One MIND-BLOWING Secret From EVERY Month Of The WWE Attitude Era

38. March 1998 | Doomed From The Start

Prince Albert A Train Matt Bloom
WWE.com

Matt Bloom, better known as Albert, spent much of 1998 bouncing between the WWF Funkin’ Dojo training camps and Power Pro Wrestling: the Memphis territory that acted as an informal feeder league. 

(This isn’t the ‘secret’ here, but Bloom was involved in a spectacularly insane match for PPW on their ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’ show on February 2, 1999. Wrestling as ‘Baldo’, he teamed with Vic Grimes, Shawn Stasiak and Randy Hales in a losing effort against Steve Williams, Giant Silva, Bruce Prichard and Tom Prichard. Bruce Prichard? In a match? Where he might not have been the worst worker?!) 

Bloom was a huge unit of a guy, and despite only making his professional debut in September 1997, his competition for an undercard spot was 8-Ball or Phineas Godwinn. It’s no wonder the WWF wanted to put him on TV pronto. Certain wrestlers of the day were doomed to float eternally between rubbish gimmicks, and Bloom was one of them; according to the March 2, 1998 Observer, Bloom was going to play a George ‘The Animal’ Steele rip-off purely because his back was hairy. Instead, he eventually debuted in 1999 as Prince Albert, named after a piercing that is jammed through the urethra and blasted through the side of the head of the penis. Somehow, this was less painful. He ended his WWE career playing a guy indebted to ancient Japanese culture because he had a decent run in NJPW before the promotion entered its resurgence period. 

(In another interesting bit of trivia, Bloom teamed with King Kong Bundy in his very first match). 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!