Suzumi Ishikawa vs Chris Morgan

Chris Morgan strode out of a small locker room, where she had spent the last half hour sitting alone, clearing her mind before the match ahead. Since her last battle with Mikoto Kusanagi, she had thrown herself fully into her training. Her near defeat at the hands of the Miko had shown Chris that she needed to be better, and stronger, if she was going to up to the task of being their guardian Angel and protect them from the looming threat of Migiri Oozora, who had returned in a tag team match days before. Her strength, while nothing to laugh at before, had returned to it's near phenomenal level that it was at during her time with the Wrestle Angels. Standing at the curtain leading out onto the ramp, Chris waited to make her entrance.

Her theme, Avenging Angel began to play, with Chris stepping through the curtain just as the music reached it's crescendo. The boos filled the arena as the so called 'Fallen' Angel made her way to the ring. Stepping through the ropes, Chris tuned out the crowd as she considered the match. She had been told that she was going against another former Wrestle Angel in Suzumi Ishikawa. The girl had been active during Chris's time in the league, and had shown talent, she remembered that much. She had privately pushed to try and bring the girl past midcard status and try for main events, since Suzumi had also proven to be popular with fans at the time. But between the President's resistance, and Suzumi's own departure from the league it had never happened. For the life of her, Chris couldn't remember what caused Suzumi to leave. At the time, the American had been juggling being the failing Wrestle Angel's financial officer, an active wrestler and trying to keep a doomed romance alive.

*Probably frustration with what was going on.* Chris thought to herself as her music ended. *I wouldn't blame her. But...she'll blame me. I'll have to be ready, cause she'll come at me, hard.*

Suzumi waited silently as she waited for her music to play. The usually outgoing, cheerful, talkative woman just wasn't herself. Shortly after her leg injury caused her to leave Wrestle Angels and go into acting the promotion was forced to shut down. That alone angered Suzumi even without considering how many of the women ran into struggles to get back on their feet. A lot of them ended up in the AFW, others moved on to other careers, and some were... lost in the shuffle so to speak.

As soon as Suzumi heard her song hit the speakers she jumped out and began to do her usual entrance routine. She high fived fans, blew a few kisses to the crowd and skipped along. However, as soon as she saw Chris Morgan she looked deathly serious instead of bubbly like her usual self.

Chris Morgan, the fallen angel was there in the ring looking at her. She was angelic in her beauty but Suzumi knew full well that there was more to this woman than meets the eye. She was beautiful, but she was (as much as Suzumi hated to admit it) an amazing wrestler. Top notch. Promotion killer. Title hog. She also beat Suzumi's best friend Mikoto in a match not long before Suzumi appeared in the AFW. Suzumi won her first match, and wanted to keep that momentum going. Unfortunately, her formerly injured leg took a beating. She really hoped to defend her injured leg from an onslaught by the bigger, far more powerful opponent she faced.

Suzumi climbed up through the ropes and glared at her opponent. "Chris Morgan, have you come to take the title here and run us to the ground?"

Standing in the far corner, Chris watched as Suzumi made her way to ring.
*Well, at least one of us is popular with the crowd.* the blonde thought as she watched Suzumi slap hands with fans and blew kisses to the crowd.

However the woman became all business once she stood before Chris, speaking while glaring at the taller woman.

"My reasons for being here don't have anything to do with the title. In fact if I told you why I came back, you wouldn't believe me." Chris answered cooly, crossing her arms over her buxom chest. "What about you? I've seen your pictures in all of the magazines, you could stay in the acting business. Why come back?"
Her tone was calm, and composed, as if the two had unexpectedly met in a coffee shop or a street corner.....

Chris Morgan was the small talk type? Suzumi was a bit surprised, but decided to humor her opponent.

"Part of me missed wrestling too much to stay away." Suzumi answered as she finished stretching. She made her way to the center of the ring, never taking her eyes off of Chris. The fact that she beat Mikoto gave Suzumi extra incentive to win. "Are you ready to get started?"

Suzumi knew this match wasn't going to be easy. No matter how hard Chris had been pushed before, her record was impressive. Suzumi was an old mid-carder and had never fought anyone with the reputation or prestige of Chris Morgan. Today she hoped to open some eyes and silence critics who said she should have stayed in acting.

Chris was a woman on a mission, she had a purpose for her return to the ring. Defending her former Wrestle Angel compatriots against not one but two monstrous women was the goal that she traveled across the globe to compete in front of a fan base that hated her guts.
But, after facing Valley and Mikoto, deep down she was forced to admit something: She missed wrestling. Pitting her will and body against another person. It made her far more alive than all of the hours behind the desk in the business world.
The Californian was surprised to hear that secret inner sentiment spoke so matter of factly by her opponent. Her eyebrows raised in response before she settled into a ready stance. Still, the warning had to be given. Suzumi needed to know what she was stepping into.

"Well, if you love this life so much, you had better be ready to defend it. Otherwise you will be left, broken, between these very ropes! Now show me, Suzumi! Show me you can live this life!"

Although it was a masked warning about Hibiki Izayoi's declaration of war and Migiri Oozora's return, Chris also knew that it's phrasing might touch a nerve in Suzumi. She settled into a ready stance, waiting to see her opponent's reaction.

Suzumi smiled as Chris told her to be ready. "If I wasn't ready to do what I had to, I would have stayed in acting."

Suzumi heard the ringbell and saw that Chris was ready. Suzumi knew she wasn't any sort of match for Chris's strength. However, in a lockup she felt technically sound enough to turn the tables on the former Wrestle Angels champion. Former champion.... against a never champion. That thought made Suzumi's blood boil ever so slightly.

She moved forward and jumped up to lock up with the taller, heavier, and bustier woman.

Suzumi seemed full of surprises. The smaller girl walked directly up to her and went to lock up with the bigger, and heavier Chris!

*Alright...if that's what you want.* the American thought to herself as they locked up.

Once they were joined, Chris decided to hold off on doing anything fancy. Instead, using both arms, the Californian would attempt to lift Suzumi up and shove her back, looking to send her sailing through the air and land in a sitting position on the ground.

Suzumi had a few plans of what she could do to Chris once they locked up. However, she underestimated the raw power of her opponent. Suzumi screamed as she sailed through the air and landed butt-first on the mat!

Suzumi rubbed her backside with her hand and got back to her feet as quickly as she could. Being grounded against Chris Morgan was the last thing she wanted. Suzumi opted to run towards Chris and try to hit her in the chest with a dropkick! If trying to get her in a sneaky grappling situation didn't work, maybe a little bit of a speedy strike would?

No matter what Chris tried, Suzumi knew one of her planned offensives would work. They had to, Suzumi couldn't let herself lose this one.

Suzumi didn't have to worry about being grounded, at this early point of the match. Chris generally preferred to keep things civil during a match's opening stages, and as such, didn't give chase while the Japanese woman was down. Not to mention, she believed it projected confidence, giving the impression that she didn't need to jump on an opponent right at the start.

Once Suzumi got up though, Chris would begin to advance towards her opponent. However, the Asian broke into a fast run, again hurling herself right at the bigger American! Chris barely had time to set herself against the impact before she took both feet directly took the chest. However, she only staggered back a step before righting herself. Deciding to strike back, the blonde would run forward as Suzumi was getting back up from her dropkick, lowering her shoulder. She aimed to knock Suzumi down with a running shoulder block, trying to put her size and mass advantage to work.

Suzumi felt good when her dropkick hit, but was immediately dismayed to see that Chris took the blow with only a stagger instead of being dropped to the mat.

As Suzumi got up, she found out firsthand that the big muscular American was much faster than her size indicated. Suzumi felt Chris hammer her with her large shoulder and Suzumi hit the mat hard!

"Unngh!" She moaned as she rolled to her side and grabbed at her back. She really needed to reevaluate her strategy....