Kotonishiki Katsuhiro - First Tournament Win

First Tournament Win

In the latter half of 1991 Kotonishiki made a strong drive for ozeki promotion. He recovered from losing his sekiwake rank after the July tournament and falling back to the maegashira ranks, by coming back to win the tournament championship in September 1991, blowing away Mainoumi in seconds on the final day to finish with a 13-2 record, one win ahead of ozeki Kirishima. He followed up with an excellent 12-3 in November, finishing as runner-up to Konishiki. He needed one more good performance in the following January 1992 tournament to earn promotion to ozeki, but he lost his opening four matches and could only score 7-8. He made a second attempt in late 1992 when he produced two consecutive runner-up performances, but after standing at 7-3 on the 10th day of the January 1993 tournament he collapsed to lose his last five bouts and finished with a losing 7-8 score. Although he produced many good performances over the next few years, he was never consistent enough to mount another challenge for ozeki promotion, and was overtaken by younger wrestlers such as the Hanada brothers Takanohana and Wakanohana, and then Takanonami and Musashimaru.