September 4, 2026
At 1:30 PM on the 4th, LLPW-X held a press conference at Kanadevia Hall (formerly TDC Hall) in Tokyo. The promotion announced the main event for the Shinobu Kandori 40th Anniversary Show, taking place at the same venue on November 2: a 60-minute time limit tag team match featuring Shinobu Kandori & Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Sareee & MIRAI.
Kandori: “I am thrilled to have such a star-studded lineup battling it out in the main event.”
Hashimoto: “Being based in Sendai, I often get left out of press conferences, so first and foremost, I’m deeply grateful just to be invited today. Thank you very much. For Shinobu Kandori’s 40th anniversary—to be able to stand by her side for such a special milestone is a tremendous honor. Believe it or not, this will be the first time we’ve teamed up in 11 years, stretching all the way back to my debut match. However, I am a completely different Chihiro Hashimoto than I was 11 years ago. Even though this is an anniversary show, I fully intend to exert my presence and show everyone the true spirit of Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling. Thank you.”
Kandori: “I am incredibly happy that such an amazing group of wrestlers has come together for this. Back in May, Tatsumi Fujinami had a match. Watching him—seeing a 72-year-old man actively battling against top guys in the prime of their careers—it profoundly impacted me. As I mentioned earlier, I think there are so many people out there who give up on new challenges simply because of their age. Seeing him made me think, ‘Alright, let’s do this,’ and step into the ring against these top-tier, active competitors.”
MIRAI: “Excuse me, but looking at this card, I have to ask… can you actually go?”
Kandori: “If I couldn’t go, I wouldn’t have booked the damn match!”
MIRAI: “I know reaching 40 years is an incredible feat, and I have total respect for the legacy and the results you’ve built, Shinobu Kandori. But honestly, that’s all in the past, isn’t it?”
Kandori: “Are you disrespecting me?”
MIRAI: “We are the ones fighting on the absolute front lines right now. Going 30 minutes in the ring is nothing to us. Can you really keep up?”
Kandori: “Of course I can!”
MIRAI: “Can you really?”
Kandori: “I said I can!”
MIRAI slaps Kandori across the face.
MIRAI: “Are you sure you can go?!”
Kandori: “I told you I can…”
Sareee: “I have zero interest in a Shinobu Kandori who is running on name value alone.”
Kandori: “That goes without saying! I wouldn’t have booked the damn card otherwise.”
Sareee: “I am the hottest thing in the women’s pro-wrestling world right now, and I am going to be the one taking the three-count from Shinobu Kandori. You better come prepared.”
Kandori: “Bring it on.”
Sareee: “Chihiro Hashimoto. I’m looking forward to fighting you too.”
Hashimoto: “Look, you two are just plain boring. Starting with your outfits.”
Sareee: “Excuse me?”
Hashimoto: “Go wash your face and try again.”
Kandori: “She’s right. ‘Top of the women’s pro-wrestling world?’ Please. I don’t see a damn thing.”
Sareee: “What? What exactly don’t you see?”
Kandori: “Whatever, enough running your mouths. Just prove it in the ring. I’ll take you on as much as you want… Alright, enough. Just take the pictures. Pictures, pictures.”
Following the photo session, all participants exited. Shinobu Kandori then re-emerged alone to answer questions from the press in a media scrum.
Kandori: “(On her thoughts after the press conference) It’s a mix of joy, frustration, irritation… a lot of different emotions are swirling right now. I’m so happy to have reached my 40th anniversary, and to have things come full circle with Chihiro Hashimoto since her debut match. Being able to put together a match where we go toe-to-toe with two of the most talked-about wrestlers today is something I’m very glad about. But those disrespectful comments really frustrated me. Throughout my life, and my pro-wrestling career, ‘challenge’ has always been a massive theme. Like I mentioned in my comments, seeing Tatsumi Fujinami step into the ring in his seventies… It’s about fighting through to the bitter end, never losing that drive to challenge yourself. That’s the true message I want to convey this time, both to my own generation and to younger generations. So, having them say things like that to my face… it stings, but honestly, it also fired me up.”
“(On selecting Sareee and MIRAI, and her assessment of them) Like Sareee says herself, she is truly heating up the women’s pro-wrestling scene right now. And as I’ve watched MIRAI’s matches over time, she’s really caught my interest. I’ve been wanting to face her at least once. Then there’s Chihiro Hashimoto. She’s one of the absolute top stars shining in the industry today. Considering I was her debut opponent, and that it’s been 11 years since we last crossed paths—I want people to really feel that history.”
“(Since the other three have much less experience than you, is your mindset less ‘playing the veteran gatekeeper’ and more about challenging yourself?) You have to step up and challenge them. It’s hard for people to take that first step, so I really want to focus on the ‘fight’ aspect.”
“(You probably aren’t used to getting slapped by younger wrestlers at press conferences, are you?) Never! It completely caught me off guard. But the fact that something like that even happened actually makes me happy. It’s that same mix of joy and frustration. I’m honestly shocked it came from MIRAI, though. She doesn’t seem like the type to do that, does she? It makes me wonder if she was provoked into it, or if I needed to be the one to give her that spark.”
“(Preparing for the event must be exhausting. Do you wish you could just focus entirely on the match?) I’ve been doing this for decades! (laughs). This isn’t anything new. Over these 40 years, I’ve promoted all sorts of events, forged paths where there were none, and constantly done things that had never been done before. So, promoting is one thing, fighting is another. In that regard, I’m completely different from other wrestlers. You don’t need to worry about me there.”
“(The subtitle for the event is “With an Unbreakable Heart! Tradition into the Future!”. What is the meaning behind this?) This event is, in a way, about passing the baton. There are young wrestlers out there moving this era forward, and the times are moving with them. So, passing that baton to the next generation is definitely on my mind.”
“(Sareee stated she plans to take the three-count from you. Thoughts?) If a wrestler doesn’t have that mindset, they have no business being in the ring. That drive is exactly why we all fight. Everyone stepping in there possesses that absolute desire to secure the three-count. So, in a way, hearing her declare it out loud makes me happy. Securing the three-count is the whole reason we do this.”
Translator’s Notes:
- “Senjo” (仙女): During her opening comments, Hashimoto refers to Senjo-damashii (仙女魂). Senjo is the common Japanese shorthand for Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling. This was localized to “the true spirit of Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling” to fit the glossary parameters while maintaining the sentence’s punch.
- Tatsumi Fujinami’s Age: In her initial promo, Kandori excitedly (and incorrectly) refers to wrestling legend Tatsumi Fujinami as 72 years old (he was 70 at the time of this press conference). Later in the press scrum, she corrects herself and broadly refers to him as wrestling in his seventies. Her exact spoken words were preserved in both instances to maintain the spontaneous tone of the press conference.
- “Mune o kasu” (胸を貸す): In the press scrum, the interviewer asks Kandori about her mindset using the idiom mune o kasu (literally “to lend one’s chest”). This is a traditional sumo and puroresu term describing a seasoned veteran allowing a greener opponent to practice on them or get offense in to look strong. It has been localized here as “playing the veteran gatekeeper” to capture the intended wrestling dynamic for Western readers.
- “Denaoshite koi” (出直してこい): Hashimoto’s insult to Sareee and MIRAI translates literally to “start over and come back.” In Japanese trash-talking, this implies the opponent needs to go home, wash their face, and completely pull themselves together before they even think about stepping up. It was localized to “Go wash your face and try again” to bridge the gap between the literal meaning and Hashimoto’s previous comment about their outfits.