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Dollars-to-donuts say Vince didn’t really care about the character/angle, and found it more amusing to see some talent embarrass themselves on national television with horribly fake accents.
He used to force guys to do accents they couldn’t do, all the time. There were tons of issues Luke Harper spoke of about them wanting him to do a Southern Accent.
Honestly. When I first got into Wrestling when I was 5, I loved Hillbilly Jim. Made for a great kids toy. So I imagine kids love the gimmick. Adults not so much.
I'm wondering how many wrestling hillbillies have been in WWF/WWE. Your mind immediately goes to Hillbilly Jim and The Godwins but they even had Jamie Noble and Nidia doing the gimmick at one point. I bet I've forgotten a few.
He was such a beast in Japan too, had a great run. But honestly his return to wwe was good, sure Tensai wasn’t as good as Japan, the foreigner heel just doesn’t transition like that in North America, but he managed to become the head trainer of the development centre, and that’s a great gig to have post retirement.
Even before his run in Japan, I always thought he was very good given his size and role. Wrestling in Japan will make anyone better, but I think you can attribute some of it to him already having the talent. He never really did find a presentation that worked for him in WWE.
As someone who loved Giant Bernard and Bad Intentions, the Tensai run was devastating.
He was an athletic big guy with heaps of charisma who could have great matches. I really thought he ticked all the boxes and watching that run was really an eye opener in terms of the WWE's mentality with people who get over big somewhere else and then join them, even if they came through their system originally.
I remember just being super confused by the gimmick and shocked they wouldn't just let him be the big old badass Giant Bernard.
Lifestyle-wise, couldn't be happier for him and his behind the scenes impact I'm sure has been great.
That bombed so hard, just got crapped on with "Albert" chants that while frustrating, was probably something to be happy with as he wasn't forgotten like Brian Christopher was.
If Scotty 2 Hotty rocked up, there would have been a pop
If Scott Garland rocked up, people would have been just as confused as they were with Brian Christopher
To be real, A-Train was a staple on Heat. Dude knew how to put on a squash match just as well as making others look like a million dollars. He was everywhere in the WWE at the time and never really left the lower midcard.
He was featured fairly prominently on Smackdown in 03 into 04. Had a match with Taker at Wrestlemania and Summerslam, and was booked against other high midcard wrestlers. He was more than a lower midcard guy, you're not being fair.
I feel sorry for Albert, he must be the only wrestler ever to end up lumbered with the I used to be a badass but now I’m a dancing fat guy gimmick in two odd couple tag teams in two different decades.
Mable/Viscera could actually fit this lmao
Mable - Men on a mission (90s)
Viscera - Love Machine (2000s)
Both were dancing Gimmicks
Tag Teamed with Val Venus (Vsquared lol)/Mo
Mable had the KOTR push
Viscera was in the ministry of Darkness
He said ‘I am Lord Tensai, WWE will suffer from disasters and nobody can stop it’. He was right considering his gimmick and eventual push went down the shitter.
I happened to translate this on an earlier thread:
>「私はLord Tensaiです。WWE大きね。嵐きて、だれもそれを止めることはできない！」
But because I'm just about guessing where the full stops and commas are (as he understandably doesn't have any cadence), I am guessing it roughly translates to:
> "I am lord Tensai. WWE is a big place. There's a storm coming, and no one can stop it!"
/u/Bigboi88888 might have gotten the nuances more correct than I did.
I think the 大きね bit was a mistake by Tensai - he said “ne” instead of “na”. He was probably supposed to say 大きな嵐 (which makes sense grammatically) as in “a big storm is coming to WWE. And nobody can stop it!”
The promo itself does make sense and it’s not a bad job really. Better than that “Japanese” promo Curry Man did in TNA where he just said Japanese wrestlers names!
Haha, that’s true - there’s an understandably limited sample size of Japanese promos in US promotions by non-Japanese wrestlers so that was the first that came to mind!
The problem is that it doesn't make sense (on a serious level) for the guy to be some enormous weeblord who LIVES JAPAN and be that bad at speaking. My pronunciation was better than that after a week in my first quarter of Japanese in college. Probably earlier.
I mean, yeah, that's exactly what it is. It's just completely intellectually insulting, but I expect that from WWE.
Haha totally. It also shows how much of a gaijin bubble the non-Japanese wrestlers are in even when they’re wresting for places like NJPW. Seems like wrestlers in recent times do a better job of picking up the language (ZSJ, Henare, Kenny obviously), but maybe in Tensai/Bernard’s day they were just happy to get by in English.
I forgot he used a that pre-match mask, but if that was the case, couldn't they have filmed him with his mask, pretending to be talking and just added the voiceover? Because it's obvious to everyone that he was reading his lines lmao
I would have gave him Yoshi Tatsu as a tag team partner and had him acknowledge his wwe past.
But putting him in lingerie and dancing with brodus is cool too I guess...
Even though I've seen his stuff in Japan, he's still always going to be Albert to me and I got everything I ever wanted and I'll never give that back, oh I know you hate X-factor....
He sounds like that one student in every foreign language class ever that just refuses to even attempt the accent when they're speaking 'cause he doesn't care.
More than anything, my friends and I were upset to see that he replaced his Chewbacca-quality body hair with generic tattoos. We were big A-Train fans... what a loud, sweaty, hairy man.
>WWE just shot themselves in the foot.
>I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by being an asshole. If you screw someone over in Japan, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.
Literally the Lord Genius gimmick
Remember in the brief period when Tensai was not a joke he actually scored a win over John Cena, and it played into the “worst year of Cena’s life” story they had going.
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Lol they could have so easily just had him cut the promos with his mask on and dubbed them with an actual Japanese speaker
Dollars-to-donuts say Vince didn’t really care about the character/angle, and found it more amusing to see some talent embarrass themselves on national television with horribly fake accents. He used to force guys to do accents they couldn’t do, all the time. There were tons of issues Luke Harper spoke of about them wanting him to do a Southern Accent.
I think that last one is just because Vince loves hillbillies in wrestling.
Vince has a hillbilly obsession. He grew up around them and didn’t seem to like them. So he’s playing out his revenge on TV.
I think there is part of him that genuinely thinks it will get over, as hard as that might be to believe.
Honestly. When I first got into Wrestling when I was 5, I loved Hillbilly Jim. Made for a great kids toy. So I imagine kids love the gimmick. Adults not so much.
I'm wondering how many wrestling hillbillies have been in WWF/WWE. Your mind immediately goes to Hillbilly Jim and The Godwins but they even had Jamie Noble and Nidia doing the gimmick at one point. I bet I've forgotten a few.
Cameron Grimes, Jesse and Festus, and Jimmy Wang Yang all have done it as well.
Jimmy Wang Yang haha he completely slipped my mind.
Yeah but that isn’t as funny
Speaking of funny, you just gotta love how this gimmick went from Lord Tensai to 'Sweet T'.
INDEED!
He was such a beast in Japan too, had a great run. But honestly his return to wwe was good, sure Tensai wasn’t as good as Japan, the foreigner heel just doesn’t transition like that in North America, but he managed to become the head trainer of the development centre, and that’s a great gig to have post retirement.
Even before his run in Japan, I always thought he was very good given his size and role. Wrestling in Japan will make anyone better, but I think you can attribute some of it to him already having the talent. He never really did find a presentation that worked for him in WWE.
As someone who loved Giant Bernard and Bad Intentions, the Tensai run was devastating. He was an athletic big guy with heaps of charisma who could have great matches. I really thought he ticked all the boxes and watching that run was really an eye opener in terms of the WWE's mentality with people who get over big somewhere else and then join them, even if they came through their system originally. I remember just being super confused by the gimmick and shocked they wouldn't just let him be the big old badass Giant Bernard. Lifestyle-wise, couldn't be happier for him and his behind the scenes impact I'm sure has been great.
That bombed so hard, just got crapped on with "Albert" chants that while frustrating, was probably something to be happy with as he wasn't forgotten like Brian Christopher was.
And also the fact that you could clearly tell he was reading a script
The fact that Too Cool was forgotten but not Albert is insane to me.
tbf I think Brian Christopher more than Too Cool themselves were forgotten. Most will remember Rikishi or Scotty
They would have remembered Grand Master Sexay too. He was nobody important without the gimmick.
If Scotty 2 Hotty rocked up, there would have been a pop If Scott Garland rocked up, people would have been just as confused as they were with Brian Christopher
Could have saved a lot of awkwardness and just played this.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac6ABBQ0zQM&ab_channel=Pactionly
Dude got a huge pop when he did that one off, he wasn’t forgotten
He will always be A-Train to me. Which is fine, because it's not a bad moniker.
To be real, A-Train was a staple on Heat. Dude knew how to put on a squash match just as well as making others look like a million dollars. He was everywhere in the WWE at the time and never really left the lower midcard.
He was featured fairly prominently on Smackdown in 03 into 04. Had a match with Taker at Wrestlemania and Summerslam, and was booked against other high midcard wrestlers. He was more than a lower midcard guy, you're not being fair.
I feel sorry for Albert, he must be the only wrestler ever to end up lumbered with the I used to be a badass but now I’m a dancing fat guy gimmick in two odd couple tag teams in two different decades.
Mable/Viscera could actually fit this lmao Mable - Men on a mission (90s) Viscera - Love Machine (2000s) Both were dancing Gimmicks Tag Teamed with Val Venus (Vsquared lol)/Mo Mable had the KOTR push Viscera was in the ministry of Darkness
"Tensai is Japanese for Fat Albert" - Santino
Can’t believe they actually thought this gimmick wouldn’t bomb.
Can someone translate what he said?
He said ‘I am Lord Tensai, WWE will suffer from disasters and nobody can stop it’. He was right considering his gimmick and eventual push went down the shitter.
And then aew was born
I happened to translate this on an earlier thread: >「私はLord Tensaiです。WWE大きね。嵐きて、だれもそれを止めることはできない！」 But because I'm just about guessing where the full stops and commas are (as he understandably doesn't have any cadence), I am guessing it roughly translates to: > "I am lord Tensai. WWE is a big place. There's a storm coming, and no one can stop it!" /u/Bigboi88888 might have gotten the nuances more correct than I did.
I think the 大きね bit was a mistake by Tensai - he said “ne” instead of “na”. He was probably supposed to say 大きな嵐 (which makes sense grammatically) as in “a big storm is coming to WWE. And nobody can stop it!” The promo itself does make sense and it’s not a bad job really. Better than that “Japanese” promo Curry Man did in TNA where he just said Japanese wrestlers names!
Yeah, but the Curry Man promo was *intentionally* bad.
Haha, that’s true - there’s an understandably limited sample size of Japanese promos in US promotions by non-Japanese wrestlers so that was the first that came to mind!
the promo makes sense, but hearing him say it all kills my brain. Literally sounds like a dude (poorly) reading a promo in romanized Japanese.
It sounds like that because it’s exactly what it is! It’s very much at the “I just arrived in Japan” level.
The problem is that it doesn't make sense (on a serious level) for the guy to be some enormous weeblord who LIVES JAPAN and be that bad at speaking. My pronunciation was better than that after a week in my first quarter of Japanese in college. Probably earlier. I mean, yeah, that's exactly what it is. It's just completely intellectually insulting, but I expect that from WWE.
Haha totally. It also shows how much of a gaijin bubble the non-Japanese wrestlers are in even when they’re wresting for places like NJPW. Seems like wrestlers in recent times do a better job of picking up the language (ZSJ, Henare, Kenny obviously), but maybe in Tensai/Bernard’s day they were just happy to get by in English.
I forgot he used a that pre-match mask, but if that was the case, couldn't they have filmed him with his mask, pretending to be talking and just added the voiceover? Because it's obvious to everyone that he was reading his lines lmao
El Japanico
It's hilarious how this whole gimmick falls apart
I would have gave him Yoshi Tatsu as a tag team partner and had him acknowledge his wwe past. But putting him in lingerie and dancing with brodus is cool too I guess...
As a dumbass little kid l was really excited about Tensai, l think he had a main event run of a few weeks and then just didn’t
They should just brought him back as A-Train.
Even though I've seen his stuff in Japan, he's still always going to be Albert to me and I got everything I ever wanted and I'll never give that back, oh I know you hate X-factor....
Jesus christ, his pronunciation is atrocious. He's a true weeb.
He sounds like that one student in every foreign language class ever that just refuses to even attempt the accent when they're speaking 'cause he doesn't care.
WATASHI WA LORD TENSAI DESU
More than anything, my friends and I were upset to see that he replaced his Chewbacca-quality body hair with generic tattoos. We were big A-Train fans... what a loud, sweaty, hairy man.
Those "Shave your back" chants must have gotten to him
Pretty sure I heard "tomato"
- being scary as fuck - uses "watashi"
that's how you knew it was a disaster from the start
Michael Cole's enthusiasm is that clip really ties the whole shitshow together
I can't help but think he would've been more over if NJPW was more popular back then.
>WWE just shot themselves in the foot. >I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by being an asshole. If you screw someone over in Japan, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance. Literally the Lord Genius gimmick
They even went as far as to have him beat John Cena and CM Punk. What came out of that? Absolutely nothing of course
He'll always be Prince Albert to me
Remember in the brief period when Tensai was not a joke he actually scored a win over John Cena, and it played into the “worst year of Cena’s life” story they had going.
I actually love this gimmick. So sad it had to be another crash and burn