Sumo March Haru Basho Day 3
Day 2 is here:
http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/sumo-march-haru-basho-day-2.html
My original post for this got deleted somehow, so this will be a less stat heavy version today. My apologies.
Ms23 Osunaarashi (1-0) vs Ms23 Kyokutaisei (1-0)
Osunaarashi won here in a really fun match. This was totally different sumo than what we usually see and some probably wouldn't even call it sumo. Osunaarashi tried to bulldoze Kyokutaisei while Kyokutaisei tried to sweep with his legs. They went all around the dohyo until Kyoku went for a trip and got off balance and Osuna fell on him. Fun match here this is worth a look and lived up to my expectations.
Wakakoyu vs Takanoyama
Takanoyama wins! Fun match here. Wakakoyu had no idea what to do with Takanoyama. He legit looked perplexed at the arm pulls Takanoyama was doing and was staring off into space. Takanoyama grabbed his arm down and let go, knocking Wakakoyu off balance to win. Another fun match. Kyokutaisei vs Takanoyama HAS to happen at some point.
BONUS - Tamaasuka vs Oniarashi
Tamaasuka is 2-0 and I'm in a good mood, so I'm going to cover this.
Oniarashi got the win here though it was very close. I didn't have a better angle so I can't say but that would appear to be the result. Oniarashi got deep under Tama and tried to uplift him out until both men went tumbling.
BONUS - Juryo - Kyokushuho vs Takanoiwa
Kyoku won here in a well played bout. Takanoiwa stretched out to get maximum leverage and Kyoku simply foot tripped him for the win. Smart move there to take Kyokushuho to 3-0.
Oiwato vs Masunoyama
Oiwato won after a power tachi-ai and a move to the side to put Masunoyama down.
Tochinowaka vs Yoshikaze
Ugly side step win by Yoshikaze to make Tochinowaka look like a goof and I believe go to 0-3. Rough tournament for Tochinowaka.
Aoiyama vs Jokoryu
Aoiyama headbutted Jokoryu in the chest off the tachi-ai and Jokoryu lost balance and easily went out.
BONUS - Takarafuji vs Okinoumi
Takarafuji overpowered Okinoumi here to go to 2-1.
Gagamaru vs Shohozan
Shohozan won here with a very light trip on Gagamaru's left ankle to send him down. Give props to Shohozan here as he matched the big man in the power department and looked good.
BONUS - Kitataiki vs Toyonoshima
Kitataiki won here in a nice effort. He was super aggressive and Toyo tried a hip throw to save himself but he ended up going out. Toyonoshima moves to 2-1 as does Kitataiki.
Aran vs Ikioi
Ikioi won here as Aran tried to go to the side and he countered to push him out.
Goeido vs Baruto
Big win for Baruto here as he used straight power and had Goeido off from the start. I did not see Baruto going 3-0 and he appears to be getting stronger by the day.
Kotooshu vs Chiyotairyu
Chiyotairyu wins! Big upset here as Kotooshu drops to 1-2 and loses on consecutive days. Kotooshu tried to use his reach advtantage and did until Chiyo turned it against him to win. Well done! This is 2 ozeki wins for Chiyotairyu in 2 days and if he can score another one, he may be an underdog favorite to contend for the title.
Kisenosato vs Aminishiki
Kisenosato won by luck here. Aminishiki had him twice and out of nowhere Kisenosato used Aminishiki's momentum against him to win. Lucky break as I was sure we had an upset coming.
Tochiozan vs Kotoshogiku
Tochiozan wins! Upset city! Tochiozan knocks out two ozeki's in consecutive days! Tochiozan was just too far under him and Koto looked uncomfortable and looked like he knew he was toast. Tochiozan could be another underdog to watch here depending on how he does against the Yokozuna and the Ozeki.
I can tell you that whoever is running the stable with the Koto's in it is not a happy boss right now.
Kakuryu vs Myogiryu
Myogiryu wins! Triple Upsets, Again! Kakuryu stepped back too much in an effort to push down Myo and Myo recovered and got the one push in he needed to win.
Hakuho vs Tochinoshin
Look at how far back Hakuho is. I really think if someone were to stall on the tachi-ai, they could get him easy.
Hakuho won here. He dove in and got a nice grip on the bottom of the mawashi and jumped some to get a further advantage. Tochi just didn't get to the side like he should have fast enough and Hakuho got him.
Harumafuji vs Takayasu
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| Nice forearm there |
Takayasu wins!!!!!! Holy crap! Takayasu got a fluke win in here when Harumafuji slipped. Harumafuji had this and was tossing Takayasu all around but in the end he pressed down with the top of his left foot and slipped for the easy Takayasu win.
Rankings:
3-0: Hakuho and Baruto. From Juryo: Kyokushuho, Chiyootori, Azumaryu and Satoyama
2-1: Harumafuji, Kisenosato, Kakuryu, Goeido, Tochiozan, Chiyotairyu, Myogiryu, Toyonoshima, Shohozan, Kitataiki, Okinoumi, Aoiyama, Yoshikaze, Takarauji, Takekaze, Jokoryu, Shotenro, Masunoyama, Sadanofuji, Chiyonokuni, Sagatsukasa, Oiwato and Wakanosato.
1-2: Kotooshu, Kotoshogiku, Takayasu, Ikioi, Gagamaru, Kyokutenho, Fujiazuma, Tamawashi and Daido.
0-3: Aminishiki, Tochinoshin, Tokitenku, Toyohibiki, Tochinowaka and Sotairyu
Overall thoughts: This was a great day of sumo. We got some major upsets and I can't believe that Baruto is tied for the lead. The Kyokutaisei vs Osunaarashi match was boss and I'd love to hear the conversations at the Sadogatake dojo. Don't miss this action packed day of sumo!
Kyokutaisei vs Osunaarashi was great and I wish there were more guys like this as opposed to the standard chanko-fattened guys. Osuna, in addition to being as strong as an ax, has good balance and avoided getting swept by the young technician. I hope Kyokutaisei & Takanoyama meet as well, ideally if Kyokutaisei can make it up to the Juryo division and not with Takanoyama getting relegated.
ReplyDeleteAnother good match-up in Makushita was Endo vs Hamaguchi (I won't give the result-find it on Araibira's channel). Endo's in his debut tournament--he got to start at Makushita #10 due to having won several amateur tournaments including the all-Japan championship. Hamaguchi is another recent college grad and amateur sumo guy who had to start at the bottom but has blasted up to Makushita #12 in less than a year, winning 3 lower division yushos along the way. HINT: Guys with short hair and no top-knot yet are new to professional sumo and if they are a few division up, they are going places.
At the other end of the spectrum, the first Jonokuchi match of the day featured Morimume vs Shikinokawa. Morimune's the guy the sumo forum people derisively call "baseball guy" and he had his first official match on Day 3. He's built like a baseball player, not a rikishi, and was recruited for former Hawaiian yokuzuna Musashimaru's new stable (that is being formed mainly so that Mushi's nephew can get into sumo-look for a Hawaiian kid probably later this year). Shikinokawa is 36 and has spent two decades in the lowest 2 divisions of sumo. He went 0-7 in Jonokuchi in January and seems to be the pathetic old man of sumo now that Kasachikara retired after the last tournament at the age of 42. It's not much of a match--Morimune wins despite being a complete sumo n00b that went winless in mae-zumo last time.
My prediction for Goeido was a big jink and poor Harumafuji got unlucky. Baruto's looking much better this time--he's probably the 3rd best sumo in the world when his knee is OK. Chiyotairyu and Myogiryu looked good as well.
Endo vs Hamaguchi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qaw3fwI7eI
ReplyDeleteOsunaarashi is strong as an "ox" and I "jinxed" Goeido.
Oh, and the opposite of short hair in upper divisions=STUD is that top knot in Jonokuchi=DUD. Anymore, anyone decent gets through Jonokuchi in 1 or 2 bashos and all that's left are the bad young guys, where the question is just how many bashos until they quit, and "jobbers" like Kasachikara & Shikinokawa.
Hamaguchi has actually just won 1 basho. He's finished 7-0 three times, but lost in a playoff twice.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we could go on a podcast with Tim and DEAN and talk about sumo. I haven't totally abandoned joshi--I even watched the full hour of "Occupation of the Joshi" (a joshi-themed episode of Occupation of the Indies) and talked about it on the joshi board. It's basically Kana in a studio with a weird creepy puppet, a ton of really short clips of matches from many promotions (with STARDOM first and with the most clips), a feature with Sakura Hirota & Bull Nakano, another feature with Kana & Arisa, and Kana prancing around in bikinis and underwear at the end. I'm sure a certain joshi forum poster would be appalled!
I have given up on WWE-haven't watched a moment of it in over a year.
Thanks for the heads up on Endo and Hamaguchi. I'll have to keep an eye out for them. I originally searched for Eden on youtube lol Suffice to say, no results there haha.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to watch that Occupation show but I couldn't find it on youtube/dailymotion. Lynch released a ton of JWP 2012 stuff and other joshi but I'm not really going to spend $6-$9 on one dvd. I'm trying to stay away from 2012 stuff now since there is more than enough in 2013.
Did you stay up all night for the tournament?
I'm happy that Musashimaru has a stable. It should mean more foreigners getting chances, regardless of their race. I don't care if anyone is Japanese or non-Japanese, but I hate to see anyone excluded because of where they are from.
I don't get why anyone would stay so long in the lower divisions. You aren't making any money and are a slave to the other wrestlers, unless they make some kind of rule on that when you get to a certain age.
WWE is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. The b and c shows are usually the best shows as they are short and you get good matches.
Good call on the studs and duds too. I never thought of that!
ReplyDeleteNo, I watched the sumo this morning on Araibira's channel, looking at the sumo forum to try to find which matches to watch. I'll probably not going to watch the live streams, as the only stuff early enough during the week is the lower division stuff, which is mostly dreadful.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with foreigners is that the sumo association has a pretty discriminatory policy that a stable can only have one gaijin at a time, and recently made it so that you still count as a foreigner even if you become a naturalized Japanese citizen. This effectively puts a cap on the number of foreign rikishi, especially since some stables won't take a foreigner at all. This prevents someone from doing something like recruiting 10 big young Mongolians or Bulgarians or whatever and having them train with their big-name countryman. Musashimaru got his own stable largely so that his 17-year old nephew would have a guaranteed place to get into sumo.
Yeah, those old guys who stick around forever, I guess they must be guys that don't have other good prospects in life. I'm sure none of the college sumo guys would do that. I sincerely hope they at least let up on the abuse and keep these guys around because they work well with the youngsters.
I put up a link of Occupation of the Joshi in the joshi thread on DVDVR, and it's on DailyMotion as well. The clips are too short and are basically worthless, but it was kind of fun. I wish I could understand Japanese so I'd know what the hell Hirota & Bull were talking about.