ReiseReise Posted March 26, 2022 Author Share Posted March 26, 2022 I hope Takayasu can pull himself back together, today his face looked an awful lot like Kyushu 2018, when he looked close to tears after losing to Mitakeumi and thereby the chance at a playoff against Takakeisho whom he had beaten the day before. Kotonowaka staying in the race is a big surprise. Wakatakakage seems to have the momentum and is the best of the three in head to head matchups (6-2 against Takayasu, 4-0 against Kotonowaka), he beat both already this Basho. Takayasu v Kotonowaka is at 2-1 with an additional fusenpai for the former Ozeki, so I would consider Wakatakakage the favourite in the finishing stretch. Wakatakakage is - however - facing Shodai in the final tournament match, and therefore is the only one of the 3 contenders who will be below .500 against his opponent. Both Takayasu vs Abi (4-2) and Kotonowaka (vs Hoshoryu 3-2)have slight edges against there respective opponents, but said opponents are both at 7-7 and therefore highly motivated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted March 27, 2022 Share Posted March 27, 2022 No spoilers here but HOLY SHIT THAT WAS INCREDIBLE 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted March 27, 2022 Author Share Posted March 27, 2022 Definitely. What a way to end Haru... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E. Dynamite Posted May 8, 2022 Share Posted May 8, 2022 A pathetic opening day. Maybe bet the field on this one. At least WKTKKG looks great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted May 9, 2022 Author Share Posted May 9, 2022 That's one weird Basho in the first two days... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted May 12, 2022 Author Share Posted May 12, 2022 It stays weird, although with Terunofuji slowly but surely finding a groove there is a decent enough shot he will get this done. The Ozeki have been disappointing, WKTKKG (I always thought I and a friend of mine were the only people in the world to go with all caps consonants for shikonas @John E. Dynamite) looks to have a bit of a post Yusho hangover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted May 18, 2022 Author Share Posted May 18, 2022 At this point in time (10 matches in), this tournament is just weird. Terunofuji has three losses, with the supposedly tough part of his schedule yet having to kick in. Yet he still has a very strong chance at winning the whole thing. He seems very vulnerable to the pusher/thruster - style wrestlers so far and rarely shows the dominance that made him the top-ranked Rikishi. Every Ozeki is underperforming and practically out of contention. Shodai is one loss away from another kadoban gauntlet in July. Mitakeumi and Takakeisho are at .500 right now, after mostly facing the low rankers. Leaders are Takanosho (who has beaten two Ozeki and Terunofuji so far) and Ichiyamamoto, who are 8-2. Five Rikishi follow the leaders with 7-3 scores: Terunofuji, Kiribayama, Ura, Aoiyama and Sadanoumi. There is a real possibility of a multi men play off. And 11-4 might be enough to win a place in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DangerMark Posted May 18, 2022 Share Posted May 18, 2022 Takanosho will drop off the pace when he starts fighting decent wrestlers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E. Dynamite Posted May 19, 2022 Share Posted May 19, 2022 Good news for the Ozeki - it'll get easier. Eventually they'll be wrestling the Ozeki. Ura hopping on one foot while parallel to the ground is as poetic as any sumo imagery can get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted May 20, 2022 Author Share Posted May 20, 2022 The match with Takakeisho is a perfect example of why I love Ura. Those moves were crazy. Takanosho still holding out at the top, but Terunofuji seems to be at the level you expect him to be... It's gonna be a fun final stretch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ka-to Posted May 20, 2022 Share Posted May 20, 2022 On 5/8/2022 at 11:01 AM, John E. Dynamite said: A pathetic opening day. Maybe bet the field on this one. At least WKTKKG looks great. Can you bet on Sumo? I haven't found a way to do it online from New Jersey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted May 24, 2022 Author Share Posted May 24, 2022 Terunofuji winning out put the Sumo world back into balance somewhat. Takakeisho was able to prevent kadoban, unlike his two peers. Wakatakakage handled the hatsu Yusho hangover decent enough with a 9-6 score. Daeisho will be back at Sekiwake after an 11-4 performance. Ura had a good tournament, but unfortunately it ended in injury. Hopefully nothing serious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted May 24, 2022 Share Posted May 24, 2022 It's funny, Teru was sitting on 3 losses and if he'd picked up the fourth against Tobizaru 100% he just pulls out. Instead he smokes everyone else and wins. The Ozekis were all dreadful. I like Shodai but I can't begin to tell you what the fuck his sumo is supposed to be right now. Takakeisho hasn't even been close to the same since that scary neck/nerve injury where he went limp against Ichinojo, and I honestly worry he's on the fast track to being physically shot. I can't even begin to concieve of how some people are still convincing themselves he's the next Yokozuna. And Mitakeumi had a bump where he looked more like the Mitakeumi of old again. I was happy to see Takanosho give it a good run, he doesn't seem to get any respect from sponsors at all and he deserves better considering how consistent he is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 8, 2022 Author Share Posted July 8, 2022 Two months flew by and Grand Sumo will return to Nagoya, first tournament allowed to be held at full capacity since the Covid outbreak. Speaking of Covid, Taganoura beta, with top wrestler Takayasu are out of the Basho. This is about the biggest story unfolding leading up to the competition. Sandanme will see the return of fallen hero Asanoyama. Before some bad choices outside the dohyo, he was a very strong Ozeki. A six Basho suspension took him way down the banzuke. He is still pretty young and it will be interesting to see if he can get to former heights, he should not have trouble in what is basically the fourth division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirFozzie Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 Do you think it will happen with all going on in Japan right now (the Abe assassination?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 8, 2022 Author Share Posted July 8, 2022 I don't think it will stop the tournament, but I've been wrong in the past. The only real reason I can see is if a tighter security protocol gets imposed on a way shorter notice. I mean, they did hold an empty arena Basho while infection rates were soaring. And there waa Basho 3 months after Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DangerMark Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 No-one has been betting on baseball or fixing matches and they feel like they have a handle on the pandemic enough to fill the place so I would have guessed (with no other information on the matter,) that the tournament will go ahead. Asanoyama won't drop a match until he gets to Juryo. Wakatakakage could still make Ozeki with 12+ wins, so that could be interesting although if Terunofuji fights all fifteen days, he's going to be favourite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 8, 2022 Author Share Posted July 8, 2022 (edited) Terunofuji is not the same way as in head&shoulders above everyone else like Hakuho was, but if he stays his usual banged up self (as in no injury aggravation), he will always win at least 12 matches. At the moment, this will mean a great shot at winning. The rest is inconsistant at best, I'd put Wakatakakage as most likely rival, probably jinxing him in the process. Edited July 8, 2022 by ReiseReise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DangerMark Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 Terunofuji is physically imposing in a way that Hakuho never was, an absolute bulldozer; but Hakuho was an absolute wizard. He could just decide that actually he was not going to lose and the universe would just arrange itself for him. A healthy Hakuho, I would could back for at least 14 wins; Terunofuji, I'd agree with your twelve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colonial Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 This was at the World Games, which is going on right now in Birmingham, Alabama. The games include a sumo competition. Gold medal match is Egypt against Ukraine. Egypt guy wins, but then proceeds to do a backflip to celebrate and is disqualified. Coach goes balistic, bringing out the cops (!) Judges decide to have a rematch right then and there, and Egypt guy wins again. Egypt coach is a former sumo pro named Osuna-arashi, who famously fought Bob Sapp in a Rizin MMA fight a few years back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DangerMark Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 Spoiler To go back to what we were saying about Terunofuji vs. Hakuho, there is no way on earth that Hakuho would waste any time with that Wile E. Coyote vs. Road Runner moment at the end of Day One. Yet, they're both looking over the cliff and ABI goes "MEEP MEEP" and nudges him off. What happened to Endo? I thought he was going to be a consistent Sanyaku guy, but last year was not kind to him. M4 seems about his level, which is a drag. I've got a soft spot for that shade of purple. Anyway, maybe the fight back starts today. Good day for that deep shade of purple. Does Ura wear a shade that's close enough to purple to be one of My Guys? Hmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E. Dynamite Posted July 12, 2022 Share Posted July 12, 2022 Between the funereal mood (understandable), floundering Ozeki, and AWFUL new camera angle, this one's gonna be a tough watch. Ichinojo, though, man I wanna see that guy yusho for once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 13, 2022 Author Share Posted July 13, 2022 The Ozeki are depressing. Takakeisho seems, Mitakeumi is injured. Shodai has completely lost what he had going. It has been coming a while, but he will finally get that demotion to Sekiwake. Ichinojo v Terunofuji tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 19, 2022 Author Share Posted July 19, 2022 Well, ten days past. Mitakeumi out due to Covid, if there ever is a lucky (?) infection, it might be this one. Also, Shodai has to be joking at this point, turning 1-4 looking like a chump into 6-4 looking like an... Ozeki?! Takakeisho is 7-3. Terunofuji and tons of other people (OK, 3) are on 8-2 and in the lead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 19, 2022 Author Share Posted July 19, 2022 On 7/10/2022 at 5:42 PM, colonial said: Egypt coach is a former sumo pro named Osuna-arashi, who famously fought Bob Sapp in a Rizin MMA fight a few years back. He also got thrown out of Sumo after driving (not allowed in Sumo), lying to the Sumo association (not allowed in sumo), while not having a license (not allowed in general) and claiming his wife was driving (scumbag thing to do). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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