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Carmen tensed as Reira moved in to accept the tie-up, bringing this confrontation straight on. She eagerly locked up with champion and gave her a real taste of what she could bring to the table - almost two decades of training was pushing back. Muscles swelled, fingers clenched, her boots planted firm against the floor, and she made a solid effort of driving Reira towards the ropes.

"You know what I meant." She grunted and bore down on Reira's hands with a hot flash of power. "If you want to make this difficult, fine. I can make it very difficult."

Ritsuko pipped in from ringside, raising her hand to try and get in a few words edgewise. "Um, excuse me?" Her voice pleasant and polite, but with more than a hint of confusion. "Is everything okay in there?"

Reira glanced over at the stupid director woman's direction, before looking back at Carmen, licking her lips.

"Hey...you wanna film a good intro right? Well just follow this!"

She yelled, before swinging her head forward, bringing it crashing against Carmen's with a mighty headbutt!

Carmen swore, no matter how long she wrestled or how well she did in Tension, she would never get used to headbutts. She was so used to thinking of them as a blatant illegal move that her brain didn't even seem to register the start of one. She didn't know what was happening until it was too late.

The headbutt slammed into Carmen's rose and rocked her world, knocking her back a few steps. She was stunned, but intuition was still in effect, and her arms rose up in defense of whatever Reira was going for next  And there would be something next, if Carmen's read on the champ was any indication.

Carmen was right, as Reira followed up by driving her shoulder into Carmen's arms and knocking her back a bit, before getting her arms up and hopping from foot to foot.

"That strike three? You ready to have some REAL fun?"

Carmen answered Reira's question curtly, quickly and directly. With her fists.

She shook off the shove, cleared her head, and moved right back in, taking the fight straight to the champion and her ridiculously cocky face. She closed the distance with a quick step, sliding along the mat, before she tapped her left fist against Reira's guard. Just a little jab. Nothing special. But the right cross that was following after it? That would do some damage, and Carmen sent it flying towards the redhead's face. "More than ready."

Reira, wanting a fight, had expected Carmen to swing at her, moving to block the first shot...only for it to be a cherry tap, to her surprise.

Then came the hook smashing into her cheek and causing her to curse loudly, staggering back a bit in pain and surprise.

Punching Reira in the face was amazingly cathartic - something about the way Carmen's fist felt against that overly cocky face, and the sound of her crying out and finally getting a small taste of what she deserved. It soothed the soul.

But the director wanted wrestling moves. And as much as she wanted to just bash Reira around, Carmen might as well comply. Especially since she knew just how to do it.

She slid in again, looking like she was going for another punch, but instead she ducked down and put her head under Reira's arm at the last moment. Carmen wrapped her arms around the waist and jerked back, trying to send her flying with a Northern Lights Suplex.

One second she was staggering, the next the champ found herself being flipped over and landing hard onto her back. She arched, before rolling over to her front, glaring at Carmen.

"So little miss boxing lady thinks she can wrestle now?"

Carmen rolled back to her feet after landing the suplex, and when she turned around, she had a dirty look ready to match Reira. "Good enough to knock you on your ass, puta."

Talking smack was something that came with being both a wrestler and a boxer, but Carmen had to admit, she wasn't sure about her ability to back it up, here. Reira was smaller, but far more experienced in the style, and if the match with Domino was any indication, she was willing to get her hands dirty even when a referee was around. Carmen had improved a lot over the past year, but she wasn't quite sure she was at Domino's level just yet.

Only one way to know.

Carmen rushed back in and locked up with Reira, trying to bully her into a standing side headlock. Not much, but a good way to start things off. For real.

Locked in a headlock, Reira struggled and shifted about, swinging her arm and trying to hit Carmen in the back of her knee to try and trip her up and weaken her tight grip.