Competitor with worst career decline

[darthvaderlim]

What competitors do you think had the worst career decline ?

1-Yamada, don't need to explain this. This became more apparent during Shin-Sasuke.
2-Akiyama, granted he had an eyesight issue, but he was only able to clear Stage One three times after his victory.
3-Nagano (post Sasuke 23), another contender, but this was mostly due to aging and the increased difficulty.
4-Shingo (post Sasuke 17), made too many mental mistakes like in Sasuke 22 and 25 clearly didn't help his case, as he only made it to the Stage Three only once( which was cut short by his injury) out of the last twenty-one tournaments.
5-Iketani,Took him five years the clear the First Stage after Sasuke 16, but since then has competed sporadically.
6-Omori- Another contender, but that was due to the sudden change of diffculty.
7-Ryo- He was younger than the ones mentioned before, but like Yamada clearly couldn't cope with the increased difficulty and pressure.
8-Yuuji- Went on a downward spiral from Sasuke 31 to 33, and vowed to retire if he failed to clear again which he didn't, and has made back to back Stage Three appearances since.
9-Kanno, after Sasuke 31, he has been constantly injured one way or another.
10- Takeda, kinda counts especially after Sasuke 28, since his head hasn't been in the game, but most likely due to job switching at the time.

[sasukefinnja]

Between Sasuke 10-17 Shingo's and Iketani's 3rd Stage performances somehow weirdly declined. At first they both did really well in stage 3 but then they slowly declined and they dropped even earlier and earlier than before in obstacles that they had cleared many times before (Body Prop).

Shingo:
11 - Cliffhanger (made it through Body Prop)
12 - Cliffhanger (made it through Body Prop)
14 - Curtain Cling (made it through Body Prop)
16 - Body Prop (at the end of the obstacle, cleared 3 times before)
17 - Body Prop (at the start of the obstacle)

Iketani:
10 - Cliffhanger (made it through Body Prop)
11 - Cliffhanger (made it through Body Prop)
13 - Body Prop (cleared twice before)
14 - Body Prop (did worse than last time)
16 - Body Prop (did even worse than last time)

[LusitaniaAngel313]

Shingo in general has struggled a bit on trampolines even BEFORE now a days. SASUKE 16 and 19 I'm looking at you. Now it's just... worse. STOP FAILING TRAMPOLINES YOU BAKA!

[tns8597]

I was going to say Shingo and Iketani stood out to me, the reason being is that a load of Stage 1 failures is usually caused by a mental blockade (like in the case of Ryo and Nagasaki) rather than a decline in ability, but the fact that their Stage 3 performances got worse indicates that they were actually getting weaker and weaker. Especially as it wasn't like the stage had massively increased in difficulty (not the first half at least); also how it wasn't just bad luck. Every time they failed earlier you could tell it was out of physical struggle rather than a simple mistake.

I think it's really disappointing purely because they were still in their late 20s/early 30s so it wasn't like their age was working against them. Iketani's performance in 16 and Shingo's in 17 especially were, dare I say, really really poor imo. Also given Iketani's raw skill as seen from his Monster Box performances and gymnastics background, I really would've thought he'd be better at Stage 3.

Other disappointing declines for me (beyond those mentioned here) are Shinji Kobayashi given his potential yet his inability to clear Stage 1 stopped him from a potential total victory, Naoya Tajima because he let a simple (albeit quite stupid) mistake affect his future performances and again had huge potential.


Also Kongu, not because his decline was particularly unexpected given his age (he was still making Stage 3 up to the age of 40 so was quite resilient age-wise), but because it was quite heartbreaking to see someone with so much potential and a couple of near-Total Victory runs start to decline having never realised his dream. I felt so bad watching him fail on the Reverse Conveyer in 34, because you could just tell it was his age working against him and sapping his stamina where he would've otherwise crushed such an obstacle given his speed. Definitely one of the strongest and most underrated competitors we've ever seen.

[PizzaKing57]

Dec 18, 2020 4:13:26 GMT -5 LusitaniaAngel313 said:

Shingo in general has struggled a bit on trampolines even BEFORE now a days. SASUKE 16 and 19 I'm looking at you. Now it's just... worse. STOP FAILING TRAMPOLINES YOU BAKA!

I will feel terrible if he yet again screws up on the trampoline or anyone else within the 1st Stage in this tournament, but his Jump Hang failure in 16 was funny to me because of how he was the only known person to ever touch the water immediately when grabbing the net. (PLEASE DON'T KILL ME FOR THIS!)

[LusitaniaAngel313]

Dec 18, 2020 17:18:37 GMT -5 PizzaKing57 said:

Dec 18, 2020 4:13:26 GMT -5 LusitaniaAngel313 said:

Shingo in general has struggled a bit on trampolines even BEFORE now a days. SASUKE 16 and 19 I'm looking at you. Now it's just... worse. STOP FAILING TRAMPOLINES YOU BAKA!

I will feel terrible if he yet again screws up on the trampoline or anyone else within the 1st Stage in this tournament, but his Jump Hang failure in 16 was funny to me because of how he was the only known person to ever touch the water immediately when grabbing the net. (PLEASE DON'T KILL ME FOR THIS!)

Actually in SASUKE 25 during a digest reel we see another managing to grab the net but kick the water as well but still hold on. But Shingo was certainly the first.

[azn]

I guess we can mention D.D? For reasons that I'm not going to mention, but let's just say he basically hit rock bottom

As for other career downslides:

- My Profile pic/fav Sasuke Competitor (Shinji), He had by far the most potential during the All-Stars era (11-17) had incredible amounts of swagger, just overall very talented, but lacked consistency, which is just

- Ryo, who has given me Shinji vibes lately ever since his streak of 1st stage fails turned from fluke fails in my eyes, to fails where I was starting to see his recklessness and his head not being right

- Shingo, Trampolines, Shoulder injuries and just overall derpyness helped a lot, but also due to the fact that the course, especially now is pretty difficult, and he was losing to father time, which actually effected all of the all-stars, maybe with the exceptions of Takeda and Nagano.

- Kanno, Definitely the saddest one, he's had previous issues with his shoulder, which as we learned between Tourney's 28-31 were not effecting him as much as other guys with shoulder injuries, however as high as he was, he fell really hard, his fails in 32 and 33 were shocking, but not suspect in my eyes considering many great competitors can have slumps and still be good (Yuuji) but of course he injured his heel in 34, and from watching lot's of other sports (mainly NBA) heel injuries are the worse so, hopefully he rises back

I also wanna mention Kane, Asa, and Hashimoto, they had excellent careers, definitely not worthy of the category of career decline, but they just retired too early, Kane for Monster 9 related reasons, Hashimoto due to pressure (I think), and Asa due to an unfortunate injury.

[tns8597]

I wouldn't say Shinji declined, more that he was inconsistent from the get-go.

Also it was difficult to tell under what pretences he declined (whether speed, stamina, and/or strength etc.) given that most of his fails were cut.

[subtleagent]

Iketani was definitely an odd duck, which I attribute to the fact that he evidently doesn't train for SASUKE as much as he should. His Double Salmon Ladder failures were strange though. 27 was much worse.

Brian Orosco comes to mind. After ANW 3 he really just never hit his stride again.

Kanno just destroyed himself after 31, he's fallen apart in comparison to the RISING era where he was consistent and strong.

Yamada and Akiyama definitely come to mind as well for aforementioned reasons.

[tns8597]

That's probably why a lot of the celebrities in the grand scheme of things don't do that well. They just don't train for the show because they don't have the time. Iketani's raw skill is definitely head and shoulders above a lot of other prolific Sasuke competitors, but he continued to regress because he didn't practice the specific movements required to beat Stage 3. To beat the Body Prop, you have to train on the Body Prop as it's such a unique movement.

That's also why Jovtchev, despite being a world-class Olympic medal-winning athlete, would go down on the Cliffhanger, while competitors that have humble careers yet train for the show (e.g. Bunpei who's a civil servant) can make it farther.

[ChiBiJKT48]

Dec 19, 2020 10:45:50 GMT -5 tns8597 said:

I wouldn't say Shinji declined, more that he was inconsistent from the get-go.

This is exactly why I never consider his run in SASUKE 11 in my Top Five Greatest Debut list. Sure, he did well, finishing the best out of everyone except Nagano, but considering his performances always ended short except SASUKE 14, I really consider that just as a fluke performance. This is different from Shiratori who, despite I feel didn't deserve the All-Stars status that quickly, can proof to us that his SASUKE 12 performance wasn't just a fluke.

[tns8597]

I wouldn’t say his performance in 11 was a complete fluke, given that 14 once again showed his true skill; almost clearing a completely revamped Stage 3 and going even further than Nagano. He could’ve also made the Final Stage in 16 had the Metal Spin not caught him out; and we know how deadly that modification was that tournament.

It’s easy to call a competitor’s performance a fluke when in fact they are truly skilled, but just have issues with Stage 1, which makes it out as though their ability to clear Stages 2 and even 3 were just out of pure luck, even though that’s where they shine.

Stage 1 might come across as the easiest stage; but for a lot of really skilled competitors (like Ryo and Kishimoto), it’s almost the equivalent of Jun Sato trying to clear Stage 3; where they have the right skills required for every other stage, except the stage they keep failing on (ie Shinji and trampoline obstacles, which are only present in Stage 1 and no other stage) But the fact that it’s the first and ‘easiest’ stage makes it out as though they’re just not very strong competitors, which isn’t true as we’ve seen in several examples.

A true example of a fluke in my opinion is James Okada, given that he cleared Stages 1 and 2 both with 0.1 seconds left, the latter of which I’m pretty confident he didn’t actually cross the line in time, then goes out on the first obstacle of Stage 3. Then the following tournament he fails the Rolling Log in Stage 1, which further serves to confirm that he just got incredibly lucky.

I also have a feeling Shinji felt pressured by his past performance which is what led to his inconsistency.

[ChiBiJKT48]

I agree on both.

I guess Kobayashi set a very high standard to himself by finishing that far. That probably lead him getting pressured for the coming tournament.

For Okada, yep, I really think they just let him through purely for entertainment *being clearing in less than 1 second*, but deep inside, I feel they are never that sure about him clearing in time.

[tns8597]

That’s not the only time they’ve done that.

A couple of guys in Sasuke 1 cleared with 0.1 seconds left (I think Ken Hasegawa and someone else?); and I don’t think they actually crossed the line in time because the gun shot indicating that time is up went off before it was announced they cleared. It was also impossible to fathom whether you clear if you get a finger tip across the line, if your entire body has to be across the line, or if it’s halfway. It seemed they bent those rules a lot until Sasuke 8.

[ChiBiJKT48]

Yo Takahashi, the other Finalist wearing #72. For Yo, I think he timed up, but for Hasegawa, I genuinely think he make it in time.

[Amber]

Levi comes to mind -- LMS in his first SASUKE appearance, LMS for the Americans in ANW1, having to withdraw before SASUKE 26 due to an injury, and then failing the Quad Steps in ANW4. He did end up finding his passion in life after ANW though, so at least in that regard he's living his best life