Evil

Takaaki Watanabe (渡辺 高章), 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, and is the current NEVER Openweight Champion in his third reign.

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.

Watanabe made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on May 13, 2011, 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.

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 Adam Page after Colby Corino attacked Watanabe.

On the July 4 episode of ROH Wrestling, Dalton Castle would defeat Watanabe.

On July 23, ROH announced that House of Truth member 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.

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.

On October 12, 2015, Watanabe returned to NJPW at King of Pro-Wrestling, where he was revealed as Tetsuya Naito's associate during his match against Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Watanabe's outside interference in the match was stopped by Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata, leading to Naito suffering a loss.

In a post-match interview, Naito gave Watanabe the new name "King of Darkness" Evil.

Under the new name, Evil became affiliated with Naito's Los Ingobernables de Japón stable.

In December, Evil and Naito won their block in the 2015 World Tag League with a record of five wins and one loss, advancing to the finals of the tournament.

On December 9, Evil and Naito were defeated in the finals by Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma.

In early March, Evil took part in the 2016 New Japan Cup in which he was eliminated in the first round by Tomohiro Ishii.

On March 20, Evil unsuccessfully challenged Ishii for the ROH World Television Championship.

From July 18 to August 14, Evil took part in the 2016 G1 Climax where he finished his block with four wins and five losses, thus failing to advance.

Despite his failure to advance, Evil scored two big wins by defeating IWGP Intercontinental Champion Michael Elgin and NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata on the last day.

On November 5 at Power Struggle, Evil won his first title, when he defeated Katsuyori Shibata for the NEVER Openweight Championship.

Ten days later, Evil lost the title back to Shibata in Singapore.

At the end of the year, Evil took part in the 2016 World Tag League, teaming with stablemate 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.

On January 4, 2017, at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome, Evil, Bushi and Sanada won a four-team gauntlet match to become the new NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions.

They lost the title to Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi the next day, before regaining it on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka.

In March, Evil made it to the semifinals of the 2017 New Japan Cup, before losing to Bad Luck Fale.

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, before regaining it on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2017.

During the 2017 G1 Climax on August 5, Evil picked up a major win over reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, Okada's first singles defeat in nearly a year.

Evil went on to finish third in his block with a record of six wins and three losses.

On October 9 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Evil received his first shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated by Okada.

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.