English translation
Yuma Anzai's "Promise to Me"
Weekly Pro-Wrestling
No.2328, 2024/11/27 issue, p.13
What does it mean to be a tag partner?
☆The Real World Tag League has started, and we wanted to know, what does being a "tag partner" mean to you?
Anzai:
For me, it's someone who can help me make up for things that I lack. If they can cover my weaknesses, I feel like I can use my strengths to their full advantage.
☆Your first partner was Yuji Nagata.
Anzai:
I'd just started wrestling then, so I wasn't really aware of what my weak points were. So, I felt like there were a lot of important points where I just had to try my best to do something. Once I understood what I had to do, I gave it everything I had, and I what I was doing was no good, Nagata-san would do it.
☆Was that easy to do?
Anzai:
It was really easy, so I had a real sense of security. Because it was Nagata-san, hehe. With Nagata-san behind me, I had to think about what I could do, and what he could do for me.
☆You had a sense of security (with Nagata), so was it different with your next partner, Ryuki Honda?
Anzai:
Yeah. A year had passed, so I had more experience, and Honda was in the same school year as me. We could suggest moves to each other in a way that I couldn't do with Nagata-san. At that time, I just wanted to get on with wrestling, but Honda kept messing around... so, I was kinda pissed off with him (*strained laugh*).
☆Because he's very spirited, isn't he.
Anzai:
Yeah! He can do things that I can't, and he made me realise it was good to have him in my corner. In the best possible way, joining up with him opened new doors for me. That
was the best thing about tagging with Honda.
☆After that came your present tag partner, Rising HAYATO. He's become your senior.
Anzai:
Even though it's said that he's my senior... HAYATO has a really deep way of thinking compared to others, and there probably aren't many people who truly understand him. But, similar to how it was when I was with Honda, I think I have those kinds of thoughts, too.
☆For example?
Anzai:
Starting with things like, "What do you think a pro-wrestler is?", I feel like it's kinda like Kamen Rider or Ultraman. If I say it's like being a cool hero of justice, HAYATO makes me think about the monster that was defeated by that Ultraman. He says that the monster must have had some kind of reason why it came to earth. People don't usually think about that kind of thing, do they?
☆That's true.
Anzai:
Most people just think, the bad guy arrived, they were defeated, and that's the end of the story. It's really difficult to understand (*strained laugh*)
☆It's not that he's twisted or anything...
Anzai:
I think he has that side to him, too. Like when he gets drunk, hahaha.
☆Do you have stories about him being drunk?!
Anzai:
Hehe. When Honda opened those doors for me, things I'd never thought about before came out, and I realised that HAYATO is someone who has something that I didn't realize until I got information from outside. Because of that, I feel blessed to have him as my partner. He gave me a different option.
☆If you had to give yourselves a team name, what would it be?
Anzai:
What would it be... If I said something weird now, you'd start calling us that, wouldn't you (*strained laugh*).
☆What do the fans call you?
Anzai:
They usually call us "AnHaya". If we had to properly think of a team name, it would need to be Punk something... I've been listening to the same kinds of songs because of HAYATO.
☆He's had an effect on your private life.
Anzai:
He's just so cool. I still don't understand what he meant when he was talking about Ultraman, though...
Translated into English by Michelle @puroresueikaiwa
Please do not use without permission and credit.
