Call him Prince Albert, call him A-Train, call him Tensai, call him Giant Bernard - just don't call him on Shabbat. Despite being with the company for many years, Matt Bloom never really emerged as a standout in WWE. After a number of gimmick changes and turns, he was released from the promotion and went on to reinvent himself in Japan. As Bernard, Bloom captured the New Japan Cup in 2006, won the World Tag League tournament in 2007 and 2009, and captured tag team gold with Travis (Tyson) Tomko and Karl Anderson. With Anderson, Bernard boasted the longest IWGP Tag Team Title reign of all time. Not bad for a guy whose claim to fame in WWE was being bombarded with 'shave your back' chants. In 2012, WWE wooed Bloom back to U.S. competition, christening him Tensai and giving him the true-to-life gimmick of a former superstar who found himself competing in Japan. Unfortunately, sloppy ring work and a poor reaction from fans led to Tensai slipping down the card. He retired but he's doing very well for himself as the lead trainer at WWE's Performance Center.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
