Abi is back and Onokatsu has swapped out for his infirmary bed. Onokatsu seems to be Juryo-bound and honestly, I’m just glad he pulled out when he did. Stay strong and heal up, kid. We’re rooting for you.

MATCH OF THE DAY: Asakoryu and Fujiryoga always bring their 110%, and Asakoryu had his heart set on winning this one. Well, Fujiryoga did too, but evidently… less. The young Maegashira slammed and grappled, with Asakoryu’s incredible traps bulging as he tried to force out the much larger shin-nyumaku rookie. Eventually, though, Asakoryu wriggled his hand onto Fujiryoga’s belt and pulled him down and out with a beautiful shitatenage. Well played, young man! Takasago-beya is making a strong bid for Heya of the Year.

KIMARITE OF THE DAY: Hakunofuji is back from his kyujo and ready to rumble. They went out with force and decided to have a good old post-Nakabi snuggle. A bit after the crowd started to get antsy, Ichiyamamoto rallied for a series of powerful pushes but Hakunofuji escaped and was able to annihilate the smaller rikishi to advance to 2-3-4, which is quite a fun record. He’s hurt, but he’s still capable of this, which is very impressive. He won by uwatehineri, which translates roughly to twisting over arm throw.

PINK MAWASHI DAY NINE: Ah, Ura. Unfortunately, I fear he used all his genki magic for a Nakabi win yesterday. The remarkably genki Kotoshoho fought Ura for his kachi-koshi today in the Top 10 Worst Decisions by the JSA Ever, and Kotoshoho blew a disgruntled Ura out of the water. Ura’s disgruntled is anyone else’s mild irritation, so he popped back up and jogged over to his bow, but all was not well at Kise-beya tonight, considering their other Makuuchi wrestlers, Churanoumi and Kinbozan, also took serious Ls today.

OVERALL SUMMARY: Wakamotoharu has found his inner genkiness and was able to beat the not-so-genki Hiradoumi in a beautiful utchari. Just wanted to call him out! We lost two important figures from the yusho race today: 9-time runner-up Takayasu and kinda-new Kotoeiho. Gonoyama got the first-to-kachi-koshi unofficial award, quickly succeeded by the dastardly Kotoshoho in his defeat of Ura. Kirishima looks brilliant and joined them with a clean escape-and-shove win over Daieisho. Hoshoryu and Takanosho are bearing down on them with two wins. We have three yusho winners in this group, though some part of me is still unwilling to classify Kotoshoho’s win as an actual yusho, with Hoshoryu and Kiri being the others (and also, I’d say, the favorites). However, both Gonoyama and Kotoshoho have a win on the young Yokozuna, and only time will tell who will take the yusho.

The JSA has recognized the fire that has suddenly lit under Wakamotoharu and have given him the superfun reward of fighting Hoshoryu in the musubi-no-ichiban tomorrow. Hey, lots of kensho if you win, buddy! Daieisho and Kotozakura will battle before them, while whatever is left of Hiradoumi will face Aonishiki. Takanosho will battle Kirishima, Asakoryu will fight Gonoyama, and Shodai will Kotoshowhow it’s done. That was brutal. I can’t fit “show” and “how” into “Kotoshoho”. But I did it anyway! (And Ura, I neglected to mention, will fight Hakunofuji).

Obviously I’m still rooting for my boys Kirishima and Hoshoryu. Yes, they are definitely the favorites, but they are also my favorites. And they were my favorites even when I thought, say, Aonishiki, Onosato, and Yoshinofuji were going to be in good shape.