November Tournament 2014

November Tournament: Day 11

Andy November Tournament 2014 , , ,

Day 11 brought more excitement to the tournament. Kisenosato has been performing very well and clearly wanted to be in contention for the title. He handed Kakuryu his first loss in a great bout. This shoving match seemed to be all about position not allowing the opponent to get inside and get a belt grip. For the most part it was Kisenosato on the attack and he was eventually able to shove a retreating Kakuryu off the dohyo.

Hakuho dodged a forceful attack from Goeido to get a quick 10th win, and thus secure a tie with Kakuryu at 1 loss. Harumafuji may have slipped out of contention entirely as he lost his balance in a weird one against Aoiyama. Aoiyama charged hard out of the gate, appeared to take a swing at the Yokozuna has he dodged away but as Harumafuji came back to re-engage, Aoiyama retreated to the edge of the dohyo resulting in the Harumafuji landing flat on his face.

Tochinoshin joined Kisenosato at 9-2 by outlasting Kyokutenho in an exciting matchup. Hopefully each will continue to rack up wins to keep this title up-for-grabs. Ichinojo, Endo and Ikioi also picked up wins.

November Tournament: Day 10

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Ichinojo (逸ノ城), Kakuryu (鶴竜), November Tournament 2014 , , , , , ,

Two thirds of the way through and the title chase looks to be a battle between yokozuna: Kakuryu vs. Hakuho. Hakuho is alone at 9-1 after Kisenosato fell to Harumafuji and Kyokutenho lost to Jokoryu. Harumafuji looked surprisingly powerful, going right at Kisenosato and shoving him straight back and off the dohyo.

Neither Kotoshogiku nor Goeido looked impressive but Kotoshogiku got the win to get back to .500. Ichinojo rolled Aminishiki into the gyoji and off into the crowd. Ikioi’s losing record is assured and he’ll find himself back in the maegashira next tournament.

Tochinoshin won a bruising slapfest against Chiyomaru. Tochinoshin landed a strong right hand slap which seemed to totally take Chiyomaru out of it and thereafter he was quickly pushed over the bails. Osunaarashi won against Yoshikaze but it really looked like both should have been at home recovering from injury. Neither had the legs to drive their opponent, seemingly reliant on slapping eachother. Endo let Kaisei fall over as he retreated from the tachiai, he improves to 5-5.

Amuru won a great bout against Shohozan. Amuru was aggressive and looked in control throughout. It started as a slapfest that turned into a proper belt battle. At the end it looked like Shohozan might lose his belt as well as the match but it thankfully stayed on while he landed on the floor. Amuru just seems like he leans/hunches over too much and I don’t get how he’s not constantly off-balance.

I’m looking forward to Kakuryu v Kisenosato and Hakuho v Goeido. Goeido’s been quite the thorn in Hakuho’s side, particularly when he’s not having great tournaments. He could definitely pull off yet another upset. If Kisenosato were also to win, this tournament would completely change as there are several wrestlers with two losses including Kisenosato and Harumafuji.

November Tournament: Day 9

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Ichinojo (逸ノ城), Kakuryu (鶴竜), November Tournament 2014 , , ,

Kakuryu used his leverage to work Aoiyama (5-4) out of the ring and stay in the lead with a perfect 9-0 record. Hakuho quickly threw Ichinojo to stay one back off Kakuryu’s pace and remain in the hunt for his 32nd title. Joining Hakuho, and also securing a winning record for the tournament, are the 40 year-old Kyokutenho and ozeki Kisenosato by up-ending Toyohibiki (2-7).

Harumafuji threw an over-eager ozeki, Goeido, off the dohyo to get his seventh win. Goeido dropped to 4-5. Kotoshogiku gave it his all and got the win against Takayasu but still seems a bit weak when trying to drive forward with his legs. At this point, his wins seem to come from the back and upper body.

Ikioi beat Aminishiki to improve to 2-7 and faces Tochiozan (4-5) tomorrow. Aminishiki (3-6) will face Ichinojo (4-5), and will surely live to fight another day. Yoshikaze came back from injury but lost, and fell to (0-6-3). He’ll face Oosunaarashi tomorrow, likewise winless (0-4-5) and coming back from injury. I wish both well. One will pick up their first win of the tournament. Endo picked up his fourth win of the tournament, already garnering more wins than September, against Amuru (2-7), who’s not having a great makuuchi debut. Endo faces Kaisei (4-5) tomorrow. He’s 2-1 against the Brazilian and I’m hoping he pulls off the victory and gets closer to kachi-koshi.

Of tomorrow’s matchups, I think I’m most looking forward to Hakuho v. Aoiyama. Though he’s never beaten the yokozuna, Aoiyama has been the best performing of the Sekiwake/Komusubi foursome and has been giving every match his all.

November Tournament: Day 8

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Ichinojo (逸ノ城), Kakuryu (鶴竜), November Tournament 2014 , , , , , , ,

My Day 8 update is a bit late. Had a busy day with early morning furniture delivery and then running errands, playing with the kids, etc.

My lead story is Ichinojo’s use of the fake-matta tactic. He’s used it successfully a few times, my favorite example was against Kisenosato, who, at the time, had a really slow tachiai. The process:

  1. He starts too early and bulls his way directly into the opponent,
  2. Bow to head judge,
  3. Dodge,
  4. Push opponent’s head down and hopefully the body follows for an easy win.

I don’t know why Ichinojo (4-4) tried his fake-matta-then-dodge-head-push tactic against a much lighter, weaker, maegashira Tochiozan (3-5) but I’m happy it failed. Tochiozan showed great balance as he probably knew what was coming after the matta. He stayed on his feet, shrugged off the weak head push, and seemed to gain leverage and better position by being lower. Thus in better position, he then pushed Ichinojo across the ring and out. Hopefully that’s the end of this matta-dodge-head-push. Or Ichinojo might go for a belt grab and really finish off his opponent.

Kakuryu stays in the lead with a perfect 8-0 record, and still undefeated against Ikioi. Ikioi (1-7) will really need to step on it and garner some wins to avoid dropping back into the ranks of the maegashira. He really needed to pick up a few more in that first week but I’ve got my hopes that he’ll be able to sweep his lower ranked opponents this week.

Hakuho gets himself into a little unnecessary drama by giving Terunofuji an extra little shove in the back after the match…but with the win stays one back of Kakuryu. He leads the chase group that has been whittled down to Hak, Kisenosato, and Kyokutenho.

Harumafuji (6-2) downs Takekaze (1-7), getting some revenge from kinboshi he gave up back in July. Kisenosato (7-1) took out fellow ozeki Kotoshogiku, who at 3-5 is having a terrible tournament. Kisenosato was on the ropes as it were, but Kotoshogiku’s knee just couldn’t get the final drive over the straw bales. Giku’s knee is not up to it. Goeido’s record (4-4) has not been much better as he lost to Takayasu (5-3). Goeido quickly got a belt grip but seemingly didn’t know what to do with it as Takayasu, with leverage, just drove him back and out.