All hail Ono

[jchapman]

4 minutes ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

Japanese wrestlers defecting to Russia because it's easier to make the world team there... Seriously though, I wonder if this will translate into more UWW events outside of Eastern Europe. Going to Worlds in Japan or elsewhere around Asia/Oceania might be a nice change of scenery. The wifi and streaming may also be a little more reliable.

Who will Flo blame when their stream goes out?

[Takuto_Otoguro]

43 minutes ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

Japanese wrestlers defecting to Russia because it's easier to make the world team there... Seriously though, I wonder if this will translate into more UWW events outside of Eastern Europe. Going to Worlds in Japan or elsewhere around Asia/Oceania might be a nice change of scenery. The wifi and streaming may also be a little more reliable.

I'd love a worlds there, but I think the issue isn't that UWW doesn't want to go to these places but that these places don't want to host worlds. From what I understand you need to bid and they simply are not interested, which is why it ends up being the same 4 European countries and the occasional central Asian one. I feel like Budapest has hosted like half of the past 10 world championships, lol.

 

Hats off to Japan, they are awesome. I am sure they have far fewer total wrestlers than the likes of Iran, America and Russia. Add in Judo and Sumo taking a lot of the talent and it makes what they have accomplished all the more impressive.

[D3 for LU]

Quality vs quantity.

D3

[CA_Wrestler]

6 hours ago, Eagle26 said:

Maybe he landed a good NIL deal and is about to hit the transfer portal

I don't think international athletes can participate in NIL.  Maybe I'm wrong.

He won a collegiate title last year as well at 61kg and the 2024 Japan college national championships are in 8 days.  Not sure if he's competing.

[GrandOlm]

From what I've heard, wrestling is not popular at all in Japan. They are just high a GDP country with excellent programs for developing Olympic "technical, non ball " athletes. There might be some synergy with Judo, where they poach certain preteen/teens . Throw in some Japanese cultural attitudes to explain a bit more. 

If popularity were king, the US, Turkey  and Iran would have dominated wrestling throughout history. Countries like Russia/Soviets, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland were all succesfull without mass appeal for wrestling . 

[CHROMEBIRD]

15 hours ago, GrandOlm said:

From what I've heard, wrestling is not popular at all in Japan. They are just high a GDP country with excellent programs for developing Olympic "technical, non ball " athletes. There might be some synergy with Judo, where they poach certain preteen/teens . Throw in some Japanese cultural attitudes to explain a bit more. 

If popularity were king, the US, Turkey  and Iran would have dominated wrestling throughout history. Countries like Russia/Soviets, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland were all succesfull without mass appeal for wrestling . 

Non-sumo combat sports are very popular in Japan among young people, and pro wrestling (if it can be considered a sport) has broad all-ages appeal there. Not anywhere close to baseball or soccer, but definitely not obscure either. Sumo is always cited as a top sport, but I read that the median age of sumo fans is close to 55. Even though it's part sport and part art & cultural, it isn't really connecting with the younger audiences to carry the sport forward in the future.

Mass appeal isn't needed for athletes to find world-level success, but local popularity of a sport obviously has an exponential effect. A pretty good case study for wrestling might be the popularity of Judo in France. French fans are impressively fluent in the sport. And so many parents send their kids to Judo lessons because they believe it's a necessary part of their childhood education alongside academics, arts, etiquette, and other physical exercise. There are clubs everywhere. I don't fully understand how the sport became so engrained in French culture, but I would love to see it emulated in wrestling.

[D3 for LU]

 Since we're on the subject...

D3

 

 

[D3 for LU]

D3

[GimJustafan]

 

[AgaveMaria]

Is it true Wisconsin coach Chris Bono wants to meet him and ask if he can introduce him to Yoko?

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

13 hours ago, AgaveMaria said:

Is it true Wisconsin coach Chris Bono wants to meet him and ask if he can introduce him to Yoko?

What about Cher?

[Truzzcat]

I just thought it may be worth noting that Japan could very well have the second best guy at 61kg as well. Yuto Nishiuchi lost to ono 3-2 at their version of nationals and he is a 2x u20 world champ notably beating lilledahl 5-0 in the finals in 2023. 

[Le duke]

I just thought it may be worth noting that Japan could very well have the second best guy at 61kg as well. Yuto Nishiuchi lost to ono 3-2 at their version of nationals and he is a 2x u20 world champ notably beating lilledahl 5-0 in the finals in 2023. 

I have to wonder if Ono being at NLWC for three months this winter helped sway Blaze.

Also, if Blaze will move to State College early to take advantage of a once in a lifetime training opportunity.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Truzzcat]

12 hours ago, Le duke said:

I have to wonder if Ono being at NLWC for three months this winter helped sway Blaze.

Also, if Blaze will move to State College early to take advantage of a once in a lifetime training opportunity.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm sure it certainly did not hurt his decision-making process. As much as I am not a PSU fan and want a bit more parody in the sport at the college level, going there was almost certainly the best thing for his international aspirations. I did think training with Mendez every day would be invaluable but perhaps he views him as more of a competitor for 2028.

[MPhillips]

12 hours ago, Le duke said:

I have to wonder if Ono being at NLWC for three months this winter helped sway Blaze.

Also, if Blaze will move to State College early to take advantage of a once in a lifetime training opportunity.

Can he finish HS early?