Evil (wrestler)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Evil
Watanabe as Evil in February 2016
Birth nameTakaaki Watanabe (渡辺 高章, Watanabe Takaaki)
Born (1987-01-26) January 26, 1987 (age 37)[1]
Mishima, Shizuoka[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Evil
Takaaki Watanabe
Billed height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Billed weight106 kg (234 lb)[2]
Billed fromUnknown[3]
Trained byAnimal Hamaguchi[1]
Hiroyoshi Tenzan[4]
Jado[5]
DebutMay 13, 2011[1]

Takaaki Watanabe (渡辺 高章, Watanabe Takaaki, born January 26, 1987), better known by his ring name Evil (stylized as EVIL), is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club and the leader of its sub-group House of Torture.

After debuting in NJPW in 2011, Evil competed in the United States on excursion, working for companies such as

Los Ingobernables de Japón, and was a part of a tag team with Sanada; they are two-time IWGP Tag Team Champions and two-time World Tag League winners. He is also a three-time NEVER Openweight Champion and is a record-breaking six-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion, making him an overall ten-time champion in NJPW.[2] In 2020, he won the New Japan Cup, before turning on L.I.J leader Tetsuya Naito and joining Bullet Club. He defeated Naito at Dominion to become the double IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion
. He is the only wrestler in NJPW history to be a triple champion, having held the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships and the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship simultaneously from July to August 2020.

Professional wrestling career

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2011–2013)

Watanabe made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on May 13, 2011,[1] wrestling primarily as a Young Lion and in the lower cards of shows and remained with the promotion until October 2013, when after King of Pro-Wrestling, announced that he was being sent on a learning excursion to the United States.[6]

Ring of Honor (2014–2015)

At Global Wars '15 the first night May 15 he teamed with Silas Young in a losing effort against Gedo and Moose. The following night May 16, he was defeated by Young.

On the June 27 episode of ROH Wrestling, he lost to

Donovan Dijak would battle Watanabe in a singles match taped exclusively for ROH's YouTube Wrestling Channel. This occurred on July 24 at Death Before Dishonor XIII
where Dijak defeated Watanabe.

August 22 at Field of Honor, Watanabe qualified for an ROH World Television Championship match by winning a nine-man gauntlet match. On September 18 at All Star Extravaganza VII, he teamed with Will Ferrara to defeat Dijak and Greg James. On September 19, Watanabe received his shot at the Television Title in a match against champion Jay Lethal, but was unsuccessful.

Return to NJPW

The King of Darkness (2015–2017)

Los Ingobernables de Japón
in February 2016

On October 12, 2015, Watanabe returned to NJPW at

2015 World Tag League with a record of five wins and one loss, advancing to the finals of the tournament.[9] On December 9, Evil and Naito were defeated in the finals by Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma.[10]

In early March, Evil took part in the

On November 5 at

Sanada. The two finished second in their block with a record of five wins and two losses, tied with block winners Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma, but failed to advance to the finals due to losing the head-to-head match against Makabe and Honma.[16]

On January 4, 2017, at

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions.[17] They lost the title to Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi the next day,[18] before regaining it on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka.[19] In March, Evil made it to the semifinals of the 2017 New Japan Cup, before losing to Bad Luck Fale.[20] On April 4, L.I.J. lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi in their second defense,[21] before regaining it on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2017.[22]

During the

2017 World Tag League with a record of five wins and two losses, advancing to the finals of the tournament.[27] On December 11, they defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) in the finals to win the tournament.[28] Six days later, Evil, Bushi and Sanada lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Guerrillas of Destiny and Bad Luck Fale in their fourth defense.[29]

Championship reigns with Sanada (2018–2020)

On January 4, 2018, at

Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall ending their reign at 156 days.[31] The same night, Chris Jericho defeated Tetsuya Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Jericho put Naito into Walls of Jericho and refused to release the hold. This resulted in Evil running in to make the save.[32] Evil entered the 2018 G1 Climax and finished with a record of 5 wins and 4 losses, failing to advance from his block.[33] At King of Pro-Wrestling, Evil was scheduled to compete in a singles match against Zack Sabre Jr. Before the match could begin, however, IWGP Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho, would return and attack Evil forcing the match to be a no contest.[34]

On November 3, 2018, at Power Struggle, Evil challenged Jericho for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Evil was unsuccessful, however, and was forced to submit to Chris Jericho's Liontamer submission hold.[35] In December, Evil and Sanada entered the 2018 edition of World Tag League. The pair scored a record of ten wins and three losses advancing them to the finals where they would meet the Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) in a rematch of the previous year's final.[36] On December 9, they defeated the Guerillas of Destiny in the finals to win their second World Tag League and the challenge right for an IWGP Tag Team Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome.[37]

At

Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome, Evil and Sanada won IWGP Tag Team Championship in a three-way tag team match, that also included Guerillas of Destiny and Young Bucks.[38] They retained their titles at The New Beginning in Sapporo against Zack Sabre Jr. and Minoru Suzuki.[39] At Honor Rising: Japan 2019, Evil and Sanada lost the titles in their second defense against Guerillas of Destiny. Evil was announced to take part in the 2019 New Japan Cup
, but lost to Zack Sabre Jr. in the first round. Evil entered the 2019 G1 Climax, finishing with a record of 4 wins and 5 losses, failing to make it to the finals.

On January 5, 2020, at

Gauntlet match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, making both Evil and Bushi record-tying four time holders of the title.[40]

Bullet Club and House of Torture (2020–present)

After New Japan Pro-Wrestling underwent a hiatus in late February 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic, the company resumed its activities with the 2020 New Japan Cup, which begun on June 16, 2020, with the winner receiving a title shot against Naito for both the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships. Entering the tournament, Evil defeated Satoshi Kojima, Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi, and his teammate Sanada to reach the finals, displaying a more aggressive attitude, notably cheating by low blowing Hirooki Goto in their match, injuring Yoshi-Hashi before their match, and using a chair to attack Sanada's neck in their match.[41][42][43][44] In the finals on July 11, Evil defeated Kazuchika Okada, in part due to interference by Bullet Club, who attacked Okada seemingly behind Evil's back (as he appeared unconscious when it happened). When Naito came out to congratulate him on his win, Evil threw up the "too sweet" symbol of Bullet Club instead of the raised fist of Los Ingobernables, then attacked Naito, turning heel, and was soon joined by Bullet Club, establishing himself as a member of the stable and the first person to ever leave Los Ingobernables de Japón.[45]

At

At the NJPW New Years Golden Series tour, EVIL retained the Never Openweight Championship against Ishii once again and retained the Never Openweight 6-man tag team championships.[54][55] Evil then entered the New Japan Cup; he defeated Ryusuke Taguchi and Tama Tonga in rounds one and two, but lost to Hiromu Takahashi in round 3.[56][57][58] At Hyper Battle, Evil retained the Never Openweight Championship against Takahashi.[59] At Wrestling Dontaku, Evil lost the Never Openweight Championship to Tama Tonga, ending his second reign at 117 days.[60] At Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall, House of Torture retained the 6-man championships against Suzuki-Gun, but lost them to Chaos at NJPW New Japan Road.[61][62]

In June, Evil was announced to be competing in the G1 Climax 32 tournament, in the C Block.[63] He finished the tournament with 6 points, failing to advance to the semi-finals.[64]

In October, Evil participated in a tournament to crown the first ever

New Japan Rambo match, but failed to last till the final 4.[69] The following day at New Year Dash, Evil, Takahashi and Dick Togo defeated Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask and Ren Narita. After the match, House of Torture attacked Narita, but he was saved by Minoru Suzuki and El Desprado, causing House of Torture to flee.[70]

This confrontation led to a match between the teams for the Never Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championships, which Suzuki, Desperado and Narita won.[71] In March, Evil participated in the New Japan Cup, defeating Ren Narita and Jeff Cobb, in the first two rounds.[72][73] In the quarterfinals, Evil lost to Mark Davis, eliminating him from the tournament.[74] In June at Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-jo Hall, Evil teamed with Takahashi in a three-way tag-team match for both the vacant IWGP Tag Team Championships and the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships, but the match was won by Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi).[75] The following month in July, Evil entered the G1 Climax 33 tournament, competing in the C Block.[76] Evil finished with a total of 10 points, finishing joint top of his block, thus advancing to the quarterfinal round.[77] In the quarterfinals, Evil defeated reigning IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, Sanada to advance to the semi-finals.[78] Evil lost to Kazuchika Okada in the semi-finals, eliminating him from the tournament.[79] Shortly after, Evil and House of Torture embarked on feud with Shota Umino and Kaito Kiyomiya, leading to two matches, with the first being on January 2, 2024 at Noah The New Year, where House of Torture lost and the second two days later at Wrestle Kingdom 18, where Evil and House of Torture's newest member Ren Narita got their revenge and defeated Shota Umino and Kaito Kiyomiya, ending their feud. Later that night, EVIL as Tetsuya Naito was going to close the show, EVIL and the House of Torture tried to ruin his moment, after attacking Naito, only to be saved by SANADA.[80][81]

Three days later at New Year Dash!!, during a post-match interview, Evil attacked Tama Tonga and made the challenge for his title, but also humiliated the newly crowned champion as he cut off some of his hair.[82] On January 10, Tama Tonga’s profile was erroneously erased from the NJPW profile page, and Evil was incorrectly listed as the NEVER Openweight Champion, after it was discovered by video evidence that EVIL had forced NJPW staff to those modifications. On January 22 at The New Beginning in Nagoya, Evil faced Tonga for the NEVER Openweight Championship. The match originally ended in a no contest, after Tonga was attacked by the House of Torture. The match was restarted into a Lumberjack Deathmatch, where Evil defeated Tonga to win the NEVER Openweight Championship for the third time.[83] At Sakura Genesis, Evil lost to the NEVER Openweight Championship to Shingo Takagi, ending his third reign at 77 days.

Personal life

Watanabe was engaged to wrestler

Io Shirai.[84]

Championships and accomplishments

NEVER Openweight Champion
in November 2016

References

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External links