|
|
Post by dakohosu on May 5, 2024 12:30:29 GMT -5
Inspired by shunsukenumber98's recent trend of hypothesising retired competitors' results in later tournaments, I thought I'd do one for Lee, mainly because unlike competitors like Okuyama or Hashimoto who had to retire due to injuries/illnesses, Lee is still very much active and even competed on other international shows. He's also still in incredible shape for his age, so I don't think him pushing 40 at the time would've been as much of a limiting factor as it would be for other competitors.
31: Crazy Cliffhanger or Vertical Limit Kai
32: Ultra Crazy first transition, TIE Fighter/Wall if he ran in the low 90s, Flying Bar if high 90s
33: Low of Fish Bone, high of Flying Bar
34: Ultra Crazy second transition
35: Low of Dragon Glider, high of Ultra Crazy second transition
36: Same as 35
37: Cliffhanger Dimension or Warped Wall if he ran in the 90s
38: Reverse Conveyer
39: Wall Lift or Warped Wall if he runs in the 90s
40: Wall Lift
The latter two are conservative estimates bearing in mind that he'd be 47-48 at the time. That said, anyone can always have freak accidents on earlier parts of the course, as shown by Lee himself in 27 after two first place finishes, so I wouldn't say these are best case scenarios as I'm trying to be realistic but let's say assuming nothing anomalous occurs.
|
|
|
|
Post by zoran on May 6, 2024 5:30:42 GMT -5
Imagine if he made the final in 37.
|
|
|
|
Post by dakohosu on May 6, 2024 11:44:47 GMT -5
Imagine if he made the final in 37. At 45yo no less. I put him at Cliffhanger Dimension because by this point he was years retired from rock climbing, in his mid-40s, and also only ever cleared the Cliffhanger once in his career which was the Shin version. I'd say his best shot at another Cliffhanger clear would've been 31 given that it only had one transition being the crazy, after that I'm unconvinced with only very select competitors being able to beat the Ultra Crazy or Dimension around that time. That said, if he did beat the Dimension, then with the much easier Vertical Limit and the stoppered Pipe Slider then he'd make the Final. You could actually argue that 37 was a lot of competitors' only chances to make the Final in their entire career, basically anyone who had no shot at beating the normal Vertical Limit like Hioki, Sato, and I'd argue Yuuji given his struggles with it in 36 and 40 (god I would've loved to see him on 37's Final in his 40s). It's a shame that the only ones who did beat it were Tada and Rene, who've proven that they can still beat the real thing with Tada making it back to the Final in 40, and Rene having won Ninja Warrior Germany. |
|
|
|
Post by zoran on May 6, 2024 15:00:24 GMT -5
Imagine if he made the final in 37. At 45yo no less. I put him at Cliffhanger Dimension because by this point he was years retired from rock climbing, in his mid-40s, and also only ever cleared the Cliffhanger once in his career which was the Shin version. I'd say his best shot at another Cliffhanger clear would've been 31 given that it only had one transition being the crazy, after that I'm unconvinced with only very select competitors being able to beat the Ultra Crazy or Dimension around that time. That said, if he did beat the Dimension, then with the much easier Vertical Limit and the stoppered Pipe Slider then he'd make the Final. You could actually argue that 37 was a lot of competitors' only chances to make the Final in their entire career, basically anyone who had no shot at beating the normal Vertical Limit like Hioki, Sato, and I'd argue Yuuji given his struggles with it in 36 and 40 (god I would've loved to see him on 37's Final in his 40s). It's a shame that the only ones who did beat it were Tada and Rene, who've proven that they can still beat the real thing with Tada making it back to the Final in 40, and Rene having won Ninja Warrior Germany. I remember the thread I made about Iketani making the final in 37 at 46 in 2021 which people thought was absurd and no chance at all. It's really funny how Sasuke 40 with Shingo's, Kane's, Yuuji's, Nagano's, Suzuki's etc results have changed peoples perception of competitors in their 40s. Although Iketani is a lot less skilled than those mentioned and Lee, I could see him maybe clearing stage 1 in 37 provided he trained extensively and got good luck, maybe stage 2 as well given how nerfed it was. |
|
|
|
Post by dakohosu on May 6, 2024 15:22:05 GMT -5
I remember the thread I made about Iketani making the final in 37 at 46 in 2021 which people thought was absurd and no chance at all. It's really funny how Sasuke 40 with Shingo's, Kane's, Yuuji's, Nagano's, Suzuki's etc results have changed peoples perception of competitors in their 40s. Although Iketani is a lot less skilled than those mentioned and Lee, I could see him maybe clearing stage 1 in 37 provided he trained extensively and got good luck, maybe stage 2 as well given how nerfed it was. I think I was one of those people. Age isn't the inherent issue, I firmly believe we would've had more competitors doing well in their 40s earlier on had it not been for circumstance which resulted in them retiring; like Lee, Okuyama, Hiromichi Sato, Bunpei, and so forth. It's more that Iketani has clearly dropped off a cliff athletically and I believe this was ever since he stopped performing, as the Muscle Musical went defunct between Sasuke 27-28 which was when his performances really took a hit. He manages the SRO that Mutou is part of but doesn't perform. Clearly that's congruent to him not training or keeping in shape, especially as he's visually aged a hell of a lot in the last few years as well which kind of supports this. And the fact that he's also pretty old doesn't help as it's really easy to lose stamina/hard to regain it if you don't train. Compare both how he looked and ran in 26-37 when he was 37yo, to how he did in 37 less than 10 years later, and he looked about 20 years older. EDIT: my 3000th post as dakohosu was me bashing Iketani, hope this doesn't come back to bite me lol. |
|
