Finished translating the December 17 TJPW show! This is the one with the randomly drawn singles matches that each have a 7 minute time limit.
Shupro helpfully supplied me with a transcript for the bit with Daisy Monkey in the opening!
Ring announcer Sayuri Namba appeared in the opening of the first Kasukabe event since January, making announcements as usual. She then summoned Hikari, and talked about the next title match. She announced that it’ll be held on January 4 at Korakuen, and the opponents will be Daisy Monkey (Suzume & Endo). In response, the three wrestlers (everyone except for Kakuta, who was absent that day) gathered in the ring and spoke on the microphone.
Suzume: “We, Daisy Monkey, will be challenging for the titles on January 4.”
The first chunk of this gave me a bit of trouble: “東京女子プロレスの最強のタッグがつないできたベルトに私はずっとずっと憧れてて、いつかでじもんで、いつか有栖と、って思ってました.”
“I have always longed for those belts that are tied to TJPW’s strongest tag teams, and I think someday they’ll be Daisy Monkey’s, someday I’ll have them with Arisu. I don’t think it’s someday—I think it’s now.”
Endo: “I believe the two of us can do anything we set our minds to, so we’re absolutely going to seize this chance!”
Hikari: “We can’t afford to drop the belts so early in the new year. We’ll defend them with everything we’ve got! That’s what Nao-san’s probably saying, yeah.”
The first match with comments was Yuki vs Pom, which was pretty entertaining haha because Pom tried to exploit Yuki’s crush on Raku by weaponizing a Raku mask against her. The three of them did their comments together afterward:
Yuki: (holding the Raku mask in her hand) “I won Raku!”
Pom: “No, no. I won the actual person!”
Yuki: “I got distracted by the fact that I won Raku and this (mask). I’m going home with Raku.”
This was a bit tricky:
らく「…（真顔で一点見つめ）」
Raku: “…” (staring off into the distance with an expressionless look)
ユキ「らくが虚無すぎる（笑）。この（お面）笑顔が欲しい！」
Yuki: “Raku’s face is too blank.” (laughs) “I want to see this (the mask’s) smiling face!!”
Raku: “…” (staring off into the distance with a smile)
Both: “Ahhh!”
Yuki: “I quite like fighting Pom. It was fun to face her for the first time in a long time. I got ticked off by her using so many tricks, though.” (looking at Raku) “Wait a minute. I was trying to give a serious comment.”
Pom: “Well, Raku-san is Pom’s, so I’ll be taking this (the mask), too!”
There was a pretty funny interaction between the three of them on twitter after this, haha.
Also, I found the account of a new TJPW fan who got into the promotion after the most recent women-only show, and I cracked up at this tweet from this show where she’s trying to understand the 三角関係 dynamic, hahaha.
The next match with comments was Hikari vs Itoh, a perennial rivalry, haha, and a rather unsurprising draw, as I think this matchup is starting to move into main event singles match territory…
Itoh: “Hi there, it’s Maki Itoh, for the first time in a month and a half! Hello! I made it back to Japan safely. Yay! Today was a draw… it wasn’t anything special. Just a draw. I’ll be facing Rina Yamashita at ITTENYON, so I’ll do my best to achieve that goal. I will do my best to defeat Rina Yamashita! She scored a fall from me in the U.S., so I’ll work as hard as I can so that ITTENYON will be a win for Itoh. That’s what I’m focusing on right now. Sorry, I don’t have anything interesting to say.”
(Do you prefer normal rules for ITTENYON?)
“I don’t know. It depends on my opponent’s (approach). If they use something, I’ll use it, too. I always have a pizza cutter squirreled away in my suitcase. I’m prepared to cut anyone at any time.”
Hikari: “This was Itoh-san’s first match after she returned from overseas. Even though it was randomly drawn, it was fun to face her in a singles match like this, and I was happy, but as announced at the start, the (tag) title match is coming up, and with Nao-san working hard on stage right now, having a match like this and potentially beating Itoh-san after she gained so much experience overseas, I think that would’ve given me a confidence boost, but being able to fight Itoh-san to a 7-minute draw after she leveled up even more overseas, that’s huge for me. There’s just one match left before ITTENYON, but I hope I can steadily keep making progress without losing.”
I struggled a bit with this question: “挑戦者があの2人（でじもん）と聞いて.”
(What did you think when you heard that the challengers will be Daisy Monkey?)
This line also confused me at first: “今までの防衛戦、3回やってきてちょっと個性が強い、正統派のチームはいなかったなと思っていて.” I think I figured it out from context, but that comma there tripped me up haha because I don’t think the いなかった is applying to the 個性が強い (though I could be wrong!).
“In our title defenses so far, the three times we defended, all the teams had strong individuality. I don’t think there were any orthodox teams. Moka-chan and Juria-chan had a lot of moves that were different in nature from pro wrestling, and Max and Pom-chan, they were totally different. And, three or four days ago, we defended the titles overseas. This will be our first time facing people with a long history as a team, so there’s a bit of fear there, but after defending our belts three times against teams with such strong characters, I don’t think we have anything to be afraid of.”
The main event was Miu vs Moka, which was fun! The result surprised me a bit, because I though surely they’d also draw, haha, but Miu did actually manage to get the win! I was less surprised when I heard her post-match promo and learned that the show was in her hometown, haha! Here’s what she said:
Miu: “I beat Moka in the random draw singles match! Yay! As you all know, 7 minutes isn’t enough for Moka, and I thought, ‘Who drew this combination?’ But it’s fun to fight in a randomly drawn match like this once a year, and it made me feel like we’d reached the end of the year. There’s just one match left. Christmas Eve will be the last TJPW show for everyone this year… Everyone already has plans for Christmas this year, right? I hope you’ll have fun with us one more time with the last TJPW show of the year. Thank you for coming out to Saitama Prefecture today. So… Yes, I’m from Saitama, as it so happens. Thank you. And on that note, thank you very much for today!”
Miu: “I had a singles match with Moka at the Kasukabe show! This random drawing happens once a year, and I hadn’t fought Moka since our title match in Osaka about a year and a half ago. Moka has grown a lot since then, and I’ve grown, too, and we’re both growing so rapidly. The moment I heard the match announced, I thought that 7 minutes wouldn’t be enough, but we both did the best we could do in 7 minutes, and I’m glad I was able to secure the win. Kasukabe was fun!”
(You were given the main event)
“Yes, I was in the main event, that’s for sure.” (laughs) “But typically I think it’s better not to pay too much attention to the match order, so I didn’t pay it much mind, but I was conscious of being in the main event after all, and I did want to make sure the audience went home happy… But in that respect, since it was with Moka, I didn’t have that sense of anxiety. I just wanted the audience to have a good time."
Miyamoto: “Today in Kasukabe, I had a match with Miu-san by random draw. I hadn’t had a (singles) match with Miu-san since our title match over a year ago, and I’ve grown since then and I really wanted to win, but… As much as I’ve grown, Miu-san has also been growing. Miu-san was stronger than she was last time, and I’m disappointed that I lost in a span of time as short as 7 minutes. But I’d like to have another singles match with Miu-san if I get the chance, and I’m going to get strong enough that I’ll absolutely be able to beat her someday.”
(Were you able to show your growth during this period?)
“Yes. I think I was able to show what I have the ability to do right now.”
That’s it for that one!