After a rough transitional year in 1981, All Japan Women bounced back strongly in 1982. In 1981, they made Jaguar Yokota and Mimi Hagiwara the top two babyfaces, but there was no credible heel after Black Pair, and that left a big hole. In 1982, they solved this immediately by pushing Devil Masami into the role. Devil could work with both Mimi and Jaguar in singles matches and in tags, so long as she was made a threat, something that was accomplished in January by simply putting her over Jaguar cleanly in a singles matches. The real highlight of 1982 was Devil's feud with Mimi, through tags and singles, they had great chemistry and every match they were involved in together was entertaining. Jaguar's peak began in 1982. She had quality matches with everyone. It didn't matter who it was, she'd usually find a way to get a watchable match out of them.

1/4/82 2/3 Falls, WWWA World Tag Title Match: Mimi Hagiwara & Yukari Omori vs. Devil Masami & Wild Kazuki. This was the match that kicked off the Mimi vs. Devil feud, an entire year of Devil attempting to murder Mimi at every opportunity. They got off to a good start with the babyfaces jumping Kazuki until Devil turned the tide. From there it's pretty standard heeling, for most of the fall the heels were just using a weapon and the referee was trying to bust them in the act but couldn't actually do it, while Mimi and Omori just got more and more frustrated. This wasn't the first time Mimi would lose her temper with Jimmy Kayama, though she wasn't beating him up yet. Angry Mimi was money, but she had good psychology and played multiple roles well. The end of the fall saw Kazuki accidentally nail Devil with a missile dropkick to take her out, and Omori and Mimi double teaming Kazuki to take the first fall. I wouldn't say the first fall was particularly good, but it did a good job to set things up. If the first fall lacked action, the second made up for that. Mimi got mauled. Devil sent her running for her life chasing her with her bokken before trapping her in the ring with it. Devil destroyed her with a press slam and then dumped her over the top. After a few shots from Kazuki, Devil pinned Mimi with a foot to the chest. Mimi's selling of the injury was great, and they carried her out, leaving young Omori to face her demise. The heels just attempt to bully her two vs. one, and Omori couldn't do anything, she simply fended them off and was able to keep them at bay for a while. If you're looking for smooth wrestling and big spots, there's none of that to be found in this match. This is archaic stuff, but it's plausible and frantic when it needs to be. Omori eventually got caught and mauled, but was able to hold out long enough for Mimi to make a heroic return. Mimi was still selling death, and it didn't look like she would be able to save the belts. Then her life was made worse with Masami bringing the bokken back in to finish off the job. The whole thing turned into chaos on the outside with Kazuki and Omori brawling. Mimi somehow got Masami down off camera and threw a row of chairs onto her. Masami took over again in the ring and looked to finish off Mimi, but Mimi pulled out a Mimi Special, and Omori assisted for a double suplex to get the win. Devil gave Kayama a beating after the match because it wouldn't have been complete without it. ***1/2

1/26/82: Jaguar Yokota vs. Devil Masami. The tag title match on 1/4/82 set Devil up as the top heel, while this match set her up as a challenger and major threat to Yokota. It's a risky proposition beating the champion cleanly in a singles match, particularly when Yokota, despite being the champion for 11 months at this point, was still finding her feet in the top role. In this case, it worked and gave Devil the credibility to challenge later in the year, while doing nothing to hurt Jaguar. They got off to a hot start, with Masami attempting to mug Jaguar with a chair, but Jaguar avoiding that. Devil took over in the ring with the help of her cronies at ringside, and worked Jaguar over slowly, giving her a thrashing on the outside when she got tired of that. Jaguar made slick comebacks and hit her spots, but Devil's cheating or interference continued to turn the tide. Jaguar's speedy burst offense was always incredible to watch and a great contrast to Devil's methodical, power style. Devil was able to thwart her though, and hit a run of big moves to get the shock pin in a definitive way. Jaguar made the match with her fiery burst comebacks and provided most of the highlights. Devil was improving a lot, and quickly, but she was still learning and had some clunkiness at this point. What she did have down was her heel persona, coming off like a complete maniac who could fly off the handle at any time. ***1/2

3/7/82, Fuji TV Cup WWWA World Single Title Next Challenger Tournament 2nd Final: Mimi Hagiwara vs. Devil Masami. This was the final match of the tournament that would set up the big July WWWA World Single Title match. This was Devil's second match of the night, as she had the first final earlier against Yukari Omori. This was the second time Devil and Mimi had met in the tournament, their earlier match on 2/26 had promise, starting out well, but falling apart with too much interference, and turning into a mess before ending in a double count out. We had a classic start with Devil on a rampage. Before the match even started she grabbed the bokken and chased after Mimi. Mimi grabbed a chair to defend herself, and they duelled with their weapons. Mimi got some offense in to start, but Devil ground her down and took over with the usual headbutting and hairpulling with a little assistance from Masked Yu at ringside. Mimi made a short-lived comeback with her boxing moves, but Devil ground her again and worked the arm. Mimi's expressions and screams were on point, as always. Mimi got a desperation figure four, but it was broken up by the heels. This was finally enough for Mimi to get some help via a bodyslam, which set up her diving knee drop, though the referee refused to count the fall because of the interference. Mimi kept trying, but Devil ended up mauling her on the outside with the bokken. The heels prevented Mimi from making it back into the ring, giving Devil a count out victory. ***

4/7/82, WWWA World Single Title Match: Jaguar Yokota vs. Monster Ripper. Jaguar had a date with the Devil for July, but before that she had to get past Monster Ripper, who had made her return to Japan. Ripper was never a particularly talented wrestler. She was very limited with what she could do. The good thing about this match is that she didn't have to do a lot, and just had to stick to the limited things she could do. She was fine, aside from being a bit too cartoony and some general clunkiness. Jaguar was used to doing one woman shows against Moolah's girls since she usually had to be the Japanese defender against the evil gaijin, and Ripper, by simply being a monster, gave her a more to work with than she usually had. The match is mostly just Ripper tossing Jaguar around, overpowering her or trying to smother her while Jaguar is constantly looking for ways to bring her down, using her speed and agility. Ripper was able to go with her on most spots. There was some miscommunication, but they just move on and not let it detract from the match. Jaguar would launch herself at Ripper, while Ripper would just stand there and take it. She did the old stomp to the foot to gain an advantage, suckered her into a test of strength only to flip her out. She was trying everything, and though she could take her down, she couldn't really get anything going, as Ripper would just swat her away or power her down. The simple dynamic that allowed Jaguar to stand out was her great burst offense. Ripper busted her open on the outside, and went for the kill with her power moves, but she injured her knee doing a backbreaker, which gave Jaguar the opening she needed. Jaguar was right on the knee from there, and Ripper was less effective. Jaguar hit a tope. Ripper was able to overpower her again, but she tried to hit a body press from the top rope, which Jaguar avoided. Jaguar finished her off with a missile dropkick and an airplane spin. An excellent match that showed how great Jaguar was, and I can't imagine Ripper ever had another match even close to the quality of this. ****

7/19/82, WWWA World Single Title Match: Jaguar Yokota vs. Devil Masami 21:16. Jaguar Yokota had won the World Title from Jackie Sato on 2/25/81. Her first year as champion was lackluster. She didn't have the confidence yet, which was understandable given she had to follow the most beloved wrestler in the history of the company up until that point, and houses were dropping. She didn't have any really memorable matches in 1981 except the match where she won the belt (but that wasn't a regular match), but she gets better later in the year, and in '82 she's something else. 1982-85 is peak Jaguar GOAT level. The champion was always put into the role of defending against the evil gaijin, a role no one has ever done better than Yokota (her matches against Monster Ripper from 4/7/82 and Wendi Richter from 10/5/82 being two such examples), but here she had the chance to go with the second best wrestler in the company. Devil Masami was a juggernaut that had been pushed into the top heel spot, and had taken to the role as effectively as anyone I've ever seen. Her feud with Mimi Hagiwara had produced a lot of highly entertaining matches in both tags and singles matches. She also claimed a singles victory over Yokota in January, and won a no. 1 contenders tournament in April (defeating Hagiwara in the finals). In fact, Devil was so cool and had been built up so strongly that she was more popular than Yokota here, and while this wouldn't seem out of the ordinary in modern day wrestling, it's something that just didn't happen in 1982 (and probably foreshadowed her babyface turn the following year). While I won't go so far as to say this was the first great match in the history of All Japan Women (at least from what's available), it was a level above anything up to this point technically. Jaguar is so smooth and fast, yet believable. Masami is a brute powerhouse, and everything she does looks mean and nasty. They didn't work a complex match, they just played to their strengths and weaknesses. Masami is capable of bullying Yokota if given the chance, but like a bull seeing red, she's too aggressive for her own good. Yokota is the more wily, skilful and speedy one. The early going is well done, basic wrestling with Yokota's trademark speed bursts keeping you on edge. She looked to work Masami down on the mat, and at her first chance to overpower her, Masami simply dragged Yokota outside and mugged her. Jaguar used the breather to regain her bearings, and got some revenge on the outside, going after Masami's leg with a figure four after regaining control. Masami's regrouping efforts weren't as simple as Jaguar's due to her knee being injured, and Jaguar had a bullseye on it as soon as Masami returned to the ring. Jaguar was relentless and vicious until Masami was able to fire up and headbutt her way out. This portion was so effective you'd be forgiven for thinking they turning Masami babyface here. They got into the big moves afterward with the intensity and action picking up. They exchanged tombstone piledrivers. Masami began dominated with her power offense, and looked like she was sure to claim a second victory over Yokota. Yokota slipped out with her trademark bridge up and hit all of her trademark moves, but couldn't put Masami away either. This eventually led to Masami getting dropkicked out of the ring, and Jaguar hitting a big dive over the top. From that point, the match descended into chaos, with the two brawling outside again. Yokota started wailing on Masami with a chair, and they ended up having a chair vs. bokken duel. The whole thing ended up in a count out. I suppose the finish was a bit disappointing, but I wasn't too bothered by it. The chaotic brawl looked chaotic and was memorable, and tempers were flaring by that point. No matter your thoughts on that, the action throughout the match was tremendous, and it was easily women's Match of the Year for 1982. ****1/2

8/10/82, 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Mimi Hagiwara & Yukari Omori vs. Devil Masami & Tarantula. It took eight months to get to part two with these teams. By this point Devil had gotten a lot better, Omori wasn't completely inept, Mimi was still Mimi, and Wild Kazuki put a mask on a became Tarantula. I'm not sure the last part was an improvement, but it did give her more confidence (apparently the real reason was she had bad anxiety and was too nervous before the matches, so they put her under a mask to make her feel more comfortable). This is a much better wrestling match from a technical standpoint with more interesting work than their 1/4/82 match, though that match was superior in terms of drama, with bigger climaxes at key moments and the third fall theatrics. Take the first fall here for example, the standard of the wrestling is good, there's more variation and babyface comebacks, but the finish, coming after the typical heel miscommunication followed by a Mimi diving knee drop and Mimi Special, was fine, but came off a little flat if you compare the two. The second fall saw a couple of bursts from Mimi, but was mainly Devil kicking the heeling into overdrive, going for her arm and biting. After both Mimi and Omori took piledrivers, it all culminated with Devil destroying both of them with a bokken on the outside to take a count out, levelling it a 1-1. Mimi looked dead in the third fall, and the heels just picked her apart, stomping all over Mimi's arm when she stretched out for a tag while Omori could only protest. The only problem with it was, what could Omori even do about it? Devil eventually just headbutted Mimi into the corner and let her tag out, and then looked to kill Omori with the bokken as well. Omori did thwart a double team and get a run of offense, though she still didn't have a moveset so it was just backdrops and slams, though heel tactics put a stop to that. Another mugging on the outside to both Omori and hapless Mimi. Tarantula did a body press off of Devil's shoulders and Devil finished Omori off with a Romero Special, while Tarantula held Mimi back. Mimi wasn't at all happy with Jimmy Kayama's useless refereeing, so she took her anger out on him after the match, giving him a well-deserved thrashing. ***3/4

9/82, 2/3 Falls WWWA Tag Title Match: Tarantula & Devil Masami vs. Mimi Hagiwara & Yukari Omori. The final match between these teams. While the lesser of the three, and I wouldn't quite call it a good match, it did provide a couple of great moments. It's just a heel mauling to start with, and although paid off with an all-time classic Mimi moment, it wasn't particularly good or interesting. It's just the heels choking, fighting outside, Masami using the bokken and Jimmy Kayama making half-assed attempts to keep control of things. After getting enough of that, Mimi completely lost it, yanked the bokken away from Devil and laid into everyone with it, including Kayama when he tried to stop her. Apparently, Kayama was a bigger problem than the heels were, so Mimi threw him around and beat him up with a chair, resulting in her getting DQ'd. This beating was hilarious, and Mimi's shock over getting DQ'd made it even funnier, though one could understand her frustrations at the incompetent refereeing. The second fall was pretty short, and mainly just Omori and Mimi getting their offense in and squaring things up. I probably wouldn't have bothered though, since the story was Devil and Tarantula being too much for Mimi and Omori, and Mimi needing to upgrade to a more experienced partner, they might as well have just had it be a 2-0 sweep. Although in saying that, Omori looked better here than in the previous matches, and it was Mimi's temper that cost them the first fall, and her miscommunication in the third fall that stopped Omori's run of offense, but never mind the details. The third fall was the best of these, with good action and gave us the second highlight of the match, which was Devil doing a rare tope on her way to picking up the win over Omori. Mimi tried to protest the result to Commissioner Ueda at ringside, but he wasn't having any of it, so she took it out on Kayama again. **3/4

10/5/82, 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Devil Masami & Tarantula vs. Jumbo Hori & Mimi Hagiwara. Mimi upgraded from Omori to Jumbo Hori in order to challenge Devil and Tarantula. This made for a better dynamic, as Omori was a junior who wasn't able to really stand up to Devil, and didn't have the ability or offense to add a lot to the matches. The first fall was heel dominated with the usual good stuff, this time a lot centred around hair pulling, which they kept going back to while trying to keep the referee from seeing it (as usual, it was Jimmy Kayama, so they didn't have to try too hard), and then complaining about Hori to divert his attention so they could continue cheating. Mimi almost caught a pin on Masami, but later missed a crossbody, landed outside and got mugged out there. She made another comeback in the ring, but made the mistake of jumping on Devil's shoulders, only to get dropped and pinned. Hori dominated the early part of the second fall until Devil brought in the bokken and nailed everyone with it. Brawling and chaos eventually saw a DQ after Devil brought in a chair to even things up. Mimi protested to Ueda and Hori threw Kayama around. This time it actually accomplished something because he refused to start the third fall until Devil turned over the bokken. The third fall saw good action from everyone, and Hori further showed she was a good addition since she was able to actually stand up to Devil, working well with both opponents. Unfortunately for them, Tarantula pinned Hori with a sunset flip, the only problem with it was Hori's feet were all over the ropes. So, Kayama was Mimi's undoing yet again, and as you'd expect, he was beaten up for his incompetence. This was about the same quality as the 8/10/82 match, perhaps a little better due to having Hori instead of Omori. But with another failure, there was only one partner left for Mimi to turn to for a final challenge, and that would be Jaguar herself. ***3/4

1: Jaguar Yokota. With Devil Masami nipping at her heels, Jaguar just edged her out for the top spot. Jaguar was a genius in her prime, seemingly incapable of having anything short of a good match and delivering astounding results with below average opponents like Monster Ripper, as well as a classic World Title match with Masami herself.

2: Devil Masami

3: Mimi Hagiwara

4: Jumbo Hori

5: Tarantula

1: 7/19/1982 WWWA World Single Title Match: Jaguar Yokota vs. Devil Masami ****1/4

2: 4/7/1982: WWWA World Single Title Match: Jaguar Yokota vs. Monster Ripper ****

3: 10/5/1982: 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Devil Masami & Tarantula vs. Jumbo Hori & Mimi Hagiwara ***3/4

4: 8/10/1982 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title Match: Mimi Hagiwara & Yukari Omori vs. Devil Masami & Tarantula ***3/4

5: 1/26/1982: Jaguar Yokota vs. Devil Masami ***1/2

Hiromi Komatsubara

Natsuko Kosuge