PATIENCE FOR TENSAI

By Justin Henry

I’ve seen this somewhere before.

Former WWE heavyweight heel leaves the company, goes to Japan, refines his craft to better master his game, comes back to WWE years later with a new, awe-intending persona, is pushed hard as a monster villain that is seemingly impervious to pain, and winds up as a paid heavy for whomever is the evil authority figure du jour.

In one paragraph, that sums up the fate of the former Albert/A-Train, who resurfaced on this continent six weeks ago as Lord TENSAI. In this new guise, the real-life Matt Bloom plays off his dominance in New Japan Pro Wrestling over a six or seven year stretch, contending for the IWGP Championship, while reigning as a Tag Team Champion with Karl Anderson as Bad Intentions, and another occasion with fellow former WWE brute Tyson Tomko.

TENSAI, as he’s now known, is essentially A-Train after extended stay in the landing of the rising sun, where he honed his power and aggression into a finely tuned package, becoming the destructive monster that he always had the potential to be. With intimidating tattoos emblazoned on his skull, and updates to his wrestling repertoire, Matt Bloom is light years beyond the vanilla performer he was just eight years ago. To compliment his rebirth, TENSAI acts as lead henchman for WWE’s resident pencil-pushing baddie, John Laurinaitis. This alone will provide more face time for the goliath from Peabody, Mass.

But fans, sadly, have been less than receptive to his return. When they’re not chanting “AL-BERT” in taunting jibes, they’re groaning at his played-out tactics that are lifted from page 9 of “WRESTLING STEREOTYPING FOR DUMMIES: JAPANESE BAD GUYS EDITION”. None of what made TENSAI interesting as Giant Bernard in Japan is evident in his current act, as right now he’s merely “Albert imitating Great Muta, minus the mind-blowing agility.”

As I stated earlier, I’ve seen this somewhere before.

Think back to 2006. Who else was heavyweight heel that had left WWE, went to Japan to fine-tune his abilities, came back with a brand new persona that was shoved down fans’ throats, one that presented him as an ogrish villain impervious to pain, and became the main resource of defense for a corporate overlord?

One word: Umaga.

When Eddie Fatu was released from WWE in 2003, it was due to his involvement in a drunken barroom fracas. At the time, Fatu was known as “Jamal”, an uninteresting fat guy in retro sports gear who, along with equally hefty cousin Rosey, would roam the tag team ranks as Three Minute Warning. After Fatu’s firing, he, like Bloom, went to Japan. In this case, Fatu found new life in All Japan Pro Wrestling, winning the organization’s tag team championship with Taiyo Kea.

Two and a half years after Fatu was given his “endeavoring”, the younger brother of Tama and Rikishi was called back into the McMahon fold, and was awarded a gimmick that had been considered once for Samoa Joe, had WWE been able to sign him in 2005.

Now with a menacing full-facial tattoo, and old school Samoan Swat Team-inspired tights with no shoes of any kind, Fatu was reborn as “The Samoan Bulldozer” Umaga. At first, fans didn’t exactly take to the gimmick, except for reciting the quotes of his manager, Armando Alejandro Estrada, in unison with him. And yet, Umaga lived up to his moniker, bulldozing after midcarders like Eugene, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and others. He even scored a win over Ric Flair at Backlash in 2006.

And yet, he couldn’t get anything other than annoyed groans from the crowd. In 2006, nobody believed an incoherent savage from the islands was realistic, especially in an era full of reality, where the likes of Edge, John Cena, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon, and Paul Heyman were cutting quality promos.

It was like 1987 showed up and threw an unwanted Umaga onto WWE’s doorstep.

But eventually, Umaga would begin to pay off. Late in 2006, after winning a feud over fellow monster Kane, the Pacific Islander entered a feud with WWE Champion John Cena. After a dull match at New Year’s Revolution in early 2007, the two would be paired up again three weeks later at the Royal Rumble in a Last Man Standing match for the title.

What happened that night was one of the greatest surprises I’ve witnessed in my twenty-three years as a fan of professional wrestling.

For the first time in Cena’s two years of headlining, he had the type of match that would come to suit his talents well: the David vs. Goliath showdown. For over twenty minutes, Cena and Umaga engaged in a blood-filled titanic struggle, which Cena ultimately won by choking the behemoth unconscious in the STF with the dismantled top rope.

After that showing, Umaga had developed a newfound respect from fans that had dismissed him as an antiquated relic of wrestling’s stereotype-heavy past, as well as a lousy performer with respects to memories of Three Minute Warning. In fact, nobody batted an eye when he crushed Jeff Hardy to win the first of two Intercontinental titles, or became Vince McMahon’s warrior in a highly-publicized grudge with Donald Trump and Bobby Lashley.

In time, with a chance to overcome judgment and prejudice, Edward Fatu proved many wrong, just as Matt Bloom can do with the same circumstances.

In a twenty minute match with Cena, Punk, or Orton, you’ll see Lord TENSAI at his best, unencumbered by time restrictions; having to rely on his skill more than generic monster gimmicks. As John Laurinaitis’ new deputy of pain administering, there seems to be faith in Lord TENSAI to have big ticket PPV matches down the line.

I mean, if he’s already beaten Cena and Punk on TV, you’d have to pay it off with such, right?

While he may be “boring” now, it is time, not pre-judging, that will ultimately determine Matt Bloom’s second run in WWE. He may succeed with more chances, or he may live down to the expectations of the many who have already determined his fate.

Time will tell. Until then, patience.

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