Joey LaRocca
Main character from The Sopranos: Road to Respect.
Il Drago di Newark[edit | edit source]
Joseph "Joey" LaRocca is the illegitimate son of Salvatore Bonpensiero. He is a hot-heated, short-tempered street thug who spent most of his early life robbing people and establishments in order to make money. In 2005 he was caught stealing from a man outside of Satriale's Pork Store by Tony Soprano, who happened to halt Joey's escape and bring him into the back of Satriale's. Tony reluctantly offers Joey a place in Paulie Gualtieri's crew as an associate simply due to the fact his father was once a respected member of the DiMeo family.
Two years later Joey accidentally takes the life of Mario Buscetta in the men's restroom at the Bada Bing, Paulie sends Joey and his best friend Reggie to get rid of the carcass at the Cranford Marine Terminal. Reggie decides to loot Mario's body as they get rid of it, taking a watch which was given to him by somebody called "Angie." The next day, Joey secretly assists Christopher Moltisanti in collecting money from a man named Saul, whom Christopher does business with. He finds out that Saul runs a steroid racket that he does not share profit with the Soprano family. He and Joey find Saul and begin to burn his hand in hot coal, Saul eventually agrees to share half of his profits with Christopher, and a 20% premium for “pissing him off.” While at the Gym, Joey learns that the man he had killed, Mario, was the nephew of Angelo Buscetta, a notorious mob boss from Philadelphia, he even gathered information that Reggie was seen wearing Mario’s $25,000 watch, making people suspect that Reggie had whacked Mario. Joey also reunited with his old friend Trishelle, who he asks out on a date. Within a few days, Joey is ordered to kill Reggie for raising suspicions, which leads to a rooftop chase. Tuzzio, a hit-man who worked for the Buscetta family was sent to Reggie's home, and he crossed paths with Joey and Reggie. Reggie began to negotiate with Joey, promising that he would leave New Jersey and start a new life in Philadelphia away from the Soprano family, however Reggie is killed. Joey gave chase to Tuzzio, shooting him off the the rooftops and on to a car, Tuzzio survived the fall only to be killed by Joey in hospital later on in time. A few days after these events, Tony’s son A.J. has a drug deal go wrong on him; his partner wasted the drug money, prompting the dealers to kill his partner and steal his dad’s car. Joey retrieves the car and kills one of the dealers, only to have the car stolen by Angelo’s men. While Joey is fearful the theft of Tony's truck may get him killed, Tony says that A.J. admitted responsibility. Tony has Joey retaliate for the theft by burning down one of Angelo’s businesses. Several days later, Angelo returns Tony’s car, completely wrecked, and containing Joey’s girlfriend, Trishelle, beaten and raped. Joey vows vengeance. He makes his way to the docks and finds Angelo, following him on to his yacht. Joey beats up and kills a lot of Angelo's men, before finally killing Angelo by throwing him off the yacht.
Joey is regularly visited by the ghost of his dead father, who warns him about some of the trouble ahead. Joey constantly proved himself as a great earner and an exceptionally hard-working, tough, and sensible enforcer to Paulie, it is not known if Joey is next in line to become a 'made man' within the organisation, but for eliminating Angelo, Tony decides it would be best to induct him. Just before the ceremony, Joey is visited one last time by his father's spirit, who is not bitter about him becoming even closer to the same men that took his life, and only wants the best for him. The spirit explains that he is at peace in the great beyond.
In G1 Nonstop Infinite Climax[edit | edit source]
G1/Season 2[edit | edit source]
In The Final Rumble[edit | edit source]
TFR/Season 8[edit | edit source]
Joey joined his father's mafia group, the Soprano Family, and quickly became one of its most feared and respected members, admired by the other members because of his ferocity and combat prowess.
Now the leader of his own batch of soldatos, he initially allies himself with the Matou Family, aiding them to sow chaos within the Sonozaki Family. However, this partnership eventually falls through and Joey instead joins forces with Sudou Tatsuzou, the corrupt Japanese Foreign Minister, who'd previously been controlling the Sonozaki behind the scenes but had now lost control over them. Joey and Sudou intended to destroy the Sonozaki so that the Sopranos could then move into their former territory, with Joey getting to control the Coolsville underworld, and Sudou getting a new powerful ally in the mafia whom he hoped to influence to further his political goals. However, the his plans would be foiled by the intervention of Kiryu Kazuma and Sudou himself would be killed by Matou Kariya in a suicide bombing.
Wishing to start a war against the Sonozaki, Joey conspires with the Matou Family through one of their men. The two agree that the Matou will carry out a series of bombings in Sonozaki-controlled businesses in the lead up to and during an invasion of Coolsville. Kiryu agrees to travel to Osaka to negotiate a peace settlement before a war actually breaks out. While drinking the night before the peace summit, Kiryu witnesses an incident between Joey and one of his men. One of Joey's soldiers refers to him as the "Il Drago di Kansai", the nickname Joey despises because it limits his influence to Kansai alone. An irritated Joey then proceeds to break a bottle over his head. Kiryu butts into the conversation and calls Joey by his hated nickname, prompting Joey's other men to attack him. Kiryu easily beats his aggressors, which impresses Joey so much that he offers to share a drink. As both men introduce themselves, Joey recognizes Kiryu's name, but claims that a man like Kiryu wouldn't be spending time in an establishment like this. During their conversation, Joey warns that at midnight, Coolsville will see "the biggest damn fireworks show ever", and tomorrow, the Dragon of Kojima will die. Afterwards, Joey departs, telling Kiryu to enjoy his evening. Soon after, as per Joey's warning, Kasai's office in the Millennium Tower is bombed.
The following day, Joey interrupts the peace talks between Kiryu and the Soprano leadership at the Soprano Headquarters by leading a coup against his own capo, hoping to usurp control of the Sopranos. Joey has his men take his boss hostage and then transport him to be held prisoner. Upon seeing Kiryu, Joey realizes that he was indeed the Dragon of Kojima and says that he won't be fooled into letting him leave alive. Joey and Kiryu face off in a brief duel, but they're interrupted by the arrival of a platoon of Coolsville Police Department officers, led by Special Agent Jill Valentine. The police take Kiryu into custody but Joey manages to evade them. The next night, Joey has a meeting with fellow Soprano capos, where it is revealed they hatched a new scheme to get rid of Kiryu: He's kidnapped his foster son, Jackson, and intends to use him to lure Kiryu into a trap. Joey is disgusted and departs, but later reconsiders and returns to kill him for his unscrupulous plot. When Kiryu showed up to rescue Jackson, Joey kills his fellow men, after which he returns Jackson to Kiryu. The Soprano capo then warns that the Sonozaki only have one day left before they invade. The Soprano mobilize against Coolsville, and Ryuji has his forces attack Sonozaki businesses across the city, while he personally takes control of Chuck's Suck & Fuck. Kiryu arrives and beats all of Joey's personal guard, but by the time he has to take on Joey himself, Kiryu is too worn down, so Joey refuses to fight Kiryu. Instead, Joey challenges Kiryu to a one-on-one duel atop Coolsville Hills in order to settle the war.
On the appointed night, instead of his rival, he is met there by Jill Valentine, who tells Joey the truth about the old Matou Boss and her own mother being his parents, which he already knew, but then shocks him by revealing that she is his half-sister. Valentine pleads with Joey to stand down and abandon his mission of conquest before he gets killed, as he is the only biological family she has left, but Joey refuses to surrender. When Kiryu arrives, he and Joey have their final battle, which ends in Kiryu narrowly defeating the other dragon. After Joey is knocked out during his fight with Kiryu, Matou Zouken makes his presence known alongside a small battalion of Matou hitmen. The Matou's boss reveals his role in the conflict that has unfolded and attempts to kill Kiryu, only to be beaten by him and Valentine. Joey then chokeslams him from the top of Coolsville Hills. Moments before dying, Zouken activates a final bomb which his men had planted in Coolsville Hills, which begins to count down towards detonation. As the bomb is counting down and both are too wounded to get off the building in time, Joey and Kiryu resolve to die having one final battle to decide who is the true dragon. Valentine tries to stop them but both men lock themselves in a cargo elevator with the bomb and set it to ascend to the top of the structure, telling Valentine to leave while she can. Heavily battered but even more heavily determined, Joey and Kiryu fight barehanded and bare-chested until Joey is knocked down once again, finally accepting defeat. Despite their insistence, Valentine does not flee the building and instead climbs up the structure to follow both men, meeting them right after Joey has been beaten. Valentine cradles a dying Joey, who tells her that she reminds him of their mother. Joey laments that he didn't learn sooner that he had a sister and ponders whether things would've turned out differently if he actually got to have a family, before ultimately determining that he's too hot blooded and that "death would've found [him] one way or another". His last request before dying in his sister's arms it to see her smile, which she does for him, letting him die at least a little happy because he saw his sister smile at least once.
 This character is Dead
|
Former members of his crew, especially those afflicted by desire of revenge against Kiryu Kazuma, would join Matou Kieran's incarnation fo the Matou Family.
Match History[edit | edit source]
| Date | Type | Vs | Result | Records | Singles | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TBA | ||||||
| AJ Styles | Lose | |||||
| Tag-Team Elimination |
MD Geist & Joey LaRocca | Win | For Title: VWGP Tag-Team | |||
| Tag-Team | Planet Door | Win | ||||
| Section 9 | Win | |||||
