Matt Bloom

Nov 17, 2009 - by Jamie Cruickshank

Real name: Matthew Jason Bloom
Height: 6’7″
Weight: 380 lbs.
Date of birth: November 14, 1972
From: Peabody, MA
Resides: Salisbury, MA
Pro debut: 1997
Trained by: Killer Kowalski
Finishing move: Train Wreck

Biography

– After completing his training from the legendary Killer Kowalski, Bloom competed on the independent circuit as the Mongolian.
– WWF scouts were impressed with Bloom’s performance on a New England NWA show, and offered him a contract. He was assigned to Power Pro Wrestling in Memphis for development.
– Bloom, now wrestling as Baldo, defeated Lance Cade on January 2, 1999 in Memphis, TN for the Power Pro Wrestling Young Guns title.
– Baldo upset Jerry “The King” Lawler in the finals of tournament to crown the first Power Pro Wrestling champion on January 29, 1999.
– In the summer of 1999, Bloom made his WWF television debut on “Sunday Night Heat” as the bizarre Prince Albert.
– Upon entering the WWF, Albert regularly teamed with Darren “Droz” Drosdov. In October 1999, Droz suffered a career ending injury in a match with D-Lo Brown.
– Following the injury to his tag team partner, Albert joined forces with the Big Boss Man in a feud with the Big Show.
– A short time later, Albert feuded with the Big Boss Man.
– Albert returned to tag team competition, this time teaming with Test. T & A (Test & Albert) fell under the tutelage of the vivacious Trish Stratus.
– At the 2000 Backlash PPV in Washington, D.C., T&A defeated the Dudley Boyz.
– T & A defeated Al Snow and Steve Blackman at Wrestlemania 2000.
– On the June 20, 2000 “Smackdown” taping in Memphis, TN, T&A joined their manager in her ring debut, and beat the Hardy Boyz and Lita in a “mixed gender” match.
– To mock the Acolytes Protection Agency, T&A briefly became the T&APA.
– Albert turned on Test in a match against Too Cool on the December 28, 2000 episode of “Smackdown” in Nashville, TN. A gleeful Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley viewed Albert’s brutal attack of Test, her former “fiancee.”
– Albert joined forces with Justin Credible and X-Pac in the creation of a new wrestling stable dubbed X-Factor.
– At Backlash ’01 in Chicago, IL, X-Factor defeated the Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray, D-Von, and Spike) in a six-man tag team match.
– On the May 31, 2001 edition of “Smackdown,” X-Factor defeated the Hardy Boyz and Eddy Guerrero.
– At the June 26, 2001 “Smackdown” television taping in New York City, Albert defeated Kane, thanks to outside interference from Diamond Dallas Page, to capture the WWF Intercontinental title.
– On the July 5, 2001 episode of “Smackdown,” Albert successfully defended the Intercontinental title against the 2001 King of the Ring, Edge.
– After the break up of X-Factor, Albert found himself a new tag team partner, Scotty 2 Hotty.
– At the Vengeance PPV in San Diego, CA, Albert and Scotty 2 Hotty teamed up to defeat Edge and Christian.
– On the December 17, 2001 episode of “Raw,” Albert and Scotty 2 Hotty received a WWF World Tag Team title shot. During the contest, Albert gave the Dudley Boyz’ valet Stacy Keibler a much unappreciated lip lock.
– On the April 4, 2002 edition of “Smackdown,” Albert turned on Scotty 2 Hotty after the duo lost a WWF World Tag Team title match against Billy and Chuck.
– In December 2002, Bloom’s ring name was changed to A-Train.
– On March 23, 2004, A-Train and Chuck Palumbo were traded to the “Raw” roster in exchange for Jackie Gayda and Rico.
– On November 1, 2004, WWE.COM announced that A-Train had been released by the company.
– Bloom defeated Pete Goodman in Tempe, AZ on February 1, 2005 to win the IWZ championship.
– In March 2005, Bloom debuted in All Japan Pro Wrestling as Giant Bernard.
– On January 4, 2006, Giant Bernard defeated Manabu Nakanishi at the Tokyo Dome in his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
– On April 30, 2006, Giant Bernard defeated Yuji Nagata to win the New Japan cup tournament.
– On March 11, 2007, Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko beat Manabu Nakanishi and Takao Omori to capture the IWGP Tag Team titles.
– Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson (Bad Intentions) defeated Takuma Sano and Yoshihiro Takayama on June 18, 2011 for the GHC Tag Team titles in Osaka, Japan.
– In March 2012, Bloom was resigned by WWE, and returned as Lord Tensai, soon shortened to Tensai
– Tensai wrestled his first match of this WWE stint on April 2, defeating Alex Riley by referee stoppage
– By December 2012, Tensai had become a comedy character
– In early 2013, Tensai began teaming with Brodus Clay, the team eventually becoming known as ‘Tons Of Funk’
– Following TLC 2013, Tons Of Funk broke up, with Tensai becoming unhappy with Brodus Clay’s attitude
– On the following episode of Smackdown, Tensai defeated Brodus Clay in what would be his final televised match
– In January 2014, Bloom began working for WWE’s developmental system, initially as a commentator, then as a trainer
– In May 2015, Bloom was promoted to NXT’s Head Trainer

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