Why Don't People Like Abi?
Giving Abi a regular profile.
The question above is inspired by the following from a public sumo group (SumoSumoSumo) on Facebook:
In many ways, Abi is a traditional “heel” in professional wrestling parlance.
He has a brutal nodowa, his go-to move… and don’t get me started on when he henka’d Takayasu to win the tournament last year:
OH MAN
DON’T YOU DO THAT TO OUR PAPAYASU.
As I said, a heel.
Ok, sumo wrestling is real, not WWE, and you put your head down and charge, well, henka is legit. No prob.
But I think you understand why people didn’t like it.
Abi Weight and Rank History
Abi is back up at sekiwake for the July tournament, having been there before. He’s never been at ozeki. The earlier fall from komusubi to M09 was due to withdrawal from the tournament.
Sekiwake has been his highest rank. It’s tough to break through to ozeki — let’s see if he makes it.
I see that Abi has been steadily gaining weight of late, so that’s something to note.
Abi’s Top 10 Kimarite
Abi’s kimarite profile is odd compared to the ones I’ve looked at before.
For one, the huge loss to oshidashi.
Second, the very low percentage of yoriki wins — he’s not a belt man at all.
His second-most kimarite is hatakikomi — for the slappy man, we’ve got slap down.
In third, hikiotoshi, hand pull-down.
Fourth, tsukidashi, which is very similar to oshidashi. It’s just whether you still have hands on the body as the other person is going out of the ring. (Thrust out vs push out)
A lot of this is a function of Abi’s height — he’s 188 cm (~6’2”) — and he pretty much stands straight up in the tachiai. He tries to use his height as an advantage, putting his hands high on the other wrestlers’ bodies, and if he gets his hands on a belt, it’s to escort the guys out of the ring. He’s got a long body and long arms.
While Abi may reach high to the sky in his shiko…
He doesn’t seem to be flexible down low.
He likes it up high.
