Tensai Delcared A "Flop". Possible Repackaging

[Jack-Hammer]

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE officials have pretty much declared the Tensai gimmick to be a "flop". The character hasn't gotten over with fans and the WWE brass aren't all that crazy about it either. Even wins over Cena & CM Punk haven't gotten people behind the character. As a result, Tensai's push has been halted and that's why Big Show is currently feuding with Cena instead.

Over the summer, the initial idea was to have Tensai & Big Johnny team up to face Cena in matches at house shows, but that idea is off. There's still a possibility of teaming Show with Big Johnny instead. As of now, Tensai is being relegated mostly to Superstars while WWE considers tweaks or changes. There've been minor changes to the character as he no longer wears his robe & mask to the ring. He also is more aggressive in the ring and they've droped the "Lord" title from his name. There's talk of possibly just scrapping the character altogether.

Personally, I like that WWE tired to tweak such an old school gimmick by making it an American that's sort of adopted into the Japanese culture and is playing a monster Asian heel. At the same time, however, the character is boring and it's just not interesting anymore. Albert's done his best with a dull gimmick.

 

[Johnny Scumm]

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE officials have pretty much declared the Tensai gimmick to be a "flop". The character hasn't gotten over with fans and the WWE brass aren't all that crazy about it either. Even wins over Cena & CM Punk haven't gotten people behind the character. As a result, Tensai's push has been halted and that's why Big Show is currently feuding with Cena instead.

Over the summer, the initial idea was to have Tensai & Big Johnny team up to face Cena in matches at house shows, but that idea is off. There's still a possibility of teaming Show with Big Johnny instead. As of now, Tensai is being relegated mostly to Superstars while WWE considers tweaks or changes. There've been minor changes to the character as he no longer wears his robe & mask to the ring. He also is more aggressive in the ring and they've droped the "Lord" title from his name. There's talk of possibly just scrapping the character altogether.

Personally, I like that WWE tired to tweak such an old school gimmick by making it an American that's sort of adopted into the Japanese culture and is playing a monster Asian heel. At the same time, however, the character is boring and it's just not interesting anymore. Albert's done his best with a dull gimmick.

I pretty much deemed him a flop after the first time I saw him. What with the "Prince Albert" past and the chants, it just wasn't working with the "Lord Tensai" name and Yashamoto at ringside.

Have him repackaged as the guy who admits he honed his skills in Japan and then decided from that day on he was going to be only known as "Tensai". Use that for him to hopefully fob off everyone calling him Albert and you might be onto something. I am so damn glad though that they went with Big Show in the end because there's one thing I can't stand about Tensai and that is his ability to put on an interesting match. By that I mean... he can't do it. I've yet to watch Tensai in the ring and be entertained. It's a shame because there's such a good idea there, it just sucks so bad.

Repackaging is going to be the only thing that works now and I have to say that if it doesn't go down with the guys in the crowd, I don't think we'll be seeing Prince Albert Lord Tensai any longer.

 

[Барбоса]

Whoever was responsible for giving Matt Bloom his gimmick went completely overboard with the whole Japanese connection. The "Lord Tensai" character is straight out of the 80s when such characters were supposed to be taken seriously. It does not belong in 2012, where such gimmicks are ridiculed if they are not played tongue-in-cheek.

However, I think a trick has been missed with regard to what I see as a natural connection between Bloom and John Laurinaitis. Both were mediocre in the USA and went to the Land of the Rising Sun, where they both became respected performers. This was briefly spoken of on RAW a few weeks ago but I cannot help but feel that if Matt Bloom was just more like himself, associating with and praising Johnny Ace as a man with a similar background and perhaps even as a role model for him, he might have been able to establish himself as a Big Johnny's #1 Henchman - sort of like how the Big Boss Man was to Corporate Vince.

 

[rokuma]

This is completely mind-boggling and we can't fault the WWE for this. I'm completely stunned. Who could've guessed that a former hairy midcarder who wasn't even remotely relevant or over during his first WWE run would suddenly become relevant or over after being over in a completely different country and coming back with the same gimmick? He's absolutely average in the ring, he can't talk, and he looks like a bloated janitor, but obviously he should be over with the crowd. I blame the IWC. It's their fault. Albert..erm..Tensai...should've been the next Yokozuna or Vader....this is an outrage!

 

[Trance Metaphor]

I honestly really liked the Tensai gimmick 'cause there wasn't much of anything Japanese in the WWE as of late. I miss Tajiri. The fact that Tensai isn't even Japanese, but carries or rather symbolizes Japanese puroresu with Matt Bloom's actual background in puroresu was something I was looking forward to. I guess I was the very few that thought it was cool seeing him beat both John Cena and CM Punk, albeit with help or interference. I know he wasn't getting over with the crowd though. Everyone still remembers him as Albert. The fact that anyone even remembers him in today's WWE means that he hasn't been forgotten though. That might be a good thing for him. The only problem I have with him right now is that he has gotten fatter. Just before he left the WWE he was still big, but not this big. I don't know. Maybe it's because he's aging? No clue. I just hope they find something for him. It would be a shame if he were to just job out to everyone. He should return to the spot he was in before he left. That really never hurt him, except now he has a different story.

 

[Shakin' Abe]

A flop? That's a suprise? Even with today's "smarter" wrestling fans, the talent have to have personality and the "character" has to be interesting. Tensai, Albert, A-Train, has NEVER had any of that. Heels are to be hated but because they make you hate them. I think the fans just don't care about Tensai one way or another because he's always been so boring and that pours thru in everything he does!

 

[akathelaw]

Tensai reminds me of Vladimir Kozlov when you look at how the performers were introduced into the WWE universe and how management doesn't always seem to know (or care about) what fans want to see. WWE sees Tensai as an experienced talent who is dependable, but the fans see someone we've long grown tired of watching, or just aren't that excited to watch even if he is a new face to some. It makes me wonder if Tensai would've gone over better if he was given more time to establish his character before breaking into the main event as a monster heel. I think WWE goes for the "monster heel" gimmick often because it seems exciting, but it's actually predictable. Had Tensai gone on to do a PPV match with Cena, does anyone except 7 year olds think that Tensai would go over clean? Either Cena makes him into a chump with the five knuckle shuffle or Tensai cheats to win. Neither of these options are exciting, fresh or compelling. The gimmick was doomed from the start because of impatience and creative's disrespect for the fans who tune in weekly. I hope WWE has noticed the HUGE drop in ratings since going forward with boring, predictable storylines like that one. Nonetheless I expect Smackdown to do pretty much the same thing with Ryback whenever they run out of ideas.

 

[Iversen]

He seemed incapable of getting heat and I don't think it can be put totally down to him. He never seemed to get a chance. For a guy his size Matt Bloom can go and can be entertaining but I don't think they ever gave us a reason to care about Tensai. It seemed to be a case of them thinking he went to Japan so lets make him Japanese. No more thought than that. It didn't do enough to make people forget his other gimmicks.

 

[neildittmar]

Overall, I liked the Tensai gimmick too. If this is the "reality" era in WWE, the character certainly played upon Bloom's real-life experiences after leaving the company 8 or so years ago. It seemed to be a perfect fit on paper.

Likewise, I think Matt Bloom did a great job playing an Asian-flavored wrestler / martial arts based kind of guy without the stereotypical ethnicity to match it. To that degree, it was a massive push forward for pro-wrestling in general. I equate it to something like Somoa Joe in TNA... as Joe doesn't play your typical hard-headed savage that wrestling would normally typecast him as.

Given that the gimmick was so new, there were always ways to tweak or streamline it into something the fans might appreciate. I have my doubts that in this day of immediate results, (Lord) Tensai will be given any more thought or consideration by creative going forward. He may keep the name Tensai, but the gimmick and all the "details" that surround it will most likely be dropped I think.

More likely, I expect a complete repackaging. With Kane getting a large majority of his old gimmick back, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see an A-train return.

I'm sure Prince Albert is most certainly out of the question though

 

[rerun406]

Thanks for the report, not exactly surprising but good to know

most of the posters above hit on how I feel about it

**but another thing, I think by throwing Tensai in with the main event players so early (2nd or 3rd match was vs John Cena) just set him up to fail

but that aside, I don't ever think Matt Bloom can be taken as a serious main event type of Superstar

His first run as Prince Albert/A-train was pretty unmemorable and even then he had a lot of trouble with creating heat

and what do you mean by "It didn't do enough to make people forget his other gimmicks."

Gimmicks aside, Matt Bloom is a 6'6 or 6'8 big bald guy. Aside from giving him a diff wrestling costume and mask .. like you would with Kane or a luchador he's going to stand out. The problem is getting heat

what it boils down to IMO is something I like to dub the care factor .. you can tweak Tensai/Albert all you want

change his ring attire, gimmick, walk out music, finishing move but for the most part people just won't care enough about him

curious to see where the WWE goes next with Matt Bloom, and hate to say it, but I just don't see it working out .. with the exception of the Hip Hop Hippo, I remember Albert/A-Train from the Attitude era and he's always had that problem with creating Heat .. or lack their of I don't think a character tweak will make a huge difference

 

[ITrippedTheShockmaster]

(Channeling my inner Miz) Who didn't see this coming? Really? Really! Reeeely? RRREALLY!

This was A-Train (get it?) wreck waiting to happen. I understand that WWE had the best of intentions bringing Matt Bloom back with this gimmick, but after all of the hype, lackluster intro and immediate push the top, they realized something... Bloom wasn't very popular of a wrestler in the U.S. before, and he's not one now. Despite my feelings on the cartoonish characters not belonging in the current age of pro wrestling, I was willing to give this gimmick a chance. But, I guess I'm one of the many who really just don't care.

Bloom has a unique look that's hard to get away from. Big, bald, slow (and formerly hairy, as the classic "shave your back" chant focused upon during the 90s and early 2000s). Yes, he went to Japan and became a superstar there because, quite frankly, they don't have that type of homegrown wrestler there other than sumo. So, when he comes back to WWE, they package him as a monster heel Japanese warrior, even mentioning his WWF/E past. OK. Then, they put him with Johnny and have him go over on Cena. Did anyone other than the young Cena fans care when that happened? Apparently not.

In a way, I feel for Bloom. The guy's trying. But, unfortunately, he's kinda pigeon-holed in this business and just can't get over. Hopefully SOMETHING works out for him somewhere.

 

[d3thRoW]

I feel like Albert did the best he could with a gimmick that really just wasn't going to fly these days....it kind of reminded me of the Sultan, and characters like that which are long gone. Also, considering he was so easily recognizable and the fans didn't forget his wwe past, maybe putting a mask on him would have been better if they wanted to play him off as a new character...and if Johnny Ace would have actually built a true faction to surround himself with then he could have had a decent role there.

 

[Martin Gabriel]

Jack-Hammer said it best but he just didn't catch anybody's attention, my casual watching girlfriend hated him and I like him as a worker but he doesn't have that it factor with the crowd and never has, some people just don't have it. I hope with a renewed gimmick (it can be easily done) that he can find it because I like the guy.

 

[Workrate]

I really wanted to like the Tensai gimmick prior to the debut and for a while after it happened I lied to myself that "it just needs a chance," but yeah, flop is a bit of an understatement. They did a horrible job building his back story, simply acknowledging his past as Albert and giving some shallow "he went to Japan and adopted their culture" explanations. Stop telling us he dominated Japan and show us. You can't flash some footage on the screen? Something?

This gimmick was doomed to fail and I'd say the odds are pretty decent we never see Tensai on Raw again. Matt Bloom isn't an entertaining enough character and creative failed him from the beginning. There's plenty of blame to go around on this one.

 

[The Perfect Max]

I wanted to like Lord Tensai. When he debuted, he was different, and I think his tweaks since have put me off him, actually. I think the character would absolutley thrive in the 80's, but seen as this is the "Reality Era", then shouldn't Matt Bloom's experiences in Japan be inputed into his current character. I understand, if a character doesn't get over with the majority, then where can it go but down?

I personally think that his move-set wasn't bad. A lot of people disliked the fact that he continued to use the Choke Powerbomb, or whatever the fuck it's called. I liked the aggression he has and I overall enjoyed watching him. Shame that it will probably all come to an end, but I will side with WWE if no one wants to see him.

I'm curious to see where WWE heads now. How can they just change his gimmick like that? Albert, A-Train, Norbit, all the gimmicks he previously had were sort of similar, so I can understand how easy it would be to tweak, but coming off this Lord Tensai gimmick, I think WWE will have to completley remove him from TV for a month or two, send him to FCW to keep in "shape", and then bring him back, say July/August time, and see where it goes. If his next gimmick doesn't get over, WWE have completely wasted their time with Bloom and I think he should go back to Japan, where he made a true name for himself.

 

[JaceEvans]

Well that sucks for Albert, lol. It must be frustrating for a superstar to do everything they ask of him and then get shipped down to superstars when it's not working.

Before they did that they should of had him cut a promo or something. Good promos can get you over with the crowd as we all saw with Big Show's promo on Raw. I'm not saying Tensai's promo would of been better or on par with Show's but I'm more then just a little curious to see how it would of gone. If that didn't work then send him down to be tweaked.

 

[BigLuther]

The thing here is that WWE fans will never see him as anything more than just Albert. He was in the company for so long under that name. Everyone accepted the A-Train name change because his character didn't change at all. They can't bring him in as a new character with a new name because he's just one of those guys where we won't be able to accept it. If they rename him Albert and give him a tag partner or something, he can do fine. But we all remember the highest level Albert got to on the card. They can't "repackage" him and expect the fans to forget he was Albert and accept him as a main event player. He will always be Albert. Bottom line.

 

[JaceEvans]

The thing here is that WWE fans will never see him as anything more than just Albert. He was in the company for so long under that name. Everyone accepted the A-Train name change because his character didn't change at all. They can't bring him in as a new character with a new name because he's just one of those guys where we won't be able to accept it. If they rename him Albert and give him a tag partner or something, he can do fine. But we all remember the highest level Albert got to on the card. They can't "repackage" him and expect the fans to forget he was Albert and accept him as a main event player. He will always be Albert. Bottom line.

I don't agree with that. Let's just say he was wildly over as a heel and it stayed that way for awhile, I think over time people would forget about his old character and just see him as Tensai. I think WWE did a wonderful job with his back story and in Japan he was know as (Kayfabe) Tensai. For a long time people where chanting Bryan Danielson and WWE stuck to it and now we all refer to him as Daniel Bryan, I know it's not exactly the same thing but at least we know it can be done with enough time.

 

[Longtimeviewer25]

I actually liked the A-train character he did it was cool and now that big show is heel they could tag the two and let them reign terror on the wwe tag division..

 

[BigLuther]

I don't agree with that. Let's just say he was wildly over as a heel and it stayed that way for awhile, I think over time people would forget about his old character and just see him as Tensai. I think WWE did a wonderful job with his back story and in Japan he was know as (Kayfabe) Tensai. For a long time people where chanting Bryan Danielson and WWE stuck to it and now we all refer to him as Daniel Bryan, I know it's not exactly the same thing but at least we know it can be done with enough time.

I see where you're coming from there, but it's much easier to say once he's already over as a heel. The big question is HOW do you get him over as a heel and make people forget about Albert? To me, it seems like WWE assumed fans wouldn't have remembered in the first place and that was a huge mistake.

 

[Cena's #1 In My Heart]

Why didn't they just have the japanese people name him... Lord Train... except use the Train word as a japanese word... thats what I thought Tensai meant at first... Train.. lol.. it would acknowledge his past and his japanese work by having the people call him Lord Train(japanese word though).

Now what's the shit about Tensai not getting over? The crowd was chanting his name.. that's a check for being over.. even if it was his past name.. at least they acknowledge him.

I would rather see Tensai take on Cena because I believe he is better in the ring than Big Show and would be more entertaining.

And how do they expect Tensai to be over with less than 8 apperances and as a heel? WTF do they want the fans to treat him like they treat the heel Daniel Bryan... and that is not vey much like a heel at all?

The only flop here is WWE's creative and the ability to handle Tensai. Forgive me if I'd rather watch experienced wrestlers wrestle than these newcomers trying to follow in Cena's footsteps of prime selling.

 

[Jeremy5144]

Here's how to make him relevant. Have him come out, regular attire then have him denounce creative and just have him come out as Matt Bloom period. Get him to explain the reasoning for his comeback and get him to do a Mark Henry like heel gimmick as a pure ass-kicker.

I think to get him recognized have him cost Sheamus the title and give him a decent fued and it will work. This reminds me too much of what they tried with Stone Cold and kept failing. Keep it real with this guy and it will pay off.

 

[ultramattman]

Once upon a time, you could take a white guy who looked vaguely Asianish and pass him off as Japanese. Today, you can't do that. Once WWE started explaining how this Japanese guy isn't really Japanese but still dresses and acts like it, the audience was just too confused to go along.

I posted this a month or so ago in a different thread on what I'd do with Tensai:

"Have him go 'real', publicly scrapping the Tensai character. Claim that he couldn't get respect in WWE before, proved himself by dominating in Japan, returned and STILL can't get respect. He gets saddled with an awful Shredder-like cartoon character, it was crap and the WWE universe knows it. So no more Tensai. No more Albert. I am Matt Bloom and I will dominate the WWE.

And he does. He continues to lay waste to jobbers and midcarders, still clamoring for respect and destroying everything in sight. He wants the only thing guaranteed to bring him the respect he deserves, the WWE title."

It's entirely possible that Matt Bloom doesn't have it in him to grab people's attention like that. We may have to adjust expectations - he'd be great in a dominant big man tag team with Swagger.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

The biggest problem is that he can't talk. If he had initially come out and cut a promo how American fans don't know anything about respect or wrestling or whatever but he's going to teach the WWE roster and fans a lesson in respect, then maybe people would have bought it. However, everyone just sees him as Prince Albert in a different costume.

Matt Bloom/Prince Albert, A Train/Lord Tensai: Good Luck in All your future endeavors

 

[Matyy256]

WWE knew that a majority of the audience would remember him as A-Train or Prince Albert so I don't see why they just didnt give him the name Lord Albert or just Albert. I know they wanted him to have the whole japanese gimmick but at least if they had given him the name Lord Albert he wouldnt gotten the Albert chants. Thats WWE for you though. Thinking the audeince is stupid and has no memory