KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE
Sorry, was there something else to talk about?
Oh, it's the Sports Danshi New Year's Special. With a returning Kane Kosugi. My heart is all aflutter.
This seems to be in separate event format: Monster Box, Power Wall and Shotgun Touch with different competitors for each, other than Kane~! doing the Monster Box and Shotgun Touch because he can do whatever he wants.
Arms crossed gentlemen!
Justin Gatlin is fast!
Wanderlei Silva will kick your head off!
Nepo Laulala is very tough!
Denis Abliazin can jump!
Kenji Fujimitsu is also fast!
Kane~!
Other people!
You can win a car!
And let's start off with the Monster Box!
There are only five challengers for this.
The legend! Kane Kosugi!
High jumper Hiromi Takahari!
Trampolinist Daiki Kishi!
Olympian Denis Abliazin!
Taishin Hirano!
We're starting at 13. Abliazin and Takahari have no problem!
Kane~! next. No problem! Shout out to SRO guys being the spotters again.
Hirano is through!
Note that Kane and Hirano do the sort of superman style jump to get their bodies over which helps at the taller heights later.
15 boxes.
Takahari first.
It's been 14 years since Kane~! has done the Monster Box.
On to16, Abliazin is through! And Kishi! So let's go to 17.
Abliazin first. Whoa, that was fast.
Takahari up next.
Kane~! up. And he gets it!
Hirano passes! Let's go to 18.
In a normal show, you're already down to five or so guys at this point anyway.
Abliazin soars over the box! Wow!
And Kishi is our first miss!
Abliazin's wife, Ksenia Semynova is there to cheer him on.
Takahari does it!
Kane~! now to give it a try.
CMs first though.
Back.
And he gets it!
Hirano next. No problem!
18 boxes, second try.
Only Kishi but he gets it! Guts pooooooooooooose!
19 boxes.
Hey there Naoki Iketani.
The SRO dude is impressed by Abliazin's jump.
Kishi next. He's the only one to have failed a jump so far.
But he just gets this one!
Takahari...touches the box twice! Whoops.
Kane~! to go. And he gets it!
That SRO guy is a pleasure to watch. I think that's Masayuki Kikuchi.
And Hirano has no problem!
2nd try for Takahari.
NO! Looks like he jumps too early and can't get his hands in the right spot. He's out!
20 boxes.
Four are left!
Abliazin first. Yowza.
Kishi doesn't get it on his first try.
Kane~! next. He did 20 in 2004. YES!
Hirano up. While Kane had to go deep within himself, Hirano and Ablizain are clearing with more than enough room to spare.
20 boxes, 2nd Try. Only Kishi to try.
NO! He doesn't quite get the run up right so he goes straight into the box.
21 boxes.
Abliazin first up. NO! Maybe he ran too fast?
Kane~! will try 21 now. NO! He thinks he can do it though.
Can Hirano show them the way?
Takai!
Will he go for the record again tonight? He certainly cleared this with ease.
Iketani goes over to offer some encouragement.
Abliazin adapts to the culture and has THSOFEP. But it doesn't help!
He put his hands down too early maybe?
KANE THSOFEP~!
Here we go. CMs first. Those cheers don't sound encouraging.
Back.
NO!
Everyone has the sads.
So Hirano will try for 24 to break the record.
Hirano has to THSOFEP, of course.
The shot of Kane and Iketani watching him from the side is intimidating, to say the least.
NO! He was close though!
Your winner: Taishin Hirano!
Tomas Walsh! Nepo Laulau! Silva! Nishikawa! Ibushi! Sekiguchi! Masato! Nomura!
1st Pair:
New Zealand shotputter Tomas Walsh versus Yuuki Nomura!
Umm..slight size advantage for Walsh. Nomura definitely has to THSOFEP.
And it's not contest! Walsh totally overpowers Nomura!
2nd Pair:
Battle of the MMA fighters! Wanderlei Silva versus Masato!
Both THSOFEP. Silva does a throat slash gesture and Masato slams the wall in response. Heh. A bit more contentious than usual.
CMs.
Back.
Silva with the slight early lead. Almost halfway there for Silva. Masato's hope is that Silva gets gassed soon. And that might be what is happening! Masato making a push. But he can't get back to the middle. Into the last thirty seconds. Now or never for Masato. Silva just pushing with this body now. And that's it! Silva wins!
3rd Pair:
Hiroshima Carp's Ryoma Nishikawa versus Mandy Sekiguchi!
Sekiguchi THSOFEP as soon as he hits the stage.
And Mandy dominates Nishikawa!
4th Pair:
Pro wrestler Kota Ibushi versus New Zealand's All Blacks member Nepo Laulala
Ibushi need not THSOFEP as it is his common mode of dress. Laulala keeps his uniform on.
CMs.
Back. Laulala gets the early lead! And he does it! Ibushi jobs even though he didn't want to. Tsuyosugiru!
2nd Round
1st Pair:
Walsh versus Silva
Walsh dispatched Nomura in all of six seconds. Silva's match with Masato was the only one to go the distance.
Walsh THSOFEP, as does Silva and the crowd still pops both times. They just want to see nipples, man.
Gamesmanship before the start.
Walsh with the early lead but Silva's not giving up. But Walsh moving forward now. Almost there. And that's it! Walsh is into the final!
2nd Pair:
Sekiguchi versus Laulala
Sekiguchi and Laulala had fairly easy routes to the semifinal.
Dochi da?
CMs.
Back.
And Laulala dominates! Ouch, not a good day for the Spodan boys.
Consolation round:
Silva versus Sekiguchi
Sekiguchi with the early lead. Silva got a bad jump and is pretty much standing straight up. And that's it! Sekiguchi wins!
Final:
Walsh versus Laulala
It's an all New Zealand final as the shotputter takes on the rugger!
Laulala finally gives in and THSOFEP.
Laulala with the early lead! Walsh struggling! And that's it! Laulala wins!
Your winner: Nepo Laulala!
Shotgun Touch!
I'm the fastest man on the planet.
Justin Gatlin is the current world champion in the 100 meters and...well, let's just say that there is some controversy around him right now and leave it at that.
Let's go through all our competitors!
Ah, who cares. KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE KANE.
CMs.
12m00cm
Whit Merrifield up first. No problem.
Kenji Fujimitsu up next. And he gets it with his head! Literally, the ball bounced off his head.
Justin Gatlin to go. And no doubt there.
J-League's Kensuke Nagai next! And he clips it with his hand!
Ryoma Nishikawa is here too after his short Power Wall run. And he just gets it too!
Japanese American football player Takashi Kurihara is up! And he's through!
Gaku Sano is the current Sports Danshi Geinojin Shotgun Touch record holder at 12m80cm. And he catches the ball!
Kane Kosugi~! is next! Kane's best is 13m10cm. The overall record is Nagai's 13m60cm. And he gets it!
Everyone is through!
12m20cm
Two chances from here on in.
Merrifield up first. And he gets it with his arm this time.
Nagai, Fujimitus, Kurihara and Sano all pass.
Kane~! goes for a try. And he gets it!
Gatlin goes for it and it hits his back! Umm..he's pretty fast.
12m40cm
Nishikawa up first. And did he get it? No indication yet. Slo-mo shows he got it!
Sano next. And he catches another one! Psychological warfare on the part of Sano.
Kane~! up. No! He misses quite clearly. Someone passed in the background.
2nd Try
Do or die for Kane~!
CMs.
Back.
Shingi lamp is on. NO!
That's it for Kane~!
12m60cm
Nagai is first up.
Kurihara needs the slo-mo but he's through!
Merrifield has THSOFEP. And he's through!
Gatlin gets the red lamp! He missed the ball pretty much due to his technique of diving into a pool.
2nd Try
Nishikawa THSOFEP. But he doesn't get it! He's done for the night!
Gatlin's 2nd try now. Can he fix his technique? And this time he hits it with his head.
12m80cm
Gaku Sano up first. This is his personal best. He doesn't catch so it might have gone through his arms. And he didn't touch it at all before he fell so that's his first failure!
Fujimitsu next. And he gets it!
Gatlin up. No problem although he still has that diving into the water with his head down thing going.
2nd Try
Do or die for Sano. NO! He missed the button! He's out!
13m00cm
Just for the record, it looks like the button can go back to a maximum of 19 meters.
Merrifield up first. Shingi lamp time. He just gets it!
Fujimitsu, Nagai, Kurihara all miss on their first try.
Again, Gatlin's form costs him. He jumps way too short.
2nd Try
Nagai is through!
Kurihara gets the Shingi lamp. If anything he JUST got it. But no! He just missed. He's done!
Fujimitsu...doesn't get it yet. But the slo-mo shows he did! He's through!
Gatlin's 2nd try is interrupted by some CMs.
The way the announcer says United States of America so dramatically made me laugh.
And again! He mistimed his jump and missed the ball!
13m10cm
Nagai first. He gets it with the side of his arm.
And Merrifield is through!
And so is Fujimitsu!
Fujimitsu actually overshot the ball a bit.
13m20cm
Soccer! Track! Baseball! Which sport will come out on top?
Nagai first up. And he's still going!
Merrifield comes up just short on his first attempt!
As does Fujimitsu.
2nd Try
Whitfield up first.
CMs.
Shingi lamp on. NO! That's it for Whit!
If Fujimitsu doesn't get this, it's another win for Nagai.
Masaka no miss! Ouch, what a way to end it. Fujimitsu misses the button and that's it.
Your winner: Kesuke Nagai!
Well, Kane didn't take any events but considering his competition, he did pretty well. It may not have been the comeback he wanted but it showed he still has something left in the tank. Let's hope we can see him again!
