Comparison Series: Giant Bernard

It has been a long time since I gave this series another try and we find ourselves back in New Japan to another star who has called both New Japan and WWE home. Matt Bloom debuted with WWE in 1999 as the bodyguard of Darren Drozdov and later the protege of Big Bossman. In late 2000 Albert would join the tag team ranks with Test as T & A and would be managed by Trish Stratus. Following the ending of his team with Test he would hover around the upper mid-card as a complimentary character adding depth to WWE during a time when they were changing eras. After six years though Matt "Albert" Bloom would leave WWE and in 2006 would begin touring in New Japan. 

Upon his arrival now known as Giant Bernard would begin teaming with a fellow former WWE stars in Travis Tomko and later teaming with Karl Anderson. On both occasions Bernard would and his chosen partner would dominate the tag team division holding the IWGP Tag Titles for 343 days with Tomko and 564 days with Karl Anderson respectively. A main difference in Japan though is that a tag team performer could headline the show and in some cases be a bigger or more recognizable star then the man wearing the World Title. II wouldn't call everyone equal in Japan as far as the championship picture, but I would call there booking strong and point to that being the main reason any champion could main event. New Japan has a way of making their champions strong and keeping an aura around every championship in the company. 

In 2012, Brock Lesnar returned to WWE the night after Wrestlemania and so did Matt Bloom under a new gimmick. Now called Tensai, but looked more like a knock off of Hakushi twenty pounds heavier. Admittedly, the gimmick was a flop from the start partially due to timing and just the fact that the fans didn't believe it. Albert went from being box office gold to being a complimentary piece again, but this time on a very weak roster. In my opinion, the main reason for the difference is that in Japan they saw the best way to make Matt a star was to place him in a tag team and take advantage of his strengths. On the other side WWE just saw his weaknesses, but liked his size which gave them reason enough to keep him strong similarly to Luke Harper they just couldn't figure out the right thing to do for him.