WWE’s Scrapped Plans For IYO SKY’s Fiancé Revealed
IYO SKY’s Fiancé has just undergone a name change for his WWE character.
WWE has made a sudden change to the star formerly known as EVIL (Takaaki Watanabe) before NXT this week.
The former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion made his NXT debut on April 28th, and after much speculation, his ring name was finally revealed on the May 5th episode of NXT to be “Naraku.”
The Former New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) Star made it clear via a vignette that he will be going after the NXT Championship, and his official new identity was presented as Naraku (which means Hell in Japanese).
However, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful says that this wasn’t WWE’s original plan, as they were set on using the previously trademarked name Nox Raijin for Watanabe.
There were internal materials for EVIL with the trademarked Nox Raijin name as recently as Sunday, so it seems like the name adjustment was recent.
Naraku also refers to the underground passage beneath the stage in a Japanese theater, hence using this dark metaphor for Watanabe’s dark character as the leader of the House of Torture.
Raijin, on the other hand, referred to the Japanese God of thunder and lightning.
IYO SKY Will Go Head-To-Head with Asuka at WWE Backlash
Asuka and IYO SKY have been feuding for a very long time, ever since SKY betrayed her Japanese family of Asuka and Kairi Sane to carve her own path after winning the Women’s World Title last year at WrestleMania 41.
Asuka was SKY’s former mentor (Senpai), and the betrayal has not sat well with her, especially after SKY formed a tag team with and got very close to Rhea Ripley until they recently split because Ripley is the WWE Women’s Champion.
IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley as the tag team RHIYO faced Asuka and Kairi Sane (The Kabuki Warriors) on multiple occasions over the past several months and even won the Women’s Tag Team Titles from them on the Netflix Anniversary episode of Raw.
With Kairi Sane now gone from WWE following her release after the talent cuts recently, Asuka and IYO SKY’s feud will culminate at Backlash.
The two had a confrontation, which was shown as a cinematic video package on Raw this past Monday, in which Asuka was heard sharing her discontent with SKY due to her disrespectful attitude towards her mentor. SKY gave her rebuttals, but the segment ended with Asuka spraying SKY’s face with mist and Adam Pearce coming in to stop the chaos.
Their match takes place at Backlash on May 9th.
Also read: 6-Time WWE Champion’s Career Isn’t Over Despite 3-Year Hiatus