10 Creepiest Gimmicks In Wrestling Right Now

Though Takaaki Watanabe debuted for NJPW in 2011, it took an educational excursion to America to realise his EVIL side.

When he returned to Japan he did so in the guise of the grim reaper. He is the closest NJPW has come to promoting a supernatural character, in the vein of gimmicks such as The Undertaker and Kane. Though this is at times hammy, it only makes the violence he dispenses more shocking. The fact that Tetsuya Naitō, one of his closest friends at the time, renamed him EVIL is more than telling.

EVIL is one of the few guys on the planet that can still make black eye make-up look ominous. He isn’t someone you’d dare compare to a mid-2000s emo. Looking up from his heavy brow, eyeballing the camera, ranting, and branding his enemies “b*stards”, Western fans don’t need to switch on the subtitles to be unnerved by his promos. They are often better off only understanding his “This is EVIL. Everything is EVIL” catchphrase.

‘The King of Darkness’ is currently NJPW’s top heel and has aligned himself with the Bullet Club.