Finished the March 20 TJPW press conference! The transcript for it is here and the video is here!
I kept wondering if they were going to actually translate this one officially, since it’s for the L.A. show, but apparently not! 
The first half of it was partially in English, since it’s for Billie Starkz vs Rika, which has just became a title match. Rika’s outfit and coke absolutely killed me, haha!
Interestingly, the part where the wrestlers were asked to give a message in English wasn’t in the transcript, but thanks to the auto-captioning on the youtube video, I think I was able to figure out what Namba asked them.
Billie: (in English) “I was going to request for this match to be for the title after what happened at Grand Princess show. I believe the champion should be a fighting champion. I’m so excited for our match up in L.A., and I can’t wait to see what our match will bring."
Rika: “For me, too, I won this belt at Ariake Coliseum from my dear partner, so I wanted to do something interesting and defend it loads of times against tough opponents and strange opponents. For my scheduled match at the L.A. show, I was also hoping to make it a title match, so this makes me happy. This is my first defense, and I will definitely defend my title.”
Namba: “Thank you. Rika Tatsumi, please give a short message in English for all of the fans in America.”
Rika: (in English) “OK.” (laughs) “OK. I can win! She’s a loser! Go to… hell? No, no, no! Let’s go to paradise together! Thank you!”
Interviewer: “Tatsumi, what’s with the sunglasses and the coke?”
Rika: “Ah, pardon me.” (takes a sip of Coca-Cola) (in Japanese) “Delicious.” (in English) “Yummy. Yummy, yummy!” (in Japanese) “It’s my first time going overseas, so I’m really looking forward to it. I’m really excited to go to a place like this with this belt, and I want to make my first defense and then scope out some tourist spots with this girl. That’s why I’ve coordinated my outfit today with America in mind. What do you think?"
Namba: “…I see.”
Interviewer: “Billie, how do you feel about having a title match in your own country?”
Billie: (in English) “I feel like I do have an advantage, being at my home, and having the support of people that have seen me grow from such a young age. Many people have followed my journey of wrestling since I was thirteen, and now I’ve been growing so much over the past five years. I’m excited to fight for the title at my home in front of people who have seen my journey.”
Interviewer: “Tatsumi, how do you feel about having a title match in your opponent’s country?”
Rika: “It might be by my opponent’s home, but since it’s a TJPW event, it’s my home. I’m not really worried about that.”
Interviewer: “This will be your first time facing each other, but what’s your impression of the other person?”
Billie: (in English) “I believe that she’s a very tough competitor. I’m very wary of the Dragon Sleeper that you’ve won the title with. But I feel like I have a gameplan that will counter everything that you can toss at me. Thank you.”
Rika’s answer here was really tricky ! She said, “ビリーちゃんの試合を見て、ティーンエイジャーということで若さゆえなのか元からなのかネジがぶっ飛んだ、クレイジーな、ジーザスな選手だと感じていたので、私も違った形で頭のネジをいっぱい外してギアを上げていかないとなと思ってます。おもしろいことができるんじゃないかなと楽しみです.”
Rika: “When I watch Billie-chan’s matches, I feel like she’s a teenager with some screws loose, whether that’s because she’s young or she was just like that from the start. She seems to be a crazy, Jesus-like wrestler, so I feel like I also have to remove a lot of the screws from my own head in a different way and shift into a higher gear. I’m looking forward to doing something that should be interesting.”
Interviewer: “Is Tatsumi’s ‘essence of America’ fashion correct?”
Billie: (in English) “9 out of 10. Very close to being perfect. I think Coca-Cola added to it. The glasses? Fire. Very good.”
Rika: (in English) “I’m very happy. Thank you!”
The second half of the presser had Miyu and Itoh, and as usual, they were very funny and also a lot of work to translate, haha.
I think I got the beginning:
Sakazaki: “Will this be our first time tagging as MagiRabbi after Ariake Coliseum last week? I think we’ll be able to show everyone a powered-up MagiRabbi at L.A., so please look forward to it!”
Mizuki: “Out of everyone here, I have the least amount of experience going overseas, but I’m currently the TJPW champion, so I’m not afraid of anything. I’m really excited to be able to wrestle in America individually and with Yuka-chi, so I’m going to enjoy it to the utmost.”
Yamashita: “We were able to win the Tag Team Championship from Max and Heidi’s team at Ariake. I think it’s a miracle that we were able to do it, because just a few years ago, I couldn’t even have imagined getting to experience this. I’m happy to have Itoh at my side. And just when I thought we’d defeated the monster, a different kind of monster stood in front of us. In any case, we won these tag belts, and MagiRabbi are an unavoidable tag team that we simply must beat. I think the March 31 L.A. show, TJPW’s first show in America, is the best time for us to fight. I’m confident that we can beat MagiRabbi now.”
Itoh: “It’s always fun to face MagiRabbi, but we just lose every time, so as tag team champions, we definitely can’t lose this time. We have to get results. And the Maki Itoh simps in America will get a chance to see TJPW’s Maki Itoh, not the Maki Itoh they usually see in America, so I hope they’re looking forward to it.”
Namba: “Thank you. Everyone, please give a short message in English for all of the fans in America.”
(in English)
Sakazaki: “I’m ready! Are you ready? AYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!”
Mizuki: “TJPW, ready, HAPPY HAPPY! Let’s have a lovely time together, please!”
Both: “Please!”
Yamashita: “Hi! Hi? Hi. March 31, TJPW’s show will be the best day, right? Looking forward to meeting everyone. Thank you.”
Itoh: “Hello motherfuckers! I’m the cutest in the world, Maki fucking Itoh! Yay! March 31, Maki Itoh will kick all the ass! Thank you, fuck you all!”
Yamashita: “Thank you!”
(in Japanese)
Interviewer: “Mizuki, you have a chance to become a double champion, don’t you?”
Mizuki’s answer here really confused me: “私はユカッチから勝って、ユカッチからベルトを受け取った瞬間にベルトの重さをあらためて感じたんですよ。防衛していこうってすごい気持ちがグッて引き締まったところでのタッグのタイトルマッチ.”
Mizuki: “The moment I received the belt from Yuka-chi after beating her, I felt the weight of it. I’m really motivated to protect it, and this tag title match is happening right on the tails of that win. We’re challenging next, but no one in TJPW has ever been a double champion, so I think I’m going to be the first to do it.”
Interviewer: “Has your relationship changed since the two of you won the tag belts two days ago?”
Itoh: “It hasn’t changed.”
Yamashita: (at the same time) “It changed. …No, I think it has changed!”
Itoh: “It hasn’t changed. We didn’t do anything. After the match ended, we talked for the first time. Nothing has changed!”
Yamashita: “No, I think it’s changed! We won the belts!”
I wasn’t quite sure about Itoh’s response: “タッグの証拠みたいなのはできたけど…”
Itoh: “We could have done something to prove our tag team bond…”
Yamashita: “Proof of our team… We had that even if we didn’t win the belts! You say that like we weren’t a real team until now. Like we were fake.” (in English) “No fake tag partner!”
Itoh: (interrupting) “That’s because you were calling us business partners!”
Yamashita: "I’m taking that back! Business partner was a misunderstanding!” (in English, mostly) “A mistake! My mistake! My mistake talking! Business partner is wrong. Business partner is my mistake. Sorry! You are the best partner!”
Sakazaki: “We won!”
Mizuki: “We did it!”
Sakazaki: “We’ll be okay!”
Itoh: “This is a bit… I dunno.”
Yamashita: “Please understand. I told you I love you!”
Itoh: “I don’t understand.”
Interviewer: “MagiRabbi, you’re already convinced that you’ll win?”
Sakazaki: “Yes. We can relax.”
Mizuki: “After all, they’re just a team of business partners, right?”
Yamashita: “But I took that back!”
Sakazaki: “That’s great. Miyu Yamashita was able to fix her mistake. This may be evolution.”
Mizuki: “That’s true. She’s growing at her current stage.”
Then Yuka said, “それはすごいかもしれない。だがしかし、ザルですね。余裕だから.” I wasn’t quite sure about what to do with ザル.
Sakazaki: “Isn’t that great? But she’s a sieve. So we can take it easy.”
Mizuki: “It’ll be MagiRabbi.”
I had a bit of trouble with the next question (mainly on the translation end, haha) and Yuka’s response:
――マジラビはまだ2日しか経ってないが、もう気持ちの切り替えはできている？
Interviewer: “Just two days have passed, but you’ve been able to switch emotions?”
坂崎 気持ちの切り替えというか、なんというか。自分への課題みたいなのはもちろんありますけど、関係性自体はね。
Sakazaki: “Switching feelings, or, well, how should I put it. Of course there are some challenges for me, but the relationship itself? Nah.”
Mizuki: “Yeah. We had dinner together yesterday, as well as after the match.”
Sakazaki: “What did we go out to eat after the match?”
Mizuki: “Dinner.”
Sakazaki: “Well, yeah! But what did we eat?”
Mizuki: “Omelet with rice and hamburgers. We ate meat!”
Sakazaki: “Yesterday we ate fish.”
Interviewer: “What do you feel is MagiRabbi’s strength?”
Yamashita: “In my opinion, their tag team power is amazing.”
I wasn’t quite sure about these sentences: “タッグ＝マジラビみたいなところは悔しいけどあるからこそ、私たちが倒さなきゃいけないって思ってるし。まぁ私と伊藤の関係は色々ありますけど、でも闘いとなれば私たちにとっては関係ないのかなと思うので.”
“The thought that tag team = MagiRabbi is frustrating, but that’s exactly why we have to beat them. And, well, my relationship with Itoh has a lot going on, but when it comes to fighting in the ring, I don’t think that matters to us. When it’s a matter of winning or losing, we’ll definitely get the win, and because it’s MagiRabbi, that feeling is even stronger. They’re opponents that we absolutely must beat. I don’t think that will change, and because they have such a large presence, I want to beat them and take them down.”
Interviewer: “Just because Yamashita was able to correct herself means that she has grown?”
Sakazaki: “That’s right. Because she’s Miyu Yamashita, you know?”
I had trouble with the ワッ and ワーっ in this, haha: “前はちょっとワッて言われると、ワーって返してたんですけど、今はこうやってそうじゃないですよって言えてるので.”
Sakazaki: “That’s right. Because she’s Miyu Yamashita, you know? Before, when someone would be like ‘ugh’, she’d be like ‘yeah!’, but now she’s capable of saying ‘it’s not like that’ like she just did.”
Interviewer: “Yamashita, are you aware of this growth?”
Yamashita: “…Yes. We are partners together, and I think I have to admit the things I did wrong.”
Sakzaki: “She said something about changing the concept of ‘business partner.’”
Yamashita: “After I said that, I looked up the word on my phone and I honestly felt that I’d said the wrong thing. It goes against my convictions to change what I once said, but Itoh is truly my best partner. I want to amend this here and make it very clear before we go to the U.S. I’m sorry.”
Itoh’s answer was tricky! I wasn’t sure about any of this: “結果を出さないことには意味がないと思ってるので、別に結果が出せたらビジネスでもなんでもいいんですよ。でもやっぱり、結果が出せなかったらベストでもなんでもないと思ってるので。必ず結果で見せてほしいし、見せたいなと.”
Itoh: “I think there’s no point if we don’t get results, but if we can show results, then ‘business’ or whatever is fine. But if we can’t get results, then calling me your ‘best’ partner means nothing. We absolutely have to show results, and I want to see it.”
Yamashita: “We will!”
And that’s it for the presser!
I thought basically the entire tag team portion of this was hysterical, haha. I’m really looking forward to the match because it’s interesting to be testing both of these tag team bonds right now, when things are probably still a bit tender for Yuka and Mizuki, and Itoh and Miyu are making it work, but sort of just barely…
I’m going to try my hardest to get the last two shows done before the L.A. show!