Sumo May Natsu Basho 2013 - FINAL DAY - Day 15

Sumo May Natsu Basho 2013 - FINAL DAY - Day 15

J11w    Kimurayama (3-11) vs J10w    Takanoyama (6-8)
 This is for the Juryo Title and a promotion to Makuuchi. Toku is 3-2 against Koto.

Tak nailed Koto with a nice slap that knocked him off balance and made him walk himself out.

J6e     Tokushoryu (12-2) vs J3w     Kotoyuki (12-2)

Koto got under Toku with strong thrusts and put him out. Even Koto had to smile and grin after this.

J1e     Tamawashi (11-3) vs J8e     Tochinowaka (9-5)
A win here for Tochino could mean a promotion to Juryo if he is really lucky. Tama will surely get a promotion to Makuuchi.

This was a rough match. They really nailed each other here and Tochino turned Tama to his side during a shot and then pushed him out from behind.

M5e     Shohozan (8-6) vs M9e     Kyokutenho (8-6)

Shohozan slipped a little after his usual aggressive tachi-ai and Kyoku went behind the neck to put him down.

O2w     Kotooshu (7-7) vs O1w     Kakuryu (10-4)
Koto needs to win here to not get demoted to Sekiwake. Koto is 11-15 against Kakuryu.

I'm calling complete BS on this one. Kakuryu threw this. He gave up his back immediately and flailed around like a fool en route to losing. This was absurd.

O1e     Kisenosato (13-1) vs O2e     Kotoshogiku (10-4)
Kisen needs a win and a Hakuho loss to force a playoff for the title. Kisen is 18-25 against Koto.

Koto rushed Kisen and got him out rather easily.

Y1e     Hakuho (14-0) vs Y1w     Harumafuji (11-3)
If Hakuho wins, he wins the title. If he loses, there will be a playoff with Kisenosato.  Hakuho is 25-14 against Haruma.

Harumafuji came out aggressive and too aggressive, as Hakuho turned him on the opening tachi-ai. Haruma was on the egde and out easily.

Final Rankings:

Overall thoughts: This basho wasn't as good as the last one. It was good to see Kisenosato and Hakuho fight for victory, but other than that, it was really dry. Baruto getting hurt put a damper on things as did Harumafuji dropping easy bouts to knock himself out of contention

I'll go one by one here for some of the bigger name wrestlers:

Hakuho - Another 15-0 perfect record. He's now up to I think 30 wins straight and is looking really good out there. He is still the man and the one to beat and I'm not sure who is going to change that. He is a very smart and crafty wrestler who often times seem to have wrestlers beat before the match even starts. It would be hard to pick against him for next time.

Harumafuji - Not a great one for him, but he has had much worse. He really could have used a win against Hakuho because he is getting passed up. That 15-0 victory in January seems too far away now and I'm not sure when the next victory will be. I think a lot of the name wrestlers have figured out Harumafuji and realized that all they have to do is turn on his tachi-ai to get an advantage.

Kisenosato - This was a pretty good basho for him until he fell apart near the end. His stock definitely rose this tournament and hopefully it will give him the confidence to win one in the future. 13-2 is really good, but I really think he should have gone 14-1 as the Kotoshogiku loss was unneccessary.

Kotoshogiku - In any other tournament, one less loss might have gotten him the title. He went 11-4 and did quite well. He looked really solid but does do the same tachi-ai and attacks repeatedly. His worst loss was against M1 Myogiryu and that is not bad at all. Good tournament for him.

Kakuryu - Whatever he did this tournament was nullified by his ridiculous throwing of his match against Kotooshu. It was an embarassment and if I remember anything about him from this basho, that will be it. He went 10-5 and he didn't perform badly at all as he only lost to Ozeki and Yokozuna's.

Kotooshu - Aw man, JoshI and I were so close. Inches away from never having to see him again and then he paid the big bucks to save himself. My main memory of him from this tournament is him falling on his butt on Day 14 against Shohozan. His best win was the thrown match against Kakuryu, but in his defense, I've seen him look much worse against lower quality competition. Again, he showed nothing and at minimum, we have to deal with him for the next two tournaments.

Baruto - His story has been the same for the last few basho's. Look good early, drop a weird loss in the middle and get injured. That was the story here and I really hope he goes and gets surgery. His leg is gonna get worse before it gets better and the current system isn't working. He is going to drop anyway, so the sooner he gets the surgery, the sooner he can move up.

Goeido - Goeido lost too many matches that he shouldn't have. He took losses against M4's, M5's and M10's. This killed his basho and got him a makekoshi. His best win was against Kotoshogiku.

Tochiozan - I didn't watch much of him but he got a kimboshi from knocking down Harumafuji. He didn't take too many bad losses but he didn't get enough big wins either.

Shohozan - This was a decent tournament for him at 8-7. He looked good, aggressive and interested in winning. I do think he has a limit though on what he can achieve due to his style and size though, and I don't ever see him going to Ozeki.

Jokoryu - I stopped watchimg him after a few days due to how bad he was performing. I don't know what happened, but he really sucked this basho.

Tochinowaka - He was clearly bigger and stronger this basho and looked much better than I had expected. I think he deserves another shot in Makuuchi.

Takanoyama - He got a 7-8, but for him, he mostly looked good. I think he plays too much around the edges though and they always cost him.

Osunaarashi - Osuna looked great out there and is being rewarded for it. His next stop is Juryo and I can't wait to see what he can do.

Kyokutaisei - This wasn't a memorable tournament for him. He went 3-4 and just didn't look as strong or as confident as he did before. JoshI thinks that he peaked and he may be right.

Thank you for viewing or tolerating my coverage of this basho. Stay tuned for coverage of the July basho!