ViscountessNivlac

I guess part of me would like to think he could do it, but watching Takakeisho lose in the last days of the last basho felt like watching somebody die. It might be for the best if he were to hang up the mawashi.

After the first 11 days I can't see Wakamotoharu being much of a struggle for Takerufuji. Is he just going to run away with it?

I’m no fan of Hakuho’s, and I can’t see how his last yushō is very legitimate, coming off of a years-long run of showing up half of the time at best, but he’s certainly done a lot for the sport.

At that segment of edge of the dohyo there's not really any way to avoid sending your opponent down unless you're walking them out and they stop trying (assuming Takayasu was balanced enough to have regained his footing if the drop wasn't there). I can't fault Terunofuji for not being ginger about it.

Unless their break was until the ninth so they’ll be back on the tenth? It wasn’t entirely clear to me.

I’ve often wondered if that’s ever written anywhere. If it isn’t, then it’s an unenforced and unwritten rule - so it isn’t actually the rule.

If we haven’t heard anything else by now I imagine Hakuho is in the clear?

I think Shibatayama knows the NSK’s rules better than us.

Maybe at that point they waive the normal rules and allow them to accept the win from the wheelchair on the way out.

I imagine somebody would drag him up to the dohyo at that point. He’s already ahead of the other contender by being in the venue.

If Hakuho can complete Aki that makes the first time since 2017 he finished two consecutive basho. Maybe I’ll lighten up on him if he pulls it off.

Terunofuji is better than sumo than I’ll ever be at anything and I love him, so that can’t be it.

I’ve always scoffed at the idea of some techniques being dishonourable, but preventing somebody from using their skills by bashing them in the head does feel legitimately dishonourable. I’m not saying this is the sole time it’s happened (though Hakuho has used that elbow a lot). Maybe Terunofuji’s even done it before. This match is just the one that got me thinking.

Personally I’ve begun to think you shouldn’t be allowed to smack around your aite’s head at all (thrusting should be to get them out of the ring, not to concuss them), and the elbow to the face is arguably worse than Takakgenji’s uppercuts. It’s also laid somebody out cold before.

Well that was disappointing. At least he can’t keep it up. People thinking that he’d be able to stick around for another year are, frankly, deluding themselves.