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

The idea behind Yamato’s attempt to quickly create some distance between him and John showed his head was at least in the right place, even if the rest of him wasn’t. Mariko would’ve been much more comfortable in an environment like this, but Yamato simply wasn’t his sister. He slam or plow into people from the ground. And he wasn’t exactly an escape artist when it came to most holds.

But while Yamato’s mindset might’ve been wise and accurate, it wasn’t enough to stop John from getting a hold of him, as the master of creation caught the Ishii brother’s leg and subsequently twisted the young man’s foot with an ankle lock. “Aggh!” he shouted out, grimacing and writhing in pain as his ankle was painfully twisted in John’s clutches.

“Yamato! Ropes!” Mariko called out almost immediately to her brother, who then quickly began trying to claw his way to the ropes as fast as he could, hoping he could make it in time to get a rope break before John could pull him away again, and more importantly, before the hold could injure his ankle. Poetic as it might be for the power houses of both teams to be rendered less effective with leg injuries early in this bout, Yamato had no interest in letting that come to fruition if he could do anything about it.

"Bravo John, finely executed." Ryan said from the ropes, doing a small couple of claps. Mr Knight believed that he knew how to pick them, when he first encountered the artist at that café. Whereupon the pair talked about how they both competed in Tension, that was when Ryan had the idea. And after 6 months of training John was able to be considered Ryan's main man, and it showed as John had the ankle lock cinched in.

The artist had in good as well, based off the response that Yamato was giving. John was hoping to try and get on the ground, and maybe advance the hold into something more elaborate. The way he saw it John had one of two options, either keep this hold on for as long as he could till Yamato got to the ropes. Or try to convert it into something more advanced, both had pros and cons. If John tried to alter it then it left him open to a counter, but could put increased pressure on Yamato.

John then reminded himself of one simple rule, discretion is often the better part of valour. So with that in mind John would attempt to keep the hold on for as long as he could, till Yamato got to the ropes. But the artist certainly wasn't going to make easy for him, nothing in life was like that. But once Yamato made it to the ropes, John would follow the rules. Only once he released the hold on Yamato's ankle John would try to get the last word in with an elbow drop to the back.

Yamato was furiously struggling to reach the ropes, but that was a destination he wouldn’t be reaching so easily, as John fought against his struggles while painfully twisting his ankle. “Ugh! Dammit!” Yamato cursed as he continued to fight, grunting and wincing in clear response to the pain being inflicted by the master of creation. But finally, his efforts paid off as his arm snagged onto the bottom rope.

However, even as John released Yamato’s ankle, the older Ishii sibling could already feel it. That pain in his ankle was pretty strong, and he knew before even attempting to move his leg that standing on it wasn’t going to be an easy task for a while. John had effectively repaid the Ishiis for their work on Ryan minutes ago, and probably a little extra too. Definitely not looking good.

He started attempting to pull himself up, then *BAM!* John’s elbow came crashing onto his spine. “Argh!” Yamato shouted, immediately falling back down with a hand over his back. Grunting in frustration, he then once again began using the ropes to help him ascend back to his feet, keeping an arm tightly hooked around the rope as he went to make sure John couldn’t just pull him back to the center of the ring so easily.

John seemed to have turned the favour of the match back into the hands of Britain's best, the ankle lock followed up by an elbow drop was a good one two combo. Win or lose John believed that he would have shown himself to be a good right hand man to Mr Knight, which could have meant a raise in his paycheck.

Although it seemed that Yamato wasn't planning on lying down and nursing himself, a shame considering that could have meant John could apply more submissions. The male Ishii sibling had caught onto John's little game plan it seemed, still Mr Carnaby couldn't help but admit that it seemed like the sort of thing his boss would do. Get back to a standing position as quick as you could.

But still John needed to try and make something of this, can't just stand around of course. With that in mind the British artist had been in a somewhat crouching position, but soon made to move in. And attempt to grab hold of Yamato's arm, the one that he wasn't using to hold onto the ropes for an Irish whip attempt. Considering Mr Ishii was holding on tight to that rope though, it may allow him a chance to try and counter somehow.

When he’d first arrived in the AFW, Yamato hadn’t been one to prepare extensively for his matches. He knew very little about his opponents, and it showed in those performances. Had this match taken place just a few weeks ago, Yamato likely would’ve entered tonight’s bout equally unprepared, and chances were he probably would’ve found himself in yet another hold courtesy of John Carnaby at this point.

But fortunately, Yamato had learned in recent weeks just how important preparation was for one’s matches. He and Mariko had studied the United Kingdom Elite, and entered the arena tonight knowing the strengths both John and Ryan held that made them so talented. And as John tried to pry Yamato from the ropes, the older Ishii sibling held on for dear life, knowing John’s advantage would only become more secure if he got the young Japanese man back out to the center of the ring.

However, he couldn’t just stay there all day either. He had to think of a course of action that would stall John’s momentum without putting himself in a bad position. An idea hit him. And suddenly, Yamato would try to pull his trapped arm back toward him while also letting go of the top rope. His hope was to bring them together, where Yamato would then quickly wrap his arms around John’s torso. From there, he would attempt to heave John up and throw him overhead, aiming to send him over the top rope and onto the floor outside the ring with a belly-to-belly suplex!

John was hoping to try and get Yamato out to the centre of the ring, fair enough he may have had the power advantage. But given enough time and a few practised holds John could handle himself against anybody, but it also did have the tendency to make him predictable. As good as Mr Carnaby was he was still a bit of a rookie, so that meant he still had a linear game plan.

Mr Carnaby was trying to give a harsh tug to Yamato, to try and force him to the location where he wanted him. Only Yamato had just expertly countered John, his eyes went wide as he realised that whatever Yamato had in mind could surely injure the artist.

His gut instincts and reaction time kicked in, as Yamato hoisted him over the ropes John just managed to grab hold of the top rope with his left hand. The artist still couldn't stop his momentum though, and as soon as he was over the rope John had let it go and tumbled down outside the ring.

"Grhn, dammit!" John grunted out as he rolled somewhat to his right, the counter had nearly taken him by surprise. It could have been even worse, John entertained that thought as he gazed up at the lights.

"You okay John?" Ryan asked, alternating between looking at his partner and Yamato.

John winced and held his left side, it wasn't busted or anything like that. Still he did land a bit funny on it, although the artist was trying to look on the bright side. "S-Still in this boss, lucky shot ngh." he muttered out. The artist took it slow here, he had been put on notice as it were. John took a couple of deep breaths as he got back up, and tried to make his way from the outside of the ring back into it near his corner as the ref started counting. John knew that at least he fell in his side of the ring exterior. So at least there was the safety of having his partner not too far from him.

The crowd had enjoyed a fairly standard wrestling contest up to this point, but now they popped right out of their seats and shouted out in surprise as John Carnaby was suddenly sent flying over the top rope! Fortunately for him, his instincts had prevented his fall from being much more severe than it otherwise might’ve been, but Yamato was still willing to bet that had to hurt. And speaking of Yamato, after hurling his foe to the outside, the older Ishii sibling had dropped onto his back and taken a few brief moments to catch his breath.

“Phew! That was getting intense there...” he said to himself, before picking himself back up. Now he found himself having to make another tough call: tag in Mariko while he could, or pursue John and further wear him down. But, as much as the young man would’ve liked to tag out for a bit and rest up, he felt an opportunity like this was one he had to at least try to make the most of. After all, if something bad happened on the outside, it was probably better it happened to him than his sister.

“Nice job, Yamato! Keep on him!” Mariko called out, apparently coming to the same conclusion as her brother.

So he dropped back down and rolled under the bottom rope, being careful to put as little weight on the ankle John worked on earlier as possible. It wasn’t severely injured, but this should at least help prevent it from getting any worse. And once he was by the floored man, Yamato leaned down and grabbed a hold of him before attempting to pull him to his feet. “Come on, up you go.” He said, as the ref had started the count anew now that Yamato had exited the ring.

“One...! Two...!”

Not wanting to waste any time, both to avoid getting counted out and to prevent John from having all day to recover, he’d then move one arm down under his opponent’s leg and attempt to lift him up and turn him upside down, before trying to slam him back first onto the ground with a quick scoop slam!

John was thinking that after this he'd need an icepack and whisky, although Yamato wasn't as much of a pain as Mako was. God that woman was worse than Lucy, which was saying something. Still John tried to count his blessings as best he could, the artist wasn't going to quit. Not until he could no longer get his body to move the way he wanted it to.

The master of creation grunted as Yamato grabbed hold of him, it seemed that John wasn't going to catch a break. Yamato had grabbed hold of John's leg, and was most likely preparing to slam the artist down to the hard floor. That was what he intended ealier, John knew that he couldn't let Yamato succeed. He needed to struggle, to fight and somehow get through this.

With that in mind as Yamato tried to hoist John up he'd try to tilt his weight backwards, to get into a standing position behind Yamato. Where the artist would then try to move his arm around Yamato's neck area, and then bring both wrestlers down to the mat with a neckbreaker. It was desperate yes, but all the wrestlers here were playing for keeps.

The ref was counting while the two wrestlers were outside the ring. But, Yamato couldn’t help but feel more safe here than he did in the ring. At least, if something happened and Yamato found himself caught in one of those lethal submission holds, John wouldn’t be able to pick up a submission win form here. And if Yamato played his cards right, he could use anything from the barricade to the very thinly-matted floor to wear and break John down further.

That was Yamato’s thinking as he pulled the artist up off of the floor and hoisted him up, holding him upside down. So far so good. But just as he started moving to try to throw John back onto the ground, the man’s weight began to shift and slide backward. “Urgh! Hold still...!” Yamato barked in frustration, despite knowing full well John wasn’t just going to obey that so easily.

The older Ishii sibling tried to keep a good hold on his foe, but it was all in vain, as the artist slid out of Yamato’s grip and landed feet first right behind him. And before Yamato could react, a pair of arms had already wrapped themselves around his neck, and the young man was suddenly pulled straight down onto the mat with a big neckbreaker! “Argh! Shit!” Yamato shouted out in pain, rolling around and kicking his legs against the mats as pain throbbed in the back of his skull.

John had to admit it certainly didn't look good for him there, Yamato could have seriously messed up the artist if he was able to slam John down onto the floor. Which in turn would only hamper the chances of winning that the United Kingdom Elite already had, and John wasn't going to have that if he could at all help it.

After dropping Yamato down with the neckbreaker John sat up, and took a couple of deep breaths. This had to be one of the biggest things he'd ever done in his life so far, and John didn't want that to try and get into his head. And then he noticed that the ref was still counting, and to end the match here with a double countout could result in the fans having an actual riot. They did one time John was in attendance, and that was something he never wanted to think on again.

With that in mind John made to grab Yamato, while Ryan applauded from his nearby corner. "Bravo John, a fine counter. Your handling yourself quite well." Mr Knight stated with a smile on his face.

"T-thanks boss." John muttered out, once the artist had grabbed hold of Yamato he'd make to roll him into the ring. And try to quickly crawl atop his chest to go for a pin attempt, the artist wasn't sure if it'd work. But it was worth a try at least.