Boa

Yanbo Wang (born June 21, 1995) (simplified Chinese: 王彦博; traditional Chinese: 王彥博; pinyin: Wáng Yànbó) is a Chinese professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Boa.

Professional wrestling career

Wang signed with WWE in September 2016 after attending a tryout in Shanghai. He reported to the WWE Performance Center along with three other Chinese recruits in February 2017. Upon signing with WWE, Wang was known as Big Boa, but later worked just as Boa. He went on to wrestle in several NXT live events. Boa's televised debut in NXT took place on July 10, 2019 when he competed in the NXT Breakout Tournament, where the winner but was defeated in the first round by eventual winner Jordan Myles. In November 2019, he suffered a shoulder injury and had undergone surgery that kept him out of the picture for an unspecified period. On the October 7, 2020, episode of NXT, Boa returned, dressed in a suit and tie, to deliver a letter to Xia Li. On the November 11 episode of NXT, he appeared to tell Raquel González that Li was not here to have their match, and was subsequently beaten up by her. Afterwards, an elderly man approached Boa and handed him a letter while also leaving a black mark on his hand.

On the November 25 episode of NXT, a vignette aired of Li and Boa, both haggard in appearance, entering the backseat of a vehicle together before being driven to an unknown location. The same elderly man who handed Boa a letter on the November 11 episode of NXT appeared outside of the building, appearing to be waiting for them. Weekly vignettes began airing of both Li and Boa being brutally "punished for their failures", all while being watched over by the elderly man and a mysterious woman in black-and-white face paint named Mei Ying. A transformed Boa returned on January 6, 2021 during NXT's New Year's Evil special, accompanying Li during her match against Katrina Cortez. He made his in-ring return on the June 29 episode of NXT, teaming with Li to defeat Jake Atlas and Mercedes Martinez in a mixed tag team match.

In November, Boa was possessed by the spirit of Tian Sha and inherited its powers, as he began sporting black and white face paint with the word "Tian Sha" written in Chinese characters. He entered into a feud with Solo Sikoa after his alter-ego attacked and choked him backstage on the December 28 episode of NXT. On the January 11, 2022, episode of NXT, Boa and Sikoa fought to a double countout and continued to brawl in the backstage area, resulting in Boa's alter-ego launching a fireball in Sikoa's face. This led to a No Disqualification Falls Count Anywhere match on the January 25 episode of NXT, where Boa lost after Sikoa splashed him through a table. On the April 7, 2023, episode of NXT Level Up, Boa made his in-ring return with a loss against Dante Chen. Ever since then, Boa has appeared in backstage segments with Chen, teasing an alliance in the process, and on the November 7 episode of NXT, Boa was seen alongside Chen who began sporting the same face paint as him, confirming their alliance. On May 3, 2024, Boa was released from his WWE contract, putting the alliance to an abrupt end.