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

The crowd erupted and was on its feet almost instantly as Mariko soared through the air, and brought her forearm crashing right into Ryan’s face. Falling down right with Britain’s paragon, she landed sprawled out right over his prone form as his hands tended to his aching head. Hearing his groans, Mariko couldn’t help but giggle to herself. Flying like that was something she’d never done before, but it was exhilarating, and she was more than a little relieved to have made contact and brought the big guy down.

She put her hands against his torso and started to push herself up, not really sure how to proceed next. But before she could even get a solid thought process going, another shout in the air drew her attention, and she looked up to find none other than John Carnaby rapidly descending through the air toward her! Had she seen him sooner, she no doubt would’ve jumped out of the way to let him crash and burn. But there was no time, and the artist splashed right down onto Mariko’s torso, driving her right back onto the floor!

“Oh shit!” Yamato shouted from the Ishiis’ corner as he watched the chaos unfold out on the floor across the ring from him. With a matchup that mostly consisted of powerhouses and technical specialists, this sort of acrobatics show was one of the last things he, or anyone else for that matter expected to see in this bout here tonight. And, it wasn’t over just yet. Seeing an opening, Yamato quickly stepped through the ropes and entered the ring, before charging in a dead sprint to the other side of the ring and diving right through the top and middle rope!

“BANZAIII!” Yamato shouted while aiming his airborne body at John like a torpedo. It was a much more dangerous version of his signature Banzai Charge than he was accustomed to using, but if it found its target, Mr. Carnaby would likely be sent crashing right into the barricade behind him! And then that would leave all four competitors sprawled out together over the floor outside the ring.

There had been a thought running through the mind of John as he lept in the air, and that was "God help me!!!!" John didn't really know what he was doing here, it was all crazy right now. And at the same time it had been a game of one up manship, and John had managed to connect. The artist had made a Mariko pancake, John was about the same height and weight as the paragon of Britain after all.

Speaking of which Ryan had been trying to get his bearings, and was surprised that Mariko wasn't going to grab him. That is until he saw a shadow that resembled his right hand man, who had then lept into the air for the save. Mr Knight rolled onto his belly, looking at Mariko's downed form and then nodded to John. "F-Fine work John, thanks for the assist." Ryan muttered out as he slowly got himself back up.

The master of creation was getting back up, giving a brief nod to his boss. John was still reeling a bit from his first proper foray into the air, and then John heard a voice to his right. The artist had kinda forgotten about Yamato while he was enraptured in his own big moment, and was plowed right into the guard rail. John's eyes rolled up in his head and he groaned loudly in pain as the cold steel was driven into his bare torso.

Mr Knight was probably the least affected at this point, Ryan clutched his head and looked to John. And then he quickly made to grab Mariko and make to move her back into the ring, both of them were the legal people in their teams after all. One hand grabbing her top and the other the back of her neck, the ref had been counting to four right now. John meanwhile was stuck outside, although he was hoping that attack would have affected Yamato as well. Yeah he was really gonna need an ice pack after this one.

Mariko was fairly certain a rib might’ve been broken, or at least cracked after John’s body crashed down on her like a meteor and planted her down on the ground. And as soon as he moved off of her, she could do little more than groan and curl up as her arms moved over her midsection. Her hit risk had at least paid off enough to land a big shot on Britain’s paragon, but right now she was starting to regret taking that uncharacteristic, high flying risk.

But John didn’t get off so easily, and seconds later Yamato came hurling toward the master of creation like a speeding missile! He had lost focus of one of the Ishiis, and now it was costing him as Yamato blasted him right into the steel barrier right behind him, sending the crowd into a frenzy. But in the process, the older Ishii sibling took an awkward tumble onto the floor as well, leaving him briefly dazed. Unlike the other three competitors, each of whom had had a wrestler blast into them, Yamato wasn’t in very much pain at the moment, despite being a slightly stunned for the moment.

While Yamato was focusing on getting his wits about him again so he could return to assisting his sister, Ryan had already pulled himself back up, and was now rolling Mariko back into the ring. He’d hardly even noticed the ref counting to this point, but fortunately both legal team members were back in the ring before the count could get anywhere dangerous. But for Mariko, the more pressing issue was still her ribs. She was confident in her ability to fight a battle of submission holds, but there were only so many times a person of her weight could withstand a person of Ryan or John’s weight hammering down on her frame like that. A tag was needed so she could take some time to recover, but how soon that might become possible unfortunately wasn’t clear yet.

The dire situation didn’t go unnoticed by Yamato, however, and within moments he had picked himself up and was making his way back around to the Ishii’s corner, albeit fairly slowly as he continued trying to get his head straight after that crash moments ago. As he moved, he looked in the ring and kept an eye on Ryan. Hopefully the situation wouldn’t get bad enough that he’d have to run in and save his sister. But if it came to that, Yamato would be ready to do whatever was necessary.

John was glaring daggers at Yamato, breathing heavily as he did so. He didn't think nothing was broken with him, still the artist's back was quite red from the impact against the steel guard rails. And lo and behold he had been plowed right in front of the two girls who had been cosplaying as Ryan and him, they were cheering him on and even taking a photo with him. The artist turned to look at them and then shook his head, he needed to be ready in case Ryan needed him. And he might even be able to pay back Yamato for what he did, least John didn't have to go very far to get back to his apron.

And as the master of creation did so he kept one hand on his stomach, trying his best to nurse the impact his chest had suffered. A few ice packs and maybe a couple of days off and John figured he'd be fine, and who knows Lucy might even be nice to him for once. But at least the artist could still move his legs Speaking of which Ms Grange had been watching the entire match from her VIP booth high up in the arena, it had been her second or maybe third glass of red wine this evening. And she was watching the entire match, honestly rooting for her adoptive Brother in this one.

Back in the ring Ryan was like a shark, a shark that smelled blood. Perhaps victory was at hand, Mariko seemed to have been rather flattened by the impact of John. Mr Knight believed he could go for a pin attempt, after having Mariko rolled back into the ring. With that in mind as soon as Ryan got back into the ring he quickly attempted to lie down atop Mariko and hook a leg for the attempt.

That high flying frenzy had clearly taken a lot out of both teams. But unfortunately, the Ishii sibling who had received the most damage from that high risk exchange also happened to be the legal member of her team at the moment. Things might not be so bad right now if Yamato were the one in the ring, but that simply wasn’t the case. And the paragon of Britain clearly saw and understood the situation, and soon after rolling Mariko into the ring crawled over her and hooked one of her legs as he went for the pin.

“One...!”

Initially there was no movement or resistance on Mariko’s part. She just lied there underneath Ryan, completely still except for the rising and falling of her torso as she breathed. The younger Ishii sibling wasn’t ready to let this match slip through her fingers just yet, but she also knew every second of rest she could get was completely worth taking. And the ref girl’s hand came down to strike the mat a second time, again with no resistance from Mariko.

“Two...!”

But now she had used as much time as she could resting, and energy needed to be spent if she wanted to keep the match and their chances of walking out of here with the Tag Team Championships alive. And as the ref girl’s hand started its third decent to the mat, with a grunt Mariko suddenly jerked her free leg up and forward to help her jolt a shoulder off the mat, breaking the count just in the nick of time.

Ryan was really hoping that John's save would be enough to ensure victory for the best of Britain, but it seemed that Mariko wasn't having any of it. Mr Knight leaned back after Mariko kicked out of the pin, giving a half sigh and half groan as he ran a hand through his blonde hair. Ryan was wondering what else he could do, perhaps it was time to risk one of his signature moves.

With that in mind Ryan's eyes narrowed as sweat went down his pale and regal features, Mr Knight got to his knees and made to grab Mariko by the neck and top with both hands. To get her set into a vertical position, while keeping close to her. And then Ryan would plan to stand at her side from behind, while overhooking his nearest arm with hers.

After that Mr Knight would bend over and try to stick Mariko's closest leg over the back of his neck, what would result is the paragon of Britain then proceeding to stick himself back up again. And then falling backwards as he did so, it was a twisting flipping over the shoulder leg hook belly-to-back suplex. But Mr Knight just called it the acta est fabula, Latin for drama is over. The move was highly effective, but it was going to involve a great amount of risk to be sure.

If Ryan had been able to get Mariko into the ring and pinned her immediately after John had crashed onto her, he almost definitely would’ve been standing tall with his arm raised and a nice shiny belt in his hand. Fortunately the time it took him to get in position to pin her had given the woman just enough time to catch enough breath to throw her shoulder up before the three count. But she wasn’t out of the woods yet, and that soon became apparent as Mr. Knight began pulling her up to her feet.

Once she’d been pulled up to her feet, she felt her arm one of her foe’s arms hook over her, while her leg was pulled up and draped over Ryan’ neck. Mariko’s eyes shot wide open, and a heightened sense of alert took over as she realized the situation she was in. She knew what Britain’s paragon had in mind for her, and if he managed to connect with the acta est fabula, there was little doubt the drama would indeed be over, and not in the way either Ishii sibling would’ve wanted.

And as Ryan hoisted Mariko up off the ground, she swung her free leg as quickly as she could right toward Mr. Knight’s face. The attempted counter was some kind of strange hybrid between an enzugiri and a shining wizard, and the strain it put on Mariko’s ribs as she moved caused her to wince in pain while she threw the leg out. But hopefully it would be enough to halt Ryan’s attempt to finish her off, while also stunning the man momentarily while forcing him to release her. If successful, then as soon as she hit the ground, Mariko would slowly pull herself up to her feet, taking heavy breaths as she moved.

Ryan was hoping to have executed this finisher, true the acta est fabula was a tad awkward. But still it resulted in a very powerful slam effect, but Mariko must have had a borderline obsession with him. Because she had just countered it, and right when Mr Knight was going to put her away as well.

When Mariko swung out her free leg, it smacked Ryan in the head. His head jerking to the side as spit flew from his mouth, the pain surged through his head and brain. Mr Knight was used to injury, but he'd just been kicked right in the head. And the attack had just caught him off guard, right when Ryan thought he had it. John had alternated between grabbing the ropes and running his hands through his hair, it wasn't looking good.

Mr Knight was clutching his head with both hands, nothing was broken. Well not yet at any rate, but Ryan was hit. But whatever Mariko was going to do, she had better do it quick. Nothing was worse than a pissed off paragon of Britain after all.

Disaster was avoided as Mariko’s leg smashed right into Ryan’s face, forcing him to drop her before he could connect with his devastating finishing move. A combination of luck and good preparation for this big title match had paid off big time, yet Mariko was fully aware she had only bought herself a little bit of time. If she failed to make the most of it, it could easily spell certain doom for her and her brother. But she wasn’t quite ready to let something like that happen.

Immediately after she climbed back up to her feet, she started to move as if she were sizing Britain’s paragon up for a counter attack. But then, she’d take a quick step toward the corner of the United Kingdom Elite and aim a sudden superkick right at John’s chin! With the abrupt nature of her attack, she hadn’t been able to focus heavily on aiming, so she wasn’t sure how much damage the kick would inflict if it managed to land. But all that mattered was that the master of creation was knocked at bay long enough that he couldn’t interfere with Mariko’s immediate plan.

Right afterward, she’d wave her brother into the ring. “Yamato-kun! Now!” she said, moving back to Ryan as quickly as she could, wrapping her arms around his neck and slowly pulling him back up toward a vertical base as the older Ishii sibling entered the ring. He nodded to Mariko to let her know he understood what she had in mind, and Mariko nodded back to give him the signal to start his part.

Yamato then quickly ran into the ropes, and at the same time Mariko would then turn her back to Ryan while holding onto his head, before rolling him forward with a snapmare. And as Yamato came bounding toward Mr. Knight, he would then drop down and attempt to slam his arm into the face of Britain’s paragon with a massive sliding lariat right as Ryan’s momentum carried his body up into a sitting position from the snapmare! This was a tag team finisher Mariko and Yamato had been working on for a while now, but hadn’t had the chance to try until now. And with any luck, the momentum of Ryan's body combined with the force of the lariat would create a devastating impact strong enough to put Mr. Knight down long enough for the Ishiis to crown themselves the new Tension Tag Team Champs!

John wasn't liking this situation, Mariko had just countered Ryan when he was trying to finish her off with one of his signature moves. Not to mention his boss looked out of it, being kicked in the head would do that to a person. He was weighing up the situation, and John decided he was going to move in and buy Ryan some time. That is until Mariko suddenly fired out a superkick to his chin, the impact forced John to give out a little grunt as his body hit the apron. The artist's vision was blurred, and thus he was stunned for the moment.

And things weren't going much better for Ryan, he grunted out as Mariko wrapped her arms around his neck. On reaction Mr Knight was going to try and swing his arms about to try and free himself, but Ryan was still trying to recover from the attack that just hit him.

Mr Knight was forced to roll with the motions, and when Yamato's arm collided with Ryan's head there was some red stuff blooming from the side of Ryan's head a few seconds later. The harsh impacts had cracked open Ryan's head, the crimson liquid slowly trickling down his regal features as he was reeling from the attacks to his head. It wasn't the first time that Ryan had bloodied himself in a battle, but the pain was something else that Ryan had to contend with. So he could only try and regain his senses, as everything around the paragon of Britain was just too hard to pick up on right now.

John meanwhile was counting himself lucky, the attack that Mariko did wasn't as bad as he thought it. Granted his chin stung, but Mr Carnaby saw that both Ishii siblings were fixated on his boss. The artist chose to play possum, and bide his time for when Mariko left herself open to a counterattack from Mr Knight's right hand man. No way was John going to let them do that to his boss and get away with it.