Lord Tensai: Thank You for Coming, but You've Overstayed Your Welcome

During the past 12-18 months, Vince McMahon has this newfound fascination to bring back guys from the past. Superstars such as The Rock, Chris Jericho and Brock Lesnar have made their returns to the WWE to give fans a taste of nostalgia.

Matt Bloom was the newest member of this list. Although he never was a main event superstar, he could be utilized for some good angles. So when the talk was that he was returning, I was supportive of it. Seemingly, there was no reason to be against it.

In Japan, he honed his craft to became much better in the ring. Watching matches against Yujiro Takahashi, his tag-team matches with Tyson Tomko and Karl Anderson (who is really good, by the way), and even his matches against Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar, showed me that he has really learned the art of professional wrestling.

So many were expecting for him to return as A-Train, but a better, more tenured and polished version. Instead, we got Lord Tensai.

From the very beginning, this was a disaster. Nothing has changed from the beginning. This gimmick is doomed to fail for a number of reasons.

Albert Chants

From day one—even to the present—he has been plagued with the fans chanting "Albert." What makes that even worse than it sounds, Tensai wasn't even Albert when he left. He was A-Train.

I don't see this dark cloud over him going away anytime soon. To many of the fans, he will always be "Albert." When the fans are not chanting "Albert," most of the time they are discussing where they are going to eat after the show is over.

Claw Finisher

Really? Baron Von Raschke? Killer Kowalski? Kerry Von Erich? Is he giving us a history lesson? The claw usage is horrible.

And he 6'6'', so all of a sudden making it into some kind of STO doesn't do the move any more justice due to him looking clumsy every time he does it.

What about the mist? Does that add strength to the claw? Maybe he should watch tapes of the Great Muta, the Great Kabuki or Killer Khan (even Tajiri) and see what it is really purposed for.

Gimmick Unsuccessful

Just admit it, WWE—the Lord Tensai gimmick is outdated. It seemed like he went backwards. This gimmick should have been the first one that he had when he debuted in 1999. "Prince Albert: the pierced-up personal tattooist of Droz" was better to watch than this.

He wasn't even Lord Tensai in Japan. His name was Giant Bernard. So help me understand this logic—he was a gaijin in Japan, so is he a gaijin in the US, too? I don't get it, either.

Not a Top Guy

I'm not a believer of "if you weren't a top guy before you left, you won't be when you come back." Jeff Hardy did it. Eddie Guerrero did it. So it is possible.

The difference between Lord Tensai and the other two is that Hardy and Guerrero weren't trapped under a gimmick. Unfortunately, Lord Tensai is stifling the WWE career of Matt Bloom. Lord Tensai as WWE Champion? Not in my lifetime, and he's older than I am.

So, as a sincere lament to cease the calamity that we see every week when you step into the ring...

Lord Tensai: Thank you for coming, but you've overstayed your welcome.

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