Americans Hate Tingle: Akebono was often looked down by Western puroresu fans, especially from the States, as he was basically the kind of wrestler they were accustomed to hate: a slow, huge superheavyweight monster with little charisma by American standards and natural problems to work good matches from a classical standpoint. His reception among American Dragon Gate fans is particularly bad, given that all of this made Akebono exactly the opposite to what DG is specialized on.
Critical Backlash: People who only know the numbers of Akebono's losing record in K-1 might come to believe he was simply an absolute failure on the kickboxing ring. In truth, while Akebono certainly lacked both training and natural skills, he actually did pretty well for someone in his position, considering that most of his opponents were either world-level fighters with an enormous experience advantage (Musashi, Bonjasky, Roufus) or simply horrible matchups for him (Sapp, Choi). He still took all the first three to the third round, which is not something their usual opponents could say.
Critical Dissonance: While many despise him, Akebono never stopped being a massive draw in Japan.
Like You Would Really Do It: A subversion. When Akebono announced he was leaving AJPW to create the Odo promotion, most people thought it was just a move to create interest in AJPW with an invasion angle, as the notoriously bad situation in the Japanese pro wrestling landscape at the time made unrealistic that someone could think of starting a brand new promotion with so few means. Then it turned out that it wasn't an angle whatsoever and that 'bono was starting his own company for real. (However, it got quickly subverted after all, given that the promotion only celebrated three events from 2015 to 2017, mainly due to Akebono's failing health).
His losing record in K-1, which earned him the nickname of "Makebono" ("make" being the Japanese word for loss), profiled him as a failure of a fighter, even if he did reasonably well in several of those matches despite losing.
Him playing a baby gimmick (not babyface, but a literal baby) in HUSTLE didn't improve his post-retirement reputation in the world of sumo, where Akebono was already looked down for his bad investments, failed fighting career and decision to become a pro wrestler. Persistent rumors that his wife had left him in real life due to the embarrassment of the gimmick didn't help, even although Akebono's handlers denied them all the time and his marriage still stands today.
The Scrappy: For Western puroresu fans. Very rarely you could find a review whose writer was not taking shots at Akebono while narrating his matches.
Every time Akebono got picked up by an opponent and/or took a hard bump, especially if said opponent didn't look like he was able to lift him until that point.
Every time he climbed up the top rope.
The Woobie: He left the world of sumo in bad terms, lost all his money in the wrong business, and got beaten down and humiliated in kickboxing rings. Even if he was made wear a pacifier for a time and is often scoffed by his performance and physique, it seems becoming a pro wrestler was the only good thing in Akebono's post-sumo career. And even then, he suffered an acute heart failure in 2018 and has been rendered amnesiac and unable to walk anymore. Sometimes, life is just a bitch.
