MrGrumpyGills

For him and Aoiyama both, the writing had been on the wall for some time. May they be sucessful as oyakata :)

I can imagine, though they probably were drowned out by the others

Thanks so much and have a written like back (forum's glitching on me again) :) 100 % agreeing with you.

Absolutely. Let's hope he can avoid the curse and even more importantly any major injuries (this is not a jinx ). I'm also super happy for Nishonoseki for being able to raise such a sucessful rikishi so quickly.

Had they promoted him, he likely would've have lasted longer but OTOH maybe his neck injury would've been career-ending anyway, similar to Kisenosato's injury. He was burning the candle at both ends. So this could be a blessing in disguise. Let's see what Ōnosato can do. I like his energy and fierceness.

Oh no, this thread is perfectly fine! Sorry if I was unclear on that. I was thinking of some older threads that had some nasty comments, also on Youtube. As for Reddit and Twitter, they are notoriously vicious with almost everything and full of misinformation, so I'm not using these for sumo info/discussion (and barely anything else).

I’m happy and I’m sad. Happy that Takakeishō pulled the plug when he had to and (very) sad to see my favorite rikishi retire. I liked him right away when he entered makuuchi (at that time I wasn’t following Juryo and lower yet) and he quickly became my favorite. While I also had liked others (Takarafuji and Tochinoshin for example), he’s the first and so far only rikishi of whom I really was a fan since starting to follow sumo in 2013. He was different and always some sort of an underdog, often mocked by sumo fans for his body type and even hated later in his career – all of that only made me root for him harder. Yes, I’ve been called a "contrarian" before :P By the way, I never saw any smugness or arrogance in him. It’s just the way his face looks. Similar to guys like Tochiōzan. At his peak IMO he performed like a yokozuna and at least to me was a joy to watch and cheer on. Technically, they could’ve given the rope to him twice (2020.09/2020.11 and 2022.11/2023.01), but I guess the "equivalent" part of the yusho + equivalent wasn’t strong or decisive enough each time. I would’ve loved to see him promoted. Regarding that one henka that turned many people away from Takakeishō, I remember Terunofuji’s infamous henka vs. Kotoshōgiku. So many HATED Terunofuji’s guts back then, but he’s been forgiven and is well liked by most sumo fans now. So I’m wondering why the dislike against Takakeishō almost seemed political at some point or what it would’ve taken for him to achieve redemption. At any rate, I hope he can be successful in his second career as oyakata and be able to heal and get healthy :) Otsukaresama, Takakeishō!

I'm really wishing the best for him and will probably hope against hope that he'll make it, but I don't think it'll happen. This is going to be a very sad basho for me.

Not sure if that counts - Nabatame is back in Makushita (East 4).

(double post)

I agree with both sentiments!

I'd both hate (since he's my favorite) and love it if he'd follow through with going intai failing to get 10 wins. I like it better when (former) ozeki who can't wrestle at the required level anymore quit right away instead of hanging on and finally retire after falling down to juryo or makushita. It's really sad watching a long, slow decline of a former champion unfolding on the dohyo.

I've been following sumo for a bit over 11 years (which I realize isn't a long time compared to many others) but this was the most disappointing basho for me. Takakeishō losing his rank most likely permanently (I just don't see him getting 10 wins next time due to his injuries; yes, I'm a fan of his), Kirishima not regaining ozeki, Asanoyama's bad injury, plus overall pretty meh sumo... I'm happy for Hiradoumi, Rōga and Takanoshō, but that's about it. Oh yeah, right, congratz to Terunofuji.

Happy for Nabatame, too. In the videos his oddball antics/humor and desire to be the center of attention make me laugh frequently. Let's see how he does in Juryo.

This basho was a bit of a bummer to me because of so many guys being kyujo/fighting while injured and Kirishima's impending demotion, but I'm very pleased with the outcome. Congratz to Ōnosato