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

I found a teacher on Italki that watches New Japan wrestling so started doing lessons twice a week with her. It’s great. She uses the wrestlers as examples so today we were practicing dates and numbers by reading the profiles on New Japan’s website and reading dates of births, heights etc.

I’m hoping this helps jumpstart my studies. I hit a wall a while back and stopped practicing. I ended up resetting my wanikani when I was at level 15 a couple of months and am now on level 10 again. It was the best decision for me to to make as it was becoming a chore but I am now on top of it.

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Here’s another post with some miscellaneous other stuff in it:

First up, something that was a bit interesting to me was this tweet from someone else at Kota’s secret base using the phrase 温故知新 in a sort of… Ibushi Research Institute sense, I guess? For lack of a better way to put it. It made me wonder if Kenny was referring to something a bit bigger than just the Golden Lovers reunion with that phrase… Then again, the person who made that tweet could have just been being a little cheeky about the reunion, haha.

Another thing I wanted to share was that DDT uploaded Konosuke Takeshita’s debut match, which was against El Generico on August 18, 2012 at Budokan Hall. The description says it’s only available for a limited time, so I chose not to embed the video. I’m not sure how long it’ll be up, but it’s a pretty important match, as far as DDT history goes (an important show, too. This was the show that Kenny Omega vs Kota Ibushi II main evented :smiling_face_with_tear:).

The other thing I wanted to mention is that I ended up trying out the CAT (computer-aided translation) program Smartcat after a friend recommended it to me. It’s free, though the downside is that your translations get used to train machine translation (I want machine translation of wrestling stuff to be better than it is so less false rumors get spread, so this is actually a plus, in my opinion).

CAT speeds up human translation because it learns from your previous translation choices and saves you a lot of work. Smartcat also lets you upload custom glossaries, so I went through and made one full of words from the glossary chapter in 新日本プロレス英語入門. I left out some words that didn’t seem necessary to include, and included some that are probably more useful from the other direction (English to Japanese), but I figured it’s still a neat reference to have.

Smartcat lets you export your glossaries, so here is my NJPW English pro wrestling terms glossary, if anyone wants it for any reason. I might try to add more terms from the rest of the book later, though no idea when I’ll get around to doing that.

While making the glossary, I ended up reading the rest of the chapter, haha. Here are a few things I found interesting:

The word they use to define “screw” is 裏切る, which, yeah, it is definitely used for that! Though I don’t think I would have thought of that definition for that word first, haha. They also mention “Dragon Screw” and define “screwed up” as めちゃくちゃ, which actually did seem useful to me for wrestling translations, so I added that to my glossary.

For “stiff”, they gave 強烈な, which seemed potentially useful from a translation perspective!

They clarified that “takedown” is one word. It didn’t occur to me that that sort of thing is probably important to point out to Japanese speakers, since I bet spaces between words don’t stand out to them as much.

I was amused that they defined “heat” as ブーイングを受ける. It’s true, but is kind of funny when you put it like that, haha.

I thought it was interesting that they defined “too sweet” as 最高すぎる. They define “sweet” as 心地よい and すてきだ, with no real mention of the flavor, which is my first thought when I hear the word. Though I guess “too sweet” in a wrestling sense isn’t actually referring to flavor at all. However, there was that one Antonio Honda Gon the Fox joke that absolutely was making a joke about something being “too sweet”, haha.

I learned a new English wrestling term! There is such a thing as a “glue guy”, apparently! It refers to 誰とでも組める選手.

I did laugh when I saw that they had to explain (in the context of describing “hot start”) that in English, “hot” can also mean セクシー.

And for “unleash”, they also define “leash” as the 綱 used when walking a dog.

And that’s it! I’m done reading the glossary! I’m still surprised that I was able to get as much out of it as I did without really looking anything up. I’m not sure what part of the book I’m going to attempt to read next. Maybe the single line translations from the chapter before the glossary? It might be December before I so much as touch the book again, though :sweat_smile:.

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Finished translating the September 16 TJPW show! Just one show left to do, and then the next one after that is Wrestle Princess on October 9!

This is the first translation I’ve attempted to do with the CAT software, and I do think it’s going to speed up the process a bit, so that’s exciting!

The first match to have post-match comments was Mei Suruga vs Moka Miyamoto. Moka was actually supposed to face AEW’s resident nonbinary zombie, Abadon, but Abadon had visa issues and wasn’t able to make it, so Mei came in and wrestled Moka instead. She took her role of being Abadon’s replacement very seriously, haha, and bit Moka several times in Abadon’s honor.

Her comments were also pretty funny because it seemed like she was sort of trying to play both sides, haha. She kept emphasizing in English that she was Abadon’s friend, then sided with Moka in Japanese.

For the first half of Mei’s comment, the part I wasn’t quite sure about was this last line: “もかさん、大変噛んでしまって申し訳ありませんでしたという気持ちもございますが、本来はもかさんは今日、あのアバドンと試合をするということだったので。まぁアバドンよりかは体は小さいけど、アバドンよりかは何をするのか分からない駿河メイだと思うので.”

Mei: (in English) “Hey Abadon. I’m your friend, from today, because I bit people. I bit Moka Miyamoto. So, we are friends, so don’t worry, you get it.” (in Japanese) “Moka-san, I’m very sorry for biting you, but originally, you were supposed to have a match with Abadon today. Well, I’m smaller than Abadon, but I’m Mei Suruga, and you never know what I’m going to do any more than you know what Abadon will do."

Here’s the other half: “今後もしまたチャンスがあった時、アバドンと闘った時に今日の駿河メイを思い出して、逆にアバドンに正拳突きですか? かわらわりですか?を叩き込んでくださったらいいと思います。でも自分の東京女子のデビューは宮本もか選手とタッグを組んでのものだったので、今日こんなところで出会えると思っていなかったので、すごく嬉しいです。私はもかさんがアバドンに負けないことを祈っています.”

My main question here was what she meant by “かわらわりですか?”. I googled かわらわり, and it seems to be the Japanese name for the Pokemon move Brick Break, haha! So that was my best guess? :sweat_smile:

"If you get another chance to face Abadon in the future, will you remember Mei Suruga from today, and do a seiken-zuki against them? ‘Moka used Brick Break!’ It would be nice if you could hit that. But Moka was my tag partner in my TJPW debut match, and being able to have this match with her today by chance, it makes me really happy. I’m praying that Moka-san doesn’t lose to Abadon!” (in English) “But we are friends, Abadon, thank you!”

Moka’s comments were easier. The only part I had a little trouble with was “すごい表現も素敵で…私ももっともっと強くなりたいなって思いました.” I wasn’t exactly sure how to translate that first part.

Miyamoto: “Today Mei-san came in on short notice, and we had a match. I teamed up with Mei-san a few weeks after my debut, and I was hoping I’d get to fight her someday. I’m really happy that we were able to have a singles match like this. When we actually fought, I thought Mei-san was strong, and I was struck by how much she seemed to enjoy the match. She expressed herself wonderfully… It made me want to become stronger, too. Abadon wasn’t able to come this time, but I’d like to fight them someday if we get the chance.”

Yuka and Mizuki faced Shoko and Arisu, and the most notable thing that happened was Yuka lost her voice during the match. This is the entire theme of Yuka and Mizuki’s comments.

Mizuki: (to Sakazaki, who isn’t speaking) “Say something!” (laughs)

Sakazaki: (in a raspy voice) “Hi, I’m Yuka Sakazaki.”

Mizuki: “Your voice is gone” (laughs)

Then Yuka says, “東京女子のアリエル担当の…” I wasn’t quite sure where she was going with this :sweat_smile:.

Sakazaki: “I’m Ariel from TJPW, in charge of…”

Mizuki: “You’re not Ariel! I think you left your voice in the ring.” (laughs) “But thank you for winning successfully.”

Sakazaki: “I lost my voice in the middle of it… That’s all.”

(Nakajima said that there is something you’re hiding?)

“Of course there is.”

(You still aren’t showing it?)

“Of course not.”

(Did this really happen during the match?)

Mizuki: (interpreting) “I was normal until the middle of the match. Then, while fighting Arisu, I lost my voice.”

Shoko’s comments were a little harder. Lots of sentences in there that I wasn’t fully confident on. She said, “TDCホールまで、今日と次のKFCホールが当たれるチャンスというか、試合のチャンスだったなと思います。今日は有栖が粘ってくれたんですけど、試合としては負けてしまって。やっぱり、けっこう連戦も続いてて、試合の回数を重ねるごとにパワーアップしてるというか。どんどん知らない面を見せてくるようになったなと思ってて。でも私もこのままではないので、いま磨いてるものを完成させればきっと防衛できると信じてます。いま大事に自分の中で育ててるものがあるので、あと少しですが完成形にもっていきたいと思ってます.”

Nakajima: “Today and KFC Hall are my chances to face her before TDC Hall, or I should say the matches are opportunities. Today, Arisu hung in there, but we lost the match. Still, our series of matches continues, and I’m powering up more and more with every match. I think she’s showing more and more sides of herself that I hadn’t known. But the same isn’t true for me, so if I can perfect what I’m refining now, I believe that I’ll surely be able to defend my title. There is something that I am nurturing within myself, and it’s almost there, but I want to bring it to its final form.”

Arisu’s comment was a lot easier haha!

Endo: “I’ve been having a lot of matches with my senpais. On the one hand, I’m happy, but on the other, my own weaknesses are way too visible, and it’s really frustrating. I don’t know how to explain it, but… I still feel like I’m not good enough. I still haven’t won a singles match yet. So, I’m going to keep training, hone my skills more and more, increase my physical strength, and improve my power.”

Shoko’s other comment was also a bit confusing to me. I couldn’t tell what exactly the interviewer was asking, or what her answer meant: “(滅多に出さない技を出し合っていたが、近づくにつれての気持ちの表れ?)そうですね。ちょっと威嚇に近い部分はあるかもしれないんですけど、まだ自分は隠してます。でもユカッチも手の内をすべて出してるわけではないと思うし。ホントにこの1週間とか2週間ですっかり変わる人だと思っているので。そこに負けないようにしたいです.”

(You were exchanging rarely used moves; was that a sign of your feelings as the match gets closer?)

Nakajima: “Well… there might be a part of me that’s a little intimidated, but I’m keeping myself concealed. But I don’t think Yuka-chi has revealed all of her cards, either. I really think she’s someone who will change completely in the next week or two. I don’t want to lose to her there.”

Miu vs Suzume closed out the show, and it was a really fun main event! Both of them did a great job, and it was really exciting to see how far both of them have come. I’m looking forward to seeing Miu hopefully get that title run with the International belt, now that she earned herself a shot at it…

Miu’s comments in-ring seemed straightforward enough:

Miu: “I beat Suzume! So, with that, I am going to be challenging for the International title at Wrestle Princess on October 9! I think this summer has been a really intense one for Suzume as well, and for me it was a truly unforgettable summer. I don’t want to let my momentum from this summer cool off here. I think I have to gain more experience in order to get closer to reaching my senpais. I want to seize this opportunity to win the International belt… and I want to beat Alex-san! October 9 is just a few weeks away, so please give me your support. Thank you very much for today!”

Backstage, things got a little trickier, haha. This first part of her comments was a bit confusing to me, though I think I got the rest: “鈴芽に勝って、インターナショナルのベルトに10月9日に挑戦することを決めました。もう気が付けば9月も中旬で、この夏を振り返った時に『あの夏は…』みたいな風に終わらせたくないなと思っていて。この勢いをずっとつけたまんま、秋も冬も来年も進み続けたいなって。先輩に追いつくために、いろんなことを学びたいなってちょうど思ってた時に貰ったチャンスだったので.”

Miu: "I beat Suzume, and I am going to be challenging for the International belt on October 9! It’s already the middle of September, and when I look back on this summer, I don’t want it to end with me thinking something like, ‘that summer was…’ and it just stops there. I want to keep this momentum going, into autumn, winter, and next year. This opportunity came at a time when I was wanting to learn so many things so that I could catch up to my senpais. I feel so happy and relieved that I was able to seize this chance here. I think that by challenging Alex-san and hopefully winning the International belt, I will get to feel the greatness of my senpais, see new scenery, and gain new experiences. I want to learn a lot from this and do my best from here so that I can win that belt.”

In the next part of her comments, there was one part that was really confusing to me, but I think I actually managed to watch the video and figure it out myself haha.

A couple sentences in, the shupro transcript had this: “そこで海外の方とシングルの経験を積めるのはすごいことですし、逆に英語の人…ですかね? 日本語じゃない人と闘ったことがないので。でも語源? 言葉じゃない何かで勝ちたいと思います.” I could not for the life of me figure out what “でも語源?” was referring to. 語源 just seems to mean “etymology”!

But then I watched the video, and I think what happened is that Miu says “言語(げんご)” (language), then corrects herself to “語源(ごげん)” (etymology), then gives up on trying to remember the correct order of げん and ご in the word she wants and just says “言葉(ことば)” (words) instead, haha!

(This will be your first time challenging for a singles title at a big venue)

“It is my first time challenging at a big venue, isn’t it? The last time we were at TDC was when I lost the tag belts, so in the end, TDC is looking bright after all… It’s a very big stage for an idol. It’s amazing to get to have a singles match with a wrestler from overseas, but on the other hand… she’s an English-speaker, right? I’ve never wrestled someone who doesn’t speak Japanese. But I don’t want to use language—etymology?—I don’t know!” (laughs) “—I want to win with something other than words.”

The second half of her comment was trickier. She said, “鈴芽とは夏が始まった頃から、私たちが頑張りたいなって思ってた1人だったので。今回、ここで2人でシングルって言うのはものすごいおっきいことだなって思ったし。だから、メインとしてちゃんとメインにふさわしい試合を鈴芽と私でしないといけないなって言う風にも感じていて。先輩がいないと『東京女子は楽しいけどメインがちょっと…』って言われたらどうしようって不安な気持ちを抱いて今日は闘ってたんですけど。そういうのではなく、ちゃんとお客さんが幸せな気持ちで帰ってくれてたらいいなって気持ちです.”

Here’s what I had:

(Today, two wrestlers from the new generation were entrusted with the main event)

“Since summer started, Suzume has been working really hard alongside me. So I thought that the two of us having a singles match today was a really big deal. And I felt that we had to have a match that was worthy of being the main event. My senpais weren’t here, so as I was wrestling, I was worrying about what I’d do if people said ‘TJPW is fun, but the main event was a bit…’ But it didn’t turn out like that, so I hope the audience went home happy.”

I think I got the first half of Suzume’s comments:

Suzume: "To be honest, it was a crazy hot summer. It was a bit… how should I say it… I’m not going to take a breather, but I was thinking about it when I suddenly got this chance. But my opponent was Miu-san, and she’s a senpai whom I really, really respect. We’re close in age, and she said ‘let’s do our best together!’ so I wanted to live up to that… and above all, I wanted to surpass her. I fought her with everything I did to get to this point, and everything I can do now, but… in the end, she was unbelievably strong. Of course, I also want more people to know about TJPW, and I’m going to keep conveying it to all sorts of people, including people overseas. Miu-san is an incredible wrestler, and I feel like she’ll amaze anyone who watches her regardless of which country they’re from. I want her to take that belt back and make herself known to as many people as possible.”

The next half tripped me up right away, though. I wasn’t quite sure I understood what the interviewer was asking: “(あまり泣いている姿は見せないと思うが?)けっこう泣き虫かも(苦笑)。(普段と違うように感じました)でも、いつも悔しくて悔しくてっていうのはもちろんあるんですけど…今日はなんだろう.”

(I don’t think we’ve ever seen you cry this much)

“I can be quite a crybaby.” (laughs)

(It felt different from usual)

“I always feel frustrated and disappointed, of course, but… what is it about today? Going out there and doing my best, it feels kind of freeing, or I guess fulfilling. But I can’t help but feel frustrated.”

I think I got this part, though I wasn’t sure about her last sentence here: “(この夏の成長や期待はどう受け止めている?)この夏に向けてとか、夏にやったことは決して無駄じゃなくて。でもそれでも、まだまだ足りないものだらけなので。未詩さんをはじめとした先輩たちに負けないように。危険な存在になっていきたいと思います.”

Here’s my attempt, plus the rest of her comments:

(How do you feel about your growth and all of the expectations this summer?)

“Everything I did going into summer, and during summer, it wasn’t in vain. But even so, it wasn’t enough, in so many ways. I’m not going to lose to my senpais, starting with Miu-san. I want to have a dangerous presence.”

(Do you feel like you’ve discovered what you’re lacking?)

“I don’t think my fighting style is wrong. I believe I was able to fight today even with Miu-san as my opponent, so I’m going to keep moving forward along this path.”

And that’s it for that show! The next show doesn’t have a whole lot of comments to translate, but it does have a contract signing, haha :sweat_smile:. I do think I’m getting faster, though, and hopefully am having less questions!

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I think the sense here is more along the lines of like, “I don’t know better (what to do) than Abadon” / “if it’s good enough for Abadon it’s good enough for me” that kind of thing. Like, roughly, “I’m truly sorry for biting you, but you were scheduled to fight Abadon, and well, I’m smaller than her but I thought I’d take their lead strategy-wise.”
(I don’t have super exact grammatical backing for that though)

Well, yeah! Makes sense - 瓦割り would more or less literally be “Brick Break” :sweat_smile:
I’d definitely have to say though it’s referring to the classic karate demonstration of chopping through a bunch of tiles (and the chop used in it), with the Pokemon move coming from the real-life phenomenon, rather than a reference to the move in the games.

image
(those are かわら and he’s わる’ing them)

Here it’s like, “will you remember your experience fighting me today, and pull off a [Typical Karate Move A] on them? Or a [Typical Karate Move B]? I hope so!”

Well, Weblio has for example :

表現 (ひょうげん)
[名](スル)心理的、感情的、精神的などの内面的なものを、外面的、感性的形象として客観化すること。また、その客観的形象としての、表情・身振り・言語・記号・造形物など。

So yeah! The way she expressed herself (through facial expressions, actions, words, etc.) was 素敵!

This part here is mixed around – アリエル担当 means she’s in charge of Ariel (as in, the role of Ariel), not that she’s Ariel, and separately in charge of something.

I honestly haven’t actually seen The Little Mermaid, but isn’t the plot of that that Ariel gets turned into a human but she can’t speak? So I imagine she’s referring to that! As in, like “I’ll be filling the role of Ariel for TJPW today! (because I can’t speak)”

Mizuki’s response is laughing, but protesting the silly joke, and it looks like there’s some more riffing on this in the video – a tough listening comprehension challenge! I think there’s a ありすぎる → “アリス is later on” ダジャレ and at least one about アリエル/ありえる.

There’s a lot more giggling and repeating similar things in general too.

The part that came out as:

is from a bit where Yuka is summarizing the situation via like, raspily dictating, clause-by-clause, for Mizuki to repeat after her:
image
image
(commented that before seeing later on it’s mentioned in the transcript too – this interpretation starts here and goes on through to the end)

I would maybe translate 途中 here just as like, “during the match” – it’s one of those things that sounds a little odd in English brought over literally. “During the match (During the match!)… I lost (She lost)… my voice! (her voice!)”

One other comment - The 以上です is just like, “okay I’m done talking (so if you have questions ask them, reporters)” and here she says it on her own after a pause when the bit is definitely done.
Thinking about it, I’d honestly maybe omit it in translation to English, at least here. I suppose though in an English translation of a sports interview someone might say “That’s all.” to signal they were done talking in the same way and it would be included…
I guess what I’m trying to say though is it’s more like
“X! … (That’s All).” here than “X, That’s all!” if that makes sense. The ellipses in yours might make it look to someone reading the English only a bit like the latter, I think. Though I’m probably just quibbling between the inevitable tone difference between a cold transcript and a very giggly interview!

I don’t think the subject switches in here like you have it. You might have gotten tripped up by 連戦? Thinking of it like a “series of matches?” but I would just say she’s saying Endo is improving with successive matches in these shows (not necessarily like, series as in like a set best of seven series or something).

I don’t think this is right – I think she herself also isn’t going to stay her current level. “I, also, am not このまま.” Like, roughly “but I’m improving too, and so if I can perfect the skills I’m improving now I can definitely defend the belt.”

I would say the 威嚇 is part is more like – part of the motivation behind (those moves) is to intimidate Yuka (and presumably vice versa). Like roughly, “yeah, there’s partly I think an intimidation element behind it too, though I’m still playing it close to the vest, and I’m sure Yuka’s not playing every card of hers yet either.”

I would say it’s more like – she doesn’t want to close out the summer in a way where looking back on it she’ll feel “that summer… :pensive:
The 『あの夏は…』みたいな風 isn’t what’s being closed out, I mean, more like how the summer is being closed out. With the 『あの夏は…』leaving implied negative/regretful feelings that in English would probably be more naturally stated directly or phrased a bit differently.

side note since the translation seems fine (and you saved me the trouble of describing what was happening from the video :grin: ), but 語源 is a good one to know for googling “X 語源” to find the etymology of words! I feel like the majority of my Japanese google searches are “X とは” or “Y 語源” or “Z 試合結果”…

This is probably fine, and I don’t have a way of phrasing it better, but just in case, the literal meaning I would say would be like, “Since the start of summer, Suzume has been one person I’ve wanted to work hard together with”

My other comment is I would say this part is more like –

She worried about the possibility of this situation:
[senpais not here → so then audience disappointed in the main event]
and so she hopes that it isn’t that situation, and that she successfully ensured the audience goes home happy.

The "My senpais weren’t here, " and “But it didn’t turn out like that” parts I think have more of a conditional structure in the original.

Yeah, I think pretty much that. In the video it sounds like he was saying he thought it was the first time he saw her cry after a match, and her response was like, “really? I feel like I cry a lot!” so I think in the video and the transcript it’s walked back a bit more to basically like “it seems like maybe different than usual though anyway?”

Minor detail, but I would say she wants to 危険な存在になる in order to not lose to her senpais, starting with Miu. One of those cases where I don’t think the period is as hard a stop as it might appear in the transcript.

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I’m about 2/3rds of the way through translating TJPW’s September 24 show, but I thought maybe it would be a good idea to split the contract signing into its own post, haha.

The transcript for this is up on the DDT website (shupro didn’t have anything for it), which should make things a little easier!

Namba asks Yuka to start:

Sakazaki: “I’ve had many singles matches with Shoko Nakajima since TJPW started. This is a turning point for me and for TJPW, or I guess I should say it feels like this title match came together at an important time.

Then Yuka says I think the longest sentence I’ve ever seen in Japanese :sweat_smile:. I struggled a fair amount with this due to its length: “そして中島翔子とタイトルマッチ、シングルマッチをやっていく中で、自分たちでどんどんハードルをあげていって、越えられるかな、越えられないかな、みんなの期待に応えられるかなって不安になりながら、でも自分たちの力を信じて、何回も何回も乗り越えて、今このタイミングでまたタイトルマッチが組まれたっていうことは、さらに東京女子が上にいくために組まれたタイトルマッチだって、運命だって思ってるから、今持っている以上のものって、当たり障りないことになるけど…でも、後悔ないように全力で中島翔子にぶつかっていきたいと思います.”

"In the title matches and singles matches I’ve been having with Shoko Nakajima, the two of us have been gradually raising the bar more and more, and I’m anxious about whether we’re going to clear it or not, and whether we can live up to everyone’s expectations, but I believe in our power, and we’ve cleared that bar time and time again. Having this title match again now, it’s once again a title match set to bring TJPW to the next level, and I think it’s fate. So having it again would be bland, but… I want to hit Shoko Nakajima with everything I have so that I don’t have any regrets.”

For Shoko’s answer, the only part that I wasn’t really sure about was her second sentence here: “今の東京女子プロレスでこの短いスパンでベルトに挑戦するということはそう簡単にできるものじゃないと思うし、そこにたどり着くまでに心の強さとか、努力とか、色んなものを自分に……そうですね.” The この短いスパン part in particular was a little unclear to me.

Nakajima: “As a result of the summer tournament, I will once again have a title match with Yuka Sakazaki. I don’t think it’s very easy to challenge for the belt in this short span of time in current TJPW, so to get there, I’ve needed strength of mind, hard work, and many other things. In any case, I think I’ve had to be very strong to get to this point. In the tournament, I had a setback. But Yuka Sakazaki alone won amidst all of the other voices, and stood in front of me once again. I beat her once in June, but seeing her ahead of me again gave me courage. She’s someone who really inspires me, and she makes me feel like even if I win, I have to win again, and that I want to keep winning over and over again. That’s the kind of opponent she is. I think if I want to stand at the top, I always have to believe that new things are the best. I think the fans are always wanting to see something new. In order to create that new landscape, I have to fine tune myself even more, and if I lose to myself, I will lose to the opponent in front of me. This summer, I reconfirmed my own weaknesses. I will not lose to myself, and I will not lose to Yuka Sakazaki. I will defend this belt, and very soon it will be TJPW’s 10th year. I will absolutely hold onto my belt, and keep it until we’ve reached that critical juncture. I want to fight in the main event at Ryogoku Kokugikan for the second time, just as I did when I put on this belt. For this reason, I want to keep winning. Everyone, please watch me. Thank you for your support.”

Namba: “You had a title match at CyberFight Fest in June this year. Is there any difference in your frame of mind compared to then?”

Sakazaki: “CyberFight Fest was more like a festival, having a title match in that kind of lively atmosphere."

Then Yuka said, “自分のペースで雰囲気を持っていけない部分、自分が関与できない部分とかもある中でのタイトルマッチと今回、東京女子だけのフィールドでの闘いっていうのはまったく別物の闘いになると思いますので、その違いっていうのを見ているお客さんが感じてくれたらいいなと思いますので、目を離さないで見てもらえたらいいなと思います.” Another long sentence! The first half of this one was hard, but I think I figured out the point she was making?

"It was a title match where we couldn’t control the atmosphere and we couldn’t participate just as ourselves. But this time, we’re fighting just in a TJPW ring. I think it’s a completely different fight, and I hope the audience watching the match will feel that difference, so keep your eyes on us.”

In Shoko’s answer, I was confused by her second line here: “やっぱり総当たり戦みたいなものなので、そこで私は勝ち残れなかった.” In particular, the 総当たり戦 part, because that phrase apparently means round-robin tournament, but the Tokyo Princess Cup is a single elimination tournament, not round robin, so it wasn’t really at all similar in operation. So I think she was comparing it to feeling like a G1 or a Five Star Grand Prix, or something like that (in terms of tension and prestige)?

Nakajima: “One of the differences is the tournament we had this summer. I think that’s the biggest. It felt like a round-robin tournament in the end, and I couldn’t advance. But the fact that Yuka-chi was able to keep winning after all… I think of Yuka Sakazaki as an opponent who is passing me and getting passed by me day by day. That was the true lesson for me this summer. I was also energized by watching her go ahead of me, so this time I want her to watch me step out in front.”

Namba: The two of you often talk about the ‘growth of the young wrestlers’. Miu Watanabe and Yuki Arai also have title matches. Do you have a message to give to your juniors?

Yuka’s answer to this was kind of confusing: “うーん…まぁその、荒井優希に関しては、タイトル戦で負けてるので言うことはないですけど、今一瞬一瞬、その瞬間その瞬間に一番誰が輝くかって思いながら試合をしてると思うので。私はお姉ちゃんの方ですけど、時間は平等なので。みんなその瞬間、自分を掴むために生きてるので。みんなガムシャラに今を生きたらいいと思うよ。以上です.”

Sakazki: "Well, I lost our title match, so I don’t have anything to say concerning Yuki Arai, but right now, each moment, every single moment, I’m wrestling my matches and thinking about who will shine the most. I’m the older sister, but time favors no one. Everyone, in each moment, is living for the sake of seizing themselves. I think everyone should make the most of the present moment. That’s all.”

The first half of Shoko’s response was tricky, though I think I did okay with the second half? She started off by saying, “入りたての頃とかは先輩・後輩ってハッキリしてたと思うんですけど、一緒に道場や試合で時間を過ごしていく中で、その先輩・後輩だったものが、ちょっとずつそうじゃなくなってるっていうのは今年強く感じました。なので自分が勝ち続けるためにも、もっともっと荒井ちゃんも未詩も、赤井さんもそうだけど、みんなのことをちゃんと見て、自分が今どのくらいの力があるのかをつねに確認していかないといけないし.”

Nakajima: “When I first joined, I think the junior-senior distinction was very clear, but as we’ve spent time together in the dojo and in matches, it has gradually become less and less distinct, and I’ve felt that very strongly this year. This is more and more true about Arai-chan and Miu, and Akai-san, too, but in order for me to keep winning, it means that I need to watch everyone closely and always have to confirm how much power I have right now They are the kind of juniors who make me think that I must always, always work hard. But I feel a little sad that you can’t apply words like ‘young wrestler’ and ‘the future’ to myself. Yuka-chi also said it, but we want to do our very best now. So, I want you to look at everyone, all of us all together.”

I was a little unsure about that last sentence, too: “なので、全部ひっくるめてみなさんには見て欲しいなって思ってます.” :sweat_smile:

And that was everything said during the contract signing!

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Finished the rest of the September 24 show! The bad news is that the comment videos for this one didn’t seem to have gotten posted. Or at least, they’re not on the TJPW twitter account or youtube :sweat_smile:. They’re mentioned in the recap, though, and shupro has transcriptions. So clearly they happened?

Starting with the easier part: the in-ring stuff.

The main event is sort of a combined preview for several of the matches on the Wrestle Princess Card, in particular the main event and the Team Aja vs Team Max tag match. (Misao was supposed to be there, too, but she had covid and couldn’t be in the show, so she and Mizuki didn’t get a preview for their match).

Shoko’s team wins. She starts off by saying, “あの夏から、ちょっとは私も強くなったと思うんだけど。坂崎ユカが強ければ強いほど、それは私にとって力の源だと思ってるから。あと2週間、負けないから.” The second sentence here was a bit tricky, but I think I got it maybe?

Nakajima: “I think I’ve gotten a bit stronger since the summer. The stronger Yuka Sakazaki is, the more strength I have. There’s just two weeks left, and I’m not losing.” (To Miu) “You also have a title match…”

Miu: “Yes. I’m challenging for Alex Windsor’s International belt… and it’s my first time wrestling someone from overseas. I will challenge with perfect English and flawless preparation. Please support me!”

Tatsumi: (to Aino) “Hey, we’re going to be together!”

Aino: “We managed to win the preview match, too. Let’s aim for teamwork that does not make us lose to RakuPom and our good friend Aja-sama…” (to Tatsumi) “Please.”

Then Rika says, “チームワークで、こちらもユキとインペイラーちゃんとリカとスーパーキッドな仲良しタッグで。もっともっと仲を深めて、勝ってやるー!” The main thing that tripped me up here was スーパーキッド, which I couldn’t figure out at all until it occurred to me that it might be a typo and キッド is maybe supposed to be きっと? I tried listening to it, but wasn’t confident what I was hearing :sweat_smile:.

Tatsumi: “Teamwork! Our side has Yuki, Impaler-chan, and Rika and we’re super duper close. We’re going to deepen our relationship even more and win!” (to Raku and Pom) “It’s the end! October 9 is going to be your death day!”

Aino: “Death day! That’s too good.” (smiles)

Raku: “Pomu-chan, Aja-san will be there, so you’ll be okay, right?”

Pom: (in a scared whisper) “I think I’ll be okay.”

Tatsumi: “Ah.”

Then Mizuki said, “今日はパミさんと前哨戦だと思ってたんだけど、この楽しみはTDCでどちらが暴れられるかの勝負だと思っているので。今日未詩が大暴れしてくれたおかげで、瑞希も大暴れできたから。未詩のためにも勝ってくるわ.” The first sentence was the tricky one here.

Mizuki: “I thought today was going to be a preview match with Pami-san, but I think the excitement will be a match to see who can go on a rampage at TDC. Thanks to Miu’s rampage today, I was also able to go berserk. I’m going to win for Miu’s sake!”

Then I was confused by Miu’s reaction and Yuka’s, haha. Miu said, “?? タッグじゃないって” and Yuka said, “違う? ただの仲良しやった?” I think everything after that I did alright on?

Miu: “??? But we’re not tag partners.”

Sakazaki: “No? Did you just become good friends?” (facing Nakajima) “Finally. I have nothing more to say. See you in the ring.” (they exchange a firm handshake)

Nakajima: “Oh! Since you all came out to see us, I think I’ll ask everyone to come into the ring. Everyone, come out!” (the other wrestlers emerge from backstage) “For various reasons, not everyone is here, but TJPW will be at TDC Hall with 100% of our power and we’re going to give it our all! Today, some of us won and some of us lost, but our true power will be shown when we all gather at TDC Hall, so I really hope everyone comes to see us. Now, I know it’s a bit clichéd, but let’s all form a circle. We’re gonna fight, but we’re all gonna have to hit each other with everything we’ve got!" (to Sakazaki, who is at the center of the circle for some reason) “You! You!” (once again, everyone forms a circle) “Everyone, we’re going to fight tooth and nail to win!”

Everyone: “Yeah!”

Nakajima: “Thank you all so much!”

OKAY, now the hard part: the comments :sweat_smile:.

I’m going to post the entire Japanese transcript alongside my translations for full context (sorry shupro), in case I got wildly mislead by something.

I felt moderately confident about this part:

中島「10・9TDCホール前最後の試合だったので、気合を入れて色々確認するみたいなかんじでガッツリぶつかれたと思います。あとはお互いどれくらい持ってこれるかだと思うので、リング上で言いましたけど、これ以上は何も喋る必要がないと思ってます。自分が頑張るだけです。是非見ててほしいです」

Nakajima: “This was the last match before TDC Hall on October 9, so I went into the match with the feeling of wanting to confirm some things and hit each other with everything we’ve got. I think the rest is what we’re each going to bring to it, so as I said in the ring, I don’t think I need to say anything more. I’m just going to do my best. I hope you’ll watch me.”

未詩「インターナショナルのベルトに挑戦するということで、この秋も夏よりもっと熱くっていうのを目標に、初めてアレックスさんと闘うのでちょっとドキドキしてるんですけど。あれは東京女子の緑? ティファニーブルー? 何色? 水色のベルト。東京女子のベルトなので未詩が頑張って取りたいと思います」

Miu: “I’m challenging for the International belt, and my goal is for this fall to be even hotter than the summer. I’m facing Alex-san for the first time, so I’m a little nervous. Is that TJPW green? Tiffany blue? What color? The light blue belt. It belongs to TJPW, so I’m going to do my best to get it back.”

辰巳「頑張れ。我々も、アジャさんとインペイラーちゃんの世紀の争いにみんな大注目してると思うんですけど。そこよりも目立たないとね。リカユキが一番目立ちます」

Tatsumi: “Good luck! Us, too, I think everyone is paying a lot of attention to the fight of the century between Aja-san and Impaler-chan. We have to stand out more than that. RikaYuki will stand out the most.”

This next part was a little trickier because I wasn’t exactly sure of the best way to translate ニコイチ:

愛野「…ヤバい。言うことがまったく一緒やった(笑)。同じ気持ちなので」

Aino: “…Scary! We said exactly the same thing.” (laughs) “We feel the same way.”

辰巳「ニコイチ? サンコイチなので」

Tatsumi: “Like combining the parts from two broken machines to make a working one? Or I guess three machines.”

愛野「一緒にサンコイチの仲よぴで、仲よちで私たちはアジャ様らくぽむを倒します」

Aino: “Together, as three broken machines made whole, with the power of our amazing relationship, we will defeat Aja-sama and RakuPom.”

For Shoko’s comments, I’m not quite sure I understood her answer to the last question here:

中島「(決戦まで2週間空くが不安な部分は?)ないです。今日は出せるものを出しました。(坂崎の三角締めに苦しめられていたが?)あれはちょっと、あんまり印象がなかったので。やっぱり新しい引き出しを準備してたなってかんじがします。ノーザンの形からすぐに取られてしまったので。そこは私も次は気を付けるところかなって思ってます」

(There are two weeks until the title match. Is there anything you’re anxious about?)

Nakajima: "Nope. I did what I could today.”

(Were you threatened by Sakazaki’s Triangle Hold?)

“It didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Even so, I feel like I was preparing to draw out something new. I won immediately after using the Northern Lights Suplex, so I think that’s where I’ll have to be careful next time.”

Switching gears to the losing team’s side, I think I got the beginning?

坂崎「インペイラー…?」

Sakazaki: “Impaler…?”

らく「(発狂するぽむの横で)頑張る!」

Raku: (beside Pom, who is going crazy) “We’ll do our best!”

瑞希「大丈夫やって」

Mizuki: “It’ll be alright.”

ぽむ「やりたくはなかったですけど、ここまで自分の中で嫌だなって思ってると思わなかった…」
Pom: “I didn’t want to do it, but even I didn’t think I’d hate it this much…”

Then this next part was very confusing without being able to reference the video, because I could not figure out what on earth Yuka and Pom were referring to with あげる :sweat_smile:.

坂崎「すごいじゃーん。これもあげるん?」

Sakazaki: “This is amazing. Are you giving this one, too?”

ぽむ「あげないです。これは最近新しくしたやつ…あげたくないです」

Pom: “No. This is a new one that I did recently… I don’t want to give it.”

瑞希「じゃあ勝つしかないな」

Mizuki: “Then you have to win.”

らく「アジャさんと頑張ります」

Raku: “We’ll do our best with Aja-san!”

坂崎「そうやな。頑張って。アジャさにたら大丈夫」

Sakazaki: “Yes. Good luck! Since you’re with Aja, you’ll be okay.”

Mizuki’s comment here was pretty straightforward. Her second sentence was the only one I felt unsure about:

瑞希「パミさんどんな感じかなって思ってたので、今日いなかったのはちょっと寂しいけど。まぁ、いなかった分TDCで何か、ね。絶対考えてると思うけど。でも瑞希も最近、スプラトゥーンとかにハマってるから、暴れる準備はできてます。まぁ大体やられてんねんけど(苦笑)。なので楽しみにしつつ、めっちゃ警戒して頑張ります」

Mizuki: “I was wondering what Pami-san would be like, so I’m a little sad that she wasn’t here today. Well, she’ll do something at TDC to make up for her absence. I’m sure she’s thinking about it. But I’ve been addicted to Splatoon lately, so I’m ready to rampage. Well, I usually get beat up.” (wry smile) “So while I’m looking forward to it, I’m going to do my best to stay vigilant.”

Yuka’s, on the other hand, was a minefield of question marks for me :sweat_smile::

坂崎「私も今日でいつものルーティンから違う入りをすることで技の選択肢を削れるかなって思って。サブミッションとかも入れたので、これで思うようには試合できないかなって気もするので。もう今から作戦は効いてるかなって思います。下手にノーザン打とうとしたらつかまえるし、サブミッション入ろうとしたら先に入るし。やりにくくして、勝ちに貪欲に。東京女子の興行なので、決着つくまで何時間かかってもいいと思うので。なので、絶対にあきらめない気持ちで勝利をつかみにいきたいと思います。

Sakazaki: "I thought that I could pare down my options today by going in with something different from my usual routine. I also included submissions, so I feel like she won’t be able to have the kind of match she’s expecting. I think the strategy is already working. If she clumsily tries to hit a Northern Suplex, I’ll catch her, and if she tries a submission, I’ll put her in one first. Make it difficult, and be greedy for victory. Since this is a TJPW show, it can last for however many hours it takes for the match to reach a conclusion. So, I’m going to seize the victory with the feeling that I’m never going to give up.”

(まだ隠しているものはある?)そうですね。あるとも言い難いし、ないとも言い難いという言い方にしておきます。それでどんどん惑わされてくれたら体力も削れると思うので、私の術中にハマってくれればなと。(中島の引き出しへの警戒は?)今のところ…でもなんか、冗談の619とかきたので。前回(新宿)はコーナーからきたんですけど、決めにかかろうとしてる時に来られる分にはちょっと回避が難しいので。でも今日出してくれてよかったなって気はしてます、逆に。あれはちょっとペース崩されるので、要注意ですね。(瑞希に)アリエル、戻ってきたやろ?」

(Is there anything that you’re still hiding?)

“Well… I will say that I’m hesitant to say that there is, and I’m hesitant to say that there isn’t. If she’s misled by that, I think it’ll reduce her strength, so I hope she falls for my tricks.”

(Are you on alert for whatever she’s able to pull out?)

“Right now… I’m expecting something like that joke of a 619. Last time (Shinjuku), she came from the corner, but it’s a little difficult to avoid her when she comes down when the match is about to end. But weirdly, I feel like I’m glad she brought it out today. It can disrupt the pace a bit, so I need to be very careful." (To Mizuki) “Ariel has come back, it seems?”

In the last part, I’m guessing that Yuka started having trouble with her voice again? Maybe? I couldn’t quite follow some of the grammar, and also struggled with some translation decisions without further context :sweat_smile:.

瑞希「戻ってきた~」

Mizuki: “She came back!”

坂崎「回復早いん。でもな、一定のところ(の声域を)出すとな」

Sakazaki: “I’m recovering quickly. But, when your voice has a certain range…”

瑞希「でもちょうどええやんな」

Mizuki: “But it’s just perfect.”

ぽむ「たしかに」

Pom: “Certainly.”

坂崎「たしかにって何? うるせーやつがたしかにって言ったな? まぁあと2週間でバッチリなので。楽しみにしててください」

Sakazaki: “‘Certainly’ what? What does this noisy person mean by ‘certainly’? Well, in two weeks, I’m going to thoroughly win. Please look forward to it!”

And that’s it! We’re caught up until Wrestle Princess on October 9!

If we’re unable to make sense of some of this, I might leave parts of it untranslated with a note. But I figured I might as well ask and see if we can decipher what’s going on haha.

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This is very much a quibble, and I don’t envy the task of sorting all these clauses out and rearranging them in English at all, but in the original I get the impression that like, amidst each of these matches, she has both worried, and trusted, and they’ve risen to the challenge, like as uh, the ハードルをあげて, the 不安になり, so to speak. In the translation it sounds more like she’s specifically anxious about this one for some reason.

I don’t think this is right – I think here she pauses to look for words, and this is like, along the lines of “to say I’m going to give 110% would be an empty cliché, but”
(I think, anyway)

The 短いスパン is from Cyberfight Festival to now, but she’s not talking about herself here.
この短いスパンでベルトに挑戦するということ is the そこ in そこにたどり着く, and she isn’t the one who できる’d that, it’s Yuka who earned the shot, and Shoko’s not 挑戦する’ing anything since she has the belt, so she’s saying Yuka earning a title shot again so soon shows strength.

This is the nitpickiest of nitpicks, but I would maybe make that “You” a “You two” – it’s clearer in the video and with the 二人 that she’s asking both of them, while here in English it might be especially easy to miss the switch in who answers.

My one little quibble here is I would maybe phrase it more like, “we couldn’t fully” rather than just “we couldn’t.” Those elements were 部分s, after all, I don’t think she’s saying the whole thing was out of their control.
Also, I would put in “at our own pace” for “自分のペース”. Reading between the lines a little, I feel like she’s saying in part that time constraints would be less strict on a TJPW-only show where they go on last.

That’s my guess too - it’s what comes to mind with 夏にトーナメント, after all.

This is a quibble, but the sense I get in the original is roughly like, “well, as for Arai, I lost my title match against her, so it’s not really my place to give advice to her.”
In the English here it sounds a bit like she’s not going to touch the subject because she’s bitter about it.

I would say rather that she wants the audience to look at her and Yuka in total (rather than I suppose just as no-longer-young-wrestlers).
みなさん wouldn’t be “all of us”, I don’t think (because of the さん) but everyone as in “everyone I’m addressing right now” and the に with 欲しい means she wants that みなさん to 見る something.

(edit to add: oops on that last point I think I overlooked or misread parts of your translated version. Maybe take all this with an extra grain of salt. I’m quite tired right now!)

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(Taking those posts separately to instead talk about something else and then go to bed!)

I successfully avoided spoilers and finished watching the whole 5 Star GP!
I loved it!!

Stardom 5 Star GP 2022 talk

To summarize – I’m extremely impressed they pulled off a two-month long tournament with… 157…? matches in it seemingly without a major hitch, while keeping the whole thing exciting and brisk and unpredictable throughout.
I had the day off and watched the final in the afternoon after catching up over the weekend, and while of course I’m still high on it so soon after, I think all told the tournament might be favorite thing in wrestling to date – at least in the category of like, things that didn’t mark my getting into a new promotion or didn’t tie in to personal milestones.

Here’s my fully filled out 星取表 to prove I watched the whole dang thing:

Some of the smaller shows without commentary I definitely did multitask a bit during, but they really pumped the larger shows and korakuen visits full of interesting tournament matches, with commentary (including from Miki Motoi who is still my favorite commentator) on a handful of those shows, and the 15 minute time limit gave them a quick, different feel from regular big shows that I enjoyed a lot.
Like – it’s night and day for me between the G1 Climax Finals days this year, where the cards were like “today we have one of the two block finals… and a bunch of no-stakes matches, but KUSHIDA is here so that’s cool at least” and Stardom’s approach here of “ok today’s the last day and we’re doing all 12 remaining block matches followed by the tournament final, and nothing else.” Like – the filler is at a minimum, and the tournament matches themselves are compact enough that they fill in what would be gaps, I suppose, if that makes sense. It’s not as exhausting as a show of only G1 Climax matches would be, I think. Especially spread out so shows are mainly on weekends as opposed to nearly filling whole weeks to the brim.

I think Stardom’s roster is really incredible right now, so if there would be a problem, it would definitely be the “too much good wrestling” fatigue that hits sometimes, but for me at least, this was well avoided by occasionally mixed in other shows, like New Blood, or Stardom X Stardom, or Stardom in Showcase, and title matches on tournament cards, + the structure I mentioned before where especially cool matches with a unique dynamic or story gravitating towards Korakuen and the bigger milestone shows.

My favorite matches (I loved all of these) were:

  • Giulia vs. Starlight Kid
    They put this one on youtube!
    I love that one of the most violent feuds in Stardom ultimately just boils down to Giulia not being able to help herself from trying to remove Kid’s mask. Simple as that. It isn’t a surprise that I would like the match so much – both wrestlers are represented in shupro poster format on my fridge.
  • Giulia vs. Suzu Suzuki
    This one is definitely the biggest reason that I’m glad I’ve been reading shupro! Being able to follow this feud from “She meant a lot to me! Someday somewhere we’ll definitely fight” in separate interviews in separate companies, to Prominence starting, to Prominence invading, to now has been awfully cool, and much much more interesting than it would have been if I didn’t know any of that context.

I loved the ending in this one, where instead of a time limit draw where one wrestler is frantically setting up a power move or holding a submission like in previous ties, Suzu has exhausted all of her offense about 30 seconds before the bell and just breaks down crying and ineffectually hitting Giulia with nothing strikes until Giulia grabs her and hugs her as the draw is made official. Really great! And I couldn’t be more thrilled that it lived up to that long build-up of their big sister / left-behind younger sister dynamic.

  • The Final

I think it’s great that despite my unwittingly calling the final two in the one guess I made about it at the start of the tournament, through the entire thing I felt like I had absolutely no idea who was going to be in the final, and when it did turn out to be Tam and Giulia, I still felt like I had absolutely no idea who was going to win. It speaks to how viable the entire roster is, how perfect rivals Tam and Giulia are, and how much more effective smokescreens like, for example, Giulia going 0-2 in her first two matches are when the blocks are so big. Even though Giulia ended up winning the whole thing and factoring into all my favorite matches, it didn’t feel to me like it was built for Giulia to “overcome the odds” because there were a million other things going on, and Giulia vs. Suzu could just as well have been a capstone for her story in the tournament and a start of further Prominence feuding or something else to keep her busy instead.
About the match itself, one standout moment for me was the spot where they were sitting that was almost like a strong style blow-exchange spot, but more like with Giulia just telling Tam to hit her and Tam obliging by kicking her in the face, multiple times.

There were plenty of other good and great matches (Koguma vs. Hayashishita for example – that reversal!) but those are the three I personally was over the moon for.

Going by the “who rose the most in my estimation” metric again, I think it would be:

  1. MIRAI
    Like I said last time, this tournament was the thing that made me go fully “oh right, MIRAI’s great!”
  2. Giulia
    I would have called Giulia my favorite wrestler for a bit there, but her loss in momentum after getting injured last year would have made me at least feel less confident in saying that. Feels like a pretty safe pick now though!
  3. Mai Sakurai
    She made a much stronger showing than I was expecting! The lofty goal which Hideki Suzuki and Giulia are responsible for wasn’t as lofty as I assumed.

Honestly that the list isn’t longer mostly just speaks to my already holding pretty much everybody involved in high regard as wrestlers.

Last thing I’ll say is a general sort of comment about the vibe – I really like the last image used in Stardom’s lead-in montage these days:
image
I think it’s a great summation of what Stardom delivers exceptionally well right now, and it lines up with what I want most out of wrestling: Eternal foes. :sweat_smile:
Tag teams are nice and all, but what I’m here for is eternal foes sharing a moment in the ring after an emotionally charged and bittersweet match! “Eternal foes” not necessarily in the sense of “bitter enemies forever” but in the almost comforting sense of rivals who’ll end up intertwined and bouncing off each other no matter what somehow. That was always my favorite even in WWE (with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens).
Stardom definitely delivers those! (And Tam and Giulia are both eerily good at collecting them…)
(I also like SLK’s move called “Eternal Foe” which involves backflipping off the top rope with your opponent in arm)

That’s all pretty hyperbolically positive… I guess if there’s negatives, it kinda ate up all my wrestling attention for a big chunk of time there, and also they should add more commentary and upload the backstage comments somewhere other than twitter!

Quick comments about other Stardom shows from this chunk of time

Stardom X Stardom 2022
I remember this one felt really hurt unfortunately by Kairi having to drop out. Not that the show was bad (Himeka replacing her did that good replacement thing of making me think for a moment in nearfalls, that maybe…) but Kairi would definitely have added a luster of special attraction that was a little bit missing. I really liked the tag match, Tam/Natsupoi (明太子とジェノベーゼ?) winning made sense with their momentum, though I love FWC.

New Blood 4
This free show is more fun and involved than I assumed they were originally!
Almost maybe too much to be that good of an introduction…? I remember (vaguely, it’s been a while) a lot of matches advancing a plot or otherwise building on established stuff and that maybe giving it a “cool extra stuff for a fan to checkout” vibe than the “newcomers start here!” vibe I might expect from a free show.
The biggest thing I remember is the fourth God’s Eye member!

Stardom in Showcase Vol. 2
Potentially a perfect cooldown before the tournament finals, and a fun quarantine for silly ideas with the airhorns and frustratingly clipped music there to let you know what you’re in for (and keep one’s Kenohish indignation in check), but it’s maybe not a great sign for the longevity of the idea that this Vol. 2’s ideas were mostly repeats of Vol.1’s (although the not-on-stardom-world muscle competition alleviates that some I suppose?).
I mostly just spent the whole thing worried someone would get injured from something stupid like slipping on a balloon or Mayu falling down an entire flight of stairs, and feeling happy for Giulia for getting to have a match with Rina Yamashita, who she clearly and professedly loves and admires. (Her current look is only a step or two removed from just being Yamashita cosplay, huh). The “this is all dumb fun!” vibe made me less invested in the relatively serious matches.

Misc. other things I can’t remember where they happened

  • The final audition stage for the Mayu Iwatani movie was held in-ring in one of these shows. It was… one of those things where (assuming it wasn’t worked) I was too stressed out putting myself in their shoes to enjoy it too much! But all the actresses seemed interesting in their own way and it made me want them all to get a small role or something – I hope they at least come out of whatever this was feeling like it was a good experience.
    The role apparently isn’t guaranteed to be the starring role (i.e. Mayu), and I don’t think they’ve announced (or decided?) who actually won, but it was hard not to judge them based on Mayu-ishness anyway – some seemed Mayu-ish but potentially too shy, others had stage presence but didn’t seem like Mayu… I thought the best was the ring announcer who arrived in full Mayu cosplay! She seemed like a spot-on movie-version of Mayu, since it sounds like she’s a professional voice actor, but maybe it was the cosplay influencing things…
  • I have kinda mixed feelings about the IWGP Women’s Championship they’re unveiling and scheduling a tournament for. Stardom being it’s own thing is a big part of why I like it, and I’ve not been super thrilled by increased NJPW crossover recently (isn’t there a show… named exactly that scheduled soon too?), like for example Taichi and El Desperado were around and did guest commentary for one of these shows and they were fine but it gave a little bit of a “Suzuki-gun hanging out” vibe to the commentary, and their standing in the ring was a reminder of how physically huge even the NJPW jr.s can be in comparison… But hey! it could be cool, and if this is what it looks like then I like the old IWGP belt inspired look!

With that all out of the way, maybe I can properly think about non-Stardom wrestling again soon! Maybe even read a magazine or two!

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I’m not really sure what’s going on either, but I don’t think スーパーきっとな would go together or make sense grammatically here.
My best guess is maybe "スーパーキュートな " and it just came out pronounced a little weird in the moment as happens sometimes, but who knows.

This “命日はいい” is more like いい as in not necessary – like “that’s a bit too far” / “you can leave that part out”

I think Tatsumi’s “Ah” here is like, “ああ” as in, “yes, ok, I’m not actually going to kill you”
Raku is looking expectantly at Rika waiting for her to confirm what Raku’s saying (that Pomu will be fine), and the “ああ” is giving that confirmation, albeit somewhat reluctantly.
image

Hard to say since the camera doesn’t show her but I got the impression maybe Yuka had a surprised reaction, like as though Miu were taking her tag partner away, which might explain some of the other reactions that were shown. Miu’s gesturing seems directed in Yuka’s direction.

I don’t know how to convey this in English, but this part seems to be like, an approving/challenge accepted sort of grunt directed at Yuka, like roughly “right!! Match set.”
image
(Rather than “oh” as in like, oh right I have to talk about other stuff)

This might make more sense in English as like, “hey, you!”
“You! You!” seems like a weird thing to yell in English… :sweat_smile:
Yuka’s trying to lead pulling everyone into the circle from the center of it and Shoko’s calling her out for not being a part of the circle like everyone else.

Also, I don’t actually know what this is called, but they’re doing this:



(which could maybe be clearer in the transcripts)

This is a bit picky but I would say rather they ガッツリぶつかれた’d with a 色々確認するみたいなかんじ and 気合を入れて (roughly being full of fighting spirit).
In yours it kinda sounds like she went into the match with two goals, to confirm, and hit each other. Or that she went into the match to confirm, and separately they hit each other. Whereas I would say I think their hitting each other had the feeling of assessing each other.

This is picky, but I would make this “and so” to capture the ということで more. and maybe “burn even hotter” just to make the awkward English/Japanese “hot” metaphor clash a little less awkward - although technically I think maybe it’s the 秋 that would be 熱い here but hey

She didn’t say anything though, right? I would probably say because of that that like, Rika took on and completed 言うこと for the both of them.

The ニコイチ tactic here seems over literal to me – I think the emphasis based on googling around, when it comes to people, is that it’s two people so in sync they’re operating as one unit. In translation here the broken->whole aspect seems over-emphasized.
I think something like e.g. “like two peas in a pod? Or three, I suppose!”
might be less literally accurate to the metaphor but maybe more accurate to how they’re using it as a phrase.

This isn’t quite right.
What happened in the match is they threatened suplexes on each other, and I suppose this would be the ノーザンの形:
image
and Yuka immediately caught her in the 三角締め:


and Shoko went frantically to the ropes:

So for one, the reporter is observing 坂崎の三角締めに苦しめられていた - and asking for comment (が?) about that in context of her just saying there weren’t any 不安な部分.
Not 100% on this part, but I think the あれはちょっと、あんまり印象がなかったので。is like, roughly, “that was because I didn’t really have an impression of that as a move she would use in that situation” like she’s explaining why she was caught off guard by it.
The やっぱり新しい引き出しを準備してたなってかんじがします。is her observersations about Yuka – you can tell with the やっぱり…な. As I expected, Yuka came prepared with new tools for situations – is the impression I (Shoko) got from that.
ノーザンの形からすぐに取られてしまったので。 - because I (Shoko) got caught with it quickly from a Northern Lights Suplex position. (which is of course something Shoko will be aiming for frequently)
そこは私も次は気を付けるところかなって思ってます - So I (Shoko) think that’s likely something I’ll have to watch out for next time.

I’m guessing another ribbon – Max took a ribbon or something like that from Pom at their last match, so presumably they’re teasing her about giving another away since they’re having another match.

I would say this part is rather more – but when she tries to vocalize in a particular range (then she loses her voice again). (and yeah, I’d say that’s definitely what’s happening, and Pom aggreeing Yuka without her voice is just right is ironic since Pom is… Pom)

Otherwise I didn’t have comments all through this part!



@fallynleaf oops, that was three replies and I didn’t notice…

週刊プロレス No.2197 (from early August)

Been a while since I read one of these! I predictably fell behind again… Probably for the best though I suppose – if there’s too much wrestling to keep up with in the moment, it only stands to reason it would be even harder to keep up with the magazine about the wrestling! And I think trying to stay at the bleeding edge of the subscription is a too fraught with “wait but I haven’t watched show X yet, I need to avert my eyes” type considerations.
Still… early August?? Boy, that really was a long tournament wasn’t it!

Not a lot to report about this issue though – partly because I read the first few columns months ago and don’t remember what they say, and partly because the main features here are build for the N-1 Victory and Wrestle Peter Pan, both of which at one point I was planning to watch but fell victim to my only having eyes for the 5 Star GP. (I watched a bit of the N-1 Victory the same way I watched the G1, but honestly without easily accessible backstage interviews or prior knowledge of the characters it was hard to get an impression that way and the tasks I had at work switched to make the background noise strategy even less feasible).

Kenoh’s column has a picture of him reading KENTA’s book in front of pikachu, for some reason.
image

Giulia’s column is about the team of Nanae Takahashi and KAIRI, シン七海里, and I don’t remember what she said but I think she was complimentary!

There’s an interview with Go Shiozaki ahead of the N-1 Victory, and he talks about missing a show in the lead-up but participating in the tournament. It sounds like he took a tiger suplex and it caused lingering issues to hit the breaking point, and he experienced some temporary 麻痺 and loss of consciousness. But he didn’t participate in the N-1 last year, so he feels he has to turn up this year. They run down various upcoming matches of note of his – one detail I didn’t know is his match with Hideki Suzuki has interesting background since a feud with Suzuki before all that WWE business was when Shiozaki started saying “I am NOAH” since Suzuki said to him “オマエがNOAHなんだよ”
There’s also an interview with Kiyomiya, a rundown of more matches, and and a commentary column about the N-1, followed by multiple interviews about Wrestle Peter Pan, but I didn’t read any of those as carefully…

In Tenryu’s column, he talks about Fujita “Jr.” Hayato, the wrestler who returned from cancer recently, and was touched by his dedication to wrestling. He also talks again about Tetsuya Endo, giving the Tenryu-ish opinion that Endo shouldn’t challenge for the championship again so soon after returning from that slap that knocked him out, he should instead challenge Nakajima to return the slap 10 times over for the sake of 男の意地, even if he doesn’t win the match.

There’s an interview with Suzume on the occasion of her being in the final four of TJPW’s tournament this summer, and they talk about her beating her “憧れの存在” Rika Tatsumi, but she says it was a fluke and so she doesn’t feel she’s surpassed Rika – asked if a 「辰巳リカを超える日」 will ever come, she says she’s aiming for it and isn’t sure it will ever come, but supposes it would be the day she takes a proper 3 count victory from her.

I found Keiji Mutoh’s column especially engaging this time. I suppose just because the topic is 技 and it’s a chance for Mutoh to reminisce sort of aimlessly. He says in the old days wrestlers (Inoki included) would warm up in the ring in front of the crowd before the show started, and then the show was structured in a pyramid, from 若手 to tag teams and foreign wrestlers, juniors and such, up through to Inoki as the main attraction. It sounds like the flashiness of moves was meant to correspond with your place in the pyramid to not pull attention away from more major attractions, but that structure has since crumbled, in part due to Mutoh himself, as when he was a young wrestler, the 先輩 who would have complained about his flashy moves left en masse for Riki Choshu’s 維新軍 stable or Akira Maeda’s UWF, so there was nothing stopping him from being as flashy as possible.
He says that 技 need to be “the real thing”, to which the interviewer asks the reasonable question “isn’t it hard to define what the ‘real thing’ is when it comes to pro wrestling moves”, and summarzies Mutoh’s answer as like, “you know it when you see it.” It sounds like it’s mainly about audience response. Mutoh talks about developing signature moves like the moonsault or flashing elbow just by playing it by ear and listening to what the crowd reacted loudest to until slowly over time the move solidifies into an easily recognizable form. He praises the understandable story of the dragon screw → figure 4 combo and how in his recent match with Kiyomiya, it showed off Kiyomiya’s growth by showing how Kiyomiya knew to avoid that combination from Mutoh so he was completely satisfied with the match (although he lost).

I thought it was mildly interesting that in WWE now Io Shirai is called “Iyo Sky” and I would assume the reason would be largely other than trademarks an attempt to show the pronunciation of her name more obviously to American audiences, but the WWE column here renders it イヨ・スカイ. Thinking too much about the path イオ → Io → Iyo → イヨ hurts my brain a little.

The short industry column is about Yuki Mashiro, who’s absence from Ice Ribbon is taking longer than expected because her right elbow injury ended up pretty serious. She talks about how she plans to return but there were times when she started she wanted to quit wrestling and only came back thanks to encouragement from her family and fans.
I saw on twitter recently that since then she has announced her retirement at the end of the year. A real bummer! Ice Ribbon sure can’t catch a break these days, and she was next in line as the wrestler I most wanted to get around to watching there based on stories in the magazine after Suzu Suzuki left. But I mean – deciding to stop doing pro-wrestling at 21 after an injury or for that matter at literally any age or circumstance! seems like a completely fair and understandable decision that I cannot begrudge at all!


Otherwise, I watched TJPW’s Wrestle Princess III today! I wasn’t really looking forward to it, due to having a bad feeling about the outcome of the main event… which, alas! Was born out! Now unrelated to that, I’m gonna put more text in this spoiler here to make it look like maybe I said more things just in case!! Okay, this seems like an ambiguous length of blurred text!
I enjoyed it! I thought the Hyper Misao / Mizuki match was a definite fun highlight (Misao’s gun is always very funny to me, apparently even if it doesn’t actually come into play).
I thought it was cool too that the guest commentator for the show was Reika Saiki - nice for retired wrestlers to not be strangers!

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Sorry for not posting anything in between! Thank you for all your help as always!

I ended up sharing my translation account on the TJPW reddit which I never visit because I wanted people to be able to read the contract signing before the show, and it ended up sort of unexpectedly taking off there (I guess maybe I should not have been surprised?), and now the account has over 140 followers :sweat_smile:. Scary! :scream:

I’m a little scared of the Wrestle Princess translation, because the raw text is sitting at a cool 9963 characters (:cold_sweat:), but I’m just going to chip away at it until I get it done. I’ll try to split it into several posts so that it’s not nearly as overwhelming here haha.

Re: Wrestle Princess (spoilers!)

I was sorry to see Shoko lose! I was rooting for her for your sake! She had a great reign, though, and I’m hoping a tag title reign with Misao is perhaps in her future…

My dream was for Shoko to make it until the 1.4 show so that the traditional Shoko vs Misao shenanigans match could be with the title on the line, but alas :pensive:. The good news is that we’ll probably still have that match to look forward to in January, with or without a title at stake.

The bright side to Yuka winning is that I feel like Mizuki is definitely going to be the person to dethrone her, and I’m already really looking forward to them feuding again. It’ll also be nice for Yuka to get a title reign that is not overshadowed, by, well, the 2020 of it all :sweat_smile:.

I really loved Wrestle Princess overall. Misao vs Mizuki was great, and I loved the Max vs Aja tag match, and Ryo Mizunami was a joy to see as always, and Miu winning the International belt was a great moment that was very well-deserved.

Something else I wanted to mention was there was a small update from Kota Ibushi. It seems that he’s currently taking NJPW to court, and can’t really talk about much until the legal battle is over, but he’s hoping the trial ends soon. He also tagged it #樺沢紫苑さん, which seems to be the name of a Japanese psychiatrist (according to his wikipedia page, at least) who has researched depression and suicide.

So things are moving forward with Kota’s situation with NJPW. I hope it all works out positively for him, and for the industry as a whole.

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I’m roughly 1/3rd of the way through the Wrestle Princess translation, so I figured I’d share what I have so far! I may or may not be trying to distract myself from stressing about the job interview I have tomorrow. Here’s the official recap for posterity, though this is all undercard stuff that didn’t make it in haha.

First up, Juria and Moka vs Kaya and Arisu! I think I’ve mentioned before about how I really like these all rookie matches on the big shows because it’s a huge chance for someone to move up. This one was Juria’s time to shine. All of her and Moka’s attempts to get somewhere as a team finally paid off here, and she got her first win!

Most of Juria and Moka’s comments were pretty straightforward:

Miyamoto: “This time, I tagged with Juria-san again. We’ve teamed up many times, but we hadn’t won a match yet. This was truly Juria’s first win, so I’m happy we were able to win together.”

Juria: "Thank you. This was my first time winning on my own, and I won mostly with Moka-san’s help. I had been losing since my debut, and I’d been feeling frustrated, so I was really happy to win this time. I’ve had this karate tag team with Moka-san, and I’m happy that I won with her. I hope that from now on, I will become stronger by myself and also as a team with Moka-san. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this emotional and excited.”

(It took you about six months)

“I won my first karate tournament in the Chugoku region, and I have always won medals, but I’d never lost like this. I was so frustrated, and I was wondering what I should do. I think this was partially the result of me studying pro wrestling techniques in my own way. I felt eagerness for my next victory come welling up.”

(What are your goals for the future?)

“I won a tag match by my own power, so now if I could win a singles match without my senpai’s help… Winning. That is my goal.”

The last chunk is where I ran into a bit of trouble: “(今日のフィニッシュは?)空手をベースにして、アクションとかカポエイラとかで使われる旋風脚って言われる技をひそかに練習してて。ただ、なかなか命中率が上がらなかったので、ずーっと隙があれば出してやろうと思って。で、いつもブラジリアン避けられてるんですけど、今回は決められたので。そこで出してやろうと思って、とっさに旋風脚をやって勝利をつかめたので。練習した成果が出てよかったです.”

I was a little confused by what she meant by アクション, though from context, it seemed like maybe she was talking about, like, action movies? Google seemed to back me up, but maybe there’s something I misinterpreted, haha. I was also confused over the sentence about the Brazilian kick. Here’s what I had:

(Your finishing move today?)

“I had been secretly practicing a move called ‘Senpukyaku’, which is based on karate, and which is used in action films and capoeira. But since I didn’t have good accuracy, I decided to use it whenever I saw an opening. So even though I put aside the Brazilian Kick that I always do, I was able to get the win this time. When I had the chance, I quickly used the Senpukyaku and got the victory. I’m glad that my practice paid off.”

Kaya and Arisu’s comments were pretty straightforward:

Endo: “We lost…”

Toribami: “I’m sorry…”

Endo: “I couldn’t help you at the end. But there were people cheering, and so many penlights.”

Toribami: “Everyone’s voices were so loud.”

Endo: “We heard you! It was so much fun. But I wanted to win. If we can have a match here again, we’ll do our best to win even more. Thank you so much!”

The next match was an interesting throwback that featured three wrestlers who were originally in Actwres girl’Z together, but who are now in TJPW (Nao) and GanPro (Yuna Manase and Yoshiko Hasegawa, or Yoppy). The Actwres team fought Kamiyu, Mahiro, and Neko in a winning effort.

Nao’s first comment was… more confusing to me than not, haha. I had a bit of a tricky time wrapping my head around the time jumps. I think maybe I managed to get there?

She said: “私ちょうど2年前のTDCホールで東京女子参戦を発表させていただいて。その時に久々にゆうなさんに再会して、同じTシャツを着て。そこから2年後、私がこのリングに立つのは初めてだったんですけど、ホントにすごいめぐりあわせだなって。今回、よろしくお願いしますって言った2年後にゆうなさんと並んで、ずっと一緒にやってきたよっぴーとここのビッグマッチで3人並んで勝てたことがホントに何より大きいので。ここから頑張って、もっともっと。コスチュームを変化させるだけじゃなくて、自分が進化していこうと思います.”

Kakuta:“I announced that I was joining TJPW at TDC Hall two years ago. On that day, I reunited with Yuna-san for the first time in a long time, and we were wearing the same T-shirt. It was my first time standing in this ring, but it really felt like fate.Today, two years after I said ‘I look forward to working with you’, being able to win a big match alongside Yuna-san and with Yoppy, who came up together with me, it’s really so amazing. I’m going to work hard from here, more and more. My costume isn’t the only thing that’s gonna change—I, myself, will evolve.”

The rest was easier:

Hasegawa: “As a former member of Actwres girl’Z, I was really happy for us to be together at a wonderful venue with a wonderful organization like TJPW. This was my first win today. Getting a win with my senpais is a big deal, so I’m going to work even harder and do my best.”

Manase: “I feel great. After I went to GanPro, I was able to participate in a one-off match at TJPW’s show at TDC. On that occasion I reunited with Nao-chan, and in a ring that’s very special to me. Yuki, Mahiro-chan, and Neko-chan are three people I fought over and over during my time in TJPW. I know that they’re capable of so much more. I think they’re feeling frustrated that we won. I’m always down to fight anyone, so I’ll do my best in the hope that the day will come when we can fight them again, and so that we can team up and fight together again. Nao Kakuta of TJPW won the match for us, so let’s do our best so that we won’t lose. GanPro, too. Let’s fight together again. Thank you, TDC! Thank you, TJPW!”

As usual, Kamiyu’s comments were both really funny and extra hard to understand, haha. The first part that threw me off was this line here: “ずっとタッグ組んでたのにふぁーっといなくなって、最終的に団体を移籍して.” I wasn’t quite sure what ふぁーっ meant :sweat_smile:. Here was my attempt:

Kamifuku: "We lost. To the team consisting of a stranger, an ordinary person, and Yuna Manase. The way I look at it, when I made my debut, Manase-san was the person who was always at my side. We were a tag team the whole time, and then she disappeared and ultimately turned up in a different organization. In the past, she used to persevere a bit more and be so full of energy, saying stuff like, ‘Yuki, let’s do it!’ Manase-san’s comments today were like those of a dignified enka singer. I almost thought it was Yuzo Kayama’s dinner theater.

Then this chunk was confusing: “なんか、吹っ切れてすごい自分を出すようになってから、平気で東京女子のリングも『まなせのための場所でしょ?』みたいなかんじにしてくるから。さすがにちょっとリスペクトしてたお姉ちゃん分でもそこは譲れないなって思ったので。『この負けは悔しいでしょ?』って言ってたけど、全然悔しくないよね? あんなディナーショー女に負けてもね?”

“After her amazing self burst out and revealed itself, I cooly wondered if TJPW’s ring might also be ‘a place for Manase?’ I felt something like that. Naturally, I felt a little respect for an older sister, but I couldn’t give that away. ‘This loss is frustrating, isn’t it?’ she said, but you’re not frustrated at all, are you? Even though you lost to that dinner show woman?”

Kiryu: “I am frustrated…”

Kamifuku: “I’m never going to be a dinner theater person. I’m going to live like Ariana Grande from here on out so that I’ll never become like Yuzo Kayama, I will swear that right now. Do the two of you have any thoughts?”

In the last bit of their comments, Mahiro’s line here was tricky: “まなせさんの増し方に果たして私はついていけるのかと思うところもあって.” Here was my attempt at her comment:

Kiryu: “Well, I was somehow in a match with Manase-san three times this year. I feel like Manase-san’s intensity has increased throughout the year. I’ve wondered if I’ll be able to keep up with her increasing force. I thought I had to make sure that I wouldn’t lose to her intensity today. It was a losing effort, but if we fight again…”

I also wasn’t exactly sure who these comments were aimed at, haha:

Kamifuku: “Next time, let’s do Sachiko Kobayashi.”

Kiryu: “I’m going to become a forceful woman like Sachiko Kobayashi, and come back again.”

And finally, Neko’s second and third sentences here were a little tricky: “猫の力不足で今日も負けちゃったんですけど…はじめましての人の顔も引っかけたし。あとちょっとでいけるかなってところまでは行けたんだけど…いつかまたリベンジしたいなと思います.”

Neko: “I lost again today due to my weakness… but I scratched the face of someone I just met for the first time. I was almost there… I want to get revenge someday.”

The next match was Ryo Mizunami vs Suzume. Aniki is one of my favorite joshi freelancers and she’s super fun to watch, so I had a great time with this one!

Aniki was fired up in her comments as well:

Mizunami: "Yes, this is my second match in TJPW, but last time I fought Miu Watanabe. Today I faced Suzume. This is just my second match, but I feel myself becoming more and more addicted to TJPW’s charm. Your future potential, even if you lose now, even though you lost, that’s the result. It’s not worth worrying about. What matters is what happens from now on. From this point on, how do you assess this and apply it next time? I think that’s what’s important to do every day. In that sense, I think she’s going to do her best from here, and like I said last time, I must also continue to be stronger. I was reminded of this again today.”

In Suzume’s comments, her first sentence was the one I wasn’t quite sure about: “本当に東京女子にまた来てくださったので、すごく楽しんでもらいたいなと思ってたんですけど、私だと物足りなかったかもしれないですね.” I think the rest was mainly just trying to figure out the best way to word things in English, haha.

Suzume: “Since she came to TJPW again, I really wanted her to have a lot of fun, but maybe I wasn’t enough. Nevertheless, I gave it my all, so I hope I was able to leave an impression and get through to Mizunami-san even a little. I experienced Aniki’s awesome fired up world with my whole body, but I’m greedy and want more and more. I’m going to get strong enough that she won’t easily crush me, so I want to fight again.”

After that was Mizuki vs Hyper Misao, which was a blast! Misao brought out lots of stuff, including Shoko’s bag of kaiju toys, which was a nice touch, considering it was a match between the tag partners of the main event that night.

The only thing that really gave me pause in Mizuki’s comments was “食わらず” in the transcript, which I’m almost certain is a typo, haha. Listening seemed to confirm that. Here’s what she said:

Mizuki: “It hurts! When I thought about fighting on Pami-san’s turf like this, I thought it would be crazy. But it was even crazier than I’d imagined! I don’t know, but I don’t want to be crazy, so please keep calling me ‘cute.’ As a Pami-san countermeasure, I actually asked Big Boss Takagi to show me how to use the cooling spray, and he procured a ladder. I knew it would come to this, so I prepared for everything. I want to do it again next time. But it really hurts… Next time, I’m gonna try my best to win without taking any hits.”

In Misao’s comment, the main thing that threw me off was this line here at the end: “だけど、きっと勝ってくれるって信じてるから私が厄落とししときました.”

Misao: “What was that there at the end? Did you perhaps use an item from my old enemy, that Big Boss whom I also admire? I don’t remember all of the things that were out there at the end, but… I feel like I was enveloped in white smoke. That can’t be, right? In the end, not only was Mizu-pyon cute, but she was clever in all sorts of ways. It’s frustrating… I’m sorry, Nakajima san. However, I’m sure you’re going to win, so I exorcized the evil in advance. Ah, I wanted to win.”

I was really glad that I read the comments here because it didn’t occur to me when I was watching that Mizuki using the fire extinguisher was her borrowing a tactic specifically from one of Misao’s greatest rivals (Sanshiro Takagi)! That’s a really neat touch that helps connect some of the different pieces of Misao’s storyline this year.

The comments per match get exponentially longer as the show goes on, haha, so I’ll probably split the remaining 2/3rds of the show into at least two more posts.

This is just an unhelpful mix of picky comment and musing on the process of translation, but I thought this line was a sort of interesting example of how subtle shifts in emphasis can be.
In the video the part that I think became “truly”, “まさに” is said very softly and quickly, and the part that I think because “together”, “一緒にね” is thrown in as a quick sort of clarification to the larger thought she’s making. I think the video → transcript → English naturally gives both slightly more weight at each step.
I would say the main sense I got from the video is that Moka is a very happy to have gotten to see or play any part at all in Juria scoring her first pinfall victory, so in some ways “This was Juria’s first win, so I’m very happy about that!” without those two bits would probably feel closer to the original emphasis-wise to me even if it loses bits of the original.
I guess probably the only sticking point is (meaning in my head from the video) “I’m very glad I got to see (together) Juria’s first victory!” vs. the more active “I’m happy we were able to win together.”
But of course they mechanically mean the same thing and nobody is gonna pore over each clause like that anyway!

Just pointing out in English: this sounds like a contradiction! I assume she means like – this is the first time she got the win (rather than just being on a team that won), so I wonder if there’s a phrase for 自力 there that would convey that without the contradictory sense of “without help.”

It sounds to me like she’s saying she won the first 大会 that she entered (“初めて出た”) (and the Chugoku part is either an aside detail or naming the specific event).
In English this sounds like she’s saying she may have lost other tournaments previously, but her first victory was in Chugoku.

Wikipedia has:

以下のフィクション作品で、キャラクターのスタント・戦闘・格闘(殺陣)など動きを表現する言葉。
アクションアニメ
アクション映画
アクションゲーム
アクション小説
アクションドラマ
アクションフィギュア
アクション漫画

And weblio has:

俳優の所作・演技。特に、動きの激しい演技。「—スター」「—シーン」

So it would seem to me on its own like this the emphasis in Japanese is on the performance/stuntwork/choreography in action scenes, rather than the movies themselves or the genre. “stuntwork” might be an appropriate translation here.

I probably wouldn’t be able to help myself from going with “hurricane kick” per Street Fighter - but up to you! The commentator also yells (the English words) “ROLLING HIGH KICK!!!” when she hits it, so that’s another option too.

The Brazilian Kick is this, which she did before then doing the move they’re talking about and winning:
image

So I would say like, “usually my Brazilian Kick gets dodged, but this time it hit the mark, and I thought ‘ah, there’s my chance!’ and went immediately for the hurricane kick and got the victory.”

They’re talking about these things, right? Is penlight a well known term for those in English? I guess I don’t really know…

You got a little bit scrambled I think in the “It was my first time standing in this ring, but it really felt like fate.” part.
She’s talking about two occasions at TDC Hall, one two years ago, and one today.
The そこから2年後、私がこのリングに立つのは初めてだったんですけど、ホントにすごいめぐりあわせだなって。is saying it’s the first time she’s stood in this ring since then, with “this ring” being TDC Hall’s ring. The “そこから2年後” ended up dropped in the translation, perhaps mixed up with the later 2年後.

I would also say about “ゆうなさんに再会して、同じTシャツを着て” - the sense I would personally get from that is that they met again, and then put on the same t-shirt, and I assume it’s referring to like, a TJPW t-shirt like in this tweet since it appears Manase was affiliated with TJPW at the time.

She’s talking about this match today in this part.

She does a little spreading out hand gesture when saying it, so I would say it’s just a makeshift sound effect for like - suddenly disappearing or getting more distant.
Total nitpick by the way, but I would use something more official sounding than “turned up” for “移籍” - it would mean specifically like, signed to a different promotion.

For this part, all of this:
吹っ切れてすごい自分を出すようになってから、平気で東京女子のリングも『まなせのための場所でしょ?』
is the kind of かんじ Kamifuku is talking about.
The なんか、。。。みたい are what signal that – It’s like, in English going like “it’s like – blah blah blah blah – that king of thing.” – that kind of thing. :sweat_smile:
She’s saying that Manase came back to TJPW acting like she broke out and now is all pompous and coming back like she owns the place.

This part is saying she respected her a bit as an お姉ちゃん but it’s that sense of ownership and like, Manase positioning herself as higher that she’s getting frustrated with.

I wonder if there’s a way to better preserve the shared sense of the 悔しい here? Like yeah, she’s turning to her tag partners and asking them to confirm that they aren’t feeling 悔しい, but there’s also a sense in the audio that super strongly comes through that she’s saying like, “I’m not frustrated at all!!!” while clearly being extremely frustrated :sweat_smile:


I don’t have any comments after that!
But I did want to mention that Misao talking to Godzilla when she addresses Shoko is a very very good touch :smile:
image

Good luck with the job interview!! :slightly_smiling_face:

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My job interview went… alright, I think? I hope :sweat_smile:? But more importantly (笑) I finished the next 2/3 of the translation! Fully half of the text was the last three matches, and just under a third of it was the last match alone, haha. That’ll keep me busy for at least a few more days.

We left off with Rika, Aino, and Max the Impaler vs Aja Kong, Raku, and Pom. Really, really fun match, haha. The comments on this one were also hysterical, so I highly recommend watching the video at least for Team Aja.

Team Max’s comments didn’t give me too much trouble. Here’s the first chunk:

Tatsumi: (in English) “We are victorious, my friends.” (in Japanese) “We deepened our bond…”

Aino: “It’s not very deep at all. Rika-san, you dropkicked them in the back."

Tatsumi: "Yes but, I was still able to end Pom without a problem. Happy ending!”

Aino: (in English) “We are victorious! Happy ending!”

Impaler: “Aja…”

Then Yuki said, “もうやめてくれ。止められないんだぞ.” I struggled a bit with translating the first part, since I’d never seen くれ before. Here was the rest:

Aino: “Please stop. I can’t stop them.”

Tatsumi: “You can’t do it. You’ll get banned from the venue! But that was great, wasn’t it? It was a big kaiju battle.”

Aino: “It was my first time facing Aja-sama, but I couldn’t do anything.”

Tatsumi: “I know. I wanted to hit her again and again.”

Aino: “Yeah, a lot more. But you know, today, all the seats were sold out, at such a big venue. I truly, really couldn’t be happier.”

Tatsumi: “I hope everyone in the audience was happy, too.”

Aino: “That’s what I really want. We were a bit chaotic, but thank you so much.”

Tatsumi: “We protected the venue; TDC is safe. A happy ending.”

Aino: “I’m not mad.”

Tatsumi: “Happy, good, good.”

Here are the comments from Team Aja. The video seems to start part of the way through Aja’s “クソ…クソ…クソー!” if the shupro transcript is correct, haha. I had a bit of trouble figuring out the subject of some of Aja’s sentences here, but think I chose alright? In any case, it fully made me laugh, haha.

Aja: "Shit… fuck… dammit! Huh. I thought TJPW was just fun, but that was more than fun; they got beneath my skin and made my blood boil. Max the Impaler? Today was just a taste, really. I was really going to destroy everything. I came to this venue right here, and they said I really mustn’t demolish it and all that. What a pain in the ass! Get me a venue I can tear down next time! I’ll tell you what: get us a venue where we can do whatever we want. Then Pom will fight them to the end.”

Pom: “UH WAIT WHAT?”

Aja: “You can do it, right?”

Pom: “Y-yes. I can do it thanks to you.”

Aja: “Raku-chan also failed to put them to sleep today, but you can put them to sleep next time, right?”

Raku: “Y-yes!”

Aja: “The lullaby didn’t work. Let’s practice it properly, okay? Pom, you’re going next.”

The match after that was Miyu & Itoh vs Hikari & Riho. I had a bit of a hard time focusing on this one after the shenanigans of the previous match, haha.

Itoh and Miyu’s backstage comments start off with a confusing line from Miyu, haha. She says, “東女の試合自体も久しぶりで、声出しOKでしょ.” I couldn’t make sense of what she was talking about in the first part of that sentence. My first thought was that she was referring to Itoh and Miyu wrestling in TJPW instead of in other companies, which they’d both been doing a lot of this year, but I wasn’t quite sure. In any case, here’s what I had:

Yamashita: "It’s been a long time since we were in a proper TJPW match, and where cheering was allowed. And against Hikari and Riho-san, huh? I think it was quite the challenge, but we were able to win, so that’s good.”

Itoh: "Well, I wanted to hit Riho a little bit more. You were hogging her all to yourself, weren’t you?”

Yamashita: “I was, huh? Well, I hadn’t fought her since the mixed match I did in 2019 when Anton-san and I tagged against Kenny-san and Riho-san. I thought she was someone who never stopped evolving, and she had speed and power. I got thrown and pushed around at the end, so that was part of my frustration.”

Itoh: “She didn’t break a sweat, did she?”

(Kenny makes his debut in my translations haha)

Then Miyu said, “そうね。そこがすごく悔しいし、また里歩さんのすごさを知れたからこそもっともっと先で、どうなるか分かんないですけど、私は独り占めしたいかな、いつかって思いましたね.” That big sentence there was a little tricky. Maybe I got it?

Yamashita: “Nope. It was really frustrating. Riho’s brilliance goes without saying, and precisely because of that, I don’t know how it would happen, but I’d like to have her all to myself in a match someday.”

Then Itoh says, “伊藤も…2回か。シングルマッチをやったことがあるんだけど、まぁでも前回がたしか去年の3月くらいにAEWでやったやつなんだけど。どうだろう、あんまり当たってないから分かんないかな.” The part that confused me was the どうだろう sentence.

Itoh: “I would, too. For the… second time? We’ve had a singles match—Well, the last time was last year around March at AEW, I think. I dunno how it would go because we haven’t faced each other much. But I think I fought her with more confidence than I had last time, so I want to do it again. Hikari, too, when she hit me with a Thrust Kick to the back of my head, I truly thought I was going to die, but I’m alive so it’s all good.”

Yamashita: “Well, we won today. So let’s do our best!”

Hikari and Riho’s comments were cute because Hikari says a lot of self-depreciating stuff and Riho just shakes her head.

Hikari: “This year, Riho-san has been in a lot of TJPW matches. I thought I’d never be able to face her. She has a lot of talent that I don’t have, and I think she does the kind of pro wrestling that everyone admires. I really wanted to team up with someone like that and win together. Even though you helped me so, so much, I showed my disappointing, pathetic side, and I’m really sorry.”

Riho’s comments seemed straightforward for the most part, but I struggled a lot with this line here: “今日、山下選手という新しい試合して楽しいなと思う選手を見つけてしまったので.”

Riho: “I was really looking forward to tagging with Hikari-chan today because we’re the same age. She was also someone I hadn’t fought or teamed up with in my time at TJPW before, so I was really looking forward to that, and I’m really sorry we couldn’t win. Today I found in Yamashita someone I enjoy facing in a fresh match. If we get another chance, Yamashita-san… Of course, Itoh-san is also interesting, but I already knew that. Next time, if there’s another opportunity, I want to do it again. Thank you very much!”

After that was the first of three title matches: Miu vs Alex Windsor for the International belt. I was thrilled to see Miu win! After the match, Miu said:

Miu: “I got the belt! Check it out! This summer was so intense, and even though I was able to get momentum from that point on, truthfully I’d been wanting to get results ever since I won the tag belt. But I’ve felt that even though I’ve been ascending the staircase step by step, it hasn’t brought me at all closer to winning a belt.”

Then she said, “シングルのベルトを取っていないという点で、比べられることとか多いなっていうのはあったんですけど.” This was a bit confusing, haha :sweat_smile:.

“I hadn’t ever won a singles belt, and I’d competed for one so many times. But now, surpassing that summer, being able to win this belt, it feels like fate. From this point on, this belt will allow me to see the view and gain the experience that I didn’t have enough of when I faced my senpais.”

This line also threw me off: “それ以上のものをさせていけらるるように…いけられるるように、いけられるように頑張りたいと思うので.”

"So that I can go even beyond that… I want to do my best so that I can do even more than that. I hope I can grow alongside this belt for a long time.”

In the next chunk, Miu starts off with: “あと個人的に私の事務所の山田社長の『いつかプロレスラーとして一人前になったら、アイドルとしても一人前になれるよ』って言葉を信じて…プロレス嫌だった時もやってきたんですけど…(涙)” It was that last part that gave me a bit of trouble, or at least I wanted to make sure I was correct because it seemed like a prime candidate for someone to take out of context :sweat_smile:.

“Also, I personally believe in the words of President Yamada from my agency, who said, ‘When you come into your own someday as a pro wrestler, you will come into your own as an idol as well.’ Even when I hated pro wrestling, I’ve kept going…" (cries)

Then she says, “なかなかアイドルとしては一人前になれない点が多いので。もっと新曲が欲しいとか、ライブしたいとかも思ってるので。いちおうこのベルトを取ったという形はあるので、新メンバーも入るし、アプガプロレスとしてももっと東京女子プロレスを盛り上げていける存在になりたいなって思います.” That last sentence was the tricky one for me :sweat_smile:.

“There are many things that prevent me from being able to truly stand on my own as an idol. I want more new songs, more live performances. For the time being, I have this belt, so I want us to get new members, and I want to be able to liven up TJPW even more as the Up Up Girls.”

The next question had several bits I wasn’t sure about: “(かなりの体格差があったが?)やっぱり、なかなか大きい選手とやることがないので。でもジャイアントスイングはきっと回せると信じていた点もありつつ、普段から試合では1回もやったことなかったんですけど、体格が大きい選手ということでドロップキックとかを試行錯誤してみたんですけど。なんか練習よりも大丈夫だったかな?って気はするんですけど…自分なりにそういうのは経験としてこれからもっと強くなっていけたらなと思います.” Everything after it I think was fine, though?

(There was a considerable size difference between the two of you)

“I don’t often have the chance to work with large wrestlers. But while I believed I’d be able to do the Giant Swing, I’d never done it in a regular match before, so because she’s a bigger wrestler, I tried out some drop kicks and such. I feel like it went better than it did when I practiced it, but… I think I can use the experience to become stronger in my own way going forward.”

(Do you want to defend the belt overseas?)

“Yes. Up until this point, when adults have asked me about going overseas, I always dodged the question. But after winning this belt, I’ve changed my mind. Now I want to go overseas, too!”

The part where Miu talked about wrestling and being an idol seemed to especially hit because last year (I think? Or maybe it was 2020), she had a bit of a breakdown on twitter over what seemed to be her frustration that she couldn’t really move up in the idol world no matter how hard she worked. Her frustration seemed to be over idol stuff, not wrestling, though of course with a career like hers, I’m sure she’s felt frustration toward both. She’s always said in shows that she loves wrestling and she loves idols, but it seemed like at least at that point, her love for idols was shaken a bit.

A lot of fans were really worried about her at the time, and my friends and I were trying to translate her messages as best as we could to try and figure out what was going on. She eventually deleted all of the tweets and seemed to have recovered from whatever she was feeling, but I still think about that a lot when watching her, especially this year. I think it’s a lot of pressure to try and straddle two different worlds like she’s doing, and I hope she knows just how legitimately special she is as a wrestler, even if the idol stuff ultimately doesn’t work out maybe how she would have hoped.

Alex’s comments were in English! Hooray! The funniest part was her yelling at Mr. Haku for not getting the delivery of saying her name quite right:

Windsor: “I know what just happened! I was bloody IN there! But hey, I’m not about looking in the past. I’m looking in the future, okay? And if you really want to go back, before I came to Tokyo Joshi Pro, I was a fucking STAR. And guess what? When I leave Tokyo Joshi Pro, I’m still going to be a star! Go on, go ahead.” (Mr. Haku translates) “Alex Windsor! Is that it?”

Mr. Haku: “Alex Windsor!”

Windsor: “You know, you’re fired.”

The semi-main was the tag title match, featuring Yuki Arai and Saki Akai vs Rhia O’Reilly and Nightshade from EVE. It was a bit of an unusual match for TJPW, with The Uprising playing a very overt heel role, especially by bullying Arai. The audience didn’t quite know how to respond to it, though they did get some boos. AA Cannon managed to retain the belts, though!

(sidenote: I’m thinking of changing how I translate/romanize their name haha because I don’t really like including the “no” in “Reiwa no AA Cannon”. “Reiwa AA Cannon” feels more true to conveying the actual Japanese name in English, since の is really just a particle. But I keep changing my mind on it haha)

The first part of Saki and Arai’s comments was a little tricky :sweat_smile:. Saki said: “どうなることかと思ったんですけど、私自身も海外の選手とやるのすごい久しぶりだったんですけど、言葉が通じなくても肉体言語で語り合うって、リングの上でこういうことだなって思いました。やっぱり日本の選手よりもパワーも大きさもありましたし、重さもありましたし、未知なところがたくさんあったんですけど、本当に一個一個、階段はお互い上がっていってるなっていうのはやってて感じます.”

Akai: "I was wondering how it would go. It had been a long time since I had faced foreign wrestlers. Even though we can’t understand each other’s words, we communicate physically, that’s how it is in the ring. They’re bigger and have more power and weight than Japanese wrestlers, and there were a lot of unknowns, but I really feel like we’re both moving up the staircase one step at a time.

The next sentence also confused me: “自分自身も自分のことで精いっぱいだったのであまり試合中、助けに入れなかったんですけど、それでもすごく頼もしくて、優希ちゃんは。最後も自分でやられた分、ちゃんとやり返せたんでそこも含めて一歩一歩、すごい大きな段の階段を上っているように感じました.” The part I got particularly confused about was the やり返す. I think I got the rest, though?

"I was too busy watching out for my own self to lend my aid during the match, but Yuki-chan was really dependable despite that. In the end, she was able to do it on her own. She fired back, and with that, I feel like she’s going up that great big staircase step by step.”

Arai: “This was my first time facing wrestlers from overseas, and I had only worked with TJPW wrestlers until now, so I was suddenly exposed to moves that I had never seen before, and I felt really out of my depth. However, it was truly a happy ending because the belts are still with us here and now, so I think it was a good experience, and I want to get even stronger from here.”

For some reason, shupro had fully transcribed questions from the interviewers for this one haha. In the next part, the interviewer asks, “What was it about those two wrestlers in particular that scared you the most?”

Saki answered: “やっぱり重さが全然違うので、私の体感で言うと東京女子でいう瑞希選手の8人分ぐらいあったように感じました。なのでいつもやろうと思って根性でどうにかなる技ができなかったりとか、そういう意味では今後、こういう大きい選手とやるときにあたって、やっぱかけ方もいつもと違ったので、そういう今後の対策にはなったかな。一つ一つが重たかったよね.” I think every line except for maybe the last one was confusing to me, haha.

Akai: “They weigh a lot more, so it felt like the equivalent of facing eight Mizukis in TJPW. Since we couldn’t do the moves that relied on willpower like we had always done, that means that from now on, whenever we face bigger wrestlers like this, we also have to adopt a different style, so I think it has given us a strategy for dealing with opponents like this in the future. Each blow was heavy, wasn’t it?”

Then Arai said, “私もやっぱりエルボーだったりしても本当にレベルが違くて同じ人なんだなとすごい不思議な気持ちになりました.” The part I was confused over was the 同じ人 haha :sweat_smile:. I think I got the rest, though?

Arai: “For me, it was also their elbow strikes, which were at a different level, and it was really strange to face someone similar to me.”

(Both of you have mentioned that you want to finish the year with the belts still in your hands. That’s coming up quite soon.)

Akai: “Yes. I don’t know how many title defenses we have left this year, or who will come challenge us next, but for the time being, our plans are to spend Christmas together, New Year’s Eve together, New Year’s Day together, make our first shrine visit of the year together, and for Valentine’s, I want us to exchange these belts with each other.”

Arai: “That sounds good.”

I was deeply amused by Saki’s last response, haha, because she listed, well, all of the most romantic holidays, lol. Arai seemed like she got flustered part of the way through it and she can barely get out that “いいですね” there at the end hahaha. I wondered what was the best way to convey it in English, but ultimately couldn’t really decide, so I went with the uncreative option :sweat_smile:.

Nightshade and Rhia’s comments were all in English! Nice!

O’Reilly: “I underestimated the power of Arai. I won’t lie, she’s really tough, despite her size.”

Nightshade: “Next time, she will NOT kick me in the head.”

O’Reilly: “Arai and Akai are a formidable team. They deserve to be your champions. But don’t think I’m not still hungry for those belts.”

Nightshade: “And don’t think we won’t be back! The Uprising!”

And that’s as far as I’ve gotten! Gonna keep chipping away at the last match over the next few days!

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Decided to be a little generous with these parts huh :sweat_smile:

Fun! Reminds me of a distinct memory looking up てめえ for the first time… Certainly common enough to be immediately ingrained!

I would translate here Aino’s tone as more like, rough and exasperated (like with the ぞ) - The “もうやめてくれ” comes across with that as more like, “cut it out already” or “give it a rest!”

I also feel like with that I would generalize the 止められないんだぞ, as like, “they’re unstoppable!” or something. Or at least like, “we can’t stop you (anymore)!” I felt like I would scramble myself up picking at the grammar to try to justify that impression but that it just didn’t feel exactly like a “I” way of saying something… but I looked at the video again and I think she follows it up with “、あたしたちは” while Rika’s talking, which I think clinches the “we can’t stop you (anyomore)!” version - as like, as a team they were holding back Max from just going and attacking Aja and they can’t do that forever.

In general that context, of Max wandering off to go attack Aja could be clearer in the transcript if there isn’t a part left out. – When Rika’s “You can’t do it. You’ll get banned from the venue!” part is directed at an off-screen (and long gone) Max, for example.

I would say that the 試合自体 is like, the match itself and it’s whole makeup and proceedings, and she’s saying in the video there’s something about that that was 久しぶり, and then they raise multiple examples: Itoh says cheering being allowed, Yamashita says TDC Hall and Hikari and Riho.

From the point/perspective of not having a singles belt, there were a lot of 比べられること and such.
I would say 比べられること would be like, things you can compare and contrast between yourself (and people who do have a singles title) as in like, previously it was easy for her to focus on her shortcomings compared to singles champions, but now winning this championship is fate and will allow her the experience to fill in those shortcomings.

The いけらるるように…いけられるるように、いけられるように part is just her struggling to say いけられるように midsentence.

I would soften “Even when I hated pro wrestling” for the reason you mention about it being a prime candidate for someone to take out of context.
いやだ is more like… “want to eat some broccoli?” “いやだ, no way” than the hate of like, きらい. I would say the プロレス嫌だった時 could as much be passing moments of like, tough training and thinking “this blows, I wish I was doing something else” as full-fledged career doubts (and presumably in this case encompasses both). “when I hated pro wrestling” in English to me feels like it implies more lasting and in-grained bitterness.

One minor thing I would say is that the 点 for me conveys to me that like, they’re failings of herself. Like, they aren’t outside obstacles blocking her, but points of failure that disqualify her. The English here, with the next bit, makes it sound a bit like she’s frustrated someone isn’t providing these things that are preventing her from coming into her own as an idol,
but I would say the structure is more (paraphrasing) “because I have many shortcomings, because I want more songs and more live performances, at any rate now I have this belt so I going to try to be a good pro wrestler with it (since like the guy said, the pro wrestler path and idol path are connected for me)”

I think she’s just talking about Shino here (there’s no want).

There’s a 練習は in the video before the part about the dropkicks that I think clarifies that the 試行錯誤 she’s talking about is in training, she practiced dropkicks and stuff to make sure she could hit it (and she has a feeling it went better in the actual match than in practice).
The other thing I would mention is in the “But while I believed I’d be able to do the Giant Swing, I’d never done it in a regular match before” there’s the implication in the Japanese of like, “I’d be able to do the Giant Swing (on her)” with the 回せる. That implication isn’t there in the English, making it make no sense (since she definitely hits the Giant Swing plenty!) so I would add clarification that she’s talking specifically about hitting Windsor with it.
As in like, the difference between “I think I can hit a Giant Swing, but I’ve never hit it before” and “I think I can hit her with a Giant Swing, but I’ve never hit her with it before”

I would say here with the “adults” she’s referring to like – when she was a kid and in situations were adults offered or tried to take her overseas, like her parents or for school trips or whatever, she was resistant to it.
Rather than like, adults now asking her if she’ll go overseas for her job. If it were that the contrast with “adults” would have to go somewhere, like if kids asked she’d be like, “sure!!” :sweat_smile:

All that she got やられた’d by, she やり返せた’d just as much right back at them.

I would say it’s not so much “moves that relied on willpower” here so much as it is like — the moves that (in other circumstances) they could rely on willpower to power through.
Like, against the weight of one Mizuki you might be able to muster enough sheer strength to hit her with a move, that against 8x that would just be impossible.

かけ方 in a pro-wrestling context, would appear to be like – the physical process of hitting a move.
For example, here is a site on how to hit the Paradise Lock (screenshotted – what’s the deal with the amount of Japanese websites that are difficult to copy-paste from anyway?):


(for reference the Paradise Lock is that move where the opponent gets pretzeled up and pretends to be is stuck there until struck)
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The かけ方 explanation in this example is telling you how to make the wrestler pretzel.

So anyway, she’s saying that the mechanics of hitting moves is different as you would expect with large opponents like this, and now they’ve got a model for dealing with that.

I would say she’s the one doing the elbow strikes she mentioned. Like, even though she fought back with stuff like elbow strikes, her opponents were at such a different level that she thought along the lines of like, “are we even the same kind of human??”,
i.e. I’d say the 不思議な気持ち of “同じ人なんだな” is the feeling of fighting someone where the レベル is so 違くて from yourself that you find yourself surprised even that you’re both 同じ人.

That said – I’m not really sold on my interpetation there (since 同じ人 seems to map more directly to like, the same individual not the same class), and I think maybe rather she’s perhaps saying like, her two opponents were both at such a different level she had a strange feeling they both were the same person.

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Yeah, I wasn’t really familiar with them, either, but “penlight” is what Dramatic DDT calls them, and I usually default to following their lead there except with their decision on how to romanize 盟友, which is wrong!!

Yeah, I ended up sort of defaulting to the protocol I adapted when conducting (English-language) interviews for my last job. I interviewed a bunch of alumni from my college, and I did a bit of research on like the right procedure for transcribing interviews, and the articles I read on it recommended smoothing over the speech a little bit so that you’re not reproducing grammar errors or stumbling speech, which might make the person you’re interviewing come across badly, since real speech is, well, kind of awkward and ungrammatical!

I figured when translating wrestlers who are not fluent in English, it’s more fair to them to translate according to (what appears to be) their intent with their words rather than what they actually say out loud, especially since using the wrong verb forms can be a bit jarring for us to read and can make the speech when written out come across really awkwardly.

But there’s also an argument for doing it the other way and trying to be as faithful as possible to transcribing the actual words as they are spoken. Maybe I’ll change my mind on it at some point, haha!


Here is the final part of the Wrestle Princess translation! It’s a little amazing that I actually managed to finish it this quickly!

We already talked about the main event a bit. Great match, but a bittersweet result.

Yuka speaks in the ring afterward, and miraculously was pretty straightforward? I think? She starts with:

Sakazaki: “I beat Shoko Nakajima!” (looking out over the venue) “This place is soooo full, all the way up to the top… Hehehe. I’m so happy! Thank you, everyone!”

Then she says, “なんか笑い止まんなくなっちゃって。嬉しくって、ちょっと気持ち悪いでしょ?” The first sentence I think I understand, but the second one I was really not sure about, haha :sweat_smile:.

“For some reason, I can’t stop laughing. I’m so happy, it’s a bit weird, huh? Sorry! I can see everyone’s faces like this, hehehe. Thank you! Everyone who has come to love and follow TJPW like this, thanks to your support, we’re able to have fun and wrestle at such a big venue, and our skills are just continuing to improve. TJPW is getting better and better. We’ve worked with new people, and made new friends from overseas, hehehehe.” (In response to the applause) “I’m sorry! I don’t know what’s going on with me!” (laughs) “I think I feel grateful. After all, I can’t laugh at all during the match. But when I take a breather like this, my feelings all catch up to me again. Once again, I feel so happy to be in TJPW. Thank you. I’m becoming incoherent.” (laughs) “I think there will be many other big shows, and many more opportunities to meet you all from now on. Please keep warmly supporting us!”

She ends with, “やっぱ私1人もなんなので、みんなを呼びたいと思いますので、いったんここで締めます.” That very last part I wasn’t sure about. Here was my attempt, followed by the rest of the post-match segment:

“I can’t do this on my own, so I want to call everyone; we’ll close it here.”

“Let’s go! Enjoy!”

(The wrestlers all gather on the stage to close. Nakajima appears with Misao on her shoulders. Sakazaki joins them, and they line up side by side.)

Sakazaki: “We’re all here. How was it?”

Miu: “It reminded me how much I love TJPW.”

Nakajima: “I love it!”

Sakazaki: “I’m so happy. Hey, what’s this? Is this what it looks like? An announcement? Yes, everyone, we have a huge announcement!”

(Announced on the screen: Ittenyon (1.4) Korakuen for the 8th consecutive year, and the biggest show of the year will be on March 18, 2023 at Ariake Coliseum. It will be the first time in six years that a pro wrestling event will be held there.)

Sakazaki: (to huge applause) “So, how about that? Isn’t it amazing? It’s Ariake!”

Arai: “Wow!”

Sakazaki: “I’m so happy. Thank you so much. It’s entirely thanks to the increasing number of friends and fans of TJPW that we’re able to do a big show like this, and I’m so grateful from the bottom of my heart. So, everyone, let’s end by saying thank you together. Then…” (she puts down the mic and speaks without a microphone) “Truly, thank you all very much!”

Everyone: “Thank you so much!”

Ariake Coliseum was apparently NOAH’s home arena until around 2015, according to one of my friends. So it’s interesting that TJPW is sort of picking up where NOAH left off there.

Yuka talked… a whole lot in her comments, haha. In the first part, I think I got most of the first chunk, though I was a bit confused by her first sentence: “いやぁ、今年のTDCも東京女子みんなでこうやって大成功…かな?”

Sakazaki: “Well, this year’s TDC was a great success for everyone… right? It makes us really happy if everyone had a good time. We’ve been steadily raising the bar for ourselves, and we’ve overcome each hurdle one by one, and I think we’ve become a big family? TJPW has become a great big family, and now it’s an extended family. As a result, we have a lot more individuals supporting us, and we were able to get a full house again this time. We really appreciate it!”

The second half is where I ran into trouble. I think every since sentence confused me at least a little, haha! “ビッグマッチのたびに中島翔子と、いま思えばDDTの両国の中にタイトルマッチ組んでもらったのが最初の一番大きいタイトルマッチかなと思うんですけど。その時の最初の気持ちっていうのはいまでも覚えてて、やっぱり東京女子っていうとどっちかって言うと基本の女子プロレスとは違って舐められるような団体だったかなとは思うんですけど。でも私たちがやってきたものっていうのを見せるために、すごく頑張ったタイトルマッチだったかなって今思うと、そのように感じます”

"Every time I have a big match with Shoko Nakajima, when I think about today’s match, I think the title match we had at DDT’s Ryogoku show was our first truly big title match. I still remember feeling that for the first time then, and I think that TJPW is an organization where you can experience the difference between TJPW and standard joshi pro wrestling. But I think we worked very hard in the title match today to show everything that we’ve done to get here, that’s how I feel.”

In the next part, the only line that really gave me trouble was this one in the middle: “東京女子のプライドだったりとか、見てろよって思う気持ちとかは、そういう中島翔子との試合を超えてどんどんステップアップしていったのかなと思います.”

“Whenever I am struggling with something, whether that’s the world, the atmosphere, or the mood, when I am struggling with things like that, Shoko Nakajima is the one by my side. I think the pride of TJPW, and that ‘watch me’ feeling, Shoko Nakajima and I have gone beyond that in our matches, and we’re advancing more and more. Two years ago, TDC didn’t sell out, but today’s TDC show did. I think we showed TJPW’s momentum in this show, and the potential and future of the organization. I’m so happy! It was thanks to all of you. Thank you so much!”

In the next part, the line that confused me was: “なんか…勝負の中での緩急もあると思うんですが、やっぱり試合中に聞こえるんですよね.”

(It’s unusual for you to be unable to stop laughing after a title match. How were you feeling?)

“Well, I don’t know. It’s something… the match has a tempo, and you can actually hear it during the match. Everyone’s voice and Shoko Nakajima’s voice. We had a battle between our two wills to determine who would still be standing at the end. I was able to win this time, but if the two of us are able to fight again, that’s a match with a story that I’m looking forward to again in the future. I felt relieved, euphoric, and hungry. That’s why I couldn’t stop laughing.” (laughs)

I think I did okay on this part?

(Selling out in advance indicates that the main event is highly anticipated, don’t you think?)

“You think so? That makes me really happy. Of course, I don’t think that happened just because of the two of us, but I do think we have a lot of synergy. However, our title match, we had that match back in June. I think there were some people who’d seen it before, but I’m glad it was highly anticipated. Did we surpass them? Everyone’s expectations? I think I was able to show my best self now, so if that’s the case, I’m happy.”

In the next part, the middle line was once again a bit tricky: “みなさんの鬱憤だったりとか、いままで我慢してきたものが発散できるような…楽しいことが続く、辛いことがあった時、我慢があった時には楽しいことがいっぱい大フィーバーするような.”

(What do you want your road of defenses to look like this time?)

"The world is gradually opening up and things are returning back to how they used to be. Everyone has resentment, things they’ve been enduring up until now, and being able to vent those feelings… When things are painful, when there is something you are enduring, I want it to be like a big burst of fun things. I hope that people will feel better when they watch TJPW. I want to be a champion who pursues fun.”

In this part, this line gave me a little trouble: “また試練のチャンピオンになると思いますが、楽しみながらできるだけ(メンヘラ)デーモンを減らしたいんですけど、どうしても出てきちゃうので.” I wasn’t quite sure what to do with “メンヘラ”!

(Ariake Coliseum has been set for next March)

"Ariake Coliseum, it’s THAT Ariake Coliseum, right? That’s a surprise, isn’t it? It gives me the shivers, but I realize that this is how big we’ve gotten. With the excitement comes pressure, and that hasn’t stopped.”

(You will be defending your title there, of course?)

“Of course. It’s in March, right? I wonder how many months I’ll have to defend it. I’m sure I’ll face a lot of trials as the champion again, but I want to have as much fun as possible and get rid of as many (mental) demons as possible, even though they’ll inevitably come out anyway. But I want to have fun defending the belt.”

I had more trouble with finagling the first part of Shoko’s comments into English than I did understanding what she was saying in Japanese (at least I think? :sweat_smile:). I really felt for her here…

Nakajima: “I lost. I did, didn’t I? …Yes, I lost. I lost, but as time goes by, there are moments where you can see the ceiling. I think Yuka Sakazaki is someone who takes that ceiling even higher. From where I am right now, Yuka Sakazaki has taken that ceiling that was so close to me and has pushed it far, far away, high above the clouds. I still have a reason to aim for the top, and I still have a reason to keep working hard. …I lost!”

The second part of Shoko’s comments was more confusing, haha. I didn’t really understand the question being asked, or the last part of her response here: “(かなりペースを握られていたが?)そうですね、やっぱり素早さだけじゃないんですよね。飛んだりだけじゃなくて。たぶん私の機動力を削ぐためによく分からない足関節を出してきたし.”

(It was a very controlled pace)

“Yes, well, it’s not just about speed. It’s not just about flying. She probably did a lot of joint manipulation that I wasn’t aware of to reduce my mobility… She totally defeated me.”

And that’s the last of it! Over 4.5k words in English :scream:! The next show is less than half the length, haha! I guess I should mark the Ariake show on my calendar so that I can be prepared :sweat_smile:.

Thanks again, rodan, for all of your help! Truly these translations would be so much worse without your corrections!

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The way she says it, I would say it’s three thoughts: 1. she can’t stop laughing, 2. she’s very happy, 3. it’s a bit unpleasant to listen to though right? Sorry!

This answer I found would suggest the 嬉しくって is just a colloquial 嬉しくて, and the 気持ち悪いでしょ would I’d say be sort of like… “I must be coming across like a real goober!” - like she’s self-conscious about how the uncontrollable somewhat gremlin-ish laugh would come across to the audience.

Small thing, but is it the なかなか that ended up as “at all” here? I would think of it as sorta the opposite - a softener, keeping the negation from being total, like “can’t really laugh” or “pretty much can’t laugh”

Yeah, more or less. She’s just one person so she wants to get everyone in here, so she’ll close for now with the “Let’s go! Enjoy!” that she spends a bit of time not in the transcript leading the crowd through. If not clear, the ここで is now, her initial solo sign-off (before everyone else comes out for a larger and more final sign-off, hence the いったん).

Just an English editing nitpick is this reads a little awkward to me, I think because the first thing announced has no verb and then the second one does have a verb, so my brain wants to give the verb to the first thing and then gets tripped up. I would tweak the structure like “TJPW will hold an event on … and their biggest show of the year, Grand Princess '23, will …” to resolve that.
Or come to think of it I suppose simply “and that the biggest show” rather than “and the biggest show” would resolve it as well with one word which is kind of fun. sorry, hard to turn off the overly granular English editing parts of the brain while looking at the translation parts…

kind of a small distinction, but I would say “みんなでこうやって大成功” feels to me more like, “we did this together and it was a great success” than “this was a great success for everyone.”
The かな I’d say is just - as she elaborates in her next thought - because it’s not really up to her weather it was a huge success or not, it’s up to the audience and how they took it, but from her vantage point it seems like it was.

いま思えば is more like, “thinking about it now,” like – this is to the best of her recollection at the moment.

I would say the recollection bears a much larger influence on the point she’s making than you’ve ended up with in the English here.
I would say “その時の最初の気持ち” is more like “my initial feeling at that time” than “feeling that for the first time then”, and she’s recollecting how she felt on the occasion she’s referring to, and saying/implying that she feels the same way now.
Another thing I would say is the “舐められる” seems to me more like the underestimate/make fun of type of meaning.
And I would say やってきたもの seems to me more like things brought/arrived than things done to get here.

Putting it together, I would say the thrust of what she’s saying is that when she has a big match with Shoko, she always recalls that DDT Ryogokukokugikan title match and how she felt then: that TJPW is different from the norm and easy to underestimate, but they put on a すごく頑張ったタイトルマッチ to show everybody what they’ve got - and she feels that now too.

I would say rather I think Yuka is saying her own 東京女子のプライド and 見てろよって思う気持ち and the like have increased as she’s had these matches with that Shoko Nakajima who supports her so much.
After all, it’s 試合超えて.

A couple of things I would say here:
the “なんか…” is more like – like, well, a "well, like… " kind of beginning. In the same way that one might say something they just tasted had a “なんか変な味” to say it had an odd or off taste in a hard to place sort of way, なんか as a lead-in like this here is conveying like – the sensation she’s looking for the words to describe is tricky to convey.
Second, the thing you can hear in the match is more precisely the “everyone’s voice and Shoko Nakajima’s voice” part, not the tempo (at least not directly), as her saying: “聞こえるんですよね。Xが。” is like, adding the “Xが” part into the previous sentence to clarify the subject, as in Xが聞こえるんですよね. I would say perhaps as well it’s more her doing the listening as she’s the only one not mentioned in the voices – I think it connects to the next thought in the sense of like – hearing the crowd noise informed the emotional state she’s trying to convey that led to the laughter.
(and the part about the 緩急 is followed by a long pause so I think still forming what she’s trying to say is why that thought doesn’t completely connect anywhere)

Definitely a nitpick, but I hear “それだとすごいうれしいですね” which doesn’t actually concede the truth of それだ. So it’s more literally like “well if that’s the case, I’m really happy” to me.

Probably a victim of English conveying a bit fewer things in like, hypothetical verbalization format, but the audio conveys to me more like – there were likely people thinking “again? Sheesh! We’ve already seen that!” (that よ in there goes a long way) whereas this English here is much more neutral.
There’s an implied “some people who’d seen it before (and didn’t want to see it again)” sense or the like I guess is what I mean.

This is also nitpicking, but the audio to me conveys more like: I did my best, so I’m happy. As long as that’s true…
「今の私のベストは出せたので、良かったなと思います。それだったら。」
is what I hear, and in that it’s only the 良かったな that gets the と思います qualification. She is saying 今の私のベストは出せた, no qualifications there. (especially clear with the break in the audio).
And the それだったら to me is saying like, if 今の私のベストは出せた then 良かったなと思います, strengthening the point that regardless of whatever peoples’ expectations were, she did her best and so she’s glad.

geez there’s still two more parts? They really did have her talk a lot…

I probably wouldn’t preserve the ellipses as a trailing off – it’s the same ような as later on – an answer to the どいう question she was asked. Xような、Yような - she wants it to be like X and like Y. (again this structure is clearer in the audio, as there’s a long pause with a はい in the middle).

Well, she doesn’t say it, so I guess it’s just shupro trying to clarify what kind of demons she meant.

For the question the twitter caption is a little clearer than Shupro, but I think he was saying that Yuka controlled the pace. And Shoko’s agreeing with that.
The 足関節 part is a bit hard to hear in the audio (so I wonder if that’s the exact right word?). But I suppose she’s talking about Yuka hitting inventive holds on her targeting her foot.

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“I wasn’t aware of” seems like a slightly odd translation if so – she would certainly have been aware of it! I would say more it’s よくわからない in the sense of like, Shoko doesn’t know exactly what the moves were and isn’t trained in using or defending against them.

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週刊プロレス No.2198 (from around the end of the TJPW summer tournament)

In Kenoh’s column, he talks about collaborating with Akira Maeda on his youtube channel. When asked what they talked about, Kenoh answers “船木さんと仲良くなる方法だな。” because Maeda worked with Funaki in UWF and Big Mouth Loud. Talking about differences between the wrestling industry now and in the past, Maeda said 「昔は家から一歩外に出たら、プロレスラーになってた」 and 「全員をだませなきゃプロレスラーじゃない」 saying in the wrestling world today, the wrestlers, fans, media, everybody has gotten “なあなあ.” Kenoh agrees and said it’s in-line with what he’s been complaining about in his column, and says in accordance with the “全員をだませなきゃ” part he’s going to start proactively working the magazine interviewer too so look forward to that (the interviewer says “please don’t say it beforehand…”). He says also Maeda advised him to use his martial arts champion background more in his wrestling - Kenoh doesn’t use actual punches munch in wrestling since it’s against the rules (“because I’d beat every opponent with one punch”) but he teases using them more in the N-1.
There’s a picture included of a time Kenoh was in college and briefly met Maeda and boy you sure can tell from his glasses that he went to college in the early 2000s huh.

I like this picture of Tom Lawlor and Royce Isaacs backstage at the G1. Their backstage stuff particularly after losses was a highlight for me from the G1 and they have the exact same expression as this Erica Henderson shirt based on The Thing. 「人生とは厳しいものだ。」 indeed.
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In Naito’s column he talks about how KENTA gave him a signed copy of his book, ちゃんと autographed and addressed to “TETSUYA.” He says he read the part from January to February 2020 (in other words, only the parts involving himself) but it was interesting (“そこだけでも読む価値があるというか、そこだけでいいと思います。”) He says after he kicked the book to provoke KENTA, KENTA told him to apologize to the publisher and his dad told him on LINE that you shouldn’t treat a gift roughly. Later on he genuinely misremembers the title of the book as 傷跡 (it’s 足跡, as KENTA is happy to remind you).

The history column is about an August 16, 1979 match between Dynamite Kid and Tatsumi Fujinami, an early Dynamite Kid match in Japan predating his lauded work with Tiger Mask.
Here’s the match why not.

In Giulia’s column, she talks about Saya Kamitani ahead of a tournament match with her and says that she was impressed when after a challenge for the white belt, when Giulia was champion but still mistrusted as an outsider by 生え抜き, Kamitani strongly returned her offered handshake after the match (“だから、ついアタフタして鼻の穴が2倍くらい広がった記憶がある(笑)”)
She praises Kamitani as champion, but criticizes that she’s so focused on number of defenses and beating the record. Giulia says it’s the love and emotions you put into the belt and defending it that matter (”どれだけ深く愛して、どんな熱い冒険をベルトと一緒にしたか、だろ”), the number is just statistics for onlookers to talk about, not something the champion should put any thought into. She also says she should show more strength than when she quickly cried following KAIRI’s challenge - “王者は「王様」なんだろう。”

I like this picture of Suzu Suzuki and MIRAI from the 5 Star GP a lot. It makes it look like MIRAI is going to be Suzu’s most irritatingly chipper lifelong rival…

The costume column is about Himeka and her most recent costume, which is more sparkly and “キラキラかわいい” to suit her “Jumbo Princess” nickname and complement the more cool and elegant vibes of the other DDM members.
Her tag partner Maika designed this costume and her previous one (the one before that was designed by both Maika and Giulia). Himeka isn’t the type to care strongly about what she wears but Maika has “ひめかマニア” and enjoys thinking about costumes for her and so she’s in charge. The one point specifically mentioned as being Maika-driven is the exposure level of the chest piece: 「胸の露出は舞華の好み。『絶対に開けろ』って。」She mentions she’s thinking about matching costumes for the tag league coming up.
One point mentioned is Himeka wears long wrestling boots since she looks up to a lot of wrestlers who wear them and likes the “レスラーだからはけるものだ” element, so she wants to keep them no matter how many times her costume changes.

In Hideki Suzuki’s column, there’s a guest: サイモン・ケリー who I only know of a little bit as Simon Inoki – turns out he’s Inoki’s son-in-law, but got divorced and doesn’t use the Inoki name so much anymore.
Anyway, apparently he works for WWE with things like researching in-roads into Japan and Japanese talent relations and although the interviewer jokes that they thought maybe he was back in Japan due to being suddenly fired like Suzuki was, that’s not the case.
Apparently, there’s rumors going around that the Inoki Genome Federation is going to be at least temporarily revived, but neither he nor Suzuki have heard anything about that. I don’t know much of anything about IGF, but it sounds like Suzuki and Kelly here were major parts of it and the peak was 2011-2013 but it relied heavily on Antonio Inoki and his health so if there was a revival it would be good if it were done intending to keep his spirits up but it would need to not hinge so completely on him (… yeah I’ll say). But in any case if neither of them have heard anything about it it sounds like there probably isn’t too much to the rumors.
They fantasy book what a potential revival would like like with suggestions including getting Triple H to do a Japan retirement match.

The short industry column is about Mina Shirakawa, comparing her status in Stardom right now to pre-WWE Kairi Hojo and Jungle Kyona, all ambitious characters struggling to advance despite that, with the keyword being もがき。「もがいた先に光は見えるか?」

The big industry column is an interesting one with a representative from TJPW, Tetsuya Koda, about the Princess Cup which just ended in Yuka Sakazaki’s victory. The column talks about the generational wall presented by the “初期メン”, and Koda says that as they come up on their 10th year it’s the いちばん充実している時期 of their careers as athletes, but that that’s precisely why audiences also want to see someone overcome them, “誰が最初に壁を壊すんだ⁉って”
The columnist talks a bit about how “世代闘争” has been a story exciting pro wrestling fans since the Showa era, and how the tournament came to be seen as representing that. Koda agrees, and about the outcome, says that it’s not that seniority guarantees success, nor that renewal will never happen (“ウチは年功序列ではないし、新陳代謝してないわけでも決してなくて。”), but that although TJPW has an idol-ish image they also want to preserve a classical wrestling style, which you can see in matches, and new athletes not easily being able to challenge for the belt is a part of that. He compares it to WWE being entertainment but also accumulating a solid history of wrestling.
He quotes Jun Akiyama as saying 「安定しておもしろい試合をしてるというのはほめ言葉ではない」which ties into the topic of balancing “安定と新鮮” - always providing audiences with new things to be excited about while still keeping match quality consistent and high. On the subject of that new element, Koda talks highly of Miu Watanabe and her performance in the tournament and it’s not just him - wrestlers like Naomichi Marufuji and Nanae Takahashi and Yuzuki Aikawa mentioned her in praise. His last comment in this section is that when the promotion formed it was said that they only had young 生え抜き wrestlers but now approaching their tenth year, ウチにもちゃんと歴史ができたんだなって。
Then there’s a section talking about how focused the promotion’s management is on 新人育成 and training new wrestlers while preserving their distinct style, because if they don’t do that, it means death for the promotion when the gap becomes a problem a few years down the line. Part of motivation for the women-exclusive Korakuen show is that as well, because currently Joshi pro wrestling is mainly centered on an audience of age 30-50 male fans. Widening the base of female fans isn’t just good for business in general but widens the base of the pyramid of potential trainees. They also talk about how they’re working with foreign promotions to bring in overseas wrestlers.
The last couple lines of the column reads: 「今後も坂崎世代が団体の中心で回るのか、それとも…。リング上の東京女子新章はすでに始まっている。」

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週刊プロレス No. 2200 (from around the end of the G1 climax)

There’s an ad for Kinnikuman gummis in this one. The picture painted by the ads and such in this magazine of who the prototypical shupro reader is a vivid one of a grizzled diehard Showa-era wrestling fan salaryman, scarfing down papayas and gummis and cigarettes mid-bet at the racetrack.

In Tanahashi’s column they talk about how the G1 Climax went. The fun part is when they get to talking about KENTA’s book, and Tanahashi starts looking for a subject to publish a book about that he hasn’t already tackled in the various Tanahashi book projects to date, landing on a novel: it’ll be a mystery called 「野毛殺人事件」(I looked up what connection that name has and it seems the NJPW Dojo is in Noge) and it will involve a famous detective uncovering a dark side of New Japan’s 50 year history.
Hey, I’d read it! (it’s just a joke bit they ran with though)

Nice feel-good picture – would that we can all 克服 our トラウマ with a rival turned best friend.

in Giulia’s column she talks about the part she played in the G1 Climax final, where they had her and Syuri present flowers to the finalists. She says a distance has widened between her and Syuri since the latter started God’s Eye, but they made eye contact at the event and said to each other 「…やり方分かる?」「分かるわけないでしょ…」「…だよね…」 but she ended up feeling a lot of confidence and trust from Syuri being by her side like when they were tag partners.
She enjoyed watching the show and says “人類は皆プロレス見た方が良いと思う。え?大袈裟?いやいや本気だよ! (笑)” and she and Syuri resolve to come back to the Budokan to have a match themselves someday.

In Pro Wrestling WAVE, it looks like Hikaru Shida won the Regina di WAVE championship (for her second time seven and a half years after the first) from Suzu Suzuki (the youngest ever holder of the belt). There was also a thumbtack match with Risa Sera on the card.
I haven’t ever looked into if there’s a way to watch WAVE (assuming that there probably wasn’t one), but this made me want to look into it! It looks like the best options are just their youtube channel and a streaming/event site I haven’t heard of before that doesn’t appear to have an obviously accessible archive. In any case, here’s a “digest” version of the match at least.

Looks like Michinoku Pro is doing something silly again! I’ve heard of 路上プロレス but this is the first I’ve heard of 遊園地プロレス, apparently their first instance in three years (gee I wonder what put a hold on it). Sounds like it was over 58 minutes of chaos.

The history column is about a time Inoki teamed with Bob Backlund, but of more interest to me, the columnist, Tomomi Nagare, says he’s writing a book for ベースボール・マガジン社 who published KENTA’s book - they’re doing a three-volume history of NJPW, and he wrote the first part on the roughly 17-year Showa period of the company. (it appears to be this book - I wasn’t able to find it on bookwalker or booklive). I have to imagine I’ll end up buying that.

I haven’t been paying attention to NOAH since I lost track of the N-1 so a small news item about Great O-Khan wrestling for them in a tag team with Great Muta perplexes me.

in Kenoh’s column he talks about the N-1 Victory. He compares Anthony Green to Rocky Romero or Colt Cabana and says that his matches has something he’s noticed NOAH lacks nowadays: 陽気さ. He says that YO-HEY and Kotoge were supposed to be in charge of that but they’ve somehow ended up like all the other NOAH juniors, as 愛社精神の塊キャラクター.
He doesn’t seem to like at all Kiyomiya’s colorful new costume, and he goes into some kind of rant comparing and/or contrasting it with Fujita’s new costume, and プロフェッショナル and 自己プロデュース and honestly I didn’t really understand exactly what he’s saying and if he’s criticizing Kiyomiya more or saying like, “at first I didn’t like it but I respect the boldness” or something.

Apparently in AJPW there’s a new faction called “Gungnir of Anarchy.”

There’s some pictures of Yuki Kamifuku at the beach talking about her hometown, and an interview with her and Mahiro Kiryu, Toyo Mates. Some basic info I didn’t know: they were the same year at Toyo, but different campuses (Kamifuku at the Hakusan campus in Tokyo, Kiryu at the Itakura campus in Gunma). Kamifuku debuted as a wrestler in 2017, Kiryu in 2019. The bio in the corner sums up Kamifuku’s deal well with an interesting turn of phrase: “歯に衣着せぬ物言いで独自の存在感を発揮している。”
Kamifuku says she doesn’t like kouhai/senpai hierarchies and thinks some parts of matches would go smoother if Kiryu were more ラフ with her. She calls the name AA砲 ダサい and expected those two to have a cooler one. The title match will be in their opponent’s home turf of Nagoya, and Kamifuku hypothesizes this is a plot on the part of the company to put Kiryu to the test. She wants Kiryu to use her as a stepping stone to go off to bigger and better things, but Kiryu reminds her they’re trying to win a championship belt so they should stick together for a while… They bring up the thing about the Toyo University founder being a 妖怪 researcher and they compare Arai to a monster due to her supernatural ability to be calm before a match (while Kamifuku in particular gets extremely nervous before matches), so they’re gonna research and 封印 the monster.
Kiryu closes with a mahjong reference that Kamifuku doesn’t get but I do! I still think it’s really funny how “私が掛けたリーチを一発でツモってやりますよ。” sounds really cool and confident but essentially means “we’re gonna do absolutely nothing but wait and hope chance goes in our favor and this situation I got us into pays off!”

Mutoh’s column talks more about finishers. One anecdote in here I thought was really interesting was he talks about going to Texas where (ストーリー的に) the Von Erich patriarch supposedly came to Japan and attacked Mutoh’s own dad with the iron claw, so now Mutoh was coming to Texas for revenge using the same move that felled his father! But the iron claw didn’t really suit his sensibilities in the end.

The short back of the magazine column is about a Ganbare Pro match between Yumehito Imanari and Shigehiro Irie that apparently ended in controversial fashion. I’m not familiar with the match or really the wrestlers, but it sounds like what happened is it was a match where the story was Irie has the advantage over Imanari the whole time, and Imanari sneaks out a sudden win. But it sounds like the ending had a 不穏 vibe, in that the wrestlers both left the ring quickly without saying anything (and without giving a post-match promo as is the norm nowadays) and the audience (or at least people talking about it after the fact) weren’t necessarily satisfied. The columnist talks to Irie about stuff like why he had more damage leading up to his being submitted than met the eye to onlookers, and how calling Imanari かわいそう for taking so much offense during the match is to バカにしてる Imanari. The columnist closes with a thought that I think is always relevant in pro wrestling, for better or worse: 「そう、闘いである以上、すべての物語が ”きれい” に終わるはずがない。見る側の望むように進まないからこそ、プロレスは凄味を保てるのだ。」

There’s a Michael Nakazawa AEW report about Kenny’s return at the trios belt unveiling.

The industry column at the back of the magazine talks with Takami Ohbari, president of NJPW, about the end of the G1 Climax. He says that the keyword behind the scenes they were striving for was “完走” with the goal of finishing the whole thing with zero disruptive injuries or coronavirus diagnoses, and that that was achieved was a 奇跡 and thanks to all the staff involved and each and everyone’s プロ意識.
Some interesting numbers are provided - apparently they say the goal was 5万人 total attendance across the whole tournament, and they ended up with 96% of that, 4万8088人. That’s still 180% of last year’s 2万8000人, but out of past G1s the record by this measurement is apparently around 9万7000人 so the mood of the report all in all is cautious congratulations but acknowledgement that there’s plenty of work still to do to try to grow the audience back. He says they can expect in the coming year the special circumstances of the pandemic and olympics constraining choice of arena to be eased, but they can’t expect everyone who stopped watching during the pandemic to come back, since people will have settled into new lifestyles and interests (though of course they still will try to entice them), so they have to train new wrestlers and attract new audiences.
It sounds like they’ll be thinking of next year’s 1.4 as the final closeout show of the company’s 50th year (I’m just glad it will be one day only), and they talk about how it would be great if health allowing Antonio Inoki could make an in-person appearance as a symbol of the company (あぁ…:grimacing:).

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Thank you so, so much for the stuff about Maika designing Himeka’s gear. Pure gold

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Predictably fell a bit behind on my translations (I’ve had kind of a terrible week, unfortunately), but I did finish the October 14 show finally, featuring the “last mission” of the 夢プロレス-dream on the ring-girls. Also weirdly a lot of other stuff happened? It ended up being more eventful than I was expecting.

The first of the three exhibition matches was Rika Tatsumi vs Risako. I believe Risako had 13 points? I didn’t quite catch how the scoring worked when they showed it on screen, but it sure looked like a nearly impossible task for the other two to catch up to Wakana Uehara, even if the fans voted for one of their matches :sweat_smile:.

After the match, Rika evaluated Risako. I wasn’t quite sure how to translate the end of her first sentence here: “今日の最後の一戦ですべてが決まるってことで、私も対戦相手の1人に選ばれて、どんなもんじゃいって挑んだんですけど.”

Tatsumi: “The final match today decides everything. I was chosen to be one of the opponents, so I challenged her to see what she could do. I also wanted to challenge myself to use the basic pro wrestling moves that are taught at the beginning, so I tried to limit myself to those today.”

I also wasn’t quite sure about this part: “凛咲子さんは映像とか練習とかでちょっと会ったことがあるくらいなんですけど、内に秘めたるものっていうのを…一見クールに見えるけど、内に闘志を燃やしてるタイプなのかなって思って。今日はけっこうそれをぶつけてきたかなと私は感じました.”

“I’ve encountered Risako-san a little bit through video footage and training sessions and such, but what is she hiding inside of her? At first glance, she looks cool, but is she the type to have fighting spirit burning inside of her? I felt plenty of it when I hit her today. After the matches, the audience can vote for whoever among the three of them gave a performance that resonated with you the most, and if you felt nothing, you don’t have to vote. I hope you follow your heart and vote for whoever you like.”

Miyu faced Himari Manaka, who is also at 13 points. I think I got the first sentence or so of her comment, but got tripped up here: “そういう意味では一番練習量が少なかったと思うんですけど、その中でも彼女なりに学んできたものをしっかり気持ちも含めて、自分の中で響きましたし.”

Yamashita: “I faced Manaka-san. I’ve been watching Yume Pro Wrestling on YouTube, and I knew that she’d gotten injured part of the way in and hadn’t been able to participate in training. In that sense, I think she had the least amount of practice, but even in that situation, she found her own way to learn, and that feeling came across and resonated with me. No matter how strong your feelings are, expressing them is something that is really difficult. I think she really persevered today. I am happy that it led to this result, and I’m glad that I was able to participate in this important project with the three of them. All that remains now is waiting for the results. I’m sure they’re all really nervous and excited. For me, I’m just happy that I was able to have a match with Manaka-san today.”

Shoko faced Wakana Uehara, who appears to be the fan favorite of at least the western fanbase. Wakana certainly put in the effort, and even went so far as to come in with her own entrance music, which she sung the lyrics to. It felt almost a little unfair, considering the lead she already had (at 20 points) over the others.

Afterward, Shoko said:

Nakajima: “I thought I wouldn’t sweat at all, but I was sweating a lot. To put it in just a few words, I thought she seemed really serious. And her perseverance and her ability to do some ground exercises, those were her strengths. Of course, if I went all out, it wouldn’t be a match, so I restrained myself. Still, I had fun. Since I joined TJPW, three or four of my dreams have come true.”

This last sentence here at the end gave me some trouble: “プロレスっていままでやってきたことが楽しくなくなることもあるけど、損はしないと思いますよ。ってかんじです.”

“There are also things I haven’t enjoyed in my time doing pro wrestling up until now, but I don’t think it’s a loss. That’s how I feel.”

The three candidates all did their comments together. They seemed straightforward enough?

Manaka: “I’ve been doing pro wrestling for six months, and I faced Yamashita as the culmination of that. She was so strong, and I’m frustrated… But I think I was able to give it my all.”

Uehara: “Until I started six months ago, pro wrestling was something I knew nothing about, and I experienced a lot of frustration during the training stage. But I have truly never regretted doing pro wrestling. Today, I was able to face Nakajima, whom I admire, and although I’m disappointed that I lost, I did the best I could. I have no regrets!”

Risako: “I didn’t know anything about pro wrestling at all. But I wanted to jump into something I didn’t know, so I put everything I had into professional wrestling for half a year. I felt so much frustration and shed so many tears, but today was my last mission… I didn’t want to have any regrets. Rika Tatsumi was so strong and scary, but I just hit her with all my might. I’ve given it my all up until now, and I’m so glad that I participated in Yume Pro Wrestling. I’m happy that Rika Tatsumi was my opponent for my first match.”

Then fans had several hours to vote on twitter for whichever candidate moved them the most in their match. I tried translating/explaining the rules during the show and probably disqualified myself, haha, but I had a hard enough time bringing myself to vote anyway, because I thought they all did well for their first time wrestling, and I want them all to succeed!

After that, Kamiyu teamed up with Max the Impaler vs Mizuki and Pom, which went about as well for Pom as you might expect.

The comments were predictably pretty entertaining. Kamiyu and Max’s were half in English:

Kamifuku: “I was able to win, but… after I won…” (in English) “Why did you do that?!”

Impaler: (growls, then starts eating Pom’s hair ornament)

Kamifuku: “D-delicious! This candy, wow it’s so good.” (fleeing from the Impaler, who is growling) “Bye-bye!”

Pom’s and Mizuki’s comments were also funny, though I wasn’t sure exactly what they were saying for some of it. I’m just going to post the full Japanese transcription along with my attempt:

瑞希「なんで力を合わせてくれなかったの」

Mizuki: “Why didn’t you cooperate with me?”

ぽむ「いや合わせましたよ。怖いんですよ!」

Pom: “We did work together! I’m scared!”

瑞希「分かる~」

Mizuki: “I understand~!”

ぽむ「でもぽむ、いつもマックスから逃げてばっかりだったから、今日は勇気を振り絞ってみたんですよ」

Pom: “But I always run away from Max, so I tried to muster up some courage today.”

瑞希「めちゃかっこよかった」

Mizuki: “You were very cool!”

ぽむ「だから最後の2人のケンカを止めようとしたんですけど…分かってもらえなかった」

Pom: “That’s why I tried to stop the fight between them at the end, but… they didn’t understand.”

瑞希「でもあれやんな。これからはマックスはぽむちゃんに任せる…」

Mizuki: "Well if that’s how it is, from now on, I’ll leave Max to Pom-chan.”

ぽむ「いや瑞希さんが!」

Pom: “No!! Mizuki-san—”

瑞希「大丈夫」

Mizuki: “It’s okay.”

ぽむ「ぽむはいいです!」

Pom: “No, no, I’m good, I’m good!!”

瑞希「ぽむとが見たいから、ぽむに任せる。頑張れ。ファイト~」

Mizuki: “I want to see it with Pom, so I’ll leave it to Pom. Good luck! Fight~!”

ぽむ「ああああああああああああ!」

Pom: (screams)

I cracked up at Pom QRTing the comments video and just captioning it: “わるい せんぱい、、、、、”

Yuki Aino and Moka vs Miu and Suzume ended with a bit of a surprise upset, with Moka pinning Suzume. Afterward, Moka challenged for Miu’s International title. She said:

Miyamoto: (stopping Miu as she exits) “Miu-san, I have something to say. I want to challenge for your belt!”

Miu: “I didn’t expect you to be the first to come forward… I’m really happy that you’re my opponent for my first defense because I’ve been watching over you. But, I also can’t lose. Let’s fight! I look forward to working with you.”

Miyamoto: “Yes!” (bowing to Miu as she leaves) “Miu-san, I look forward to working with you! This is my first time challenging for a belt, and I want to beat Miu-san and win the belt. Please support me!”

Backstage, Moka said:

Miyamoto: “I was able to beat Suzume-san today. She was so strong! And I was able to express my desire to challenge for the belt that Miu-san holds. My junior Arisu-chan and Suzume-san have challenged for belts, and Arai-san has a belt now, and I’ve always thought that I want to win a belt someday, too. I kept putting it off for some day in the future, but I felt like this was the time, so I was finally able to convey my intent and challenge for it. I’m going to do my best!”

Moka’s answer to the next question was a little tricky: “(同世代の活躍を見て焦る気持ちはあった?)焦ったりは特になかったです。自分のペースでいくしかないとは思ってたので。でもやっぱり、TDCとかもあったり、自分の言葉で…いつかいつかって待っててもチャンスは巡ってこないので、自分から発信しないとチャンスはめぐってこないんだなってあらためて気づいたので。いまだって思って.”

(Did you feel impatient, seeing the success of others from your generation?)

“I didn’t feel particularly in a hurry. I knew I had to go at my own pace. But there was TDC, and like I said… If I wait for it to happen ‘someday’, the opportunity isn’t going to just come to me. I realized that the chance isn’t going to just come around if I don’t put myself out there. So I thought, ‘it’s now or never.’”

Then the interviewer asks about her new finisher. I admittedly got some help for this part from Mr. Haku tweeting about it. The second sentence in particular confused me: “鴻臚館って技にしました。私の絞め技が羅生門なんですけど、羅生門が入り口で平安京があって。その間に鴻臚館っていう外交施設があって.”

(What move did you use at the end?)

“It’s a move I named Korokan. My submission move is Rashomon, but Rashomon is the entrance gate to where ancient Kyoto was. On the path, there was an ambassador guest house called Korokan. Miu-san’s belt is the International Championship, and that’s the belt I want to win, so I gave the move that name."

Miu commented:

Miu: “This was my first match since I won the International belt, and I honestly never thought Moka would come forward to be my first challenger. We always train hard together, and she’s always super hard-working and super passionate. But she’s a bit clumsy in some areas, and her timing isn’t always quite right. I don’t think she’s ever challenged for a belt before, but the fact that she did it now right after I won it… She showed amazing momentum today. I’m so happy, to be honest with you. We’re the same age, and she’s a generation younger than me, so the thought that she came to challenge frankly makes me really happy, but I also just won the belt, so I can’t lose it. I will do my best not to lose!”

The main event was Yuka, Itoh, and Haruna vs Rhia O’Reilly, Hikari, and Arisu. Poor Arisu took the pin here. This in-ring promo was easier to translate thanks to Rhia doing a lot of the talking and saying her part in English, haha!

Sakazaki: “Are you frustrated, Arisu? Everyone is changing more and more. Arisu… you can change, too. You can do it!” (in English) “Rhia, did you enjoy Tokyo?”

Rhia: (in English) “I did not enjoy the cat scratch. I did not enjoy the headbutt. I did not enjoy the Missile Drop Kick. But everything else, I enjoyed. I hope all of you realize you have the most talented wrestlers in the world, right here. I have watched Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling for many years, and to be here is a great honor. To the wrestlers, to the office, and to the fans,” (in Japanese) “Thank you very much.”

Sakazaki: "Thank you! Today was the last show with the Impaler and Rhia, but it seems like they enjoyed Japan, and that makes us really happy. TJPW is going to keep evolving, and a new wind is blowing, so please keep following us!”

Sakazaki: “TJPW, see you later!”

All: “See you later!”

Backstage, I don’t think Yuka’s team’s comments gave me any trouble? The only thing that gave me pause was that once again, I wasn’t sure if the 猫s in question referred to Haruna Neko, the person, or just, like, cats! :sweat_smile:

Sakazaki: “It felt like the show had a really good atmosphere, but how was it for all of you?”

Itoh: “It was a good atmosphere. It was nice.”

Sakazaki: “The new venture Yume Pro Wrestling, and seeing all of those young, cute girls sparkling, it’s all really gratifying. Having someone come from overseas and say that she loves TJPW like that, I think we’re really blessed. (Rhia) said that Neko was cute.”

Neko: "This was my first time fighting a wrestler from overseas. I was surprised at how big she was, and she beat me up pretty badly. But she said that she loves cats, so I want to believe her.”

Itoh: “If Itoh also had the opportunity to go to England, I wouldn’t mind fighting Rhia again.”

Hikari and Arisu’s comments were straightforward enough, I think:

Hikari: “Rhia came all the way to TJPW to visit us, and Arisu-chan has a show in her hometown coming up. I really, really wanted to win here, so it’s super, super frustrating. Rhia said that she loves TJPW, so next time, I want to go to England with everyone in TJPW.” (to Rhia) “Thank you!”

Endo: “This was the match before my hometown return show… I wanted to win and gain some momentum, but…” (cries) It’s so frustrating to lose. But I will take to heart what Yuka-san said to me at the end, and I will show everyone a victory at the Aizu show. Rhia, thank you, too!"

And Rhia’s were in English! Hooray!

Rhia: (to Endo) “I do not know why you’re crying, but you should not cry. Top wrestler! You’re both amazing. Being at Tokyo Joshi is a big deal; I’ve watched for a very long time. To step into this ring is an honor. However, I am not happy I lost! Cat claw! NO. Headbutt! NO. Drop kick! NO! But, next time, I will be ready. I will be back, I am the fighting Irish for a reason, and I will be back… I hope,” (laughs) “to Tokyo Joshi.”

Next up, Arisu’s hometown show, which I admittedly have not watched yet! :sweat_smile:. I also haven’t looked at shupro yet, so I’m not exactly sure how much work awaits me, but there are far fewer comments videos on twitter at least.

Then there’s the fan club VOD show, which appears to mostly be ridiculous nonsense as usual without major plot developments (a tradition for these fan club shows), so I don’t think there are many promos or anything to translate. Guess I’ll find out when I get there?

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