Game is obviously implying Pauline is Pauline from Odyssey and her Grandma is Lady from the original Donkey Kong. Cranky is still Cranky, and they refuse to acknowledge DK Jr. exists or whether he's modern DK because its one of those things like Bowser Jr's Mom where there's some sort of unspoken rule to just not bring it up ever.

>"but what about "XYZ" that contradicts this

This is Nintendo trying to tie Rare DK back into original Donkey Kong without fucking any of his stuff up. I don't get why they went this exact route either but I'm just glad they didn't fuck anything up on the Country side. Nintendo doesn't give a shit about retconning Mario vs Donkey Kong.