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Ryota Hama becomes the most surprising and least experienced Triple Crown champion in history

The big news from today's All Japan Sumo Hall show (for full results go to www.purolove.com) is that Ryota Hama upset veteran Satoshi Kojima in the main event to become the 19th wrestler in history to hold AJPW's Triple Crown championship. The result is surprising given Hama's vast inexperience compared to most other previous Triple Crown champions. Hama debuted less than 18 months ago and has been given a huge push due to his sumo background. In 2009, he won the All-Asia Tag Team Championship with former sumo superstar Akebono and in the Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards won Rookie of the Year and Tag Team of the Year, also with Akebono. His victory in the arena where he used to compete in sumo was well received, but whether someone who is so green and inexperienced in working lengthy main event singles matches will be accepted as a long term champion is certainly questionable. However, even if it may be too soon to put the belt on Hama, All Japan desperately needs to create new stars for the future, as all their top stars are pretty old and banged up. This is a theme that unfortunately pervades most major wrestling promotions around the world, not just in Japan.