April 25, 2025 • 8 mins
We talk to Corey Morrison, who launched Dallas Sumo Club!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Boom Happy Friday on The Eagle ninety seven point one
The Eagle. Hope everybody has awesome, awesome plans this weekend.
I know what we're going to be doing. This is
the Ben and Skin Show, and we're broadcasting live from
Rollertown Beer Works in Salina, Texas. It's a brewer that
we're invested in and we're super happy to be here
today of this remote broadcast. And the reason we're here
is Rollertown is promoting a sumo weekend. This is something
(00:23):
that started I don't know four years ago now, yeah,
this year, four year four of a sumo wrestling tournament
that is real sumo wrestling, and it all came together
because of the Dallas Sumo Club and the Dallas Sumo
Club is something that we now know very well. They're
our family. And the leader of the Dallas Sumo Club
I don't know if there's an official title, but he's
(00:44):
the leader, Corey Morrison joins us. Now, how you doing,
Corey Man?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I am doing great. It's so fun to be out
here half naked in front of the people of Salina
doing sumo.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Who are you normally half naked in front.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Of Well, she's over there the OK. But hey, look
so uh we are super stoked to be out here
for a for a fourth year in a row doing
sumo and roller Town has helped us so much. They
(01:21):
I think, you guys just are as crazy as we
are and want to get the I want to push
American sumo forward.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yes, it's a great match, it's a great partnership, and
uh well we'll get into more on that. But it
like for people listening throughout Dallas Fort Worth, they probably
are thinking what I thought initially, and and again I'm sorry,
I'm an idiot.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
That is what I thought.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Initially. I was like, I heard we were doing sumo,
and my brother Jonathan was telling us about it, and
we're like, okay, awesome. So they put on the suits
and they get in there and and he goes, no, no,
this is proper sumo wrestling. We reached out to the
Japanese Consulate of Dallas. They told us about the Dallas
Sumo Club, and so I didn't know what to expect.
The moment I witnessed it and saw it, I fell
in love and I realized how cool it was. First
(02:05):
of all, I didn't know that about the circle and
that you had to push a guy out of the circle.
And I watched such craftsmanship and I was witnessing like
a true culture. And I was so impressed with the
Dallas Sumo Club and what you guys were able to do.
And so we were off to the races with this
magical partnership. But I want to ask you this for
people listening throughout Dallas Fort Worth right now, why start
(02:27):
a sumo club? Well, that sounds like something there's not
a good answer for.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Because it was needed Dallas. Dallas, Texas did not have
a sumo club. There's other sumo clubs that have been
around a little bit longer. There's a Mighty Eagle in
San Antonio. We got Dark Circle in Austin, we got
show Geky in Houston, and look, we needed to fill
(02:56):
that void. And there is a lot of lot of
strong dudes and girls in Dallas that love to get rowdy, fight,
tear it up. And there's also a huge, huge presence
of Japanese people within DFW, and it was just a
(03:17):
good fit. DFW's rowdy and there's a lot of different
cultures going on, and we thought it'd be a great fit.
We didn't originally want to do it. We got a
little bit bullied into it. But obviously it's been good
so far.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
But there's got to be some entry point if you're
just tuning in. This is Cory Morrison, he heads up.
What is the title? We say you were heading up
the Dallas Sumo Club. Is there an official title for this?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
It is?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
It's ota figured because you guys have an official title
for things, and I don't know the vernacular, and I
feel stupid, but how did you get into this in
the first place?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So the first my first exposure to sumo was Uh,
I was working a government job. Big shout out the
my coworkers are doing the broadcast from that job.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
They're doing it.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
They're doing it for the Rollertown showed on SZUMO tournament
this weekend. So uh, it was during COVID. There was
a lot of downtime. Luke, if you're listening, I'm sorry.
I was on YouTube a lot when I should have
been working, and uh, something popped up in the sidebar.
It was called it was a documentary called Wave of
the Wolf, and it was about a Suma wrestler called
(04:30):
Chiono Fuji who looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I I had
that Western perspective, you know, two fat guys and diapers. Yeah,
this guy, Japanese Arnold Swarzenegger, handsome, ripped strong. Watched that,
took it to the girlfriend and was like, hey, I
think we might be sumo fans now. She watched it,
totally agreed. We went down to Austin, got our butts kicked,
(04:54):
said let's just be fans. Then we went to a tournament,
saw how many sumo wrestlers are all across the United States.
They descended on Austin. We were sold. We had to
make a club after that. Okay, Dallas had to have
some representation in that fight.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
You started dabbling and wrestling a little bit, and then
you're like, let's create our own thing exactly. Yeah, yeah, Okay,
we are tackling. I got beat.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Okay, they broke my ribs and made me throw up.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
That sounds rough.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Okay, that sounds fun.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
I want to do that more so.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
We're talking to Oi Yakata from the Did I get
that right? Okay? Brother Dallas Sumo Club Corey Morrison. He
starts this sumo club. It's now large, and man, it
is really cool to see how many members there are.
How passionate people are about it and we get to
dip into that culture. We'll be doing that all week
in here. But there's also like if if people don't know,
(05:49):
explain to us who your VIP guest is from Japan.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So we wanted to do this tournament a little bit differently,
and we wanted to you, uh, not only pushed sumo
forth in Dallas, but bring it from Japan to Dallas
directly mainline it.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
And so one of our friends who is a former
professional sumo wrestler, his name is Gagamadu.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
He reached the rank of komo subi, which is really
high within professional sumo. He's a crazy guy just like us.
He loves Dallas. He's a party boy. He's a great
wrestler and a good friend. And he was like, I
think i'll come to that. That sounds fun and let
me show you the ways of pro sumo and uh
(06:39):
So he did that and it's been wonderful. Rollertown was
crazy enough to take a chance to help us to
fly him out and so, uh, now he's familiar with
the staff, he's familiar with you guys, he's familiar with
the fans that show.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Up wearied with him.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
That's crazy.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, okay, So explain how what the tournament was before
and what it is now since Gaga Maru has been involved.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So, uh, just American sumo in general has been getting
better and better and bigger every year. Uh. In the
in the nineties late eighties, there was a bit of
a search because there was a lot of Hawaiians doing
sumot at professional sumo at the top level, people like
Ake Bono, Koniski, Musashimdu. You could you used to build
(07:28):
a tune into ESPN and watch some sumo. They all
went away after they retired. There was a huge dip.
And now, for whatever reason, sumo has caught fire, and uh,
it is blowing up all over the United States. And
I'm super happy to say that Texas is leading that charge.
There is more active sumo wrestlers within Texas than anywhere
(07:51):
else in the United States of America.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
All right.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Coming up next, let's find out how Corey ended up
being with the Dallas Sumo Club on the cover of
Texas Monthly magazine. We'll do that next.
Boom Happy Friday on The Eagle ninety seven point one
The Eagle. Hope everybody has awesome, awesome plans this weekend.
I know what we're going to be doing. This is
the Ben and Skin Show, and we're broadcasting live from
Rollertown Beer Works in Salina, Texas. It's a brewer that
we're invested in and we're super happy to be here
today of this remote broadcast. And the reason we're here
is Rollertown is promoting a sumo weekend. This is something
(00:23):
that started I don't know four years ago now, yeah,
this year, four year four of a sumo wrestling tournament
that is real sumo wrestling, and it all came together
because of the Dallas Sumo Club and the Dallas Sumo
Club is something that we now know very well. They're
our family. And the leader of the Dallas Sumo Club
I don't know if there's an official title, but he's
(00:44):
the leader, Corey Morrison joins us. Now, how you doing,
Corey Man?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I am doing great. It's so fun to be out
here half naked in front of the people of Salina
doing sumo.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Who are you normally half naked in front.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Of Well, she's over there the OK. But hey, look
so uh we are super stoked to be out here
for a for a fourth year in a row doing
sumo and roller Town has helped us so much. They
(01:21):
I think, you guys just are as crazy as we
are and want to get the I want to push
American sumo forward.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yes, it's a great match, it's a great partnership, and
uh well we'll get into more on that. But it
like for people listening throughout Dallas Fort Worth, they probably
are thinking what I thought initially, and and again I'm sorry,
I'm an idiot.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
That is what I thought.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Initially. I was like, I heard we were doing sumo,
and my brother Jonathan was telling us about it, and
we're like, okay, awesome. So they put on the suits
and they get in there and and he goes, no, no,
this is proper sumo wrestling. We reached out to the
Japanese Consulate of Dallas. They told us about the Dallas
Sumo Club, and so I didn't know what to expect.
The moment I witnessed it and saw it, I fell
in love and I realized how cool it was. First
(02:05):
of all, I didn't know that about the circle and
that you had to push a guy out of the circle.
And I watched such craftsmanship and I was witnessing like
a true culture. And I was so impressed with the
Dallas Sumo Club and what you guys were able to do.
And so we were off to the races with this
magical partnership. But I want to ask you this for
people listening throughout Dallas Fort Worth right now, why start
(02:27):
a sumo club? Well, that sounds like something there's not
a good answer for.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Because it was needed Dallas. Dallas, Texas did not have
a sumo club. There's other sumo clubs that have been
around a little bit longer. There's a Mighty Eagle in
San Antonio. We got Dark Circle in Austin, we got
show Geky in Houston, and look, we needed to fill
(02:56):
that void. And there is a lot of lot of
strong dudes and girls in Dallas that love to get rowdy, fight,
tear it up. And there's also a huge, huge presence
of Japanese people within DFW, and it was just a
(03:17):
good fit. DFW's rowdy and there's a lot of different
cultures going on, and we thought it'd be a great fit.
We didn't originally want to do it. We got a
little bit bullied into it. But obviously it's been good
so far.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
But there's got to be some entry point if you're
just tuning in. This is Cory Morrison, he heads up.
What is the title? We say you were heading up
the Dallas Sumo Club. Is there an official title for this?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
It is?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
It's ota figured because you guys have an official title
for things, and I don't know the vernacular, and I
feel stupid, but how did you get into this in
the first place?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So the first my first exposure to sumo was Uh,
I was working a government job. Big shout out the
my coworkers are doing the broadcast from that job.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
They're doing it.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
They're doing it for the Rollertown showed on SZUMO tournament
this weekend. So uh, it was during COVID. There was
a lot of downtime. Luke, if you're listening, I'm sorry.
I was on YouTube a lot when I should have
been working, and uh, something popped up in the sidebar.
It was called it was a documentary called Wave of
the Wolf, and it was about a Suma wrestler called
(04:30):
Chiono Fuji who looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I I had
that Western perspective, you know, two fat guys and diapers. Yeah,
this guy, Japanese Arnold Swarzenegger, handsome, ripped strong. Watched that,
took it to the girlfriend and was like, hey, I
think we might be sumo fans now. She watched it,
totally agreed. We went down to Austin, got our butts kicked,
(04:54):
said let's just be fans. Then we went to a tournament,
saw how many sumo wrestlers are all across the United States.
They descended on Austin. We were sold. We had to
make a club after that. Okay, Dallas had to have
some representation in that fight.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
You started dabbling and wrestling a little bit, and then
you're like, let's create our own thing exactly. Yeah, yeah, Okay,
we are tackling. I got beat.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Okay, they broke my ribs and made me throw up.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
That sounds rough.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Okay, that sounds fun.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
I want to do that more so.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
We're talking to Oi Yakata from the Did I get
that right? Okay? Brother Dallas Sumo Club Corey Morrison. He
starts this sumo club. It's now large, and man, it
is really cool to see how many members there are.
How passionate people are about it and we get to
dip into that culture. We'll be doing that all week
in here. But there's also like if if people don't know,
(05:49):
explain to us who your VIP guest is from Japan.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So we wanted to do this tournament a little bit differently,
and we wanted to you, uh, not only pushed sumo
forth in Dallas, but bring it from Japan to Dallas
directly mainline it.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
And so one of our friends who is a former
professional sumo wrestler, his name is Gagamadu.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
He reached the rank of komo subi, which is really
high within professional sumo. He's a crazy guy just like us.
He loves Dallas. He's a party boy. He's a great
wrestler and a good friend. And he was like, I
think i'll come to that. That sounds fun and let
me show you the ways of pro sumo and uh
(06:39):
So he did that and it's been wonderful. Rollertown was
crazy enough to take a chance to help us to
fly him out and so, uh, now he's familiar with
the staff, he's familiar with you guys, he's familiar with
the fans that show.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Up wearied with him.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
That's crazy.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, okay, So explain how what the tournament was before
and what it is now since Gaga Maru has been involved.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So, uh, just American sumo in general has been getting
better and better and bigger every year. Uh. In the
in the nineties late eighties, there was a bit of
a search because there was a lot of Hawaiians doing
sumot at professional sumo at the top level, people like
Ake Bono, Koniski, Musashimdu. You could you used to build
(07:28):
a tune into ESPN and watch some sumo. They all
went away after they retired. There was a huge dip.
And now, for whatever reason, sumo has caught fire, and uh,
it is blowing up all over the United States. And
I'm super happy to say that Texas is leading that charge.
There is more active sumo wrestlers within Texas than anywhere
(07:51):
else in the United States of America.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
All right.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Coming up next, let's find out how Corey ended up
being with the Dallas Sumo Club on the cover of
Texas Monthly magazine. We'll do that next.
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