I don’t know why I had such high hopes for this event. I imagined it would be the real deal OR totally zany and over the top like WWE. It was neither. Instead, imagine this. You think you’ve bought tickets for the NBA Finals only to find your tickets are for the Retirees League of the Harlem Globetrotters. Total letdown.

Here’s how Sumo insiders describe it

Musashikuni has now resurfaced in America, taking part in the curious “Sumo & Sushi” tour, which will be hosted by the legendary former Ozeki and popular cultural tarento, musician and plate lunch grillmaster Konishiki.

Tachiai.Org (Sumo Fan Blog)

Not exactly a ringing endorsement but there are a few positives. Namely….

1. The emcee, Hawaiian-born Konishiki, is terrific.

He is the all-time heaviest wrestler to have ever competed in Sumo at 633 lbs. He’s also the first non-Japanese-born wrestler to reach ozeki, the second-highest rank in Sumo. He’s been retired for 21 years but has an active career in Sumo-related entertainment from exhibition events like Sumo+Sushi as well as TV shows and movies. He’s also a rapper, plays the ukelele and has some kind of Hawaiian BBQ business.

What made him such a great emcee, besides being incredibly personable, is his firsthand knowledge of Sumo and his ability to keep the crowd in control (more or less). See below for evidence of his emceeing skills.

2. Very Cool T-shirts

I bought one and wore it proudly to the gym yesterday.

3. Great content for social media

Even with all its shortcomings, it’s a highly visual event. Check out videos below.

Scroll down for the not so positives.

biggest disappointments/turn-offs

1. The limited number of Sumo wrestlers

There are only four wrestlers which means you aren’t going to see much in the way of competition. Each bout only lasts about a minute.

Also, of those four not a single one is listed as an active Sumo wrestler for 2019. I believe they are all retired and strictly on the entertainment circuit.

2. It’s a long, drawn-out event

Lots of explanations about Sumo. Interesting but not for 2 hours.

Basically, the 2-hour show breaks down as follows:

• 60-minutes of Sumo 1:0 for novices like us plus wrestler show-and-tells
• 20 minutes of cringeworthy Q&A with the audience, mainly from the plastered bros in the VIP section.
• 20 minutes for two intermissions planned purely to get the audience to hit up the bars (and get more plastered!)
• 20 minutes of wrestling by four tired, retired Sumos. The emcee kept saying how exhausting each of those minute-long bouts is for the Sumos.

3. The sushi dinner

Where do I even start? Inedible. Were I to ever do this again (which I can’t imagine), I would get viewing-only tickets and forget about this mess trying to pass itself off as sushi. The only good part of the dinner was the mochi ice cream for dessert.

4. The “bros” in the audience but especially in the VIP section ($3500!)

The VIP section was on a higher balcony so they seriously looked like they were getting ready to rumble with the emcee and the wrestlers. Given another 30 minutes, bottles were going to be flying from that balcony. I was nervous. A group of serious Sumo fans sitting by me couldn’t believe how rude and disrespectful the audience was to the emcee and the Sumos.

5. Way too expensive

My ticket was $143 for a seat that was in the second row on a mezzanine level just up from the ring. However, from my seat, it was impossible to see the ring unless i stood up which of course was not popular with those behind me. Nevertheless, I crouched for most of the event and captured some good video.

Another ripoff: the Sumo+Sushi backdrop in the lobby for which they wanted $10 per photo if you used it as background. Plus, they had the nerve to ask us to post those photos to our social media accounts. Crazy! Of course, there were no takers.

Photo and video from Friday night’s event.

After requesting that we all get there 45 minutes early, the show finally begins: 20 minutes late.

konishiki kicks it off – he’s a really excellent emcee.

Sumo show-and-tell

Finally, a round-robin competition between the four wrestlers.

And a sweet serenade by the emcee and one of the wrestlers

after the last bout (30 minutes past the scheduled finish time), I did not want to stay another second.

As I headed for the exit (with most of the audience), I heard them calling out for those who had paid extra to get into the ring for photo ops or an opportunity to wrestle with a Sumo.

Bottom Line.

I do not regret getting tickets for this event BUT I cannot recommend it. For me, it was an interesting experience and provided great content for the blog. My only regret is not getting viewing-only seats. It would have been preferable to forego that sushi dinner and not pay $143 for a second-row seat with no clear view of the wrestling ring.

Sumo+Sushi details

Sumo+Sushi is a Seattle-based company.

They have performances scheduled for LA, Seattle, and NYC in 2020.