The former EVIL has officially been given a new name in WWE, and the choice was made later than fans might have expected. The May 5 episode of NXT featured a vignette in which the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion reiterated his pursuit of the NXT Championship and revealed his WWE name will be Naraku.
However, internal materials within WWE had been pointing to a different name as recently as a few days earlier. According to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, paperwork around the character used the trademarked name Nox Raijin until at least Sunday, May 3, suggesting Naraku was a late call.
“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,” Sapp wrote.
WWE filed to trademark Nox Raijin with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on April 28. Raijin is the god of lightning, thunder, and storms in Japanese mythology and Shinto/Buddhist tradition. Naraku, by contrast, is the Japanese word for hell and also refers to the underground passageway beneath the stage in Japanese theatre.
The former EVIL signed with WWE after his New Japan Pro-Wrestling contract expired at the end of January. He had spent his entire career in NJPW, debuting in 2011 and growing into one of the promotion’s top stars by the time he left. Naraku reportedly began his WWE run in NXT at his own request rather than going directly to the main roster.
