10 Awesome Wrestling Debuts That Quickly Faded Away
7. Lord Tensai
Matt Bloom was rarely anything more than a sideshow during his first WWE run. As Albert and A-Train, Bloom found fluctuating levels of midcard success and had a spell as Intercontinental Champion, but his career didn’t really take off until he left for New Japan Pro Wrestling and became Giant Bernard.
As Bernard, Bloom was one of Japan's top gaijin, and established a reputation as a real tag team specialist. Whether tagging with Tyson Tomko or Karl Anderson, Bernard was a dominant force, and he eventually left Japan as a two-time IWGP Tag Team Champion (NJPW) and a one-time GHC Tag Team Champion (Pro Wrestling NOAH).
He came back to WWE with a decent level of hype from those who’d followed him in Japan. Unfortunately for Bloom, however, these fans were in the minority. His re-debut as Lord Tensai was built-up through a series of vignettes and he obliterated Alex Riley in his comeback match, then scored a huge win over John Cena. It looks like he was en route to finally becoming a major WWE star, but the wheels came off shortly after.
The fans taunted Tensai with mocking chants of “Albert,” and his push slowly evaporated. Tensai dropped his Japanese entrance attire, saw his undefeated streak snapped by Cena, and embarked on a lengthy losing streak. A few months after debuting, Tensai had become a comedy act, and soon started teaming with Brodus Clay as Tonnes of Funk. He finally retired in 2014, and currently serves as the WWE Performance Center’s head trainer.