Since I posted an odd match from a lengthy title reign yesterday, I thought I would post a more normal match from a good title reign today. I also wanted to talk about one of the teams in this IWGP Tag Team Championship match. Unless Boris Zhukov is making his long awaited WWE return, the Lord Tensai teasers WWE has been airing are obviously pointing to Matt Bloom, the man who once played Albert returning. So what has he been up to for the past seven years? Well, as this match shows he has massively improved and honed his craft in Japan.

This match gives you a chance to see the soon to be Tensai wrestling fairly recently (less than a year ago). It also shows him teaming with Karl Anderson, who as far as I know has not been contacted by WWE. This raises the question: should he be brought in? It could be a great way to really jumpstart WWE’s non-existent tag division, but I just don’t see it happening. Also, while Anderson is a capable hand what I find most similar between him and Arn Anderson is their unusual way of aging. I remember seeing Karl wrestle in person half a decade ago and he didn’t look much different. He seems to have been born looking 35 (though admittedly with a great build). Since WWE is targeting the youth demographic I can only see this working against him.

Getting back to the match itself, look for Giant Bernard (Tensai) and Anderson to come off as complete monsters, kind of similar to the Bigelow/Vader team I posted about a few days ago. That powerbomb on the outside is sick! Also, Naito does a hell of a job selling. Ricky Morton would be proud.

Categories: Wrestling Clips

Tags: A-Train, Albert, Arn Anderson, Bad Intentions, Bam Bam Bigelow, Boris Zhukov, Giant Bernard, IWGP Tag Team Championship, Japan, Karl Anderson, Lord Tensai, Matt Bloom, NJPW, No Limit, Tetsuya Naito, Vader, Yujiro Takahashi