, 2023.
12. Rogers, Jon (June 4, 2023). "NWA Crockett Cup night two live results: Title matches & tournament finals". F4wonline.
13. Lambert, Jeremy (October 28, 2023). "JR Kratos and Odinson Win NWA US Tag Team Titles At NWA Samhain". Fightful. Archived from the original on October 29, 2023. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
14. Tommy "Milagro" Martinez (April 16, 2024). "NWA POWERRR: Hard Times and Tag Team Trauma". Slam Wrestling. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
15. "SPOILERS: NWA Hard Times TV tapings: Matches taped on 3/2 in Dothan, AL". Wrestleview. March 3, 2024.
16. "NWA HARD TIMES 2024". TheSmackDownHotel. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
17. "Fred Rosser in action and JR Kratos debuts on STRONG| NJPW STRONG Highlights - YouTube". www.youtube.com. November 12, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
18. "Tom Lawlor vs Fred Rosser, and Juice Robinson debuts on STRONG! |NJPW STRONG Highlights - YouTube". www.youtube.com. November 19, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
19. "Juice Robinson gets off to a STRONG start! - YouTube". www.youtube.com. November 14, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
20. "Team Filthy grow STRONGER, KENTA stays STRONGest! |Finish STRONG - YouTube". www.youtube.com. November 21, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
21. "Tom Lawlor Fights Filthy on STRONG| Finish STRONG - YouTube". www.youtube.com. November 28, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
22. STRFKR - Never Ever [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO], August 23, 2016, retrieved January 2, 2024
23. "Golden Thrones Tournament". Cagematch.net. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
24. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2021 - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.profightdb.com. Retrieved September 22, 2021.

External links

• J. R. Kratos's profile at Cagematch.net , Wrestlingdata.com , Internet Wrestling Database