WWE: The Fall of Lord Tensai and Why It All Went Wrong | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Just prior to Wrestlemania 28, news broke that WWE had signed Matt Bloom to a contract. The man known formerly as Albert and A-Train had spent nearly a decade in Japan, becoming a massive star in the company and, by most accounts, becoming a far better worker in the ring than he had been during his stint with Vince McMahon's company.

So when it was revealed that he would be returning under a new gimmick, as the mysterious Lord Tensai, many wondered if he would finally thrive as a main-event talent in the United States.

The absolute worst thing that could have happened to the new Tensai character was for him to debut on Raw the night after Wrestlemania 28. On a show that featured The Rock kicking off the evening, the continuation of the CM Punk-Chris Jericho rivalry, John Cena's first promo after losing in the main event the night before and the return of Brock Lesnar, there was absolutely no room for Tensai to make an effective return to WWE television. With everything going on around his match, there was no way fans would be likely to remember the debut.

Alex Riley was the wrong opponent for Tensai. Despite the company's tendency to job him out on Superstars or NXT, Riley remains popular with the WWE audience and was clearly more over than Tensai.

Sometimes that is a good thing. The crowd's sympathy for a favorite star will allow them to turn on the villain and help get him over in the process. This was not one of those times.

One can blame the creative team for debuting Tensai at the wrong time, for placing him in a match against the wrong opponent. But at some point, the performer himself deserves blame. Lord Tensai simply was not impressive in his first match on WWE television.

With a crowd as rabid as the post-Wrestlemania crowd in Miami, for them to sit on their hands and have nearly zero reaction or care for the returning superstar or anything he was doing in the ring should have been an immediate "red flag" for Vince McMahon and the creative team.

Tensai was essentially A-Train with a shaved back, a few new elbow strikes and green mist, and the fans did not buy into the new presentation.

Things did not get better as the weeks progressed. Neither the performer nor the creative team altered a single thing to help get Tensai over. The squash matches were overly long, unimpressive and did absolutely nothing for anyone involved. Whereas Ryback and Damien Sandow have exhibited a distinct aggressiveness between the ropes, Tensai appeared to be slow and plodding.

Wins over John Cena and WWE Champion CM Punk could not help, either. And, when the Big Show was revealed as the muscle behind John Laurinaitis at Over the Limit, it became clear that the strong push given to Tensai right out of the gate had evaporated.

Lord Tensai's initial push has failed. Miserably. There is absolutely no debating that. The company had high hopes and big plans for Matt Bloom and a number of ingredients spoiled before they could bake the cake. And a number of different people earned blame for the disappointing results.

At the end of the day, Tensai simply was not the quality performer for the position the company wanted to put him in.

Can Tensai recover, perhaps under a new gimmick or with a new name? Sure. Can he adapt what he learned in Japan to better work in the United States? Definitely. But it will be difficult and it will take hard work from everyone involved to recover from what has to be considered one of the bigger misses in recent WWE history.