In early 2012 before WrestleMania XXVIII, vignettes began appearing advertising the appearance of a new wrestler, presumably a Japanese star. The day after Mania, fans were introduced to Lord Tensai, a 300-pound, tattooed behemoth wearing a headdress and Japanese outfit. The only hitch? It was actually former WWE wrestler Albert returning as a new character. Tensai made short work of Alex Riley, winning the match due to referee stoppage. He would go on to amass an impressive winning streak, with victories over the likes of John Cena and CM Punk (then the WWE Champion) in his first couple months. However, things would turn sour quickly, as the gimmick lost its luster and Tensai was soon jobbing to everyone, including much smaller talent like Tyson Kidd and Sin Cara. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygXaHYnyzq0 Part of the problem from the moment Tensai appeared stemmed from WWE initially trying to play this up as the debut of a new wrestler, when it was plainly obvious to any longtime fan that this was an inked Albert returning after eight years. If WWE was serious about making him a separate character, they should have put him under a mask. Soon after Tensais debut, the announcers had to acknowledge that he used to wrestle in WWE. Currently, he has changed his name to Jason Albert and serves as a commentator and trainer for NXT.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
