The 🤼 プロレス thread! Learning Japanese through pro wrestling

Finished translating the December 1 TJPW 10th anniversary Korakuen show! Technically finished it yesterday, but have been a bit busier with the holidays and all. (No rush helping with it!)

First match with comments, the finals of the Next Generation tournament! I was pulling for Himawari in this, though I like Wakana well enough, I was happy for her getting the win, too!

Wakana:

Uehara: “Somehow, I managed to win the Next Generation Tournament '23! And this medal also says right here that I won, so in any case I’m super happy right now.”

This sentence confused me a lot: “でもやっぱりプロレスデビューしたのが1月4日で、そこから1年経たないうちにこうやってトーナメントさせていただける機会が本当にないので、本当の、2回目のトーナメント優勝は私にとっても本当に自分のなかで大切な宝物というか.” I was thrown off by 2回目のトーナメント until I remembered that maybe she’s counting winning the Yume Pro Wrestling thing?

"After all, I made my pro wrestling debut on January 4, and getting to participate in a tournament like this less than a year later, you really don’t get these kinds of opportunities, so winning my second tournament is a real treasure for me. It’s really one of the biggest things in my life. But even though I’m proud of it, I still feel that my senpais are a very high wall, and those in my class have also shown great growth, and I’ve been watching them grow with incredible momentum, so I want to aim for the top while competing with each other so that I won’t lose from here on out. Everyone, thank you so much for your support.”

(Now that you’ve earned this achievement, is there a senpai that you would like to fight?)

“Shoko Nakajima, whom I’ve admired more than anyone since before my Yume Pro Wrestling debut. I was able to face her in a singles match right after my debut, but since then we haven’t fought at all, so I’d be really happy if I could get the chance to face Shoko Nakajima again and show her how much I’ve grown.”

Himawari:

HIMAWARI: (crying) “I still… I’m so disappointed that I once again failed to beat her. I fought Haru in the first round, then Shino-san, and the two people that I beat were seconding me today, cheering me on with ‘ganbare!’ And even though the fans were also rooting for me, I ended up losing. It’s frustrating. I’m worthless. It’s been almost a year since February already, and I still haven’t worked hard enough. Next time, I’ll get my revenge, so please watch. I’ll do my best.”

The next match was Kamiyu vs Viva Van, which I honestly really enjoyed! I thought they had great chemistry. Also, the Queen of Asia belt really matches Kamiyu’s gear, so I’m happy she retained it, haha.

Viva’s comments were in English!

VIVA: “That was a hard-hitting match. It was everything that I could have dreamt of for my debut at Korakuen Hall.”

(So, how was [???])

“She was a very strong competitor. She ended up on top at the end. I have much respect for the Queen of Asia. Thank you for the opportunity. I would love to do it again.

(How was your first tour in Japan, and touring with Tokyo Joshi?)

“My first tour is an honor because for a very long time I thought I would never make it over here, so it’s definitely a dream come true for me, and I’m very honored. Thank you for having me be a part of the 10-year anniversary. It means so much to me.”

I could not for the life of me catch that question from Mr. Haku, though :weary:. Too much background noise… It wasn’t in the transcript, either, so that was no help.

Then Kamiyu’s comments were… hoo boy… lots of difficult stuff here :sweat_smile:.

This sentence was a bit tricky: “シンガポールでベルトを取って無事に日本に帰ってきて、初めての防衛戦を、このクイーン・オブ・アジアっていうタイトルに相応しいって言っても本当に相応しいVIVAちゃんが挑戦してくれて、すごい雰囲気も、THE・アジアンビューティーという感じで見習いたいとことかたくさんあって.”

Kamifuku: “I won the belt in Singapore and safely made it back to Japan. For my first defense, I said that VIVA-chan suited a title named ‘Queen of Asia’, and the truly worthy VIVA-chan challenged me for it. It was an amazing atmosphere, and there are so many things I want to learn from The Asian Beauty.”

I think this next chunk seriously took me over an hour of research: “もちろん試合もなんかすごいチョチョチョチョって走る感じとかめっちゃいいなと思ったし、化粧とかも、また藤沢のスナックのママにまつ毛の長さは女の気高さに値するって言われたから、あの人まつ毛何センチあるのかな?すっごい長くて、でもやっぱ絶対プロレス的にはやりづらいのに、ビューティーにこだわってまつ毛バシッとつけて、メイクもね絶対めんどくさいのに、あんなにいっぱいやって尊敬できるとこいっぱいなんで.”

“Of course I thought the match was really good with the way she ran around in there, and her makeup, too, and also since I heard from the proprietress of a snack bar in Fujisawa that the length of a woman’s eyelashes is the measure of her nobility, how many centimeters are her eyelashes? They’re really long. Even though it’s totally hard to do it the way pro wrestling is, she’s very particular about her beauty and slaps on those eyelashes and does her makeup even though it’s a pain in the ass, and I can really respect that she does so much.”

The first thing that tripped me up here was: “チョチョチョチョ”. I tried searching for that onomatopoeia, but didn’t have much luck. Tried looking it up in my dictionary, but it wasn’t there. I asked the WK film club server about it, thinking that someone there surely would’ve seen it before and could help me understand it, but no one there knew, either.

So I ended up asking Akira about it! Here’s what they said:

Maybe, Yuki wanted to say “She run around” or “she run fastly.” For example, “チョチョチョチョ” means the following image.

チョチョチョチョ is the onomatopoeia that indicates kind of moving one’s feet quickly

That helped a lot! Especially watching the gif. I’m still not 100% on my translation choice, but it’s passable, I think. The next part that threw me off was the “藤沢のスナックのママ”, though someone in the WK film club server helped a bit with that, as I was unfamiliar with snack bars, and ママ in the context of that setting.

The rest of it I think I more or less got? I dunno.

The next chunk was also tricky :weary:: “なんかいつかこう3人組のアジアのベルトみたいな、アジアのチャーリーズエンジェル的なのがアジアバージョンの良い感じのベルトとかあったら、ゆきとVIVAちゃんともう1人誰か。やったりとかしたいし、すごい性格の良い子だったんで。もっといろんなこと高め合って、また違うアジアの国でぜひ再会したいなあって思ったり思わなかったりしてます.”

“If there’s like some kind of 3-person Asia belt someday, like an Asian Charlie’s Angels type of Asia-version good vibes belt, I’d want to go for that with VIVA-chan and one more person. She was an amazing girl with a great personality. I both want and don’t want us to mutually enhance each other more and meet again in a different country in Asia.”

(Are you going to defend this belt elsewhere in Asia?)

“I’d like to.”

This was a bit tricky, especially since I don’t want to translate her as saying something that’s more rude than what she’s actually saying…: “フィリピンとかタイとかいろいろあるんですけど、タイいった時に女の子が1人所属してて、めちゃくちゃダサかったんですよ、雰囲気が。なんか化粧とかチョーテキトーだったんで、それを私が持ってる間はきれいなおかつ、アジアンないいヤツと試合していきたいと思ってるんで。女度とアジア度上げていきたいと思います.”

“There are places like the Philippines and Thailand, but when I went to Thailand, there was just one girl with the promotion, and she was super uncool, that atmosphere. Her makeup was really sloppy, and while I’m holding this beautiful thing, I want to have matches with nice, beautiful Asian girls. I’d like to raise my femininity and also my Asian power.”

I think I know the wrestler she’s talking about, and said wrestler is fairly active on twitter in the wrestling fandom, so there’s a chance the translation could get back to her… :sweat_smile::skull:

Every time I think I’m starting to maybe get somewhere with this whole Japanese language thing, Kamiyu shows up and keeps me humble :smiling_face_with_tear:.

After that was the tag title match! I loved this one! Great performance from both teams, though I was #PomPaler all the way :triumph:. I thought Hikari in particular had some great exchanges with Max; I loved the one where she dodged Max’s lariat with a super deep bridge. One day it’ll be Pom and Max’s day…

Free WiFi’s comments:

Kakuta: “I didn’t want to lose… I never want to let go of them.”

I had trouble with the 喝 in this, though I think I might’ve figured it out with some of the later context? “でも、今日のヒカリちゃんがカッコよすぎて、私はこの子の喝があればいくらでも勝てると思いました.”

“But Hikari-chan was so cool today, I thought with her encouragement, I could win anything. Thank you.”

Hikari: “We only had one preview for this title match. Really, I was scared up until the very last minute of the match… I wanted to be the kind of partner who could lead the way in that kind of situation.”

This was a bit tricky: “怖い存在とか怖いものは1人で抱えないで、2人でどんどんぶち壊していきたいなって思ったし.”

“Scary creatures and scary things that you can’t bear on your own, I want the two of us to destroy them. Today, I think the value of these belts, which Nao-san protected for us, has grown so much that I’m no longer afraid of anyone who steps forward to challenge us for them. So the next time I want someone to challenge us by saying, 'I want Free WiFi.’ We’ll be in America too for a bit. I want to show off the belts even more as Free WiFi.”

Kakuta: “I want to show off TJPW’s Free WiFi overseas, too.”

Hikari: “WiFi is worldwide. Also, Nao-san, I heard that you’re able to see the radio signal.”

Kakuta: “I can now. I thought the radio waves that were floating around Max at yesterday’s press conference weren’t good. I have a clear picture of it.”

Hikari: “Let’s see even more from here.”

(Do you want to defend the belts in America?)

“Of course.”

This was tricky: “むこうがどうなのか。でもジャナイは(ヒカリと)やってるし、もう日本でおなじみの顔みたいになってるし。むこうがやるなら是非ってかんじで、向こうでも王者を見せつけたいなと思います.” I struggled a lot with the 向こう’s in this.

Kakuta: “How about our opponents? But Janai has tagged (with Hikari), and she’s already a familiar face in Japan. If our opponents are down for it, then I’d like to show the champions to the other side of the world, too.”

(How was PomPaler’s teamwork?)

“After the title match was set, I spent a fair amount of time watching their other matches as a reference, and I thought… has the bond between the two of them gradually deepened? They’re gradually showing more and more of the uncharted territory that is their tag team.”

This was also a bit hard: “パワーは絶対勝てないから、あとはこっちの意地と根性と…こうやって喝を入れてもらって鼓舞できるっていうのがどれだけあるかってかんじじゃない?って思いました.”

“I can never win in terms of power, so all that we can do is have willpower and guts… ‘How much inspiration can I take from receiving your encouragement?’ That’s what I was thinking.”

Hikari: “I don’t want to fight them anymore.”

Kakuta: “It’s ‘sayonara’ for now.”

Hikari: “They seem to get stronger as time passes, so let’s not lose and get stronger, too.”

(What kind of radio waves were in the air at Korakuen today?)

Kakuta: “Something nice and warm… reds, warm colors. The colors of a good, strong signal. It’s like being wrapped up in an aura. It’s a nice color.”

Hikari: “Is it in the air here, too?”

Kakuta: “Well… Shupro’s radio waves are a bit off.”

Hikari: “They’re not good. …Brown?”

Kakuta: “So next time, if the signal is good, we can do ‘BIBIBI’ together.”

Hikari: “We’ll get them to put more WiFi (in the magazine)…”

Kakuta: “That’s right!”

I laughed at them singling out shupro, haha. And hey, the threat seems to have worked out! They made it onto the cover!

PomPaler’s comments:

Pom: “I lost, huh? It’s Pom’s fault again… Ah… It was our second time challenging. But I didn’t get the belt. I couldn’t win it, but there’s one thing I gathered. I feel like I get along better with Max than I did before. The two of us, we’re forever friends. Right?” (Impaler growls) “They’re saying ‘yes.’ It’s a belt that I surely wouldn’t have challenged for on my own, so I’m glad that I was able to challenge for it with Max. Right? …It’s frustrating.”

Impaler: (growling) “…Free WiFi.” (roars and storms off backstage)

And finally the main event, the big 5 vs 5 two out of three falls match that we talked about a bit already! I loved this match a lot! Going into it, I was really hoping that Miu would get her chance to pin Yuka finally, but they ended up going a totally different direction with it. Arisu was the one person on the younger generation team to score any falls, and Miu instead took the final fall and lost the match for their team.

I really love the Miu vs Miyu matchup, and that ending stretch felt so exciting to me, especially the way that you could kind of physically see how Miyu had managed to somehow level up yet again in between her 2022 Tokyo Princess Cup match with Miu and this one. Whatever weakness Miu had somehow found to break through Miyu to reach the finals in 2022, that weakness was gone now. Now Miu has to work even harder to claw her way back up in order to reach Miyu at her new level.

So the older generation still stands victorious at the top for a little longer, though the score has gone from 0-2 to 1-2, so the younger generation is starting to gain some ground…

Here’s the post-match:

Yamashita: “We won! But they were really strong at the end. Right, Nakajima?”

Nakajima: “…They got one fall from me.”

Sakazaki: “But that got you fired up.”

Nakajima: “Yes, it did. Well, thank you. The five of us on a team like this, this might be the last time we’ll be able to team up, but… It was awesome.”

Tatsumi: “Don’t say that it’s the last time! For the 10th anniversary, getting to have a match with these wonderful members of our roster…” (to the team at the blue corner) “Amazing, you can really go. Thank you.”

Mizuki: “Well, with everyone, and with Yuka-chi… I’m glad I was able to meet you all here. Thank you! Thank you so much.”

Sakazaki: “I’m glad we were able to have this match, thank you.”

Yamashita: “Today is… the 10th anniversary of TJPW! That being the case, I’d like everyone who had a match today to come up into the ring. Can you do that for me? Come on up!” (all participants, including the Impaler, gather) “So, today TJPW is celebrating our 10th anniversary, and we’re entering our 11th year. We’ve gained so many new friends, and we’ll continue to have a lot more debuts to liven up TJPW even more. We’ll keep doing our best to entertain everyone who came to see us today, and all the fans who say that they love TJPW. Please keep supporting us! Now that everyone is here, let’s form a circle.”

Everyone got into a circle in the ring, and Yamashita shouted, “Let’s make TJPW exciting!” And everyone cheered and raised their hands in solidarity. Afterward, following the group photo, Sakazaki took the mic and said, “Thank you so much for all of your support over the past 10 years! Please look forward to the future of TJPW!” At the end, everyone shouted, “Thank you very much!” then exited the ring.

Older generation’s comments:

This was a bit tricky: “最後は私が未詩から取りましたけど、10人タッグマッチでこのカードが組まれた時にどういう意味なんだろうって…単純に上の世代と下の世代って見られるのかなって思ったんですけど.”

Yamashita: “I won the last pinfall from Miu. When this match was put together, I wondered what it meant… I thought it would be seen as the older generation vs the younger generation. Even though I won, I felt that she’s getting incredibly strong. But I persevered, and in the end I kicked her down. It made me think that I want to get even stronger from here. I felt so happy that the five of us were able to team up for this occasion.”

Tatsumi: (interrupting) “Are you just gonna go on and on all by yourself?”

Nakajima: “Are you gonna cry?”

Tatsumi: “It’s long.”

Yamashita: (smiles) “But I’m glad we were able to team up. We’re going our separate ways…”

Nakajima: “You’re going to cry, huh.”

Yamashita: “Yuka-chan is graduating, but even when we’re not in the same place, our feelings will always be connected. Thank you so much.”

Nakajima: “If one of us cries, it’ll start (to spread). It’ll be like kindergarten.”

Yamashita: “When you’re moved to tears, you should let yourself cry! Don’t hold back!”

Nakajima: “Well, ten years passed in the blink of an eye.”

Sakazaki: “Too fast!”

Shoko’s comment here was a bit tricky: “さっきちょっとだけ喋ったんですけど、1人卒業するみたいな…あっという間で。学校生活の3年間が終わってみればあっという間みたいな、そんな気持ちを感じますね。でも今日はアニバーサリーだから、この5人で絶対に勝ってやるぞって気持ちでね。もうね、私が言えたことじゃねえけど! 有栖は許さねえから、次は私が取り返してやるって、かかってこいやって気持ちです.”

Nakajima: “We just talked about this, but one of us graduating… it happened so fast. It’s like when three years of school are over in the blink of an eye, that’s how fast it feels. But today is our anniversary, so the five of us felt that we absolutely had to win. I know it’s not for me to say, but Arisu, I won’t let you get away with it! I’ll get payback next time, so bring it on! I’m so glad that we were able to team up today.”

Mizuki: “To be tied to everyone who has been here for ten years, since the very beginning…” (cries) “I truly felt that I’m a part of this group. I thought it was a strange matchup, but since we’ve been working together for so long, I feel like I am also a part of TJPW’s history. Of course, the same goes for all of my opponents and everyone who will be joining us in the future. I am truly, truly grateful to have met you all. Thank you very much…” (cries)

Tatsumi: “(Mizuki) transferred here part of the way in, but I feel like we’ve already been together for like ten years.”

Nakajima: “You’ve been together, huh?”

I think with that last part, the joke is Rika’s crush on Mizuki?

I couldn’t figure out what to do with Miyu’s response here, though: “瑞希だけだよ、その(ネガティブな)気持ちなの.”

Yamashita: “It’s just Mizuki, that (negative) feeling.”

Tatsumi: “I’m glad we were able to make it to the 10th anniversary. I’m glad we were able to keep going. I’m glad I was able to find TJPW. …I’m not crying.”

Sakazaki: “I truly don’t know what kind of chance meeting it was, all of us coming together like this, and joining because we love TJPW. And as we’ve gained more and more powerful friends, the audience in turn has grown to like TJPW more and more. I really hope this space we’ve created lasts a lifetime. …I’ll be watching over you all from afar.”

Nakajima: “Don’t go!”

Sakazaki: “The future is bright. I’m glad.”

Younger generation’s comments:

Miu: “Today is the 10th anniversary, and we had a 10-women tag match… I faced my senpais who have been wrestling for ten years, but in the end I lost. My senpais were strong, and I was no match for them after all. But Arisu scored the first fall… Thank you. You did a great job!”

Endo: “I was surprised, too. It happened so quickly, I didn’t realize what had happened. But I’m happy I was able to contribute something.”

Arai: “You all have built up TJPW from scratch over the past ten years, and I’ve only been involved for about two years… But I’m so glad that I found TJPW. I am happy that I was able to meet my senpais who were my opponents today, of course, but also my friends whom I can call close (in career and age), whom I’m able to work hard with together so that we can all improve. Today, I realized anew that I want to work hard so that I can surpass them someday.”

Suzume: “Since I encountered pro wrestling, since I encountered TJPW, they’ve been active at the top. And even before that, they’ve been continuing to build TJPW. Since they’ve been making TJPW shine so brightly, they’ve drawn me along with everyone else to come to this place. They truly are so dazzling, too dazzling, but because people like that are here, we all walk toward them. Even though they shine so brightly, I felt a renewed desire to run after them without looking away.”

Miyamoto: “As expected, the seniors of TJPW who have been building up the promotion for ten long years are really strong and we couldn’t compete. I want to catch up to them. We might still have a long way to go from where we are now, but the five of us are going to grow even more from here. I want to get closer and closer to them so that we can become senpais like them, too.”

Miu: “If it weren’t for the people who built up TJPW over the past ten years, the four members from the early days and Mizuki-san, we wouldn’t have the wonderful TJPW that we have now. It is precisely because it is such a warm place where you can grow with peace of mind that we are able to grow so quickly. And after ten years, what’s scary is… the fact that our senpais have continued to grow the whole time. Since they keep moving forward, I really want us to catch up with them, and for us to also be members who accelerate TJPW’s growth.”

This was a bit tricky: “それをしてもなかなか追いつけなくて、こうやって今日も大チャンスだったけど…”

“Even if we do that, it’s hard to catch up, and today was another big chance for us, but… Even though it didn’t work out today, I want to be as strong as my senpais are someday. This might’ve been the last time I could fight Yuka-san, but I’d like to face her again someday. From here, as we enter our 11th year, I want to work even harder as a member of TJPW.”

And that’s it for that one!

I am still four shows behind, but at least these ones are much shorter (except for Yuka’s graduation, though at least it’s not a Korakuen-length one). Gonna try to get as much of it done as possible before イッテンヨン!

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