I had to take a bit of a break after translating that presser, but I did manage to finish the translation for Inspiration on May 1! The comments are once again transcribed on the website, which is helpful.
This show contained Mahiro vs がばいじいちゃん, which was a very funny match, and which got me afraid that I was going to have to translate weird old man speech afterward…
No old man speech! Mahiro did give comments, though. Her first couple sentences were a bit confusing (especially because じいちゃん could be his name, “grandpa”, or just “old man”… I’m assuming the お here means it’s the more generic use and not referring to him by his name?): “なんだ、あのおじいちゃんは。なんか…思ってたのと違うかもしれない.”
Kiryu: “What’s with that old man? I dunno… maybe he’s not what I thought. I mean, mentally, I’m a bit of a grandpa, too…” (At this point, Gabai Ji-chan barges in and makes an appeal to Mahiro to win the belts with her?) “…Friends? What? Belt? Wh-what are you talking about? Grandpa, I don’t really understand.”
The middle part of this sentence also confused me: “すげえ、何も分かんないけど、何も分からないプロレス、楽しかったです.”
“Wow, I don’t know what’s going on, but pro wrestling that I don’t understand at all, that was fun. I’m going home.”
The main event was the real star of this show: Hikari vs Sawyer Wreck in a light tube deathmatch, a very uncharacteristic match for TJPW. I’m not the biggest deathmatch fan, but I ended up not being able to take my eyes off of this one. Hikari took some painful looking bumps and Sawyer ended up looking super powerful and a really intimidating opponent for Mizuki to have to face.
After the match, Sawyer cut a short promo in the ring (she tried to leave without realizing they were expecting her to speak for a bit, haha):
Sawyer: (in English) “I cannot say thank you enough for this honor of being your first deathmatch. It means… You came in here, and you danced with death, and you proved yourself as a deathmatch wrestler. So thank you.”
Then she handed the mic off to Hikari. I had a bit of help from Mr. Haku for translating this:
Hikari: “Today, another one of my dreams came true. Being able to fulfill my dream surrounded by the people I love, in the promotion that I love, it feels like living in luxury. I’m a very fortunate person. Having said that, the company is crazy for booking me against such a large person. But you’re all even crazier for coming out to see us on a Monday night at the start of your week. But I want to be crazier than everyone, so I think TJPW and I will continue to take on more and more new challenges. I hope you’ll continue to support us. Thank you so much for today!”
My main question was I guess how hard to go for translating this line: “なんか…こんなおっきい選手と組む団体はすごく頭がおかしいなって私は思って…だけど、こんな週の初めの月曜日の夜から見にきてるみんなはもっともっと頭がおかしいと思います.” Mr. Haku’s translation was: “Having said that, TJPW is fucking crazy for booking me against such a big person, but you are even crazier for coming out on a Monday night to watch a deathmatch.” I was a bit surprised by his choice to go with “fucking crazy”, but I guess maybe “すごく頭がおかしい” has that same sort of slangy vibe? I’ve gone back and forth on whether I should keep it in my translation or not, haha.
Sawyer’s post-match comments were in English:
Sawyer: “I wouldn’t have known that was her first deathmatch by the way she participated in that ring. She brought that fight to me like she’s a veteran. And I can’t wait to see what she does next. That’s a bad bitch. I don’t know what to tell you. Thank you, thank you for allowing me to come. I appreciate you all.
(Did you feel that Hikari is suited to deathmatches? What did you think of her first deathmatch?)
“This is her first deathmatch! Oh, she did so good! So fun! I love getting in the ring with other women, and just being violent with each other. There’s power in that, and she brought that, she has power.”
(I did laugh at seeing “バッドビ●チなので” in the transcript, haha)
Hikari’s comments were a bit harder. I think I got the first part:
Hikari: “I just said it in the ring, but I’m so blessed to be able to do what I love in the company that I love like this. It’s something that I’ve been saying I wanted to do since I debuted. Being able to make my dreams come true little by little, and getting to do what I want to do like this, I feel like I’m living in luxury. There was a time when the cheers from the crowd couldn’t be heard, but now they call my name. I’m happy that I can do what I want to do in this environment. Though I never thought I’d face such a big overseas wrestler in the style of match that I wanted.”
This line was tricky: “でも私のデスマッチ人生はこうやって、すごくハードなのかなって思うとこれからも楽しみだし.” Is the “ハード” referring to hardcore? I couldn’t quite make sense of it in either meaning 
.
“But I think my deathmatch life is going to be very hard like this, and I’m looking forward to the future. At first I thought I was going to die because she was so tall, but when I crashed into that first light tube, I thought it was fun. ‘I’m not dead yet,’ I thought. I want to keep doing it. I want to fight lots more international wrestlers in deathmatches in Japan. Thank you so much for today.”
I couldn’t really make heads or tails of her next sentence here: “やっぱり自分が想像してたよりははるかに痛いし、肩上げるひとつでも重心がマットにつくところがもっと刺さってきたりして、めちゃくちゃ痛くて.”
(What’s different between the deathmatches you’ve seen and the one you actually did?)
“Well, it hurt way more than I’d imagined, and even just lifting my shoulder where the center sticks to the mat stung more, and it hurt like hell. The pain was way more intense than anything I’d experienced. But it was something I’d been longing to experience, so the fun won out.”
I was also confused by her sentence here: “1回の夢で全部叶えちゃうともうそれが最後になっちゃうかもしれないので、次は有刺鉄線を使いたいです.”
(What is your next dream?)
“If everything gets granted in one dream, it might be the last one, so next time I want to use barbed wire.”
(For TJPW, this was an irregular match type, so how did you feel about the reception it received?)
“To be honest, I was scared. There are members of the audience who have seen a lot of deathmatches. What I’ve seen and what I do are completely different… I wonder if there are some harsh opinions. But I want to do more!”
This question confused me, haha: “これからも攻めていくと.” And this line from Hikari’s answer: “それこそデスマッチやれるのかなって団体のところもあったと思うので.”
(Will you keep attacking?)
“Yes! I think there were some groups wondering if I could even do a deathmatch. I think in TJPW, you can fulfill all of the dreams that you want to do, not just deathmatches. I hope that many more dreams will come true, both for the younger girls as well as my senpais.”
That’s it for that show!
Korakuen is next, and then whatever translation needs to be done for the upcoming VOD show.