Paul
Vegeta
Posts: 9,276
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Post by Paul on May 30, 2019 18:34:22 GMT -5
It was a gimmick straight out of the early 1980's (that's a bad thing).
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Post by Kevin Hamilton on May 30, 2019 19:39:04 GMT -5
It was a dead in the water gimmick that would have been shitty in 1992.
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Post by jason1980s on May 30, 2019 19:55:23 GMT -5
I think what killed it was that it was Albert/A-Train, a guy who couldn’t get over in 2000 when EVERYONE was over This. It was like 1987 Moondog Demolition Smash and everyone seeing him as a jobber. Albert came back with a gimmick that was supposed to be something unique but since it was played by Albert it sucked. No athletic ability and no charisma to be able to tell a story in the ring.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2019 20:02:26 GMT -5
I liked Lord Tensai but I also realize that it's one of those things I liked that almost no one else did.
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Post by Sponsored by Groose Wipes on May 30, 2019 20:08:09 GMT -5
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Dub H
Crow T. Robot
Captain Pixel: the Game Master
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Posts: 47,880
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Post by Dub H on May 30, 2019 20:12:56 GMT -5
The fans were really weird about it. Like, "Japanese" is an ethnicity, but it also, like, describes a person who lives in a particular place. And they were like pretty clearly referring to the latter with Albert, but being a white dude who lives in Japan was like... too ridiculous to accept? I don't get it. What I DO get is hating the character overall, though. GodDAMN he wrestled slow. Sure, his in-ring style in Japan might not have been safe, but still, they coulda done something else. I dont know you,but if I lived in Japan I wouldnt come back to my country dressed as shogun,acting like an Japanese Emperor in all manners. Lord Tensai was basically a Weeaboo.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2019 21:16:16 GMT -5
Probably the most memorable thing Tensai did before he started teaming with Brodus: Holy shit, that was scary.
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on May 31, 2019 1:50:41 GMT -5
The best thing the Tensai gimmick ever did was inspire this piece of art.
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Post by xCompackx on May 31, 2019 1:59:47 GMT -5
It was way overdone for what they were going for. If it were just Albert (who fans already know so you've got a hook from the start) with a "Learned some shit in Japan, gonna wreck fools" gimmick, that would've been fine, if not great. He didn't need to be portrayed as a f***ing samurai or whatever to get across the fact he spent time in Japan.
Also, I have always had a mental image of that tire tread face tattoo being rolled on and it's way funnier to me than it should be.
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Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on May 31, 2019 12:33:16 GMT -5
The fans were really weird about it. Like, "Japanese" is an ethnicity, but it also, like, describes a person who lives in a particular place. And they were like pretty clearly referring to the latter with Albert, but being a white dude who lives in Japan was like... too ridiculous to accept? I don't get it. What I DO get is hating the character overall, though. GodDAMN he wrestled slow. Sure, his in-ring style in Japan might not have been safe, but still, they coulda done something else. I dont know you,but if I lived in Japan I wouldnt come back to my country dressed as shogun,acting like an Japanese Emperor in all manners. Lord Tensai was basically a Weeaboo. He was dressed as The Great Kabuki, who's Americanized-Japanese anyway.
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Dub H
Crow T. Robot
Captain Pixel: the Game Master
I ❤ Aniki
Posts: 47,880
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Post by Dub H on May 31, 2019 12:59:01 GMT -5
I dont know you,but if I lived in Japan I wouldnt come back to my country dressed as shogun,acting like an Japanese Emperor in all manners. Lord Tensai was basically a Weeaboo. He was dressed as The Great Kabuki, who's Americanized-Japanese anyway. He was Born and Raised in Japan.Did he start dressing as a cowboy when he went back to Japan? And even so he was dressed in so much more Japanese Stuff than The Great Kabuki.More Kanji, Japanese all over his theme,his own Japanese Servant doing Japanese customs as he enters. Dude was being presented as Japanese.
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Perfect Timing
Dennis Stamp
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Posts: 4,869
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Post by Perfect Timing on May 31, 2019 13:20:58 GMT -5
Also, I have always had a mental image of that tire tread face tattoo being rolled on and it's way funnier to me than it should be.
Lord Repo Man would probably have got over.
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Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on May 31, 2019 20:11:00 GMT -5
He was dressed as The Great Kabuki, who's Americanized-Japanese anyway. He was Born and Raised in Japan.Did he start dressing as a cowboy when he went back to Japan? And even so he was dressed in so much more Japanese Stuff than The Great Kabuki.More Kanji, Japanese all over his theme,his own Japanese Servant doing Japanese customs as he enters. Dude was being presented as Japanese. He lived in Japan! He WAS Japanese, in the sense that he had been living there for years. If the issue is the stereotypes, fine. Foreign stereotype gimmicks are lame. But stereotypes on a white guy (who lives in Japan) are not worse than those same stereotypes on an ethnically Japanese person who lives in Japan. This is what I mean, there's this weird focus on ethnicity that just doesn't really make sense.
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Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
Surviving
Posts: 28,967
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Post by Sephiroth on May 31, 2019 20:23:28 GMT -5
1. The moment he took that mask off and the audience recognized him, he was done.
2. Debuting him on the night Brock Lesnar returned killed any chance he had of making a memorable debut
3. He was the anti-Umaga or Strowman. He squashed jobbers without direction week after week but was not put into any kind of story or feud. He just had no direction.
4. Those damn trunks did not help a man of his build.
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Dub H
Crow T. Robot
Captain Pixel: the Game Master
I ❤ Aniki
Posts: 47,880
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Post by Dub H on May 31, 2019 20:26:31 GMT -5
He was Born and Raised in Japan.Did he start dressing as a cowboy when he went back to Japan? And even so he was dressed in so much more Japanese Stuff than The Great Kabuki.More Kanji, Japanese all over his theme,his own Japanese Servant doing Japanese customs as he enters. Dude was being presented as Japanese. He lived in Japan! He WAS Japanese, in the sense that he had been living there for years. If the issue is the stereotypes, fine. Foreign stereotype gimmicks are lame. But stereotypes on a white guy (who lives in Japan) are not worse than those same stereotypes on an ethnically Japanese person who lives in Japan. This is what I mean, there's this weird focus on ethnicity that just doesn't really make sense. There is a big difference between living there your whole life/being born there and livign a few years and acting as if all the traditions are you.He was being presented as if Japan IS his legacy and everything he is. I lived 4 years in Canada,did I get some Canadian mannerisms?Yeh. But i didnt come back wearing a lumberjack hat and stuffing my face with poutine ...I don't know Canadian culture very well. But there should be a clear definition between something being the culture you were born or raised with and somewhere you live.
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Post by Stone Coke Miami Watson 🥃 on May 31, 2019 22:43:34 GMT -5
I LOVED that too-brief time period where he would beat the ever-loving shit out of Sakamoto....
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Post by Ryback on a Pole! on May 31, 2019 22:52:36 GMT -5
I liked his look. But they made him wrestle typical big man plodding style which made his matches suck. I don't know why WWE have done that, so many guys have been lumbered with a plodding, slow, methodical style with just punches and the occasional slam. Yet when they become jobbers and are let off the leash, they become awesome--Paul Burchill springs to mind.
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chazraps
Wade Wilson
Better have my money when I come-a collect!
Posts: 27,992
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Post by chazraps on Jun 1, 2019 0:37:18 GMT -5
Not to sound as if I work for wwe, but, I feel that was an instance of it being on the fans. Yes, they (wwe) cooled and changed directions on him,but from the jump the audience did the same "lolz thats just albert" thing they initially did to Bray w "husky harris". The weird "know-it-all, can't let self be invested yet lashes out at anyone who calls its fake", subsect of wrestling fans are the worst part sometimes. "Who cares? This heel will be jobbing in 8 months?" So? Enjoy those 8 months, if it's entertaining, at least give it a chance. I'm not saying it was Pure gold, but like Negan, I enjoyed and looked forward to it. Oh well. Now we have Best Pure Athletes who smile. Yay. It was always supposed to be Albert. I liked that aspect of the gimmick. Here is an ex WWE wrestler who went to Japan and immersed himself in the culture and now here he is back better than ever. It's just that in practice it sucked. Maybe with better writing and a less cartoony version it could have been pulled off better. But neither he, nor commentary next outright said it was "Albert." They said "Former WWE superstar" exactly once and then didn't have his past factor into any part of it. That and the super racist Sakamoto bit (talk about a talented dude who NEVER got a chance) are why it failed.
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Post by Session Moth is over on Jun 1, 2019 3:30:38 GMT -5
It was always supposed to be Albert. I liked that aspect of the gimmick. Here is an ex WWE wrestler who went to Japan and immersed himself in the culture and now here he is back better than ever. It's just that in practice it sucked. Maybe with better writing and a less cartoony version it could have been pulled off better. But neither he, nor commentary next outright said it was "Albert." They said "Former WWE superstar" exactly once and then didn't have his past factor into any part of it. That and the super racist Sakamoto bit (talk about a talented dude who NEVER got a chance) are why it failed. I think they mentioned the "former WWE superstar" part on a few occasions but you're right they never flat out said it was Albert. And therein lies the problem. WWE never fully committed to that part of the gimmick. They should have either said nothing or just straight out stated this was Albert but now he's a new and better man. Maybe run some videos of him getting his ass kicked as Albert along with a few clips of him going to Japan and really get into the story of how that move changed his life and career. There was an awesome (and partly true) story there to be told instead of the way they went about it.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2019 7:29:56 GMT -5
imagine being a fan that doesn't read news sites and forums watching a wrestler named after a genital piercing turning into a Japanese killer
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