Been a bit of a busy week for TJPW stuff . I’m about halfway through the February 18 Nagoya show, which was almost as long as Korakuen . Some good developments happened on this one, though!
First up, Shino’s debut match announcement! I only had a transcript for the backstage comments portion.
Miu: “So, with that, Shino-chan’s debut has been set. How do you feel?”
Shino: “Frankly, I’m just so happy that I can finally work with everyone.” (cries)
Miu: “It was an honest surprise and she truly was caught off guard. But she has been preparing so that she can be ready to debut at any time. She was injured for a long time, but even then, she was always coming to the dojo and taking notes while doing as much as she could physically, and that’s why she was able to be ready in time for Ariake.”
Raku: “Don’t let (Miu) swing you!”
Shino: “When they were taking photos for the match announcement, I kept saying, ‘Why are they taking photos when my debut hasn’t been determined yet?’ Now I understand what it meant, and I’m so honored and so glad that I can make my debut surrounded by my senpais.” (crying) “…I haven’t debuted yet, but I’ll try not to get hurt. I’m going to work even harder. I’ll keep my spirits up.”
After that, Himawari got her first win while teaming with Yuki Aino! She defeated Wakana by submission. Here are Himawari and Yuki’s comments:
Aino: “Congratulations!”
HIMAWARI: “I won! I’m so happy. Last week, I lost to Wakana-san in a singles match, by submission. This time, I was determined not to give up. But Yuki-san was there helping me out.”
Aino: “I didn’t do anything.”
HIMAWARI: “I’m still frustrated. Are you glad that I won?”
Aino: “I could really feel HIMAWARI’s emotions, so I thought ‘Go for it!’ as I watched over her.”
HIMAWARI: “I was able to do it because I felt reassured that Yuki-san was there.”
Aino: “Really?”
HIMAWARI: “It’s true!”
Aino: “Not only was I able to be her debut opponent, but I was there for her first victory as well. That was a great experience for me as a wrestler. Thank you.”
HIMAWARI: “Yuki-san has been there for all of my important moments.”
Aino: “I won’t be able to look after you in the future.” (she laughs, then holds her hands above her head) “This is HIMAWARI’s pose.”
HIMAWARI: “I was able to make it bloom. Next will be in a singles match with Wakana-san, and then with Yuki-san… It’ll be juniors overthrowing senpais.”
Aino: "OK, let’s do it. I’m not going to lose.”
HIMAWARI: “I’m not losing either!”
I was a bit confused by the interviewer’s question here: “フィニッシュへのこだわりは?” (Proud of myself for figuring out what she was talking about with the 片エビ, though!)
(Your choice of finisher?)
“I noticed while watching TJPW that there are a lot of people who use a Boston Crab, so I thought it would be better to go with something different, so I choose to use a Half Crab. This time, I absolutely had to get a submission victory, so forcing her to tap out to the Half Crab was my only choice.”
Then Yuki said “こだわり大事”, which confused me again, haha.
Aino: “It’s important to have a speciality.”
HIMAWARI: “The Half Crab is a move that I never want to take myself.” (laughs)
I thought Miu vs Janai Kai was a lot of fun! I was really excited to see Rika come out and challenge for the belt next; I think that’ll be a great test for Miu. It didn’t even occur to me until it came up in her comments that this’ll be her first challenger who’s a senpai of hers…
I think the post-match translation went alright? I had Mr. Haku’s help again, haha (he recently suggested on twitter that he might not be sticking around in wrestling fandom terribly much longer, so I’m enjoying his contributions while we still have them…)
(After the match, Tatsumi comes and puts the belt on Miu.)
Tatsumi: “Miu, great job! Congratulations on your defense. You know, we’ve been fighting together as Daydream for a long time, and I’ve seen from up close as you’ve gotten better and better on your own, getting results and winning that belt, and shining so brightly. I’ve been thinking; I really want to fight you! So, can I be the next candidate to challenge for your belt?”
Miu: “Well… If Rika-san hadn’t been here, I might not have come to love pro wrestling as much as I do now, and because I was with Rika-san as Daydream, I was able to grow enough to win this belt. I want to surpass Rika-san one day, so I want to have a singles match, but, um… I’ll do my best.”
Tatsumi: “Does that mean OK?”
Miu: “Yes.”
Tatsumi: “Say it properly!”
Miu: “Let’s have a singles match at Ariake on March 18 with this belt on the line!”
Tatsumi: “Thank you!”
In Miu’s comments, she confused me right away with her second line, haha: “だんだん見えてなかった景色って、こういうものなんだな、こんな色のものもあるんだなって日々感じることが多くて.”
Miu: “This was my third defense. I feel like day by day, I’m able to see more and more of a view that I hadn’t seen before, things like this, colors like this. I was thinking about this belt at first, wanting to become like my senpais, wanting to see new scenery, wanting to bulk up and become a stronger, better wrestler. Rika-san is a senpai whom I really respect, and while I’m happy that she put her name forward, I have some mixed feelings. But I think precisely because Rika-san came forward here, now is the time for me to surpass her. So I will go beyond her and defend this belt, and I will do my best so that after Ariake, I can go to America as the International Champion.”
In the second part, I think I got the first couple sentences:
(Concerning the title defense against a senpai)
“Rika-san challenging for the International belt was unexpected. I’d thought that I’d like to fight Rika-san after I had become truly capable of standing on my own in the course of defending this belt.”
These two sentences I wasn’t quite sure about: “私が逆に挑戦するぐらいの気持ちだったので、まさかのこのタイミングで、え、となって。しかも、試合終わったあとに急に巻いてくれたんですよ。それがなんか逆に怖くて.”
“I thought I’d be the one who’d challenge her, so when it happened out of the blue like this, I was like ‘huh?’ Not only that, but after the match, she suddenly came up and put the belt around my waist. That’s like the opposite of scary. She grabbed a microphone right after she did it, so I was really scared, but when I saw the awesome Rika-san just coming right out and saying it, I thought, ‘This is the person I admire, the Rika-san who stands next to me,’ and I wanted to surpass her even more.”
(Janai’s kicks were very strong; what did you think about her?)
“Her kicks were awesome. I have seen a variety of wrestlers who specialize in kicks come to TJPW, but this was a kick with foreign blood. She was very intimidating, and I felt a different force compared to the Japanese wrestlers. Her kicks, without shoes or anything, simply barefoot, they were American style… I thought it was amazing. I felt the world.”
Janai’s comments were short and in English:
Janai: “I was this close. This close! Miu, I will say, I did underestimate you just a little bit. But thank you, because this is a dream of mine. It’s a dream of mine to be here. But just know, TJPW, this isn’t the last time that you’ve heard or seen the Kick Demon Janai Kai.”
In Rika’s comments, I think I got the first sentence, but wasn’t quite sure about the rest of this chunk: “未詩とは白昼夢として、若手の時は私が引っ張って、頑張っていかなきゃなって強く思ってたんですけど、いまや東京女子を代表するトップ選手の一人だから。そんな未詩と有明でシングル、闘えるというのが世界中にアピールする、いい闘いができると思うので、楽しみにしていてほしいです.”
Tatsumi: “I’m sure there are lots of folks who didn’t expect that I of all people would challenge for the International Princess belt, but I think I was able to give them a good surprise. I’m with Miu as Daydream, but when I was younger, I strongly believed that it should be me who was working hard and leading the company, and now I’m one of the top wrestlers representing TJPW. In my singles match with Miu at Ariake, I think we’ll be able to have a good match that will appeal to the entire world, so please look forward to it!” (in English) “Don’t miss it!”
I wasn’t sure about this sentence at the start of Rika’s response to the interviewer: “未詩とは白昼夢なのでとなりにいることがどうしても多くて.”
(You want to fight Miu as she is now more than you want to challenge for the belt?)
“Yes. We’re together as Daydream, so we tend to be near each other. We had a singles match when I was holding the (PoP) belt, and we only fought once when Miu was on the challenger’s side. Get your tickets now so that you can see how it goes when we’re in opposite positions this time!”
And that’s it for now! The main event is slightly more than half of the workload for this one, and I’m hoping I can finish it soon.
Then after that, I want to do the translation for the TJPW match at Mutoh’s retirement show, which shouldn’t be too much work, and then they did a presser for Yuka vs Mizuki and Arai vs Aja Kong… . I think there’s a VOD show this week, too, but that’ll be my last priority after the rest.