They may be phasing out the Lord Tensai gimmick...

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Yes, another one. Let me get my point out before the meme takes over.

I just watched his match on Superstars against Tyson Kidd, and I think WWE might be starting to tweak Lord Tensai into something less... well... some have described it as cartoony.

Between the match against Punk and the match against Kidd, the following seems to have happened:

• No more ninja entrance attire, also no forearm pads
  
• More aggressive in his entrance, including shoving Sakamoto around
  
• A lot more trash talking
  
• No "kung fu" poses, except maybe before the Claw STO
  
• No mist before the Claw STO
  

To me, it just looked like A-Train in red trunks and kanji motifs. I didn't mind the gimmick to start with, but it looks like they could be tweaking Tensai to be more of a straight-out ass-kicker, which I guess is what a lot of people wanted out of him in the first place.

[Deleted]

He should've been Giant Bernard from the start. That's what people wanted.

[Madagascar Fred]

well the gimmick was kinda 1995ish. but still, it was kind of an aggressive violent gimmick

[xCompackx]

They cut the mist after just doing an article on wwe.com about it? Something's weird about that.

[Spearmint*]

But will phasing out the Lord Tensai gimmick ruin Lord Tensai's gimmick?


...Wow I think this might actually be the first time that the question can realistically be answered with yes.

[Ryback on a Pole!]

I liked the green mist

I can see why they cut the shredder entrance attire and I'm glad he's stopped the ninja style poses but the green mist claw was awesome.

[Burst]

If they were going to dispense with the gimmick, I would have preferred something like Yoshi calling him out on it and leading to a feud or even a side-feud that could wind up with him reverting to Giant Bernard in behavior, and maybe "Albert Tensai" if they wanted for a name.

But the WWE does't seem to believe in ongoing storylines for anybody but the immediate main event and authority figures, so we'll probably just see an unexplained reversion.

[sonofblaine]

I dug the mist but the rest sounds good.

Hope this isn't just for Superstars, and when he's back o0n the big show, they bring back the pomp.

[theryno665]

I liked the mist.

But I'm all for cutting the kung fu poses. They just look goofy, especially done by a big guy who doesn't necessarily move like a ninja. Note to creative: Just because someone wrestled in Japan doesn't automatically make them a Japanese stereotype.

[Deleted]

I am a mist fan as well.

I agree with theryno665 above about the cutting of the poses, they were jarring as all Hell when watching him against Cena/Punk/anyone.

The closer we get to Bernard the better, a violent, imposing, bad-ass who doesn't need to speak to show off how damned good he is.

[repomark]

I had no issue with the gimmick - I quite liked it as a package. Fingers crossed they get it right with him as I think he has the tools this time to be a big deal.

[YeahYeahYeahYeahYeah]

May 18, 2012 5:52:32 GMT -5 Ryback on a Pole! said:

I liked the green mist

I can see why they cut the shredder entrance attire and I'm glad he's stopped the ninja style poses but the green mist claw was awesome.

Agreed!

[Todd Pettengill]

I saw him a week ago at a house show against Tyson Kidd. He didn't have the entrance gear or arm pads then. I thought it was just because he didn't feel like wearing it at a house show. Seeing him without it this week leads me to believe a little of the OP. The match that I saw & the Superstars Match, he was wrestling at a quicker pace.

[Optimax]

I dont actually mind Tensai.

Turning him into a more bad ass monster sound good though

[BigWill]

I also like the mist. The Claw would look like crap without it.

But I have no problem with them doing away with all the other ninja stuff. Sometimes being a simple monster hoss is all you need to be interesting.

[Wolf Hurricane]

May 18, 2012 4:54:59 GMT -5 @subtlemocking said:

He should've been Giant Bernard from the start. That's what people wanted.

Exactly.

I like the mist myself, but it's not like they can't give it to, say, Yoshi Tatsu, or even to Sakamoto. Also, I have no problem with the claw, especially since he has the size to make it look effective.

[Crappler El 0 M]

Those changes sound good to me. The point of him going to Japan shouldn't have been that he BECAME Japanese.

[Deleted]

I for one dislike the mist, but I dislike the claw too so I'm not as pleased by this news as I could be. Still, let's see if having ditched the slow moving and the stupid window-dressing can improve him any.

[xCompackx]

It's never a bad idea to ditch the cartoony stuff sometimes and I think I'll like watching him a LOT more without the weird Kung Fu poses and silly attire. Now if we can just do something about those tire treads...

[A Platypus Rave]

I didn't mind the mist... and I liked the entrance attire it reminded me of stuff Muta used to wear...

The karate poses were pretty bad though