Evil (wrestler)

For the wrestler who appeared as Evil in Vince Russo's Ring of Glory promotion, see Ron Reis.
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, Japan[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 Global Force Wrestling (GFW) and Ring of Honor (ROH) from 2014 to 2015. He returned to NJPW in November 2015. He is a former member of 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.

  1. ^ a b c d "Takaaki Watanabe's New Japan Pro-Wrestling profile". Archived from the original on October 16, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c ""キング・オブ・ダークネス"EVIL". www.njpw.co.jp.
  3. ^ NJPW. ""King of Darkness" EVIL – "キング・オブ・ダークネス"EVIL – LIJ | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  4. ^ "EVIL <<Wrestler database>>". CAGEMATCH.
  5. ^ "Tama's Island: Tama's Time As A Young Boy At The NJPW Dojo on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2021-07-28.