I wish the Tensai push didn't flop

[mrjl]

Oct 19, 2013 13:06:25 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

He needed a different outfit-that red speedo made him look fat.
He needs to wear face paint or a mask-the gimmick was dead when the audience recognized him.
He needed to be allowed to use his style from Japan-lumbering around the ring using few moves made him slow and dull.
He needed to debut on a different night-first match on the same night Lesnar returns was a guarantee to get overshadowed.
He needs a good intro feud to stablished him with the audience-squashing random jobbers week after week is a formula for boredome.

I've looked for these matches where he looked quick in Japan. haven't found them yet.

And he was never supposed to actually be Japanese

And in Japan, acting like he loved Japan would have been nothing more than a cheap pop material

[Deleted]

He had great matches with my favorite wrestler in the company, so yeah it wouldve been cool if he stayed at that main event-esque level.

[Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster]

I can't help but feel bad for Albert as everyone knew who he was but creative in their infinite wisdom decided to give him a gimmick that so stupid that it was doomed to fail from the start.

[Chip]

I wish they would have just brought him back as Albert, everything would have been so much easier. He didn't need to have wins over Punk or Cena to achieve anything, if anything that only hurt him more as it made the whole thing feel forced. He could have come back to a nice nostalgia pop and put on some solid matches in the mid and upper card.

[Deleted]

I agree.

It's not like Albert was a great gimmick, but c'mon, that is who the guy is. You can't just slap some kanji on his face and pretend like he's not very physically recognizable.

I agree that he's not wildly talented, is kind of plodding and quite susceptible to having real bland strong guy matches with the wrong opponents, but with the right ones he showed himself to be capable of having some brutally stiff looking bouts and that's not a quality that a lot of current guys seem to be able to offer.

[Deleted]

I like the big lug, because he fits the criteria for what I like in a wrestler: look the part, and have an offense that looks the part.

He and Sheamus had some matches that were some of my favorite things ever.

I think there's always going to be a demand for big burly bastards who can beat the hell out of you.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Tensai was never really going to go that far. He was always going to be a dragon for Cena or Punk to slay.

If he were still in that spot, he'd probably be jobbing to Bryan or Cody right now.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Yeah, Tensai is great. I remember that one match he and Brodus had against the Shield where he seemingly forgot what his gimmick was for a minute and got awesome while making a comeback against Seth Rollins.

[drjayphd (feat. Pitbull)]

I seriously wish they pushed him as a monster heel who killed people dead with a combination of speed and power. Hell, keep the name, just say he reinvented himself in Japan and discovered a whole new level.

The problem is I don't know how they could do that now, or even if it's possible any more. He just has too much history, which would weigh down any attempt at a reboot.

[Deleted]

Oct 19, 2013 21:59:48 GMT -5 drjayphd (feat. Pitbull) said:

I seriously wish they pushed him as a monster heel who killed people dead with a combination of speed and power. Hell, keep the name, just say he reinvented himself in Japan and discovered a whole new level.

The problem is I don't know how they could do that now, or even if it's possible any more. He just has too much history, which would weigh down any attempt at a reboot.

It's unfortunate, really.

sure, it wouldn't please everyone (what does?), but I'd have preferred just Albert/A-train back from Japan with a hard-hitting style.

[mizerable]

Oct 19, 2013 16:19:41 GMT -5 kamero00 said:

He was pushed properly during his first run, and actually made it up to the IC title (back when it was the #2 title in the company).

I wouldn't even call it that at the time. Albert won the IC title at a time when a bunch of other shit was going on, including a shitty Invasion. He barely had the title for less than a month during a time when he was a part of X-Factor, and the only highlight of him having the title was knocking Justin Credible for being the only person in X-Factor without a title. This was Albert at his absolute worst career point IMO. So he was definitely not getting pushed properly.

Of course, he at one point was regulated to Velocity and completely redeemed himself by doing some decent mic work, adopting some better attire (I think the trunks with hairy back work, since he's got such a unique look to begin with) and working his way back up to Smackdown and adopting a better name. In fact at one point, he was probably Smackdown's 3rd best heel, at a time when their roster was stacked. Of course, like a lot of other people, I guess improving tenfold wasn't enough, or Vince soured on him, since if there was ever a time when he should have been a strong midcard champion, 2003 would have been the time to do it.

His return has left a lot to be desired.

[Essential1]

He's got a decent big man style and could easily be a upper midcard sometimes main event guy. A Paul Heyman guy if there ever was one since he's not so good on the mic. I've always been a fan, just not so much when they have him doing the same gimmick he did 11 years ago.

[Toates Madhackrviper]

I actually liked the Tensai gimmick. I recognize the logical reasons why it sucked and why it was a terrible idea, I just enjoyed it for me personally. *shrug*

[kamero00]

Oct 19, 2013 22:24:51 GMT -5 mizerable said:

Oct 19, 2013 16:19:41 GMT -5 kamero00 said:

He was pushed properly during his first run, and actually made it up to the IC title (back when it was the #2 title in the company).

I wouldn't even call it that at the time. Albert won the IC title at a time when a bunch of other shit was going on, including a shitty Invasion. He barely had the title for less than a month during a time when he was a part of X-Factor, and the only highlight of him having the title was knocking Justin Credible for being the only person in X-Factor without a title. This was Albert at his absolute worst career point IMO. So he was definitely not getting pushed properly.

Of course, he at one point was regulated to Velocity and completely redeemed himself by doing some decent mic work, adopting some better attire (I think the trunks with hairy back work, since he's got such a unique look to begin with) and working his way back up to Smackdown and adopting a better name. In fact at one point, he was probably Smackdown's 3rd best heel, at a time when their roster was stacked. Of course, like a lot of other people, I guess improving tenfold wasn't enough, or Vince soured on him, since if there was ever a time when he should have been a strong midcard champion, 2003 would have been the time to do it.

His return has left a lot to be desired.

He dropped the IC title before, or just after the invasion started. But yeah, he was quickly de-pushed after that.

Also they did not treat him like he was Japanese during that run, so that helps.

[Digital Witness]

The problem with Tensai is that they wanted Giant Bernard, this agile beast of a man that will just relentlessly beat people and is constantly moving to wrestle a slow, methodical style with Great Muta-esque mannerisms. It was never going to work. If he was just able to work as he was accustomed to, he would have been fine.

If WWE wanted a Great Muta-esque gimmick, they should have got someone who was smaller that could work more like Keiji Mutoh. If WWE didn't screw the pooch with Low Ki, I think that should have been Low Ki's gimmick, mist and all. Ki (before retirement) worked that slow and calculating but explosive style the way Mutoh has been known for, and had that same snap to his moves and strikes.

[Hit Girl]

Gimmick was dumb. Never stood a chance of getting over. Had they brought him back simply as "Albert, the Hip Hop Hippo" and teamed with with Brodus from the start, it would have saved a lot of time.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Oct 19, 2013 23:27:32 GMT -5 Digital Witness said:

The problem with Tensai is that they wanted Giant Bernard, this agile beast of a man that will just relentlessly beat people and is constantly moving to wrestle a slow, methodical style with Great Muta-esque mannerisms. It was never going to work. If he was just able to work as he was accustomed to, he would have been fine.

If WWE wanted a Great Muta-esque gimmick, they should have got someone who was smaller that could work more like Keiji Mutoh. If WWE didn't screw the pooch with Low Ki, I think that should have been Low Ki's gimmick, mist and all. Ki (before retirement) worked that slow and calculating but explosive style the way Mutoh has been known for, and had that same snap to his moves and strikes.

But would Low Ki have been willing to play such a caricature of a character? Sure the wrestling style works, but would he have put on the silly Shredder garb?

Eventually they DID give us Giant Bernard when they had Tensai forsake the "Lord", drop the entrance attire and take Sakamoto off of TV. I just don't know why they didn't do that from the start.

[Gerard Gerard]

If Tensai/Sheamus slipped into that same alter-verse as the one which houses Kofi/Dolph, I'd legit watch the hell out of it. Hell, hire Tensai as ADR's muscle, and the ADR/Sheamus feud becomes 90,000 times more interesting.

[Citizen Snips]

Whatever happened to Sakamoto anyways? Did Tensai murder him and throw him in one of the ring trucks or something?

[Chip]

Oct 19, 2013 21:59:48 GMT -5 drjayphd (feat. Pitbull) said:

I seriously wish they pushed him as a monster heel who killed people dead with a combination of speed and power. Hell, keep the name, just say he reinvented himself in Japan and discovered a whole new level.

I.... but that's exactly what they said he did. They've always said it was an ex-WWE star that went to Japan and took on their customs and came back better. The only thing you mention that they didn't do was the speed part, which was sad as he's more then capable of having a fast match.

Oct 20, 2013 1:17:37 GMT -5 Citizen Snips said:

Whatever happened to Sakamoto anyways? Did Tensai murder him and throw him in one of the ring trucks or something?

He was released back when Derrick Bateman was, I believe he was one of the first to go.