Is the sumo career of top division wrestler Abi over?

The 26-year-old’s hopes of remaining a professional athlete after his most recent antics won’t be helped by the fact that the Japan Sumo Association has, for decades, used a version of cancel culture to punish wayward wrestlers and stablemasters.

Many of those who have transgressed against the JSA’s myriad rules (whether official or unwritten) in the past have found themselves out of the sport in short order, with no hope of ever making a return.