All violence, no butt cheeks: Wrestler Sandstorm sells us on World Elite Sumo

In addition to Grand Sumo and amateur sumo (or amazumo) there are also some pro sumo organizations popping up, like World Elite Sumo. Pro sumo features paid athletes competing for prizes, while also being part of a live event spectacle.

Interest in sumo, across all these dimensions, is rising. I say this as someone who writes a bestselling sumo newsletter (over here if you’re interested) and someone who has seen the readership expand greatly over the last few years. That rise has been especially noticeable in the last six months, likely due to the wildly successful Grand Sumo exhibition tournament that was held in London last year (there’s another one planned for Paris this year).

World Elite Sumo is seeking to capture a lot of this rising interest in sumo and draw North American audiences to events that feature mostly very big guys smashing into each other and trying to force each other onto the ground or out of the ring.

Sandstorm said the WES approach is designed to convert US audiences into sumo fans by keeping some of the most appealing aspects of traditional sumo in place, while shelving some of the more unusual components.

“We’re trying to mix between the tradition and modernity,” he said. “We’re trying to present sumo to a new generation. Anyone can watch the pros in Japan, with the all the old traditions, but there is sumo here in America, too.”

Sandstorm also said he understood that it was an uphill battle trying to convince American sports fans that sumo is something they should be paying attention to.

“People who are not familiar with sumo see it as just two fat guys pushing each other, but real sumo is really entertaining. It’s fast and there’s lots of technique and we are working, at World Elite Sumo, to try and make that easy to watch and easy to understand. We need fans to open their mind to this new entertainment, but we are trying to make it easy for them when they do.”

There’s one particular move WES has made to make sumo more comfortable for US fans that Sandstorm is very happy about. During this event on Saturday, every competitor will wear shorts underneath the traditional mawashi. This means no one in the Prudential Center is going to be getting almost a full moon in front of them during every bout.

Sandstorm said that the traditional look of sumo wrestlers in Japan has proved to be a big barrier for US fans, who are not used to seeing athletes compete in that kind of attire. He also said that the dress code in Grand Sumo hurt his chances of becoming popular in his native Egypt.

“Not everybody can accept seeing me almost naked fighting in front of them,” said Sandstorm. “I would say that about fifty percent of the audience of sumo around the world probably accept that and the other half probably aren’t comfortable with that. So, with us wearing shorts, that’s how we want to make it easy to watch.”

Sandstorm added that, with the wrestlers wearing shorts, it will be easier for fans to focus on the technical aspect of the sport. That technical aspect includes the grappling and counter-grappling that happens on and around their large belts.

“Honestly, the main goal of everyone at World Elite Sumo is to represent a high level of pro sumo here in the US and show that to the world,” he said.

Sandstorm also wanted to make it very clear that this weekend’s event was not an exhibition and that each of the twelve competitors were going to fight with a level of intensity that we see in Grand Sumo. This includes hard tachiai (opening clashes) and hard palm striking and elbows (closed fists are not allowed in sumo).

The tournament itself will feature competitors who range from 190 lbs to 400 lbs. Sandstorm said he anticipates weighing around 350 lbs. at the tournament. Unlike Grand Sumo, the bouts in WES are best of three. That might be the most exciting and interesting part of the show for me (someone who is fine with seeing dudes’ butt cheeks).

Best of three allows for adjustments between bouts and new levels of strategy. Often in Grand Sumo bouts are over in seconds and sometimes the finishes are extremely close. On rare occasions an immediate rematch is called for, but often you’re left wishing to see wrestlers square off more than once to truly settle who is the best wrestler on the night.

Sandstorm, who competed in Grand Sumo and lived in the Otake stable from 2012 to 2015, is training by himself these days. He said he does weight training and traditional sumo training including suri-ashi (a drill where you walk in a squat while sliding your feet), matawari (sitting in a split) and shiko (the famous sumo stomp).

Sandstorm says he does between 100 and 300 shiko a day. Try doing one yourself and then consider how hard that it.

When it comes to fight night on Saturday, Sandstorm is hoping all that work will pay off and he’ll be able to win the tournament. He told me he’ll be looking to employ the same style of sumo he used in Japan, a style that got him to the second division (a level thousands of Grand Sumo wrestlers never make it to).

Sandstorm’s opening move is the kachiage, which is an elbow/forearm strike. From there he likes to soften opponents up with palm strikes known as tsuppari. After a little striking he likes to use a migi-yotsu, which involves putting your right arm inside the opponent’s left arm and putting your left arm on the outside of their right arm. From this position he will try to grab his opponent’s belt and force them out the ring.

Sandstorm again enforced that he, and his rivals, will be going at one hundred percent on Saturday and he’s not going to hold back when it comes to laying in that elbow or mashing his palm into someone’s nose. Despite that, he hoped he would see lots of families at the event.

“We are kids friendly. There’s no blood. We really fight, but it’s not extreme violence.”

There’s blood in sumo sometimes, but I agree with Sandstorm that it’s a great sport to watch with kids (my six year-old loves it).

World Elite Sumo’s Pro Sumo – New Era happens this Saturday (May 26, 2026) at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. You can watch the whole show on Triller TV starting at 8 p.m. ET.