Paid Members Statto Posted April 25, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted April 25, 2020 Speaking of which... This is the best remembered A-Train moment, I'd wager: Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 37 minutes ago, Supremo said: I recall there was a tiny space of time where A-Train was quite enjoyable. Some time around 2003 on Smackdown. Probably helped that he was surrounded by such an obscene amount of talented guys at the time. Totally agree, that’s roughly when I started watching and I don’t remember the guy being the shitarse that most seem to think he is. Speaking of 2003 Smackdown, Orlando Jordan is a shout for this threat. He debuted against John Cena in an open challenge and looked pretty solid. If I remember rightly, Undertaker showed him respect in a backstage segment later. Although he would go on to join JBL’s cabinet and win the US title, he never really looked as impressive as he did during that first outing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 Matt Bloom rules. Always thought the "shave your back" look was memorable and good, like others have said he has plenty of fun matches with guys like Rey and Benoit as A-Train. The Tensai run was definitely crap and a non-starter, but I don't know why posters here like to repeatedly roll their eyes at being told he had some really fun stuff in New Japan. Never feels like those people ever actually tried to watch any of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members I Bent My Wookie Posted April 25, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted April 25, 2020 Different worlds, different tastes. What made Bloom work well in Japan was he managed to work well within the puroresu, hard hitting style and work well as a big man out there. Once he got back out to America and needed to show personality, he ended up in a tag team with Brodus Clay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted April 25, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted April 25, 2020 A-Train in Japan must have been the wrestling equivalent of Bradley Wright-Phillips in MLS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshC Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 If he'd held on there a few years longer, he could have been Bullet Train. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members I Bent My Wookie Posted April 25, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted April 25, 2020 29 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said: A-Train in Japan must have been the wrestling equivalent of Bradley Wright-Phillips in MLS. That's actually the perfect description of it, like on the money for me. Mediocre at best in one country, goes to another with a different style of play as a bit of a curious foreign signing and find your niche. I do remember once lobbying that BWP should play for England based off his scoring record. That's probably up there with people claiming Tensai should have been a world champion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 25, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted April 25, 2020 The only match I remember really liking of Albert’s was the Benoit one at No Mercy 2003. I never saw him in Japan and wasn’t watching by the time the Tensai shite happened. To be fair, between about 99 and 2003, I never really watched him and thought anything was particularly terrible. He was competent but just forgettable most of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members SpiritOfTheForest Posted April 25, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted April 25, 2020 (edited) Joining in with the Albert/A-Train support. Always liked watching him and that bicycle kick and the Baldo Bomb were bloody great moves too. Can still hear him in my head going "AGHHHHH!" as he launched into the kick. He was quality. As for why they picked him to be head coach: even if you didn't rate Albert's work, look at football where the likes of Jurgen Klopp and Rafa Benitez hardly tore the house down as footballers but are world class managers. I'd imagine it's the same. Edited April 25, 2020 by SpiritOfTheForest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted April 25, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted April 25, 2020 It's not really hard to push a big guy like Albert in theory though, use sparingly, feed him guys smaller than himself to make him look like a monster, then find somebody who can drag a competitive match out of him. Its when Vince decides they need to stand out and makes them dance, rap, a sex pervert, or feeds them to his next big monster to the point that all relevance is lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 Has to be The Fiend doesn't it? Amazing entrance at SummerSlam that elicited a 'That was awesome'. A quick, decisive win over Finn Balor. Came across like a monster. Sadly Vince jizzed his pants and The Fiend has never been the same since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 (edited) Gotta say, I wanted to rewatch Revival/American Alpha from the Nakamura debut show, and I checked the Nakamura match - was pretty astounded by how much a rewatch exposes that match. I remember hearing Sami saying in an interview that he waited for Shinsuke in the ring with a massive grin on his face, knowing that the crowd will eat up anything they're about to do, and that really comes across. Just a very nothing-y match with some sequences nicked straight from Nakamura's famous match with Ibushi, loads of inorganic 'fighting spirit' spots, the birth of the "fight forever" chant - I had a really bad time revisiting it haha. No doubt it was effective in the moment, to me included, but at this point I'd rather see the last few minutes of his Rumble win, or the weird but fun Cena match than ever touch that one again. American Alpha were bloody brilliant though, a bit of a sad case to look at now obviously but their matches were incredible. Fuck knows who it was against, but I remember their TV debut together being something that worked for me instantly. Gable was slick as fuck and Jordan showed great intensity and they seemed to immediately have the chemistry of guys who'd been teaming for years. Once they debuted on Takeover and had a really exciting match with Corbin & Rhyno (no, really!!) I was 100% on board with them. One of the acts from recent WWE memory that I miss seeing the most, no doubt. Edited April 25, 2020 by sj5522 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeronimoJacksBeard Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 Quite enjoyed the A-Train run. Although one of the main memories from that is him wrestling Edge on one of the B PPVs, Edge grabbing his tights in a pin for leverage to reach his leg and coming horrifyingly close to exposing his prince albert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted April 26, 2020 Share Posted April 26, 2020 (edited) I hated A-Train even more than Tensai. At least with Tensai, there was some fascination in how terrible it all was and that it seemed like a meta mockery of the “good in Japan” stuff. A-Train was the same old boring shitty Albert from the attitude era, but we were meant to take him seriously. I’ll never forgive them for choosing to run with him over Matt Hardy V1 in that period. Edited April 26, 2020 by King Pitcos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted April 26, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted April 26, 2020 1 hour ago, King Pitcos said: I hated A-Train even more than Tensai. At least with Tensai, there was some fascination in how terrible it all was and that it seemed like a meta mockery of the “good in Japan” stuff. A-Train was the same old boring shitty Albert from the attitude era, but we were meant to take him seriously. I’ll never forgive them for choosing to run with him over Matt Hardy V1 in that period. I'm sure I once saw someone on here try and explain that Lord Albert Train was over because he was getting "Shave your back!" chants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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