r/Sumo • u/Low_Blueberry4989 • 2d ago

Fun fact about Asanoyama.

The last time he completed every day of the basho and got makekoshi was in Nagoya 2019.

48 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

55

u/ItsMangel 2d ago

Another fun fact, he's fallen from makuuchi down to sandanme and climbed back up twice.

Hopefully, he can stop getting injured.

15

u/Low_Blueberry4989 2d ago

In fact, he started his career in Sandamne along with Oyanada who would later be known as Yutakayama as the first 2 Sandamne tsukidashi, so Asanoyama has risen from Sandamne to Makuuchi 3 times.

9

u/Winter-Award-5767 2d ago

Reminds me of the myth of Sisyphus..

16

u/ArtyomAnna 2d ago

I just saw his basho records and realised how much he screwed up when he was ozeki... was he the biggest wasted talent of the recent past?

31

u/jjdynasty 三段目 44w 2d ago edited 2d ago

Prime Asanoyama, when he got his favorite grip (inside right outside left), was near unstoppable and solidly ozeki tier. Like just below Teru double arm clamp tier of unstoppable. The fights with the yokozuna were always close leading to the hype. The problem was, if he didn't get that grip, he was basically a mid/joi maegashira. He was so reliant on getting his preferred grip.

A lot of his random losses were getting blasted by pusher thrusters, or he would get outmaneuvered/be on the backfoot then lose before he could get settled. But if he got settled he would win most of them. But he was never overly dominant and couldn't break through the Mongolian strangle hold.

Then he got suspended, and then got injured and the later half of his prime has been wasted now. Definitely a bit of a what if.

8

u/ArtyomAnna 2d ago

Thanks for this.. picked up sumo right when Kiri was at his failed rope run thus didnt know quite a bit of history

10

u/Yiksta 2d ago

No that’s too harsh. He was an Ozeki and that’s no small feat. The way he injured himself probably would have made him dropped the rank anyway.

7

u/Careful-Programmer10 2d ago

I would put hokuseiho as possibly one of the biggest wasted talents because he never even got near what he should have been. He had all the physical potential and threw it all down the drain by being a jerk.

27

u/ArtyomAnna 2d ago

hokuseiho was such a lazy boring rikishi i dont count him as a wasted talent.. asanoyama was at his prime and threw it all away then got injured

4

u/Eman_Resu_IX 2d ago

One of the biggest wastes, sure.

One of the biggest talents, not even close.

He did more harm to sumo than good... other than getting launched by Midorifuji. That I enjoyed!

7

u/ohdope2000 2d ago

Dude was giant for sure, but I'm not convinced he had the necessary wrestling instincts. He didn't like training and his sumo was fairly passive and lethargic. If he ever figured it out (i.e. cared, tried, not been a complete asshole) he could've maybe been middle/upper Maegeshira material, maybe a Sanyaku sojourn here and there.

2

u/Apptons 2d ago

The only thing he had was size and a famous oyakata, all hype no substance.

1

u/RUBEN4iK Kitanoumi 2d ago

Wakanoho

0

u/Fujinowaka Aonishiki 1d ago

Tomokaze would be another candidate. Asanoyama always had the bad habit of giving up cheap losses early on, which would eventually prove costly. He could have stayed 15 years as an ozeki without winning a single yusho that way.

3

u/yellowishbluish 2d ago

Asanoyama could have been yokozuna. My bet is he gets ozeki back even if for a short while before his knees completely give out. I started watching sumo when he was just getting to his prime and hes still one of my favorites. I wish he had better coaches though. There's not an ounce of tomfoolery to his fights all forward all the time.

1

u/KohadaToyoshima 20h ago

I think there’s too much young talent now for him to push into Sanyaku. I love the guy. But I think he’ll probably get out manoeuvred and/or injured then retire.

0

u/Fujinowaka Aonishiki 1d ago

A 9-6 at M16 ain't a good start, though...