Matt Bloom

Matthew Jason Bloom (born November 14, 1972) is an American retired professional wrestler and professional football player.

He is currently signed to WWE, where he is the head trainer at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

Bloom also attended Camp Tevya in Brookline, New Hampshire in the early 1980s, and went on to attend the University of Pittsburgh, where he played football as an offensive tackle and an offensive guard.

Following the 1995 NFL Draft, he was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent, but was eventually waived by the team.

He then became a schoolteacher, teaching mathematics and English to children with behavioral problems and deaf children at Revere High School.

After rewarding his three most apt students with a trip to a professional wrestling event, Bloom, who as a child had aspired to wrestle professionally, met wrestler and wrestling trainer Killer Kowalski and expressed an interest in learning how to wrestle.

Kowalski invited Bloom to attend his school, and Bloom opted to leave teaching and train as a wrestler.

Bloom graduated in 1996 with a degree in sign language.

Bloom wrestled his first match in the WWA on May 15, 1998, facing Tiger Ali Singh in a loss, during his brief time in WWA he wrestled notable names such as Sgt. Slaughter and Bart Gunn.

In November 1998, Bloom made his NWA debut losing to Shawn Stasiak.

During his stay in NWA, Bloom and Bull Pain challenged Nick Dinsmore and Rob Conway for the NWA OVW Southern tag team titles ending in a no contest.

He briefly wrestled as Baldo, a gimmick given to him by referee Freddy Sparta that saw him wear a fur rug to the ring.

After being introduced to talent scout Tom Prichard by George Steele, Bloom was hired by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

After receiving supplementary training from Dory Funk Jr.., Bloom was assigned to the Power Pro Wrestling developmental territory in Memphis, Tennessee, where he wrestled as Baldo.

While wrestling in PPW, Bloom won both the Young Guns Championship and the Heavyweight Championship, and engaged in a feud with Memphis mainstay Jerry Lawler, where he defeated him to become the inaugural PPW Heavyweight champion.

Bloom is best known for his in-ring appearances with WWE as Prince Albert, Albert and A-Train from 1999 to 2004, and as Lord Tensai and Tensai from 2012 to 2014, as well as for his appearances in Japan from 2005 to 2012 with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) as Giant Bernard (ジャイアント・バーナード).

Championships held by Bloom over the course of his career include the GHC Tag Team Championship, IWGP Tag Team Championship and WWF Intercontinental Championship.

Bloom was born in Peabody, Massachusetts.

He attended Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, where he earned three letters in football and basketball, two in track and field, and one in baseball.

Bloom debuted on WWF television on the April 11, 1999, episode of Sunday Night Heat, saving Droz from a beating at the hands of Big Boss Man.

Introduced as the personal body artist of Droz, Bloom was dubbed Prince Albert (a pun on the Prince Albert genital piercing).

On the April 25 episode of Heat, Albert made his in-ring debut by teaming with Droz to defeat Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor.

Albert's first singles match occurred on the May 8 episode of Shotgun Saturday Night, in which he lost to Meat.

Shortly after, Albert and Droz formed a short-lived trio with Key.

Albert picked up his first win in WWF on the June 27 edition of Heat, by defeating Val Venis in a street fight after assistance by Droz.

Droz and Albert attacked Venis until his tag team partner The Godfather made the save.

This led to Albert and Droz facing Godfather and Venis in a match on the July 4 episode of Heat.

Droz and Albert continued to team together and received several shots for the Tag Team Championship against Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff) but failed to win the titles.

Droz and Albert then resolved their rivalry with Venis and Godfather by losing to them in a street fight on the July 26 episode of Raw is War.

They also competed in a Tag Team Turmoil match at SummerSlam, to earn a future title shot, but were eliminated by Edge and Christian.

Albert received his first singles title shot against D-Lo Brown for his European and Intercontinental Championship on the August 21 episode of Shotgun.

The team of Droz and Albert prematurely disbanded when Droz was legitimately paralyzed in October 1999, and Albert would then unsuccessfully challenge Brown for the European Championship on the October 17 episode of Heat.

Shortly after, Albert became the protege of the Big Boss Man, and became a part of Boss Man's team, consisting of Mideon and Viscera, who lost to The Big Show in a handicap Survivor Series match at the namesake event.

Boss Man and Albert would challenge Show for the WWF Championship in a losing effort in a handicap match on the December 14 episode of Raw is War.

On January 23, 2000, Albert competed in his first Royal Rumble match at the namesake event as the #21 entrant.

He was eliminated by Kane.

Shortly after, the team of Albert and Boss Man separated following the debut of Bull Buchanan, who formed a tag team with the Big Boss Man.

In March 2000, Bloom continuing to wrestle as Prince Albert, was recruited by Trish Stratus to form a tag team with Test, with Bloom having his name shortened to Albert at WrestleMania 2000 in a tag team match with Test against Head Cheese (Al Snow and Steve Blackman), which Test and Albert won.

The tag team, known as T & A, competed in the tag team division throughout 2000, and feuded with various rival tag teams.

Their first rivalry was against Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von), which saw the two teams trade wins in a series of matches including a match at Backlash, which T & A won.