Okay, so it's not like Albert/A-Train had such a sterling run in the company the first time round or anything, but it was still miles better than his 2012 comeback. As a midcarder during the Attitude Era, Albert served his purpose. He was decent in tag teams, with his T&A team with Test (and Trish Stratus) at least having the right type of chemistry. Any attempt to push him above that level invariably failed. His 2001 Intercontinental Title run was a flop and repeated attempts to elevate him in 2002 and 03 were met with widespread apathy. After his 2004 release, Albert (as Giant Bernard) experienced a career rebirth wrestling in Japan. He was promoted as the top gaijin (foreign star) for New Japan Pro-Wrestling and actually had some decent matches, too. WWE officials were impressed and wanted to bring him back to the company as a main event heel, to eventually have a headline feud with John Cena. What were they thinking, eh? Lord Tensai was a terrible idea, an anachronistic gimmick that belonged back in the 1980s. The red trunks did him no favours and the fans bombarded him with chants of 'Albert'. It took WWE only a few weeks to realise the experiment wasn't working (after it had booked him to defeat Cena and CM Punk).
