Sarah Gatt vs Karina Rine

Hardcore Match
No Disqualification
Win by Pin, Submission, or Knockout



The AFW arena was abuzz that night, just as it was every night when a match was scheduled. Only this time it was different. The AFW had not long ago welcomed the infamous Sarah Gatt back into their ranks, and since then the Queen of Brawl had been taking matches and challenges wherever they might come from. Whether it be for a spectacular fight with another skilled fighter or a straight up beatdown against one less skilled the fans never tired of Sarah's performance. And she was about to give them another one tonight.

'Sea of Black Tears' by Lita ford soon came over the loud speakers and from the backstage emerged Sarah herself at the top of the entrance ramp. Her arrival was greeted with a heavy mixture of cheers and boos but as always Sarah barely registered them, merely grinned as she stood at the top of the ramp in her standard wrestling attire. She raised her hands in the sign of the devil, earning a louder response from the crowd, before she would suddenly drop her hands, signalling flames to shoot out of the stage. With that, Sarah made her way to the ring.

Passing through the screaming audience and not really paying them much mind Sarah soon arrived at the ring, and after hopping up to the ring apron would slip her way through the middle ropes. From there she would make her way to the corner, disrobe from her famous leather jacket, and await in the corner for whatever bitch she was made to beat on tonight. The thought of it made her smile.

While her opponent was basking in her former glory and gaining the crowd on her side, a staff member walked up towards Karina to signal that they preparing her entrance to the arena. She gave a simple nod, a minor approval of what she already knew would happen after the Queen of Brawl had resided within the ring. It had been quite a while since Karina had taken a match that actually made her excited anymore, to find common grounds with a powerhouse that actually lived up to their alias. While deep in thought about the stratagem she was going to pick for this fight, she leaned her back against one of the scaffolding post, which was currently in place to renew certain things backstage. She took her eyes from the screen after it looked like they were preparing her arrival, choosing between the few options she could approach her opponent without getting a backlash of some sort in return. She pushed herself from the post so she could head towards the main stage, another nod following when another staff member gave her the thumbs up, signaling her that she can enter, ready to play her theme. She was curious about Sarah Gatt, wondering if she still had that fearsome strength she heard so much about. Ultimately, she would just have to see first hand in this match to see where she would be matching up, after all, Karina wasn't the same person as before, no longer having that reckless play style after months of absence from the federation.

Downtown Demolition blasted through the speakers, filling the arena with the sound of Karina's theme, though unlike Sarah it wasn't completely welcomed. Mixed reactions came from the audience when Karina stepped out, dressed in her black blazer, which moved slightly along with Karina's march towards the main stage. Her white blouse having it's top button undone to reveal a tiny bit of cleavage, enough for bring the imagination for many that actually focused on it. She brought her hands up to chest level, her left hand gently tightening her black fingerless glove, the other hand doing the same thing in return after it had been adjusted, clenching her hands halfway just to get accustomed to the feel. Karina lowered herself onto one knee, bringing her right boot forward so she can tighten the laces, making sure nothing would go wrong on her own side, at least in clothing. After she had done the same thing to the left boot, she would do a single hop back onto both feet and make her way down the ramp. She didn't really have an intro that she wanted to use, just letting the music be the only intro she needed. She didn't seem to mind that people were booing at her and giving her negatives responses to her return, she couldn't even blame them either. She didn't bring her guitar this time, that crimson red instrument that was famous by itself for knocking out many opponents, though since she had gotten rid of that wa lolita outfit, she hardly used it anymore. When the staff member stopped her, she would reach back to start undoing the dog tags from around her neck, balling it up before she handed it to her, then passing the woman so she could walk over to the metal stairs, hopping onto the second thread and up to the side of the ring, slipping her leg between the top and middle ropes and slipped herself inside.

She turned her attention upon Sarah Gatt, whom she couldn't really forget cause her appearance was basically the same as she last remembered it. She took two steps forward and to the center of the ring, not intimidated by the Queen of Brawl but rather excited to see her again. The glint in Karina's viper green eyes betrayed that excitement, and how willing she was to fight, a rare look upon the formerly known ' Beast ', whom had not found something worth fighting in a long while. " Been a while, Sarah. " She spoke out first, bringing her hands together to curl up her right hand into a fist and brought her left hand over it, casually cracking each knuckle, stimulating it to be aware of a new challenge, her body roused just by the sight of Sarah, ready to test her body against the Queen of Brawl's. " Ready? " Karina didn't really want a conversation for this one, which she used to do just to know her opponent, wanting her fists to talk for her, bringing them forward and getting into her brawling stance, though again her eyes betrayed the skill Karina now possessed, who already had her eyes set on not only beating Sarah up, but also show off a new kind of play style she used to dislike, but now fully harness into a strong asset to her strength.

Normally Sarah was the one who entered second when it came to matches, and this was actually a choice for her. Rather than take the so called 'pride' of being the first one to enter the sacred ring Sarah chose to to come second so that the moment she came off the entrance ramp her opponent had nowhere to run to. Often wrestlers would back out on Sarah when she went in first and they saw just who they would be fighting, so rather than go through all that bull he chose to enter second. When her opponent entered the ring first, their fate was sealed. This time around she chose to forgo her usual ritual and just entered first,wondering if this would change the outcome of tonights match. But much to her delight her opponent's entrance music would blare over the speakers. Seems whoever was coming was no coward. Not that it would really matter in the end. In Sarah's mind, the result of this match was decided a long time ago.

Then her opponent would at last show herself, and when Sarah saw her something in her head made her frown. She recognized that girl somehow. However she couldn't remember exactly where. It was a face she knew from way back in her early AFW days. It was on the tip of her tongue but she just couldn't....

It hit Sarah like a ton of bricks. "Holy shit," she muttered. It was Karina. An old acquaintance of the Queen of Brawl. Back in the day one of Sarah's favourite pastimes was fucking with the now defunct heel faction, the Era of Hell. Karina was a member of that group back then, and Sarah took particular pleasure in making her life a living hell. She had fought her, beaten her, stripped her of her most prized procession, and even stole her two employees who still serve Sarah to this day.

The Karina walking down to the ring today looked completely different from the one she knew back then, which explained why Sarah didn't recognize her right away. For one, there was no red guitar strapped to her back, her most defining feature at the time. But Sarah knew it was Karina coming to face her in the ring. The resolution only got stronger when Karina entered the ring and came face to face with Sarah for the first time in years. And when she spoke, she knew it was her old playmate Karina standing before her, which caused her to grin wickedly.

"Well, well, well, look who it is," she chuckled. "Fuckin' Karina. Almost didn't recognize you. What, did someone other than me steal your guitar?" Sarah would grin wider, and choosing not to waste any more time on words would raise her fists in her fighting stance, locking eyes with the girl before her, the smile never leaving her lips.

The bell would then ring.

That brief reply only caused Karina to smirk, confirming that Sarah had not changed her ways and only added up to Karina playing rough later on. She had many things she wanted to start with, but ultimately she needed to take that initiative to the red head before things would go sour. A clothesline would be too common, a spear too risky and with a lock up, there would be the danger of retaliation. That last option though might work if she was going to be the one sending an attack first and just use that lockup as a distraction. Despite that tactic that she could set in motion there, she needed to sacrifice it. She needed to find out just how strong Sarah was now and the best way to do that would be a Test of Strength. She nodded to herself, finding that option to be best for her and would brace herself for any sneak attacks involving knees or head butts, stepping closer towards Sarah and would unclench her fists into open hands, holding them out in front of her.

This was a dangerous game she was planning to play with Sarah, whom she had not seen fight for years and was now a dangerous, mysterious fighter until she had seen enough attacks. All she really knew about the Queen of Brawl was that she could knock someone out with her punches and was strong as heck last time she fought her, she could now only hope that her long, rough work out this year would pay off. She wanted to reply that her guitar was not necessary for this fight, but that mean distracting herself for that brief moment, something that she was not willing to do this early. She would just have to wait until she had a good advantage over Sarah, if she could actually manage to get enough information to use on her. She braced her feet to the ground as she took one last step forward so her hands were in range to swing, yet chose not to as she simply invited Sarah to lock hands and see which of them was stronger after years of not fighting each other, Karina's curiosity and excitement reaching it's peak just for this first move that would decide which one of them was going to come out with an early advantage, and Karina was going to make sure that she was going to be the one.

While Karina carefully contemplated her next move Sarah tried to remember just how it was Karina fought. It had been so long ago that Sarah had a hard time remembering their match. From what shaded remember though, Karina was a violent bitch. Strong too, and was not afraid to get her hands dirty. When Sarah had faced her she was nearly beaten unconscious by that guitar of hers, but now Karina didn't have it. Guess that meant Sarah wouldn't bleed as much this time.

Karina's first move made Sarah grin like a demon: a test of strength. Sarah wouldn't have had it any other way. The chance to showcase her awesome power to an arena of screaming fans? Too good a chance to pass up. But more than that it was a chance to see just what she was dealing with here tonight, and just how seriously she would have to take Karina. While most of the time Sarah would just barrel into her opponents with wanton abandon this was a special case and would approached with as much care as she could muster in her careless ways.

Grinning, Sarah would approach Karina and would slowly reach her hands of to intwine her fingers with that of Karina's hands. As soon as their hands were locked Sarah would pour on the power. Her firm upper body would tighten and bulge with muscle, and it would become clear to everyone that in the last couple of years of Sarah's absence she had gotten even stronger.

Karina found it fortunate that Sarah wasn't going to deny the lock up and soon her fingers were entwined with Sarah's, the palms of her hands pressed against Sarah's for support and dug her feet into the ground. It wasn't long until she felt that raw strength coming from the Queen of Brawl, forcing Karina to quickly readjust herself and pour her own strength into her hands and push forward with all her might just to keep herself from being forced back. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Sarah, her boots forcing all her weight down and trying to move herself forward. She was fortunate enough that she herself had countless of training done and her body was more than prepared for a match like this. Yet, she could not take the queen of brawl lightly, who was making it quite difficult for Karina to even gain an inch of ground over the woman.

Even though things were looking very difficult, it brought a ping of renewed excitement for this match, which she already had high inticipation of. Her hands went to grip Sarah's a bit harder, refusing to let that woman gain an inch. " It has.. Been a while since anyone gave me this much trouble in a Test of Strength.. " She spoke softly to the woman, deciding ignore any additional tactics she had for this Test of Strength and used all her power in a full frontal push! She casted away her cautious stance to simply show Sarah that even though the Queen of Brawl was a person with fearsome strength, Karina was a beast with raw power as well.

As Sarah and Karina locked up and began their epic test of strength the crowd began cheering in earnest for both sides. Some chanted Sarah's name, others chanted Karina's. Both sides watched in earnest anticipation to see who would emerge victorious in this contest of strength and power.

Despite pouring a good portion of her strength into the fierce lockup Sarah was both surprised and delighted to see that Karina barely even budged. In fact, the girl was actually giving back as much strength as Sarah, ensuring that both girls were locked in a stalemate in the middle of the ring. There was no doubt now. Karina was strong. Really strong. Despite her efforts Sarah couldn't move her opponent from where she seemed to be rooted to the spot.

Then, much to Sarah's alarm, Karina managed to draw out even more power from that sexy body of her's, and much to the radar of the audience around then Sarah was actually pushed back. She took several steps and probably would have taken several more if the Queen of Brawl didn't dig deep and add more power to her side of the lock. Sweat was already started to crease Sarah's brow. That had been a close one.

"Ughg....yeah...you're a strong bitch, ain't cha?" Sarah asked with a sneer. Then the Queen of Brawl would make her move. Rather than try to overpower Karina outright and waste energy in what could turn out to be a prolonged and brutal fight, Sarah would instead rear her head back and headbutt Karina right in the face. If this worked and Karina was stunned as a result, Sarah would use this opportunity to win the test of strength, and bend Karina's wrists back cruelly.

Karina felt like she was not going to be able to push through like this, and with both hands tangled, she might just have to rely on either using a different angle to push or to shove her body into Sarah in an attempt to close all distance between them. Just when she thought about doing the latter one, she managed to win several steps forward, a rather favorable situation growing for Karina, giving the woman a confident grin when she heard her speak. " You ain't bad yourself, Sarah.. Looks like this place ain't gonna be boring anymore! " Her voice was filled with excitement. It was not because she was winning the trade of the Test of Strength, but rather than she found an opponent she had to use all her strength on just to accomplish it. Truly, this was a match that would allow Karina to go wild without having to worry about it being too much.

She tried to keep that ground in her favor and push as hard as she could, wanting to drive the red haired beauty towards the turnbuckle so she could solidify her position over the Queen of Brawl and pin her! That was just a early fantasy when she noticed the woman rear her head back. She knew exactly what was coming and brought her own head down so Sarah's forehead would crash upon hers! While it spared her from being hit in the face, it still allowed Sarah go regain control of the situation and bend her wrists back, causing Karina's right eye to flutter closed and to instantly take a few steps back just so she could adjust her hands and wrists and stop Sarah from bending them back, something that she couldn't allow to go on for long if she wanted to actually do something to win this.

She had lost quite some ground from that headbutt and now she gotta repay the woman in kind. " ..My turn.. " She spoke lowly, deciding to go for great risk and bring her knee up, trying to slam her knee cap repeatedly into Sarah's abs to try and force the air out of the woman's lungs and make her stop pushing. If she couldn't stop Sarah than this Test of Strength would surely be lost, since she had lost most of her balance during those knee strikes and if Sarah kept pushing, she would surely be the first one to land on her back.

Since the test of strength began the crowd had been expecting at least one of these ladies to succumb to the strength of the other soon enough. Sarah's fans believed Sarah would win, while Karina's fans thought Karina would win. But as it turns out both of these women, at least from from an audiences perspective, seemed evenly matched in terms of raw power. Neither was able to to completely outdo the other, and while Sarah's headset attack had tipped the scales in her favour she still could not conquer Karina outright. For now at least.

Grinning that she had managed to gain some ground on her opponent Sarah continued to apply steady strength into the lock up, hoping to force Karina downwards and maybe start to inflict some real pain. Her muscles were working overtime to put Karina in her place, so she had to end this fast. At least that was the plan until the first knee strike nailed her in her stomach. "Ugh!" Sarah grunted as her abs were struck. Then more knees came crashing into her, each one causing Sarah to grunt in pain, and her overpowering of Karina immediately stopped. The attacks had stopped her progress cold.

Gritting her teeth through the pain and frustration, Sarah would attempt a new tactic. Suddenly she would bring her foot up to place on Karina's chest and with their hands still locked she would roll backwards, hoping to monkey flip Karina right over her and toss her onto her back on the mat. If she managed that Sarah would roll backwards as well so she would end up mounted on Karina, pinning her arms down to the mat with their still entwined hands.

Each knee met it's mark, giving Sarah a much needed punishment after that bold head butt, which had caused the Beast to lose ground against her strong opponent. Her hands kept their tight hold on Sarah's, using them to make sure the Queen of Brawl wasn't going to back away without her consent. She brought that foot back after she had done enough damage, thinking that Sarah was winded after at least six strikes with her knee, planting that foot back to the canvas and braced herself for a strong push forward to end this Test of Strength back into her favor! She had to admit that Sarah Gatt was never a push over, and this basically proved everything she needed to know. She already knew that the Queen of Brawl lived up to her title when it came to brawling, that head butt pretty much showing that she could halt the beast dead in her tracks.

Now she had to continue her assault and show the Queen of Brawl that the Beast was nothing to mess with. Her forehead had briefly hurt from the head butt and were it not for the adrenaline, the excitement that pumped with her body she might have lost more than just the few steps backwards. Sarah Gatt was far from the race though and surprised Karina when that foot came against her chest, keeping Karina in place for that moment she needed to fall back and throws Karina over her, grunting as the beast was slammed down upon the mat, completely destroying her assault on the Queen of Brawl!

Karina's hands were still occupied and before she knew it, Sarah had rolled right on top of her, blinking as she stared up at the Queen of Brawl, the Beast finding the back of her hands pressed against the canvas, her arms pinned along with it and now having a very disadvantaged position underneath the Queen of Brawl. Even though it was something that Karina didn't want to end up in, she still gave Sarah a grin, showing that she was more excited than angry that it happened. " Hey. " She said in a rather casual tone of voice.