Felina Rodriguez vs. Armando 'Army' Rodriguez: All in the Family

The audience all shared in a collective gasp as Felina went down, taking a hard bump right onto the mat. And it was a nasty hit. No question, there. But that was just how a Rodriguez fought - if the positions were swapped, Felina would be doing the same thing. Only she'd probably be way more cocky about it.

She was down, and Army decided it was best to make sure she stayed that way, which meant he had to start throwing some of his weight around. He backed away from her, doing a little hop to gain some speed, hit the ropes with his back for a little added momentum, then bounded forward for another move that Felina probably hadn't experienced before.

He leaped up right before he could run over her, kicked his legs out, and tried to land back first on her chest with a senton splash, hoping that would be enough to keep her down, this time. She was tough, but 200 pounds was a lot for anyone to take like that. "Incoming!"

Felina had heard the expression “like running into a brick wall” used with matches before, but right now she felt like the exact opposite had happened. That brick wall had sprouted legs and taken the initiative, crashing right into her instead. The roles were switched up, but the result was the same. Felina fell with a thud while the brick wall stood tall.

But that crash wasn’t nearly threatening as the one that was coming for her next. And as she clutched at her chest and took a couple breaths to regain the air that had just been knocked out of her, Army was already on the move again, dashing into the ropes before coming right for her. When her cousin came back into view again, he was in the air right above Felina, causing her green eyes to shoot wide open in shock!

“Fuck!” she shouted, then attempted to roll out from under Army to avoid being crushed by him. She was partially successful, but didn’t quite make it all the way either. And her cousin’s upper back still ended up smacking down right onto Felina’s back. “Ugh!” she grunted, trying to push away from him so she could continue her retreat from his large frame. She’d avoided being flattened like a pancake, but she knew she wasn’t safe yet.

Sometime, between the moment where Army jumped into the air and the tme where his body hit the ground, it occurred to Army that this might not have been the best idea. They called these moves high-risk for a reason, but he figured that Felina was sufficiently winded when he went up. She wouldn't move.

Reality disagreed with his assumption, at least halfway, and he learned that when he came down and there wasn't anything soft for his lower back to landed on. His upper back hit her, that was fine, but his tailbone wound up taking a good bit of the damage, and it sent an echo of pain throughout his bones.

"Gah!" Army cried out as his body shot upright, hissing at the blow to his back. His face contorted into a mask of pain, and he flopped back down soon after.

"Okay," He rolled to his and started to push up. "Maybe not the smartest idea. Damn."

Luck seemed to be undecided as to which Rodriguez it wanted to support tonight, a conflict which became rather apparent as Army came crashing down, half onto Felina and half onto the unforgiving canvas. For the moment, both wrestlers were down and wincing at the pain in their backs.

Right about at the same time as Army, Felina rolled onto her front and began to try to push herself back up toward a vertical base. “Ugh. No shit.” she replied to Army’s observation, while moving a hand to try to rub over her back a bit. Unfortunately, most of the pain was right in the center of her upper back, not easy to reach. She’d just have to live with it for now.

Hoping to act before the big guy could get back to his feet and attack again, Felina grunted suddenly pushed off the mat with her foot, throwing herself into a lunging step right toward Army’s side. She then swung her right foot as if she were trying to punt a football, aiming a powerful kick right toward her cousin’s ribs in an attempt to put him back down on the mat.

Landing on the tailbone really sucked for Army. More than he expected. As boxer, this was the sort of thing he could avoid with ease, but as a wrestler, he was going to have to get used to it. His whole body was going to be on the line, time after time, night after night.

Army knew how important it was to get to his feet before she did, and he tried to rise up fast. Tried and failed, because it turned out that standing was a bit difficult when all the bones below your waist were aching. He managed to get to his knees, but not before Felina got to hers. So the pain was coming. Fast and hard.

Those powerful, thunderous, damaging thighs of hers slammed into his stomach and sent Army reeling, knocking him flat on his back as his ribs screamed from mercy. And, course...

"Felina! Felina! Felina!"

The crowd was chanting along as he rolled around in pain. Perfect way to cap it off.

The smack of Felina’s leg against Army’s body echoed throughout the building as it sent the big guy onto his back. And making the moment even better, the crowd was loving her! She had honestly wondered if the AFW audience would receive her as well as the kickboxing fanbases had, and it was a relief to see that didn’t appear to be an issue. Sure, she’d hard the whistles and cat calls early on, but this felt different. Her looks might’ve still had something to do with it, but right now it felt like the people were cheering her on because of her fighting.

It all brought a smile to Felina’s lips, but she wasn’t going to waste any time basking in the moment. While Army was down, she moved quickly as she could over to him, then tried to drop herself down hard onto his ribs to straddle his midsection. If successful, her thighs would also be trapping his arms against his sides. Not quite enough to hold his shoulders down for a pin, but that was fine. She wasn’t planning on trying to pin him yet anyway.

Smirking down at her cousin, she’d ball up her right fist and hold it up. “Sure you’re ready for the hurricane?” she asked, tauntingly throwing his words from earlier right back at him. Not waiting for an answer, Felina would then throw her fist down right at Army’s face, followed by a left, then another right, then another left. Back and forth, her fists would rain down mercilessly at his face, looking to batter and daze him as much as possible.

Army knew his cousin could kick, he'd seen Felina do it plenty of times, usually when Carmen used to drag him out to her matches. Against other women. Never against a guy, and sure as hell not against anyone built with his sort of frame. He always figured that they were just devastating for the women she faced, that against someone like him, they wouldn't be all that bad.

Well, he was wrong. Painfully wrong. And when she dropped down on top of him and used those deadly legs of hers to trap his best weapons, he knew it was only going to get more painful from here on out. "Shit-"

Felina didn't have the best punches in the family, but they were good enough, especially when Army was completely unable to block them. It didn't matter much how strong you were, a free punch to the face sucked, and she was dishing them out with pinpoint precision. This had to stop soon, or he'd suffer one of the most humiliating defeats of his fighting career. And given the crap he'd been through in Tension, that would be one hell of a statement.

Felina wasn't the only one who could kick, though. Army had two perfectly useable feet, and he made one of them shoot up, trying to hit her in the back of the head.

Even though Felina was far from competing with most of the rest of the family in sheer boxing ability, she had at least progressed with it well enough that she didn’t have to only rely on her legs. Was she likely to land one big punch that was going to put Army’s lights out? Probably not. But an entire onslaught like this was bound to have some good results.

One by one the punches crashed into Army’s handsome face, and with his arms securely trapped and his body pinned down, Felina felt pretty certain she might be closing in on a victory. It was still fairly early, but she could see it. All she had to do was keep this up a little while longer, and she’d secure both her first win as a pro wrestler and a whole day of having Army as her personal chauffeur.

But one thing she wasn’t taking into account was Army’s legs. As a boxer, his arms were no doubt his greatest strength in a fight, but he was an athletic guy too. And his flexibility was put on display as his leg swung up and smacked right into the back of Felina’s head. “Agh!” she shouted on impact, stumbling forward and falling off of Army’s body, a hand moving to cover the back of her head. “Fuck. So close...”

Army managed to get Felina off of him with that blow, but he knew it wasn't time to celebrate just yet. It was more luck than anything. Luck that he'd hit the best spot, luck that she'd been so wrapped up in the moment that she hadn't been paying attention. If he wanted to win this, he'd have to do better. Much better. The faint taste of blood in his mouth made that clear.

He sucked the blood down and shook his head, sitting up and doing his best to shake off the blows. Not easy, but there was no way he was giving up an opportunity like this. "Yeah, yeah," She echoed her earlier words, even doing a pretty good impression of her sultry tone. "But 'close' ain't gonna cut it."

He moved in from behind and reached out, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her in tight. He was still too dazed to bring his full power to bear, but he had more than enough strength to lift her up, launch her overhead, and send her flying with a German Suplex, trying to drop Felina hard on her back.

Felina rolled her eyes again as she heard Army using her words against her, and in a voice surprisingly close to hers. But it wasn’t so much the fact that he was just repeating what she’d said that annoyed her as much as the fact that he was right. She’d almost choked him out moments ago, and almost pummeled him enough to put him away. But none of it mattered if the bell didn’t ring in her favor in the end.

Despite the throbbing pain in her skull after Army’s knee had smacked into it, she was still in relatively good shape. If she could just keep up the pressure on him like she’d been doing, she’d be fine. With that reassuring thought in mind, she started to pick herself back up.

However, what she didn’t realize yet was that Army had already moved right behind her by that point. And suddenly, a pair of big muscular arms came wrapping around her waist. “Shit!” she exclaimed, almost immediately squirming in his grasp while prying at his arms. Too little, too late. And within seconds Felina was elevated up into the air, only to come crashing down hard onto her back as she was German Suplexed to the mat. A sharp cry rang out from her lips upon impact, and the latina rolled over onto her stomach while a hand moved over her aching back.