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

Yamato had hoped he could use this area of the arena to his advantage as a weapon to wear John down. And while he had at least succeeded through the suplex that had brought the artist out to the floor, his attempt to make further use of the outside area had only backfired, causing him to get planted down with a neckbreaker. Now things had once again turned in the favor of the United Kingdom Elite as Yamato writhed around while cradling his skull.

He wouldn’t be out there much longer, though, as John then picked Yamato up and rolled him back into the ring. And not a moment too soon, either. The ref’s count had reached seven by that point, and they were starting to come a little too close to a double countout for comfort. The fans no doubt would’ve hated such an outcome to the match, and the only ones who would no doubt like it even less than them were the wrestlers themselves. Both the Ishiis and their foes were determined to leave here tonight with those belts, and that wasn’t going to happen unless someone was pinned or tapped out.

Speaking of which, John was looking to make one of those happen right now, as he crawled over Yamato’s chest to pin him down. The ref girl knelt by Yamato’s head and slapped the mat to start the count.

“ONE!”

“TWO!”

But right after the two count, Yamato grunted and kicked his legs out, forcing his shoulder off the mat to break the count. “That’s it! Hang in there!” Mariko called out from the corner. There was no question Yamato was in pain, but he wasn’t down and out.

John wasn't sure if he could score a pin out of what he just did to Yamato, it was a bit of a long shot to be sure. Still though it never hurt to go for it, after all John had learned that you only need to hold down your opponent for 3 seconds to win via pinfall. And perhaps that might let him snatch the win.

Alas that wasn't meant to be, Yamato had fight in him to be sure. After he kicked out John clicked his tongue and sighed slightly, moving to twirl the strand of his hair that he had dyed red. The artist wasn't quite sure of what to do next, that is until he heard a voice behind him.

"John! To me my friend!" Ryan shouted, getting his hand extended and ready. His leg had gotten better after having a rest in the corner, Mr Knight figured that John would be up for the chance at getting a break.

And he was right as John instantly got himself up and tried to get to his corner as quick as he could, the artist could have tried to bring Yamato there too. But that could lead of him getting countered, better to just leave where he was. If John managed to get to his corner Ryan would try to enter the ring as quick as he could, although it wasn't as fast as Ryan normally was seeing as how he didn't want to risk damaging his leg any further than he'd need to.

With that in mind Mr Knight would try to grab hold of Yamato's left arm, and start to apply an arm twist to it. The paragon of Britain knew what he needed to do, powerhouses like them needed to be softened up as best they could before they had a chance of being beaten.

The count was broken, and the match was still alive. Good for both the Ishiis and the fans in attendance. A title match ending this early might’ve been just as disappointing as a countout, and it certainly wouldn’t have done anything to help the Ishiis’ image as a tag team. Fortunately, no one would have to worry about anything of the sort. At least not for the moment.

The thought of tagging Mariko back into the match was sounding better and better to Yamato with each passing second. But unfortunately for him, that wasn’t going to be an immediate option. John’s moment of hesitance gave Yamato a precious few seconds of recovery, but the brief reprieve came to an end as the paragon of Britain was tagged back in.

Yamato started to push himself up to a sitting position, when Ryan suddenly grabbed his left arm and began to twist it. “Argh!” the older Ishii sibling shouted, grimacing in pain. This guy clearly knew what he was doing, and that taking down people like Yamato often required a steady-paced offensive to wear them down. Take away their power, and they become little more than a punching bag with muscles it can’t use. And something like that wasn’t exactly going to help Yamato and Mariko win those belts.

Grunting in pain and discomfort as he moved, Yamato would seek to solve his dilemma, starting by getting off the mat. Planting his feet down, he attempted to pull himself back toward a vertical base, doing his best not to further contort his arm and add to the pain of Ryan’s twist. If he at least made it to a knee, Yamato would then push off of the mat in an attempt to launch himself the rest of the way up, while firing a heavy shot with his right forearm directly toward Ryan’s jaw.

Ryan and John had until recently been single competitors, who showed outstanding performance in the ring. But Mr Knight had more experience in tag teaming, when he and his Sister Lucy toured Asia. They had gone from South Korea to Hong Kong, wrestling in the indy circuit and in street clothes. John meanwhile as good as he was didn't have much in the way of tag team know-how, something that been corrected as a part of his gruelling training regime.

Still though he made a bit of a rookie mistake there, just leaving Yamato there. Ryan would have tried to drag Yamato back to their corner, even if he did counter it still meant that he was in the part of the ring that he didn't want to be in. But the paragon of Britain chose not to state this to John, seeing as how he had been performing quite well and had been doing so this entire tournament. Such as saving Ryan from a chair attack by Mako for example.

Most people assumed that Ryan was just a powerhouse, but he could also dish out some submissions too. The Knightmare in particular was a very dangerous move in his arsenal, the leg slicer had won him quite a few matches. And he displayed the aptitude there in his skilfully applied arm twist, to try and wear Yamato down as best he could.

The paragon of Britain chose to keep the hold applied even as Yamato began to slowly stand back up, secure as it could be. After the explosive stuff that occurred when John got sent to the outside Ryan felt it best to try and slow things down, but Yamato had one extra arm. And before Ryan could attempt to maybe alter the arm hold into something else Mr Knight was uppercutted more or less by Yamato's forearm.

Ryan let out a grunt, granted it wasn't the worst hit he ever took. Far from it, but the attack rattled his head and that brain he used for chess. Mr Knight had let go of Yamato's arm, and had fallen to one knee as he moved back. His left arm held his jaw as Ryan shook his head to try and clear the cobwebs, Ryan had been stunned for the moment but was far from downed.

Having studied both Ryan and John carefully in their preparation for this match tonight, Mariko and Yamato both knew that the paragon of Britain was quite far from being a pushover when it came to submission holds. Especially that Knightmare finisher of his. Yamato had seen how much pain that juggernaut from the Valkyries had been put through in that hold, and she was even bigger and stronger than Yamato was. And with John having already worked on his leg earlier, that was one hold the Ishii brother was going to be very weary to try to avoid to the absolute best of his ability.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the hold Yamato found himself having to fight out of. And within moments, his forearm was brought crashing into Ryan’s face. Not the prettiest, or the most deadly shot ever fired in a ring. But it did force Mr. Knight to release his arm and stumble back before falling to a knee. And though Yamato wrung his arm out a bit once it was freed, he didn’t waste any time, and almost immediately went to take advantage of the opportunity before him.

Stepping forward and reaching out to grab Ryan’s arm, he would then attempt to pull him up and irish whip him into the Ishiis’ corner. “Now!” he’d call out to Mariko right after sending the paragon of Britain toward her. Nodding in response, Mariko would try to move in position to wrap her arms around Ryan’s whenever he came into the corner. Of course, she didn’t have the physical strength to hold him there for long. But for what she and Yamato had in mind, all they’d need was a moment.

Immediately after sending Ryan into the corner and calling out to his sister, Yamato would then follow his foe into the corner, where Mariko was hopefully restraining the man’s arms. If so, the older Ishii sibling would then move in close and deliver a heavy knife edge chop right into Ryan’s toned chest. And then another. And then another. And another, and another, increasing the speed with each chop until he was firing them off like bullets from a machine gun, aiming to paint the Mr. Knight’s chest nice and red with the barrage of chops!

Ryan was reeling, pretty much any human would from the shot that he just took. Although a lesser man might have fallen on his back, Ryan was no lesser person to be sure though. As the paragon of Britain one needed to be able to take quite the beating that naysayers of the country would inflict upon him.

Mr Knight grunted as he was flung to the Ishii siblings, Ryan was still reeling and his vision had been blurred. John didn't like this, not at all. But he knew that he couldn't just rush across the ring, the ref girl wouldn't let him even if Mr Carnaby could just pick her up and put her to the side. Ryan clenched his teeth as Mariko restrained his arms, it was clear that they were going to try and keep Mr Knight there. And Britain's paragon knew that the more he stayed there the more chance Ryan and John had of losing this battle and the tag titles.

Ryan winced audibly as Yamato struck him across his bare and pale skinned chest, and then another one came across his skin. But Mr Knight wasn't going to sit back and take this, Mariko might be holding his arms but she was close to him. With that in mind Ryan suddenly jerked his head and moved his arms close, hoping to headbutt Mariko. If she was stunned enough to let go of Ryan's arms then he'd attempt to grab hold of Yamato and deliver a headbutt to him as well, Mr Knight was in a dangerous situation and now was the time for knuckle-ing down and fighting back.

The Ishiis’ had shown very good chemistry as a tag team ever since their surprise debut as a team against the Vegas Quartet. Going into that match, Mariko hadn’t even known her brother was even in the AFW, much less her tag team partner for that match! Nonetheless, they had put up an excellent fight and were in great sync that night, and even looked more like a team that had be working together for years.

That chemistry was showing again now, as Mariko read Yamato’s intentions and caught Ryan in the corner, restraining his powerful arms. It wasn’t like they’d just put Britain’s paragon in a straightjacket or anything, but it held him in place long enough for Yamato to make his way over to the corner and take advantage of Ryan’s predicament.

The first few slaps slammed right into Mr. Knight’s pale chest, each powerful and sharp impact resounding throughout the arena and making many in the audience wince almost as much as Ryan himself. And each fan who’d seen the Ishiis take on the Fire and Ice duo knew where Yamato was going with this, and started to cheer him on as he prepared to continue unleashing his signature Machine Gun Chops. Alas, the paragon of Britain put an end to that before it could go any further, as his head suddenly crashed into Mariko’s pretty face.

“Agh!” she gasped out, instantly releasing his arms and dropping to a knee on the apron, both hands going to cover the spot his hard head had struck. And Yamato was next, as Ryan grabbed onto the young man and gave him the same treatment as his sister. “Oomf!” He grunted, stumbling back with a hand going over his face right where Ryan’s skull had hit.

Ryan and John had watched every match that had occurred in the tag tournament, to see who would be their opponents down the line. They cheered when Divine's arm had been broken by one of the Higurashi siblings, normally they didn't but they viewed it as karma. They had also viewed the match that the Ishii siblings had with Fire and Ice, and as soon as Ryan felt the knife chops slice his chest he knew what Yamato had in mind there.

Which was all the more reason to have nipped it in the bud, Ryan followed a process of elimination. First he had to get himself free, which meant he struck at Mariko. Then with his arms free he proceeded to do the same attack on Yamato, this corrected the problem. Both the Ishii siblings were stunned, but the bad news was Ryan's head was inwardly ringing. Granted he had a big brain, he loved chess known as the game of kings. But still his head was in pain, Mr Knight had one hand rubbing his forehead.

"Boss get outta there!" John shouted from across the ring. That was something Ryan picked up on, and it helped Mr Knight pay attention. The artist was right, Ryan needed to get himself out that corner ASAP. Feeling desperate Ryan tried to rush forward, and attempt to charge at Yamato with a clothesline. If it worked Ryan would try to stagger away to his side of the ring while clutching at his forehead, to try and clear up his self induced cobwebs.

Naturally the Ishiis’, knowing how good their opponents tonight were, figured they’d be scouted and studied before tonight’s bout as well. But with the addition of Mariko to the mix, they’d hoped Yamato might be able to get the series of chops off without issue. But it wasn’t meant to be, and now both Ishii siblings were stunned from collisions with Ryan Knight’s skull. Fortunately, Yamato and Mariko each had a chance to recover a bit, as the impact had left Britain’s paragon dazed as well.

“Ugh...” Mariko groaned, pulling herself back up, and somewhat surprisingly finding Ryan still reeling in the corner. Hoping to keep him from escaping, she leaned over the top rope and lunged an arm out to grab at him, only to snatch nothing but air as he moved away just in the nick of time. “Damn.. Yamato! Watch out!”

“Huh?--” *BOOM!* Too little too late. Mariko tried to warn her brother, but by the time he looked up, Mr. Knight’s arm was already blasting right against the top of his chest! The powerhouse of the Ishii duo dropped right down onto his back, arm moving up over his aching pecs. Ryan was now free to move about to his corner, and Yamato was now in dire need of a tag.

“Yamato-kun! Tag me!” Mariko called out, reaching a hand as far over the top rope as she could while waiting for her brother. Aside from the headbutt, she was pretty fresh and ready to go. And, groaning as he went, Yamato started crawling toward his corner while extending his hand, hoping to tag his sister back into the match.

John was watching with bated breath, his face somewhat contorted into a wince. He didn't expect Ryan to be pragmatic like that, but then again there was a lot of stuff on the line. And John knew that all it could take to lose would be three seconds, everything could hang on the edge of a single decision.

Ryan and John had shown ring savvy-ness to the best of their ability, they even did sometimes view it as a version of chess. Although that was mostly Ryan when he was holding a glass of red wine in his hand while having John write down lines of poetry as he hammed it up. Speaking of which Ryan had just managed to tiptoe his way out the corner, or rather stagger like a light drunkard following him decking Yamato down to the mat. Mr Knight was usually a stoic individual in the ring, one who tried not to show his pain as best he could. Usually so that he wasn't giving his opponents satisfaction in beating him.

But right now Mr Knight was happy to just get near John, that meant he could recover. Ryan had ran a hand through his beautiful blonde hair, light amounts of sweat dripping down his highly toned upper body. John made a look at Ryan, as if to silently offer a tag. But the paragon of Britain only shook his head slightly, the ringing in his head had gone away more or less now. And Ryan knew that he was the fresher out the two, so Mr Knight turned and waited.

He saw Yamato going for a tag, and Ryan was fine with that. Mr Knight felt the need to settle a score with her anyway, to try and of course avenge the leg attacks from the start of this match. The crowd was beginning to clap loudly and with intent as they couldn't help but enjoy this match, and once Mariko entered the ring Ryan shook his head one last time to try and fully remove his cobwebs. Before trying to rush forth and try to tackle at Mariko with a spear attempt once she got into the middle of the ring, Ryan wasn't sure if this would work or not. But Mr Knight knew one thing, Mariko just wasn't going to waltz up to his corner. He needed to try and take the fight to her.