EVIL Reportedly Set to Debut in NXT as “Nox Raijin”

WWE’s newest NXT acquisition, EVIL (real name Takaaki Watanabe), is reportedly poised to receive the ring name “Nox Raijin” after a WWE trademark filing on April 28, per Fightful Select. The “Raijin” element nods to the Japanese god of thunder and lightning, and the timing of the filing coincided with EVIL’s NXT debut angle in which he confronted NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo — a debut noted on commentary as a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion and described as “pure evil.”

NXT teased the arrival with an angle involving a mysterious gift bearing the Japanese symbol for war, with EVIL making his official appearance the following week. Watanabe departed NJPW in January after more than a decade as leader of the House of Torture and a former Los Ingobernables de Japon member; it remains unclear whether former LIJ stablemate Hiromu Takahashi, who finished with NJPW in February, will follow him to WWE/NXT.
Originally reported by Wrestling Observer: https://www.f4wonline.com/news/nxt/report-evils-new-wwe-nxt-name-revealed/.