AEW Five Fingers of Death (And Friends?) 3/30 - 4/5 - Part 1

AEW Dynamite 4/1/26 

Will Ospreay vs PAC 

MD: It's been a bit. Let's talk Ospreay vs PAC and Ospreay's selling. PAC ambushed Ospreay and his damaged neck before the bell with a brainbuster on the floor. Ospreay spent the rest of the match fighting back from that. The match was structured to build to a big comeback, have Ospreay nominally labored as he hit a bunch of his big moves (handsprings, springboards, a 450), for PAC to drop him on the floor a second time, with a second heat during a second commercial break, and then for Ospreay to come back, only to get jammed on his second comeback and have to sneak out a roll up win.

Overall his selling of the neck when he was taking a beating was fine, good even. You believed it. The guy has a great personal sense of what neck pain is and can channel it through his connection to the crowd and his earnestness about wanting to fight and wanting to wrestle. He deserves credit for that. 

And he even made an effort to sell while back on offense, generally between moves. He'd avoid something and end up on the apron before hitting something else and sell in the middle, and there's something to that. It's stronger selling while on offense than I'm used to out of him, even if only marginally.

The problem, so much as anything else, is conceptual. His movement when back on offense wasn't consummate to the amount of selling he was doing. The point of selling isn't to check boxes so people don't complain. It's to get fans to buy into the false reality being presented, not as real, but as important and worth caring about in a fictional sense, to immerse themselves in it. 

In this case, it's not even that I wanted him to sell more when doing a handspring or back somersault, if he was actually going to hit that stuff in the first place. How would that even work? I didn't want us to somehow zoom in on his wincing face or to have his body contort the wrong way midair. That's basically impossible. I get that. (Now him crumbling while attempting such a thing would have been a different story, but that's not even what I think would have been best here, maybe only once, because...).

It's that he shouldn't have been doing his usual offense in the first place. If you have a broken hand, you can't just punch people like it's nothing. That defeats the purpose of the selling of the broken hand of the first place. What's interesting in that scenario is to see the wrestler have to use his other hand, or at least have to be more cautious and careful with how he punches and choose the shots he takes smartly with a much higher strategic cost. That's when selling while back on offense stops being rote and starts becoming engrossing and makes for more complete, compelling stories. 

If he is going to go to the effort sell the neck as that damaged, it should be for a greater purpose than to excuse why PAC is controlling the match and why he's going to have to use a banana peel slip to win. The logical conclusion, what would make it balanced and consummate (and more interesting!) is that he can't do his normal vaulting and flipping and that he should have to find other ways to hurt PAC. Instead, he had his cake and ate it too, and so did the fans.

People will say toughness or adrenaline, and I get that. That's what lets him fight back in the first place. I get that people might see him as self-destructive and hurting himself more by doing this. Maybe even the match played out like that as his second comeback ultimately failed and he ended up in a Brutalizer. He couldn't use his superhuman offense to win as effectively as normal to win and had to rely on a roll up instead. But the story wasn't clear or crisp enough for that. Who knows it that was the intention? The dots weren't connected. They were barely dots in the first place. The performance and commentary didn't give us that. It gave us that PAC was too good during that finishing stretch, not that Ospreay was a half step slow and too stubborn to adapt.

It would have been more primal, more interesting, more simple and direct, if he had to find other ways to hurt PAC as opposed to hitting all of his normal stuff like it was no big deal and then selling in-between or after moves. It would have been a tighter, cleaner story relative to his selling. Did hitting all of his stuff pop the crowd? Yes. Did it create the same level of honest emotion of him having to find another way to fight back? I don't think so. 

It was denying people candy and then giving it to them instead of giving them something with more substance. It's okay to give the crowd candy sometimes. It's actually wonderful to deny them it and then make them earn it. That's one of the best ways to get heat in 2026 and it should be done far more, especially with Ospreay. But this story shouldn't have been about candy at all. This was PAC trying to injure Ospreay in front of a grudge match with Mox. You don't maximize the theme of the story you're trying to get the fans to buy into (through Will's otherwise very strong selling). 

Again, if this is some greater introspective arc about how Ospreay refuses to meet his new reality and find another way, maybe that's different, but the commentary didn't pick up on that, the match only half led there, and I just don't think that's the sort of story that Ospreay would want to tell or would even see the value in. Why would he when the crowd popped for all of his stuff anyway? What we ended up with instead was a lost opportunity, something that took us halfway down a thematic road, before veering us aside and trying to stumble back at the end. 

...Otherwise known as yet another Will Ospreay match that's spectacular in the moments but scrambled when it comes to the big picture. It's frustrating because he's so good in so many ways and because he gets close, he really does, but he, more than any wrestler I've ever seen (in part because the things he does excel at make the loudest noise when channeled erroneously) needs an editor to remind him to keep his eye on the ultimate goal at all times. 

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80s Joshi on Wednesday: Masami! Kazuki! Mimi! Yukari!

Disc 2 

14. Devil Masami, Wild Kazuki, Mimi Hagiwara & Yukari Omori Interviews 1/4/82

MD: The interviewer has a Stan Hansen moment when she tries to go see Masami and Kazuki (still called Ito here) in their locker room. Masami almost kills her. It’s great. Then we get a decent amount of insight from Hagiwara and Omori. They just won the belts. Omori would try to follow Mimi’s lead. Hagiwara would hope to win with her special move, the backdrop, and they thought they had a real chance if the Black Army didn’t cheat on them.

15. Devil Masami & Wild Kazuki vs. Mimi Hagiwara & Yukari Omori (WWWA Tag Team Titles) 1/4/82

K: Mimi Hagiwari and Yukari Omori won the WWWA Tag Titles from Jumbo Hori and Nancy Kumi on 11/9/81. That match isn’t on the set though it is available in clipped/joined in process form. The finish of the 3rd fall was Mimi hitting the massive Jumbo Hori with her Mimi Special, which is a backdrop where she hoists her opponent up sitting on her shoulder before dropping them backwards. Impressive feat of strength for someone so nimble, Mimi talks up her move in the pre-match interview. This match is their first defense. This is also our first look at Yukari Omori, who is part of the class of 1980.

Afaik, this is the first time Devil Masami came out to her ‘Black Soldier’ theme, which she’d keep up until 1986. Back when I was watching the full TVs, hearing that theme always cheered me up as I’d so rarely have to watch a bad match after hearing it.  A set like this won’t capture this, but I’d say Devil Masami was the most consistent AJW wrestler from 1982 to her retirement.

Omori gets beaten down pretty bad at the start and doesn’t look like a champion at all. She gets trapped in the ropes by Wild Kazuki who then digs her elbows into her to torture her and she seemingly can do nothing to resist. When Mimi tags in we get a bit more of a fight and at least Kazuki tags in Devil for some help and they do some double teaming in the corner. There’s a blatant clip to Devil using a weapon on Mimi and then denying it to the ref. The clip messes up the flow a bit but it’s enjoyable to see how indignant Mimi is about this. She has a good angry face and starts shouting to the announcer’s table (where the commission also sits) complaining about what’s happening while Devil continues to protest her innocence. 

I have to laugh at how useless Omori is. She tags in, gets punched in the throat by Kazuki, goes down clutching her throat and Mimi has to tag back in she’s already so done. This fall is turning into a prolonged beatdown on Mimi, but mainly because Omori is so incapable of taking a beating for more than 10 seconds that Mimi has to heroically sacrifice herself to save her. But no! We get a miracle. Miscommunication at the junction when Kazuki inadvertently dropkicks her own partner when Mimi moves out of the way. Omori rushes in for a quick double team on Kazuki, which Mimi follows up on with a big Mimi Special and Omori does something useful and keeps Masami pinned down on the outside. 1, 2, 3, and the babyfaces have stolen the fall with a flash good bit of teamwork.

The 2nd fall is a lot shorter and descends into chaos pretty quickly. We get delightful scenes of Masami running around with a wooden pole trying to injure with it. This ends up in the ring where the heels both hold Mimi down while Masami whacks her with that pole and jabs it into her back until eventually she starts to go limp like she’s losing consciousness. There’s a very cold moment where Devil lifts her up for a military press, but just drops her onto the top rope where she falls out of the ring, and then Wild Kazuki does a running jump over the top rope to the floor footstomp on her! But it gets better! Mimi is tossed into the ring, Devil holds up, give her a HEART PUNCH and then pins her with one foot on her chest. Awesome finish for the 2nd fall.

After the finish seconds run in to give Mimi medical treatment and she’s carried out of the ring. It appears she cannot continue. The commission announces that Mimi has been taken out of the match, but Omori wants to keep fighting so he’ll allow the match to continue.

The previously-established as useless Yukari Omori now has to fight the scary heel team on her own! Here comes some drama. Right from the off, Omori appears to have received an upgrade. She doesn’t have any moves, she just fights with shoulder tackles to knock both Masami and Kazuki down, but she has a fierce determined will about her this time that wasn’t there before. She can’t let Mimi down. Masami has a great look on her face when the camera cuts to her on the floor, she’s actually smirking, like she didn’t know Omori had this in her and is kinda impressed. 

Outside of kayfabe, I also think this is the first time in her career Omori shows signs of talent. She’s balancing very well between fighting off two pushed heels by herself, while still coming across as an ill-equipped rookie who is only just about managing to survive out there. She looks super strong when she shoves Wild Kazuki away and sends her flying halfway across the ring, but still it’s only a shove, it’s not a demonstration of ‘wrestling skill’. 

We get the big climax when, just as Omori’s miracle is starting to die as the heels successfully take her down and start tearing her apart, a still-selling Mimi Hagiwara staggers into the ring and begins her rescue. Her hair is strangely wet it looks like she had a shower while she was out getting treated. Her fightback is like she had all the fighting spirit Omori showed just before but actually has some skill as well. We get almost a repeat of the 1st fall where she counters an Irish Whip from Devil Masami into the Mimi Special, then a double suplex and Mimi takes out Kazuki as Omori is still the legal woman, so Omori gets the win by pinning Devil Masami. Probably not what anyone was expecting. 

This was a really great match. Great performances, good narrative, everyone had their role and stayed within the lines. Both Omori and Mimi felt like they came out of this as more credible ‘tough’ wrestlers than they were at the start.

****1/4

MD: We’re into 1982. 81 went quick. We’ve seen so many go now, Maki, the Queen Angels, Jackie, Kumano. Yokota was pushed above Hagiwara and Kumi though they are still formidable stars. I’m not actually super sure what’s going on with Jumbo Hori though she was tag champ. I would have expected us to see her more. This will be our first look in the project at Omori though. 

Masami and Kazuki look pretty stylish coming out with purple and red outfits, jackets, and hats. Masami has a bat of sorts and she’s quite happy slamming it on anything in her path. The first fall is mostly controlled by the heels. They try for an ambush but Hagiwara and Omori are ready for them, but they get swept under due to an object that Yokota hides for a lot of this. You do have to love the combination of power bombs and memphis heeling. I also love Kazuki’s use of her elbow digging it into Hagiwara’s eye and stomach. It’s pretty unique to be honest and the second time we’ve seen her do it, and it’s the sort of thing that will make me gravitate towards a heel. They run the hidden object about as far as they can before some heel miscommunication allows for the babyfaces to come back. After a double team press slam, Mimi hits her “backdrop” which in this case is a straight back drop with an opponent sitting on her shoulder (like Savage and Liz). 

Second fall starts well for the babyfaces, but once Hagiwara tosses Masami out, everything goes very wrong. Masami grabs a stick (maybe the same bat she came out with; I couldn’t tell) and chases her around the ring screaming bloody murder. They get back in but before long it gets introduced and after that it’s an absolute mauling. Just a brutal massacre leaving Hagiwara all but dead in the ring. After a press slam to the floor, Masami picks her back up and clocks her with a punch and then pins her with a foot on the stomach. They carry her out leaving young Omori to fight alone for the final fall.

For the first two minutes, she holds her own, keeping her back to the ropes so they can’t ambush her, taking on one at a time, and using miscommunication. But then Masami pulls her out and she gets swept under. Two minutes after that, however, Mimi drags herself back out. This is Mimi Hagiwara, actress, idol. She sang earlier in the night. She is disheveled, a wreck. She gets a much needed tag but can barely stand. Then they bring the piece of wood back in and start to use it as a weapon. 

Things spill to the floor. Kazumi is such a natural already as she demolishes Omori on a table. But Omori turns it around. Hagiawara somehow picks up a row of chairs and slams it onto Masami. Mimi rolls back in and it seems like they might win by countout. But Masami rolls back in at the last second and begins to thrash Mimi once again. But when all seems lost, Mimi is able to sidestep her, hit her special backdrop, and pull out what felt like an absolutely impossible win. Everything breaks down post-match but this was great, rousing stuff with absolutely top tier selling by Mimi after she made it back. 

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