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Former WWE producer Arn Anderson has explained why the company’s decision-makers stopped pushing Matt Bloom (fka Tensai) following his victory over John Cena on RAW in April 2012.
At the time, Cena was preparing to face Brock Lesnar in the main event of the Extreme Rules pay-per-view, while Tensai had only been back on WWE television for two weeks after an eight-year absence.
Tensai's upset win over John Cena
Speaking on his ARN podcast, Anderson revealed that the former Intercontinental Champion’s push abruptly ended because WWE officials did not like the fans’ reaction to his new character.
“That was another one of those deals where, ‘Okay, let’s change his look completely, change his name,’ and all that stuff. He had one week, they [fans] weren’t clamouring and coming out the ceiling for him. Second week… ‘Okay, your three-week run [ending with the John Cena match] is up.’ So you couldn’t expect anything from that. He’s another victim of one of those.”
*Please credit ARN and give H/T to Sportskeeda if you use these quotes
John Cena vs. Tensai: What happened next?
Tensai picked up victories over Alex Riley and Yoshi Tatsu in back-to-back weeks on RAW before he used green mist to record an unexpected win over John Cena in an Extreme Rules match.
The veteran remained undefeated on television for two months before suffering a defeat against Cena in June 2012.
From that moment on, Tensai began to lose matches on a frequent basis against the likes of Justin Gabriel, Sin Cara and Tyson Kidd, while he formed a comedy tag team with Brodus Clay in early 2013.
