ILLINIWrestlingBlog

Feel for Zane. He can beat that guy. The Azerbaijaini is Euro Gold from this year, but, man, Zane wants to run that one back.

Sidakov escapes, but just barely. Kentchandze of Georgia almost had that takedown at the end.

Sidakov looks emaciated. Down by criteria at the break. Will he have gas? What gas doing?

Anybody know if the wrestlers who make the finals (or repechage) have to make weight the next day? If so, is there an allowance? Also, the camera operators at the World Championships have an almost unerring ability to switch from a stupid overhead shot of the wrestlers to a side shot right when something is happening, so we can't tell what has happened.

After watching only the morning session, and making assumptions based on that, who here thinks Gable Steveson and WWE are having second thoughts. Zare looked good in one match, but in that one match his opponent was, like Cheech & Chong, running on fumes. Akgul looked reasonable. Petro okay but vulnerable.

Why would you have them do that?

From your mouth to Deng's brain. Wow. A little close there.

Higuchi missed weight at an event in the past, so he always puts his weight on a Tweet to settle down his fans.

He got to the right place on the mat in the right tie and exploded. Then, with the leglaces, he took his time to set up the right technique, and exploded. Very nice match!

He was a pro just now. Smart and efficient.

Taylor had a :15 pin. Morocco has apparently never seen David Taylor, Ed Ruth or Sammy Sasso wrestle. Can't hang out on the leg!

Okay, that was quick. Petro now up 9-2.

Petro losing two - one at the break versus Cambodia. First, right on, Cambodia. Second, right on CAMBODIA!

Mason with the quickest (and I think only tech) amongst the top contenders. Akgul and Zare had full six-minute matches. Petro still to wrestle. Question for the board: What is 125 kg in light years? Second question: If you have two heavyweights who weigh exactly 125 kg, but one is from the USA and one is from Mexico, who has the most energy?

I was just going to post about those two things. Quick tech. Bad video. Is this the enshittification of UWW video? They go to a pay service and everything goes to hell? That was just one example, so I hope it was the anomaly.

My take on the first part of Zane's draw is here at The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond. It is true that he's in the more difficult half of the bracket, but I have him easily favored to get into the quarters, and after that, it's a crapshoot. His first-round opponent will be tougher than either guy he could meet in the second round. Still, I think the Azerbaijani is too young and wild-eyed and prone to mistakes. Moreover, he's a bit of a one-trick pony who had big wins but has since been scouted. It will not be so easy for some of the other favorites. In fact, I almost want to pick Rei Higuchi as my upset special for the entire tournament. He has a tough opponent in round one, then the #1 seed in round two. I think he gets past the first round because his opponent will be sucking almost as much weight as he is. In the second round, though, he has the Chinese #1 seed who doesn't appear to be cutting hard. That could get him, especially since the Chinese kid will have a two minute 10-0 tech fall in the first round. The Russian has the returning World Bronze in the second round. Last year's champion, Abakarov, has my dark horse Aman Aman of India in round two. These folks'll be beat on severely before they get a chance to meet Zane. Finally, this doesn't relate to 57kg, but to explain one-half of the graphic below, Ermak Kardanov is with the IRTC, and he wrestles for Slovakia. He has the best (as in easiest) first couple of rounds in the entire tournament! Of course, as the #8 seed, his quarter-final will be tough to say the least.

Poor Richard's Almanac? Yes. He will have three super tough matches to win Gold. If he were in, say, Darian Cruz's spot in the top half of the bracket, it would be two super tough matches to win the Gold. I do like Zane to win his first two matches because they are both lanky long-drink-of-water fellows that he has had lots of success with (e.g., Zandanbud, Suriano, Gilman, Stechele). Then, it is Abakarov, who he's familiar with, and who he beat in a practice match. Then, either Uguev of Russia or Aman of India to get to the Finals. The key for Zane is to get on a roll. This draw sets him up for that. By the way, Zane's first match is against an Azer wrestler that almost came to blows in a loss to Austin DeSanto up at 61 kg pretty recently.

Sure, @bnwtwg, the smaller fellow is two-time World Medalist at 57kg from Mongolia, Erdenebatyn Bekhbayar, who's been training with the IRTC and working specifically with Zane. The tall fellow is another IRTC athlete, Ermak Kardanov, the former Russian who is now wrestling for Slovakia and recently won a Euro Championship Bronze at 92kg. Both Zane and Ermak wrestle on Sunday at 3:30 am (Central). So excite!

Haha! NattoSumo and his like are modern day pirates, and the authorities are after them. I finally found him on Rumble here and watched today's matches in the upper division, all 20 of them. It was like watching a whole season of the Chicago Bears in 30 minutes. My favorite guys: LOSS, LOSS, LOSS, LOSS, WIN, LOSS, WIN, WIN, LOSS, LOSS, LOSS, LOSS, LOSS, LOSS, WIN, WIN, LOSS, WIN, WIN, WIN. That win streak of my favorite wrestlers at the end is what keeps me coming back, just like that one perfect drive during a bad day of golf. I had to give Rumble a working email account, a birth date and a username. They verified the email account to complete the signup. Hakkeyoi!

Good stuff, D3! Thanks for your service. And for a little slice of your life. Jason Sumo stepped up and posted videos of the upper division matches. Maybe I won't have to rob convenience stores to support my Sumo habit. The video below has the ten highest ranked wrestlers. Start at 1:00 as the first minute is filler:

Thanks for that info, CHROMEBIRD! I saw a listing of salaries last year for the top guys around that range, but I couldn't remember for sure.

Now that I'm hooked on Sumo, they've taken away my supply. Cold chills. Sweat. Itching. Wild eyes. It seems that NattoSumo has been completely scrubbed from YouTube and Twitter. Anybody with suggestions? To get me through the morning, I watched a replay of the Kirishima versus Hokutofuji match from yesterday. Kirishima is an Ozeki (2nd-highest rank) while Hokutofuji is the guy I call the Chubby Accountant. In the match, you can see the violence inherent in the system, as face slaps and head-butting are legal. Additionally, at the end of the match, the Gyoji (ref) gives a stack of envelopes containing cash to the winner (at 4:38). Start the video at 3:05 to see Hokutofuji's final pre-match preparations; start at 3:28 to see the actual match and the aftermath:

I voted Dake, and I don't think it's a Homelander vote.

I'm not sure. I know each of the upper ranks will get something akin to a base pay, and then there are incentive payments. It's certainly not USA baseball or football money. Haha! I have no idea if they get much from endorsements. Also, at the end of many of the upper division matches (like those in the video above), the gyoji (ref) will give the winner a stack of envelopes containing money. It's supposedly not much in each envelope, but some of those stacks can be pretty big. And, @gimpeltf, I've seen a few videos about their diets, and they eat like dinosaurs. Then, when they retire, many shrink by a hundred pounds or more.

Despite a Yokozuna out with injury, and despite the loss to surgery of the impudent upstart Hakuoho (who almost won the last tournament as a complete rookie), the September basho started out very strong with a loud crowd in Tokyo. There are a number of storylines that provide interest. The top storyline has to be the two Ozekis (second-highest rank below Yokozuna) who are kadoban. That means they have to obtain a winning record in their 15 matches or lose their lofty rank. This is day three, and they have both lost a match. Oh my! They are each 2-1. Another major story is the rise of Hokutofuji. This fellow looks like a chubby accountant, but he is the ultimate pro. In fact, he reminds me of a slick shortstop with his crisp, clean movements (even in his pre-match routine). He is now 3-0, and he is responsible for defeating the two Ozekis. Hokutofuji challenged for the title during the last basho, and he is only looking stronger. A story that I'm very interested in is my favorite wrestler Hoshoryu, also known as the Golden Boy. He is another Ozeki, and he's already lost twice in three bouts! Not optimal. There has been an Ozeki curse for some time now, and I hope that Golden Boy doesn't fall under its spell. And finally, if you follow sumo or have read the reports here about the last tournament, you know that a fellow going by the name of NattoSumo has been putting the tournaments up on YouTube even though they are the property of the Japanese Sumo Federation and the Japanese TV giant NHK. Well, he's already had a couple videos removed in the last few days, so he's changed his name to JustinBeiberwrestling, apparently because YouTube would never ban Justin Beiber. These are today's matches, which went on YouTube a few hours ago. The video might not last long. Haha! That's Golden Boy, the Mongolian Ozeki in the picture. I also wanted to give you an action shot at 7:50 of the video showing the excitement of sumo. What you see below is Sadanoumi pushing Kotoshoho off of the elevated ring. Kotoshoho is flying out, while Sadanoumi is simply flying: