Beleaguered yokozuna Musashimaru shrugged off calls for him to throw in the towel once and for all by rebounding from back-to-back losses to shunt out Aminishiki at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday.
Musashimaru, who missed all or part of the last six basho due to a nagging wrist injury and has come under mounting pressure to retire, never gave No. 3 maegashira Aminishiki (1-3) a look in the day's finale at Fukuoka Kokusai Center.
The 235-kg Samoan-born hulk opened with a cheeky slap at the face off and quickly completed the job with a pair of mighty shoves to get back on the winning track at 2-2.
Fellow yokozuna Asashoryu also managed to come through unscathed despite an early scare as the Kyushu defending champion countered to send third-ranked Tamanoshima (3-1) backpedaling out of the ring for his third win of the tourney.