is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name . He is best known for his tenure in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he performed under the ring name Evil (stylized in all caps as EVIL).
After debuting in NJPW in 2011, he 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 as Evil in November 2015. He was a former member of Los Ingobernables de Japón, and 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 record-breaking six-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion, making him an overall ten-time champion in NJPW. 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. He departed NJPW in January 2026 and signed with WWE that April under the new name Naraku.
Professional wrestling career New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2011–2026)
Young Lion and foreign excursion (2011–2015) 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.
The King of Darkness (2015–2017)
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 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 2016, Evil took part in the 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 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 Michael Elgin (then-IWGP Intercontinental Champion) and Shibata (then-NEVER Openweight Champion) on the last day.
On November 5 at Power Struggle, Evil won his first title, when he defeated 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 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 Makabe and 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, 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 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 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 Tanahashi, Taguchi and Ricochet in their second defense, before regaining it on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2017.
On August 5, during the G1 Climax, Evil picked up a major win over reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, which was 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 December, Evil and Sanada won their block in the World Tag League with a record of five wins and two losses, advancing to the finals of the tournament. On December 11, they defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) in the finals to win the tournament. 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.
Championship reigns with Sanada (2018–2020) On January 4, 2018, at Wrestle Kingdom 12, Evil and Sanada defeated the Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship for the first time. Evil and Sanada would successfully defend the IWGP Tag Team Championship on two occasions before losing the title to The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall ending their reign at 156 days. 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. Evil entered the G1 Climax and finished with a record of five wins and four losses, failing to advance from his block. At King of Pro-Wrestling, Evil was scheduled to compete in a singles match against Zack Sabre Jr. However, before the match could begin, Jericho would return and attack Evil, forcing the match to be a no contest.
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 Jericho's Liontamer submission hold. In December, Evil and Sanada entered the World Tag League. The pair scored a record of ten wins and three losses, advancing them to the finals where they would meet the Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) in a rematch of the previous year's final. 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.
On January 4, 2019, At Wrestle Kingdom 13, Evil and Sanada won IWGP Tag Team Championship in a three-way tag team match, that also included Guerillas of Destiny and the Young Bucks. They retained their titles at The New Beginning in Sapporo against Sabre and Minoru Suzuki. 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 New Japan Cup, but lost to Sabre in the first round. Evil entered the G1 Climax, finishing with a record of four wins and five losses, failing to make it to the finals.
On January 5, 2020, at Wrestle Kingdom 14, Evil, Bushi and Shingo Takagi defeated four other teams in a Gauntlet match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, making both Evil and Bushi record-tying four time holders of the title.
Bullet Club and IWGP Heavyweight Champion (2020–2021)
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 New Japan Cup, which begun on June 16, with the winner receiving a title shot against Tetsuya Naito for both the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Entering the tournament, Evil defeated Satoshi Kojima, Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi, and his stablemate Sanada to reach the finals, displaying a more aggressive attitude, notably cheating by low blowing Goto in their match, injuring Yoshi-Hashi before their match, and using a chair to attack Sanada's neck in their match. 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.
At Dominion the following day, Evil defeated Naito to capture both the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championship with the help of Bullet Club, including Dick Togo, who joined the stable and became Evil's manager in the process. As Evil was still NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion with Bushi and Takagi despite his betrayal, he became the first triple champion in the history of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. On July 25, At Sengoku Lord, he had his first successful defense of both the Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles against former Ingobernables stablemate Hiromu Takahashi. On August 1, NJPW vacated the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, due to Evil claiming in a post-Dominion interview that he had "no interest" in defending the title with his former Ingobernables stablemates, ending his run as triple champion. He lost both titles to Naito at Summer Struggle in Jingu.
House of Torture (2021–2026)
On September 4, 2021, at Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome, Evil, alongside Togo and Yujiro Takahashi, welcomed Sho to Bullet Club, forming a sub-unit called House of Torture. The following night Evil unsuccessfully faced Shingo Takagi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. On November 6, at Power Struggle, Evil, Sho and Takahashi defeated Chaos to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On night one of Wrestle Kingdom 16, Evil defeated Tomohiro Ishii to win the NEVER Openweight Championship, becoming a double champion. On night two, HoT once again retained the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship against Chaos. On night three, Evil and Dick Togo lost to Pro Wrestling Noah's Go Shiozaki and Masa Kitamiya.
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 Championship. 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 three. At Hyper Battle, Evil retained the NEVER Openweight Championship against Takahashi. At Wrestling Dontaku, Evil lost the NEVER Openweight Championship to Tonga, ending his second reign at 117 days. At Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall, HoT retained the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship against Suzuki-gun, but lost them to Chaos at New Japan Road. In June, Evil was announced to be competing at G1 Climax 32, in the C Block. He finished the tournament with six points, failing to advance to the semi-finals.
In October, Evil participated in a tournament to crown the first ever NJPW World Television Champion. He defeated Aaron Henare and Yoshi-Hashi to advance to the tournament's semi-finals. In the semi-final round, Evil lost to eventual winner Zack Sabre Jr. At Battle Autumn, HoT retained their NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi and Hikuleo. In November, Evil once again teamed with Yujiro Takahashi in the World Tag League. The duo ended their tournament with six points, failing to advance to the finals.