Falls count anywhere Match: Haru Fujiwara VS. Ralph Acker

Focused on getting back in the ring, Ralph completly ignores what's going on with Haru. But sudden crowd silence got little suspicious. He twists his head around and spots Haru on top of the turnbuckles, showing his next move. He stays down on his stomach, but keeps and eye on Haru - he wouldn't make a move untill Haru would be in the air.

Although Ralph is hurt, he can still turn around and do something out of it. And that's exactly what he decide to do. As soon as Haru makes a jump, Ralph would turn around on his back. He uses his arms to cover his neck and face and contracts his legs closer to his torso, so he looks like a ball on his back. Although Ralph feels some pain in his back when doing it, it's still safer than stay still on the floor.

With Ralph curled up defensively, it severely limited Haru's ability to get a clean strike in. His elbow ended up impacting the edge of Ralph's knee first before finally driving home into Ralph's abs. Not exactly what Haru was hoping for but he'd take it. So far the amount of damage he'd dished out outweighed the damage he'd received and in Haru's opinion that was a promising start.

And with good leeway made on the physical battleground, Haru started in on the mental now too. He slid himself over so that his chest covered Ralph's chest and arms, and with Ralph's legs already curled up, it was easy for Haru to hook an arm behind his knees and fold Ralph over for a pin.

One!" the ref shouted, slamming his palm into the mat.

Haru had no expectations that he'd be able to get a pin this early, but that wasn't exactly the purpose here either. Getting pinned at any point in the match got into a wrestler's head, whether it was kicking out right away or losing to the 3 count. It revved you up and made you start to panic, and even experienced wrestlers made rookie mistakes if they couldn't control their nerves in a pinch. Haru intended to exploit that bit of fight psychology against Ralph, he just needed to keep chipping away at his resolve.

Ralph takes an elbow in abs, but luckily for him, knees absorbed most of damage. He tried to put his legs back down to stand up, but before he could do it, Haru already hold him tightly.

He looks at his left as the ref just counted ONE! Ralph takes a deep breath and stays still under him. Extra second resting on the floor can make a big difference.

TWO!

Referee hit the mat second time, but Ralph still had no intention to move. He want that Haru get little cocky and making him think he was already so close to the victory. The ref's arm was already lowering for third count when Ralph finally kicked himself out of the grip. Phew, that was close! He said and rolls away and getting on one knee to stand up.

TWO!

Haru was a bit surprised that Ralph let the count get that far, he had fully expected a kickout at one. In any case, he wasn't about to take any chances, if he could snag the win here he would. Haru doubled up his efforts to keep Ralph's shoulders against the mat and pulled his leg over more. Just a few more milliseconds and it would be over! But alas, it was not to be.

Ralph kicked out with a surprising amount of force, enough to jostle the 210 pound Haru off and lift a shoulder. Haru scowled and rolled the other direction into a crouch. "Just giving the fans a preview" Haru grinned, slapping his knees and standing up without a problem.

Haru took a few steps towards the center of the ring and lifted his arms forward towards Ralph. He waved his friend and rival to come towards him, challenging him to a good old fashioned test of strength. For one the fans would probably enjoy it, the bulging muscles and looks of sheer determination, and two, Haru was fairly confident that he could overpower Ralph if he needed to.

Ralph sighs after seeing Haru inviting him on test of strenght. He lifts up his own arms as well and starts slowly walking toward center of the ring. But getting into test of strength would be plain stupid and suicadal at the moment. Not only that Haru was stronger, Ralph was also weared down a little already.

He's still slowly approaching center of the ring with arms up. But he decide for little twist. When he reaches him, he don't grab his arm, but instead punching Haru's face straight away. If he would manage to land it, Ralph would hit him few more times before backing off.

Haru smirks when Ralph comes forward with arms up, seemingly accepting his challenge. He wiggles his fingers in anticipation, ready to tighten and latch on the moment they make contact. Ralph had other plans though, he sneaks in right behind Haru's guard and throws a punch. And while Haru could see the punch coming, he wasn't in a position to block.

The first punch rattles his jaw, sending a jolt of pain through his teeth into his skull. And as the second punch came in, Haru went on the defensive. Getting his arms up behind Ralph, he loops around the outside of Ralph's shoulders and pulls in tight at the forearm, forcing them together in a classic boxer's clinch. From this stance any attempt to punch would be severely weakened, and he was safe from any hook shots or uppercuts. If he hadn't learned yet, Ralph was going to realize soon just how futile it was to try out-punching a former boxer turned wrestler. A clinch was usually a stop-gap in a boxing match to safely rest and limit your opponent, but in wrestling, a clinch was a great way to stop temporarily and set up for something else!

Grunting with effort, Haru locked his hands together behind Ralph and started to lift him up and throw him in a hip toss.

Ralph was keep punching his face after he managed to land a first one. He was little stubborn and he desperatly wanted to hit his face at least one more time - but all he got was punches in Haru's arms. Since he didn't have much success, Ralph decided to back off, but Haru was faster and was already holding him.

He saw Haru leaning forward and as he did it, Ralph jumped over his body on the other side, landing on his feet instead of back. He quickly uses his knee to hit Haru in the Gut while his body is still low and pushes him away afterward.

Ralph moves few steps back as well, lifts his arms up and gets the defensive stance.

Ohh that acrobatic little shit! Haru cursed as Ralph came up with a rather inventive way to get out of his clinch. As Haru was leaning forward, he had used his shoulders to catapult himself up and over Haru. Much like a kickboxer Ralph brings his knee in and gets Haru with a decent side hit and pushes him away.

Haru scowls as he regains control of his momentum and turns around, hands on his hips. He can't help but look at Ralph with a grin and shake his head, the dude could still surprise him. Currently Ralph was in a defensive stance, so Haru decided to test him. Haru threw himself into the ropes behind him and used them to spring himself forward at Ralph.

With his increased speed, Haru jumped in the air and spread his limbs out for standing frog splash. With a decent amount of speed behind his 210 pounds, the amount of force coming Ralph's way was nothing to laugh at.

Ralph see Haru's grin and pose - he just smile and shrug in return. And he got suprised as well after seeing Haru going to bounce himself from the ropes. He's quite frisky today - first jump from top of the turnbuckles and now some bouncing from ropes. Regardless, Ralph took that as opportunity to strike.

He keeps his stance and patiently waits for Haru. And situation couldn't be better when Ralph spreads all his limbs. Ralph lifts his leg and uses his speed to perform side kick straight into Haru's chest when he's mid air.

However, the kick brought own consequences. His back was getting slightly better, however streching his body to do side kick invoked some pain again. Ralph backs off a little, rubing his back.

Haru's idea for a standing frog splash was not the greatest of ideas it seemed, earning him a boot to the chest none too comfortable. Ouch. So maybe he had gotten a bit overzealous there in trying to show off, maybe he ought to stick to his strengths until he had worn Ralph out some more. Haru picked himself back up with relative ease, rubbing at the new sore spot on his chest made by Ralph's boot.

Still, his move did still have some benefit; he could see that Ralph was still hurting from Haru's powerbomb outside the ring. He could definitely take advantage of that, seeing as how Ralph was backing off and still on the defensive. Haru walked closer to Ralph, settling into a boxing stance that left him light on his feet and his arms lightning-fast ready to strike. Haru maneuvered in a semi-circle, back and forth, gradually herding Ralph into one of the corners.