Evil (wrestler)
Evil | |
---|---|
Birth name | Takaaki Watanabe (渡辺 高章, Watanabe Takaaki) |
Born | [1] Mishima, Shizuoka[1] | January 26, 1987
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Evil Takaaki Watanabe |
Billed height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2] |
Billed weight | 106 kg (234 lb)[2] |
Billed from | Unknown[3] |
Trained by | Animal Hamaguchi[1] Hiroyoshi Tenzan[4] Jado[5] |
Debut | May 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
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
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)
On October 12, 2015, Watanabe returned to NJPW at
In early March, Evil took part in the
On November 5 at
On January 4, 2017, at
During the
Championship reigns with Sanada (2018–2020)
On January 4, 2018, at
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
On January 5, 2020, at
Bullet Club and House of Torture (2020–present)
After New Japan Pro-Wrestling underwent a hiatus in late February 2020 due to the
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
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
Championships and accomplishments
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[85]
- 1 time)[86]
- Sanada[87]
- NEVER Openweight Championship (3 times)[88]
- Sho (2)[89]
- New Japan Cup (2020)[90]
- World Tag League (2017, 2018) – with Sanada[91][92]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Los Ingobernables de Japón[94]
- Most Overrated (2021)
References
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External links
- “King of Darkness” EVIL's New Japan Pro-Wrestling profile
- Evil's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database