We got some more sad wrestling news a few days ago, unfortunately 
. Saki Akai announced that she’s going to be retiring in November of this year… The DDT English account translated the press conference. I was glad I didn’t have to translate that one, too… I’m obviously a pretty big fan of her, so I’m super bummed that I won’t get to see her in DDT anymore, and probably won’t get to see Sakisama in TJPW again after this year, either.
I have learned to live in fear of a joshi wrestler’s 10th year wrestling anniversary… I guess luckily Mizuki’s passed without a retirement or an announcement that she’ll be leaving the company.
It made me think back to Misao, too, and how lucky we are that she decided not to retire in 2020. I haven’t had the chance to watch her produce show yet, because it was uploaded at a terrible hour last night and I was busy watching Double or Nothing today, but I’ve super been looking forward to it because I’ve heard a lot of awesome things about it. It sounds like it might be a genuine show of the year contender for me.
Rodan, you’re super lucky because I think it’ll be a real treat for you since you’ll be able to follow what’s going on and probably haven’t seen any spoilers for it if you’re still staying off of twitter.
I’m probably not going to do any translation for it, because Dramatic DDT recapped it pretty thoroughly, and I’d just be using the same shupro recap that he uses to source my translation, but I might change my mind and do the post-match promo at the end of the show, I dunno (there are no post-match comments).
I did finish the May 20 show translation, finally! Which means that I’m caught up until the 5.27 VOD goes up.
This show was a bit cursed with misfortune going into it, as they had to do some rearranging of the card due to lots of wrestlers being absent for various reasons, but I thought it was a surprisingly fun house show, all things considered. Ryo Mizunami’s match in particular was great (ilu アニキ).
I also had less trouble with the translation than usual, I think? Less sentences where I felt totally lost, at least 
.
The show opened with an announcement from Yuki Arai (who had just gotten injured in an SKE practice):
Arai: “Today I have a minor leg injury… I’m sad and disappointed that I can’t participate in my match. I will take a short break and come back stronger, so please wait for me, everyone!”
After that, the first match with post-match comments was Raku/Yuki/Pom vs Nao/Hikari/Wakana, the team that didn’t make it into the trios tournament. The wrestlers treated it like it was a bonus tournament match, which was fun! There was some sort of informal stipulation they added where I think the winners would get dinner, but I wasn’t exactly sure how that arrangement worked out, haha.
Pom/Yuki/Raku won, proving definitively that the 三角関係 is the best trio in the company. Here were their comments:
Pom: (screams)
Aino: “Too loud!”
Pom: “At the beginning! You left me behind!” (screams)
Aino: (ignoring her) “Supplemental program for the 6-woman tag team tournament… what? We managed to secure the total victory!”
Raku: “Second time winners!”
Aino: “The three of us joined forces, and we won again. Yay!”
Raku: “Yay!”
Aino: “Hey, Pom?”
Pom: “…Yes.”
This part was a bit confusing because I wasn’t exactly sure who was being treated to dinner and who was doing the treating. It seems like it would make more sense for the winners to get treated to dinner, but that’s not what the grammar seems to say? “今日はみんなで、あちらが勝手に勝ったら奢れとか言ってたんですけど、私たちが勝ったので…私たちが焼き肉を奢ってもらいます！”
Aino: “Today, we all said that if they won on their own, they should treat us to dinner, but since we won… we’ll be treating them to yakiniku!”
Pom: “Yakiniku yakinuku yakinuku yakinuku yakinuku yakinuku yakinuku yakinuku yakinuku yakinuku yakinuku yakinuku yakinuku yakinuku yakinuku!” (she heads backstage while making a lot of noise)
Kakuta: “What did you want to eat?”
Uehara: “Kalbi.”
Kakuta: “Yakiniku, huh? I wanted to see you stuff yourself.”
Hikari: “Got along well, huh?”
Kakuta: “I think so.”
Hikari: “The other side?”
Kakuta: “Huh, them? Not us? No, for us, even though it was our first time as a trio, it went well. It was fun, wasn’t it? Even though we lost…”
Hikari: “But if we win next time…”
Kakuta: “Then it’ll be the victory celebration party, Hikari’s treat, at an all-you-can-eat yakiniku place. You want kalbi, right?”
Uehara: “Yes! Top of the line kalbi!”
Kakuta: “I’m looking forward to it.”
Hikari: “I’ll go at YU-M Entertainment’s expense.”
The main event was Mizuki and Moka vs Arisu and Miu, which featured a particularly incredible giant swing spot, haha. I didn’t really mind the change to the card here, because I think Arisu being in the match instead of Rika made the result a little more up in the air.
Mizuki got the win. Then she said:
Mizuki: “Moka-chan and I won!” (to Miyamoto) “Is there anything you’d like to say?”
Miyamoto: “I’m happy to win with Mizuki-san!”
Mizuki: “Well… there were a lot of changes to the card, but I’m so happy that so many people came to see us despite that. Even though I’m the champion, I was really inspired by the strength of Miu, Arisu-chan, and Moka-chan, and I realized again what a wonderful organization this has become. People with poor health can get relief and peace of mind, and people who want to chase their dreams can pursue them. Even in these conditions, many TJPW wrestlers are shining brightly. Watching everyone fighting from behind the scenes, they’ve really become strong, and they’ve made me really want to do my best, too. So I really love this organization. Do you all like us too? Thank you! I thought maybe we could close the show a little differently than usual…”
She closed with: “I’m thrilled and excited to be with TJPW from here, and…” “Happy happy!”
Here were Mizuki and Moka’s comments:
Mizuki: “Yay! I really wanted to win with Moka-chan. She was really reassuring, and I’m happy.”
Miyamoto: “I was also very encouraged by Mizuki-san, so I’m glad. Miu-san also showed a lot of power and passion in the preview. Arisu-chan’s power was also great, but I didn’t want to lose, so I’m glad that Mizuki and I were able to win.”
(You took that Giant Swing outside the ring)
Mizuki: “As we saw, Miu has momentum, and Arisu-chan and Moka-chan, too. There are a lot of younger girls coming in now, and the ones who used to be the youngest are getting stronger and stronger. I felt thrilled and excited, or rather I should say that I’m looking forward to what comes next. There are people like Miu who are able to pull out something like that out of the blue, so I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to do my best to run out ahead so that I don’t get overtaken, so that they don’t catch up with me more and more.’”
(I can feel your sense of responsibility as champion from your recent words and actions)
“Yes. There are only three people holding belts in the first place, but Rika-san is absent due to her health, and there are girls absent due to injuries, schoolwork, and so on. I want this to be a place where they can return with peace of mind. People who are chasing their dreams, like Mii-chan, Itoh-san, and Yuka-chi, can also come back without worrying. But I wanted to show that we are also growing up in the meantime. I hope we can continue to grow together from here, along with the audience members who came today.”
I got most of Miu’s and Arisu’s comments, I think:
Miu: “Today was my first time facing Mizuki after the MagiRabbi vs Daydream match was set. Rika-san stayed home today to get well, but having Arisu here with me was very reassuring. She’s gotten super strong lately, and she was very strong in our singles match the other day, so I was very glad to have her there. But I still felt that double champ Mizuki-san was also really strong.”
The beginning and end of this sentence were a bit tricky, though: “やっぱりより自分が…いままでマジラビと当たる時は割と私が後輩って立場だったんですけど、今回はリカさんが先輩っていう風に引っ張ってもらうじゃなく、こうやって前哨戦もひとりだし、自分から引っ張ってマジラビに…最後に当たることになるかもしれないユカさんにちゃんとぶつけてベルトを取りたいなと思いました.”
“More than I expected, I… up until this point, when I faced MagiRabbi, I felt like such a junior in comparison, but this time I don’t want Rika-san to be my senpai and lead the way. Just like how I was on my own in this preview match, I want to take the initiative on my own accord against MagiRabbi… I want to win the belt by taking down Yuka-san, whom I might have to face at the end. Arisu, thank you for teaming with me today.”
Endo: “Thank you! I’m so sorry that I lost…”
Miu: “When I look at you, your (hair) is too flashy…” (laughs) “You’re showing off.”
Endo: “I’m going to live my life flamboyantly. I’ll do my best!”
And that’s it for that show! I am finally (briefly) caught up, though not for very long, haha. Unless I cave to the temptation of trying to translate some additional stuff from Misao’s produce show…