One of the most famous rikishi of all time was never promoted to the rank of yokozuna.

That decision to deny Saleva'a Atisano'e (better known as Konishiki) the sport's top rank in the early 1990s almost caused a diplomatic incident and was certainly played up in the media at a time when Japan-U.S. relations were under great strain.

Whether or not the big Hawaiian actually deserved promotion is harder to say.