SD 15: Tension Tag Team Title Match - United Kingdom Elite Vs. the Ishii Siblings

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Mariko was going for here. Predictable or not, taking advantage of any openings you find or manage to create is just a simple aspect of any kind of competition. And just knowing what was coming didn’t necessarily mean it could be stopped. And that became clear as Mariko locked the paragon of Britain in a legbar, adding further pain to the targeted limb.

As Ryan pulled his upper body up, Mariko kept a close eye on him waiting to see what he would do. She half expected a heavy fist to come crashing onto her leg, and it likely would’ve been enough to make her release her hold. But somewhat surprisingly, the man began dragging them back toward the center of the ring, opting for better ring positioning over immediate release from the legbar. The younger Ishii sibling responded by cranking up the pressure to increase the pain being inflicted to Ryan’s leg, but it was clear she’d soon find herself on the wrong side of the ring if she held on much longer.

So she reluctantly let go of the trapped limb and quickly rolled back to her team’s corner. “You’re up, Yamato-kun.” she said, reaching out to tag him in. “Right.” he replied with a quick nod before stepping into the ring. Mariko may not’ve had the raw power to drag a 200 lbs man very far, but Yamato did. And if Ryan hadn’t already made it back to his corner yet, Yamato would hurry over to the paragon of Britain and try to drag him back toward the Ishiis’ corner.

Ryan wouldn't forget that, Mariko tightened the hold on his leg due to him powering himself out. It would be something that Ryan would need to seek payback for should the chance present itself, but at least Mariko was choosing to relent and tag out.

Mr Knight had decided to do the same, upon being let go Ryan quickly did a backwards roll. Making sure not to put too much pressure onto his hurt leg, and then once he stood up the paragon of Britain quickly lept to the side. Whereupon John's hand had been stretched out, Mr Knight slapped it as he landed on his belly.

"Take it away Mr Carnaby!" Ryan shouted as he rolled into the apron. He lay on his belly until John had gotten out the ropes, whereupon Mr Knight would then slowly begin to stand up.

"On it boss!" John said in response, the master of creation was eager to get in and make an impression. In fact the artist had jumped over the top rope and quickly dashed over to Yamato, hoping to blast him right in the chest with a spear.

John went low and charged forth, unlike Mr Knight the artist favoured a more ground based game. Although Mr Carnaby was perfectly capable of going for the power moves, as he had been personally trained by Ryan. But still the ground game was what John had trained on since day one.

Yamato moved quickly as he was tagged in, hoping to catch the paragon of Britain before he made it to the corner. But he was too late, at the master of creation was tagged in as well. As his original target rolled out onto the apron and his new foe entered the ring, Yamato instinctively put on the breaks, guessing John would try to take things slow at first like Mariko and Ryan had done.

But he was painfully mistaken, and his sudden stop only left him wide open for the picture perfect spear that John then drilled him with, planting the older Ishii sibling right on the mat. “Gah!” he shouted upon impact as the wind was driven right out of his sails, bringing his arms up protectively over his now aching chest. And just like that, in the blink of an eye, the United Kingdom Elite was back in charge of this bout.

Mariko grunted in mild frustration in the corner as she watched on, knowing the situation for her brother might be even worse than it already looked. Yamato didn’t have the technical wrestling prowess everyone else in this matchup had. His greatest assets were his strength and on-the-fly thinking, which made him somewhat unpredictable. But neither of those would help him while he was flat on his back, and now Mariko was wishing she’d waited a bit longer before tagging her brother in. But for now, Yamato would just have to do the best he could.

John had charged forth and had drilled Yamato square in the gut, it wasn't something that he usually did. Mr Carnaby was one that usually stayed and waited, baited out his opponent and then attempt to wear them down with submission holds. That was his role in the United Kingdom Elite. Ryan was the powerhouse, Lucy meanwhile was the flyer.

The master of creation had done at least what he wanted, which was to keep Yamato down. The mat was John's forte, and it was time to try and apply his forte. John was on his knees right now, taking a breath to calm himself. The artist then hoped to quickly move his body to the left of Yamato's head, whereupon John tried to wrap his arm around Yamato's neck for a dragon sleeper attempt.

Normally the more hyper and energetic of the Ishiis, Yamato had been brought down before he’d ever even had a chance to show that energy. “Ugh...” he groaned, holding his arms over the spot John had plowed into. Definitely not the place he wanted to be seconds into his first involvement in his first ever title match, especially considering how well Mariko had done to set the pace.

John then moved by Yamato’s head and went to wrap his arm around it, instantly setting off an alarm in the young man’s head. The older Ishii sibling may not’ve been proficient in dealing with the vast majority of known holds, but this here was one of the select few that didn’t fall into that category. Lucky him. One of Mariko’s finishing holds involved the use of a dragon sleeper, and she’d put it on Yamato more times than he could count, to the point that even he could detect the danger of a dragon sleeper when it was coming and react appropriately.

“Oh no you don’t!” he said as the arm coiled around him, before planting one foot on the ground and pushing off of it to send his other leg flying up and over, aiming its knee right at John’s head in hopes of releasing Yamato from the hold quickly, before any damage could be done with it.

John was trying to keep things simple, and that meant submissions that he knew off his heart. Of course Mr Carnaby was also capable of busting out elaborate holds, the surfboard was one that he had been looking at quite in-depth recently. He had also been taught how to execute the Knightmare, Ryan's signature leg slicer submission.

And it seemed that keeping things simple wasn't really working at this point in time, John hadn't even begun to properly cinch in the hold. As Yamato suddenly jerked himself upwards, at the same time John was moving himself up and forward. Which was a critical mistake, Yamato's knee banged itself right on his forehead.

The master of creation grunted and fell to the side, teeth gritted and one hand rubbing his forehead. It wasn't the level of Lucy's strikes though, when she sent her legs flying you could feel it. But he stunned for now, Ryan meanwhile was shaking his head in dismay. But knew that John was quite durable, after all one doesn't become the right hand man to the paragon of Britain without doing some insane and gruelling training.

True, Yamato didn’t have quite the athletic flexibility to just fire his legs over his head like some of the girls on the roster. But for his immediate situation, he didn’t have to land a total knockout blow. All he had to do was make John back off before he could completely synch in his hold, and it did that just fine as the master of creation was sent stumbling to the side.

“Nice job, Yamato!” Mariko called out form her corner, glad to see he’d remembered what he’d picked up from their nearly countless spars over the years. Her brother just nodded and quickly moved back up to his feet, before heading over to his momentarily stunned opponent, then reaching down to try to pick him up.

He’d then attempt to sling his foe into the ropes on the opposite side of the ring. And if successful, then once John came running back in his direction, Yamato would charge forward and attempt to send his shoulder blasting into his adversary’s, hoping the impact would knock the man off of his feet and bring him down onto the mat again.

John might have been struck on the head, but he'd have insisted that was a lucky shot. Try a shining wizard from Lucy, then see if you would be still standing after a hard thwack like that. But at any rate John had been stunned for the moment, still the artist was in this to win. To bring home the bacon for himself, and for his boss Ryan.

The master of creation had one eye shut, and his teeth gritted. It had been a rough going for the United Kingdom Elite, but they were still in this. They were going to fight, and keep on going till their legs gave out from under them. Speaking of which John had been sent for a trip to the ropes with an Irish whip, Ryan was too far out for a tag to the back of the artist. So whatever John had to do would have to be solo, and it'd have to be quick.

John ran right into Yamato's shoulder tackle, and he fell back to the mat. But Mr Carnaby wasn't done yet, as he fell down he'd try to get his legs close to Yamato and apply a drop toe hold. Back to the mat, where John's forte shone through. John was in pain from the hit, but there was a chance that presented itself. And the artist dug down deep and hoped to catch Yamato and send him down.

Luck or not, Yamato’s intentions had been to prevent himself from being locked in John’s hold, and he had done just that, and left the master of creation momentarily stunned in the process. Things were looking good for the moment, and the older Ishii sibling was going to take advantage of his opening while he still could, certainly not wanting to let John recover too soon.

His foe was hoisted up, and Yamato sent the man off into the ropes. And a second later, Yamato crashed shoulder first into John with a big impact that took that took him off his feet and brought him crashing down to the mat on his back. Yamato was feeling pretty good about his situation, that is, until a pair of legs closed in on his own with a drop toe hold.

And suddenly, Yamato found himself taking a tumble forward, falling right onto his front on the mat. “Ugh!” he grunted out as he landed right next to his floored opponent. He’d done a good job of momentarily being able to use his brute strength to his advantage, but now Yamato was once again right where he didn’t want to be: on the mat with a gifted technical wrestler. Realizing the danger, Yamato tried to kick at the man and roll away in hopes of avoiding being put in a dangerous hold.

John brought Yamato down, and that's where he wanted it. On the ground meant John could apply his in-depth training, not to mention it allowed him to keep close to his opponent. If Mr Carnaby could apply one of his moves and get it kept in, then he could wind up doing some major damage against Yamato.

With that in mind as soon as Yamato fell to the ground John was wasting no time in trying to get to work. John quickly attempted to adjust himself, Yamato was attempting to quickly kick out. But the artist would attempt to grab hold of one of his legs, that he was so desperately kicking with.

And as Mr Carnaby grabbed hold of it he'd try to stand up and apply an ankle lock to it, it wasn't John's main preference. But seeing as how Ryan's leg had been injured earlier, the master of creation believed that it might be best to try and return the favour. So with that in mind the artist tried to get the hold locked in, and start applying pressure to the leg of Yamato.