He was helped along by the 2011 match fixing scandal which saw many wrestlers forced to retire, and in September 2011 was promoted to his career high rank of Juryo 13 and become a sekitori.

[4] He also made his pro wrestling debut in WWE at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where he was the 7th entrant, but was quickly eliminated by Mark Henry.

[8] In February 2023, he announced that he participated in the filming of the Netflix series revolving around the world of professional sumo, Sanctuary, in which he plays the role of a wrestler (Shizuuchi).

[9][10] Hiroki Sumi made an appearance in John Wick: Chapter 4 playing the role of a guard in the Osaka Continental alongside fellow retired sumo wrestler Yoshinori Tashiro.

[11] In 2024 he was also cast as main title character in The Wide West, a film starring Alexander Nevsky, about a sumo wrestler's arrival in the United States.