Who is Leroy Smith in Tekken: Bloodline?

Leroy Smith was one of the most surprising characters to appear in Tekken: Bloodline. The show effectively ret-conned the Wing Chun master into the Tekken 3 story, drastically expanding on the character's lore. But who is Leroy Smith, and what's his background before and after Tekken: Bloodline?

Introduced in Tekken 7, Leroy Smith has become a fan favorite Tekken fighter among the community. The Wing Chun master alongside his pet dog Sugar make an incredible duo of ferocity and wholesomeness. Although where did he come from? How did he become the Wing Chun master and the esteemed fighter he is in Tekken: Bloodlines or Tekken 7? Well time to find out about Leroy's origin story.

Although Leroy plays a minor role in the new show Tekken: Bloodline, his role is nonetheless critical to the story. Following a similar backstory to his own in Tekken 7, he is seeking revenge for the death of his family. A family that passed away from Heihachi Mishima and Mishima Zaibatsu.

In the 3rd King of the Iron First tournament where the show takes place, Leroy serves as the first opponent for the main character Jin. Unfortunatley, Leroy loses in the first round of the tournament due to Jin's overwhelming anger. And eventually, Jin breaks Leroy's leg and ends his tournament run in a pretty rough way. Although Leroy serves as the first hurdle of the Iron Fist tournament, he's one of the first to inform Jin that he might not be fighting on the right side after all.

Surprisingly for as cool of a character Leroy is, he's pretty new to the Tekken Franchise. His first appearance is in Tekken 7, which is the latest game in the franchise. But despite Leroy being new, he's a fan favorite fighter, especially since he is first Wing Chun fighter that has been featured in a Japanese fighting game.

There are different versions of his backstory, however they all follow the same theme. Half a century ago, the city of New York was taken over by gangs. The city fell into massive gang war called the Big Apple War and nobody was safe. During this gang war, young Leroy lost everything. From his family, friends and the city he once loved. Through a poor turn of events found himself injured and washed out to sea. Thankfully he survives and makes his way to Hong Kong on a merchant's boat. Once there he discovers Wing Chun. And after years of training in the martial art, he was ready to get his revenge on the gang leaders who took so much from him.

Now and countless years, he returned to New York to free the imprisoned city. After finding out the one behind the war was the company Mishima Zaibatsu, and so he had a new target. Then the King of the Iron Fist tournament was announced, a tournament hosted by the Mishima Zaibatsu company. And now Leroy joins the tournament to find the root of all this evil and vanquish it once and for all. So that nobody can experience the same tragedy he did all those years ago.

If you want to find out more about Leroy, check out his Fandom Wiki page here. Hopefully in season 2 of Tekken: Bloodline or future Tekken content, we see more of him. Or if not, then there better be a really good excuse not to include him. But either way, Leroy is a fan favorite Tekken character and we are glad he got some spotlight. For more Tekken content, stick around on Esports.gg