The big news on this week’s post-WrestleMania XXVIII Monday Night Raw was, quite obviously, the returning Brock Lesnar, who followed in the Rock’s footsteps by coming out and making John Cena look like an absolute joke. I’m a Brock fan, and would be excited about this match even if his t-shirt logo didn’t look like the most awesome Danzig/Swamp Thing hybrid imaginable. Back when I worked at WWE, mentioning Brock on the website was absolutely verboten, even though the guy was a huge mainstream star during his run as UFC Heavyweight Champion. It was a perfect example of WWE cutting off their nose to spite their face, so I’m glad they’ve finally gotten tired of getting nosejobs (to stretch an metaphor).
But, as excited as I was by Brock’s return, I was just as delighted by another returning, hulking, monstrous WWE wrestler from the early 2000s: Lord Tensai, aka Prince Albert, aka A-Train, aka Matt Bloom. The guy had an absolutely awesome squash match against Alex Riley, beating the absolute hell out of the poor guy, and likely curing him of any desire to ever go wrestle in Japan. Since 2005, the man now known as Lord Tensai has made his living kicking the crap out of Japanese guys in the country’s biggest promotions, but his more recent work has been some of the most entertaining as it saw him team up with “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson as the tag team Bad Intentions.
Aside from being a rad name, the humongous Bloom, going by Giant Bernard, was complemented perfectly by the smaller and more agile Anderson, a kayfabe member of the legendary Anderson wrestling family, with a Spinebuster that’d make old Arn proud. I met Anderson when I worked on the set of Jeff Katz’s Wrestling Retribution Project in October 2011. Not only was he a swell guy, but wrestling as Killshot, he had my favorite match of the entire shoot against the Cornerstone, better known to wrestling fans as Kenny Omega.
Bad Intentions were an absolutely rad team, so if you dug what you saw from Lord Tensai this week on Monday Night Raw, you should carve out some time in your schedule to check out some of his Japan work. Pretty much anything you find on YouTube is going to be worth watching, but why not start with this bout that sees the IWGP Tag Team Champions Bad Intentions take on the GHC Tag Team Champions Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano.
doest I see a pattern developing ? Rock returned to a three matches a year schedule after 8 years to pick a dick war with Cena. Now Brock returning after I forget how many years, to a shedule, according to the dirt sheets, is more than 1 per year and he’s picked a war with Cena (at least, its not a dick war..). Is WWE trying so hard to kill the face of the company ? or even worse, trying to prove to the world what the CHaters are saying is true ? (that CNation leader cant wrestle).
Having returning ‘yester year’s stars getting wins over the company’s biggest draw is a good way of them saying hey, out top talent is not worth the money you pay to watch as any old guy making a ‘return’ can beat them up. Wonder what the beancounters will say when these comebacks result in a drop in CMerchandise sales ?
I’m glad that atleast Bloom didnt picka fight with Cena.. at least for the moment..
I agree that having Rock win at Mania was a penny-smart, pound-stupid decision, but there’s nothing to indicate that they’ll be doing the same thing with Brock yet, so I think it’s a little premature to judge. Also, if Lesnar can bring in even a fraction of those UFC pay-per-view buys, I think him involved and doing anything is a great thing for WWE and wrestling in general – a high tide raises all ships.
On top of that, WWE has a long and storied tradition of bringing in well-known celebrities to job their talent out to – that’s nothing new. But bringing in celebrities that can actual wrestle is a pretty neat thing I think.
im 16 and ive been watching wwe since i was 4 (1999) and i wasnt much of a fan of brock or paul, i was a cena fan at that time (when he was cool) . but anaywy i would love to see them back but wwe would ruin them for what they stand for like they did cena and Goldberg.but at this time come to think of it if anyone return i would be happy, hell ill take JBL and he was the most one i hated.. ( fuckin Stacy Kiebler) or something bikini contest ,
have no idea, Why the fuck are u here making conemmts when the closest u have ever gotten to mma or any combat sport is from your armchair.Lesnar didnt take his punches? Lesnar beat carwin beat him at his own game out wrestled taken down submitted by arm triangle. He had all his energy reserved after having weathered the storm.Because your new to this, ill fill u in on something.. all fighters have a tactical plan going into a fight. he felt his punches getting softVA:F [1.9.8_1114]please wait…VA:F [1.9.8_1114](from 0 votes)
I’ve nothing against B/Rock coming back. Big fan of both of them, so them kicking butt in WWE is something I always want to see. Just dont agree with the way their comebacks are being handled.
I seriously doubt that the UFC crowd will tune in to see Brock do scripted fake fighting when they are used to seeing him do the real thing. While the guy is a monster, Brock without Paul Heyman is not as interesting as Brock with Paul Heyman. I mean, lets face it, he’s huge and tremendously athletic but he doesnt have the gift of gab that PH has. So while the Rock (who certainly knows how to use a mic) made a huge comeback( “Rocky” chants went for like ten minutes when the lights went out without there being even a hint of exactly who was going to come out), Brock never got that type of a welcome did he ?
Especially considering that when these two had a huge feud that saw the People’s Champ take a People’s Beating thanks to Brock. I just dont see Brock making that kind of an impression.
I’m hoping there wont be a Rock Vs Brock round 2 and Brock gets to feud with guys he can throw good matches with. Matches with guys like Kane, Big Show, Brodus Clay, Mark Henry and not squash matches with jobbers.
Lesnar is the most talented fieghtr of that size ever, but you have to wonder when a more experienced fieghtr with more martial arts and wrestling experience is going to have his number. I’m not saying Lesnar is the best fieghtr on Earth, but he is the most unbelievably physically gifted human being to show himself in a long time, and I think that alone will keep him on top for a while. How long depends on how well-rounded Brock Lesnar becomes and if he learns from his past mistakes.VA:F [1.9.8_1114]please wait…VA:F [1.9.8_1114](from 0 votes)
Bring back Lesnar and for his first match it should be a TLC Inferno match inidse Hell in a Cell inidse the Elimination Chamber with electric bars and barbwire ropes against Cena. Then make him have a Buried Alive match against Hornswoggle, 100ft under.
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yeah but i remember that all 3 men had a rarlivy in the past and that they are all returning to WWE so it could work, plus i did not know that taker and lesnar has real beef and i agree that lesnar would be better to end the streak or evan batista (coz i love the animal) but i heard that jericho is the guy facing the undertaker at 28 which i hope happens beacuse we have never seen it before