Brooklyn Bruiser vs. Valley Doll - Coast to Coast

As much as Valley wanted to pat herself on the back for scoring the side headlock, she knew there was more than a dollop of luck involved. Kimmy had been going for something, too -  maybe a snapmare, maybe just some sort of simple toss, impossible to know. Heck, maybe she was going for a headlock, too. Whatever it was, it would've ended up with Valley in a bad position, and she'd just barely managed to beat the luck of the draw. She could tell right now that staying one step ahead of the Brooklyn Bruiser would be key, here. Too much leeway, and she'd start running wild and take the match with her.

"...gotcha!" She had a short laugh as she locked her fingers and secured the headlock. Just because she preferred to work on her lower body didn't mean her upper body was useless, and this was a good demonstration. She powered down on Kimmy's head, gave it a good squeeze and a proper flex, trying to wear away on her as much as she could.

It was a good thing, which meant that it wasn't meant to last, and Valley seriously doubted she was about to become the first woman in history to win with a side headlock. First came the stomps. Loud and powerful, quick and hard, as Kimmy started to summon up her resolve. Sure enough, those strong arms of hers came up and start to pull at Valley's arm, threatening to break free and unleash all sorts of hurt. Valley fought back, tried to keep it locked, but her fingers were slipping. Kimmy was getting free. Soon and very soon.

That wasn't nescessarily a bad thing, though. In fact, Valley thought she knew just how to make it work to her advantage.

She waited for Kimmy to try and jerk backwards, then dropped the hold and let her head go free. But she didn't wait for the Brooklyn Bruiser to gather her wits -  no, instead, she went right to the next move. Valley fell backwards, coming down behind her, and shot her arm between her younger opponent's lithe legs. She grabbed hold of Kimmy as she tumbled and tried to pull her over, looking to drop the rising star on her shoulders and get a pinfall with the schoolboy.

Even if it worked, Valley doubted she'd get the three-count this early. But it would help wear off some of Kimmy's seemingly infinite energy, and it might even put a little fear in her heart. Maybe she couldn't beat this West Coast girl in the physical department, but the mental area could be a different story.

Kimmy was annoyed, with herself and with Valley Doll. She should not be trapped in this side headlock right now. There should have been no way for her older opponent to spin around in that fashion and capture her head like that. Kimmy should have realized what was going on and put a stop to it the moment Valley began to make her move. Kimmy had been able to anticipate things like that back at New York Female Wrestling. The way she and Valley were holding each other's arms, she should have been able to pick up the vibrations of what she was going to do right away.

But this wasn't New York Female Wrestling. It wasn't a small, independent promotion that only barely sold a thousand tickets to each show despite being located in the most populous city in the entire United States. This was AFW. Tens of thousands of people were now clapping and cheering loudly all around her. Hundreds of thousands more were watching at home, and millions were likely to watch the match either on their DVR or online at some time in the next few days. Kimmy could not think like she did back home. This was a different place. A very different place. And Valley Doll was tougher than any opponent Kimmy had ever taken care of back home.

That did not mean that Kimmy was going to lose. She was going to power through and take this victory.

Kimmy's struggles did manage to free her head from Valley's headlock, as Valley let it go and seemed to drop away and behind. Kimmy would take a couple unsteady steps backwards, carried by the momentum of her successful escape attempt, but would soon steady herself. She began to take a step forward, but then her legs were taken out from under her and she would find herself flung back, rolled up and stacked onto her shoulders on the canvas. The referee moved in and began to count.

"One! Two!"

"No!!" Kimmy cried out sharply. Using an elbow, she would force one shoulder up, and then would throw her whole body hard to one side, trying to roll over and away from Valley and up onto her knees. Valley was starting off the match with a bang. Kimmy had never been pinned this early into a match. She couldn't recall any of her past opponents even attempting it. She wanted to get away from Valley and regroup, or at least get up on her knees and face off with Valley without being in the inferior position.

'Pin early, pin often.' That was one of the first lessons Valley Doll Sr. had drilled into her daughter's brain. She hadn't taken it to heart in her AFW career as much as she should've. She let pinning opportunities slip too often. But that was the Valley Doll of 2014. The 2015 version was better in every way, and getting better all the time.

Kimmy was quick to kick out of the pin, managing a full escape before the referee could even dream of counting to three. Great reflexes. She'd been taken by surprise, but that sort of thing would only get diminishing returns.

Valley rolled off her shoulders and flipped backward, landing in a crouch. She could've come at Kimmy immediately. She could've rushed in and poured on the pressure. Instead, she stayed in a low squat and looked straight at the Brooklyn Bruiser, with wild eyes and a bright smile. She was giving her opponent a moment to recoup. Not the best idea on face, but it wasn't all about balls-to-the-wall offense. Valley wanted to keep Kimmy guessing, make it so she wouldn't get into a comfortable pattern, and the best way to do that was with a little head-gaming. She wanted Kimmy to be confident, but that didn't mean she wouldn't test it.

Valley stood up and backed away with open arms, beckoning Kimmy come back her way and take the initiative. She made her way to center of the ring, brought her grappling stance back up, and waited to see what the Brooklyn Bruiser's move would be. Eager and intrigued.

Kimmy managed to kick out of the pin, then use her elbow to roll herself over and get out of the hold that Valley had on her. That had been a dangerous situation. Valley was using the same sorts of tactics that Kimmy favored against her. The Brooklynite lived by the "pin early, pin often" mantra. It had been a key tool of hers when fighting other girls back at New York Female Wrestling. They always wanted to draw the match out, wear her down and try to leave her incapable of fighting back before even thinking of going for the pin. A long, hard grind. Kimmy had never been like that. She preferred to keep the match fast-paced, to surprise and stun her opponent and use every tool at her disposal to win the match. An early pinfall could mean a major psychological advantage even if the wrestler being pinned managed to kick out of it.

Kimmy was smart enough—or at least she hoped that she was smart enough—not to let it affect her in that way. As Valley let go of her, Kimmy rolled up onto one knee, getting into a kneeling position and putting her arms out to defend in case Valley tried to come at her with a kick or another sort of lunge. But the veteran didn't come at her. Valley backed up and got to her feet, smiling at Kimmy and opening up her arms, obviously inviting the New Yorker to come at her, to come on the offensive and take a shot at her.

"Gah..." Kimmy would huff, as she would put her hands on the canvas and shoved herself up onto her feet, shaking out her legs and stretching her arms quickly above her head. It wasn't like she was really hurt right now or anything. The pin attempt had been surprising, but not particularly painful. She would give Valley a hard look from across the ring as she would start to move forward, walking towards Valley, getting ready to engage her again. Valley was in a grappling stance, but Kimmy didn't see the point in locking up again. They had already tested each other's strength.

Nevertheless, Kimmy would approach Valley and put her arms out in a grappling pose as well. She shuffled forward, staying light on her feet, shifting her weight slightly from foot to foot as she advanced. When she was close, she would move her hands towards Valley's, as if to grab onto them, but, instead, Kimmy would swing a leg out and give Valley a kick to the side of her leg, trying to force the veteran down onto a knee if she could. "I'm not done with you yet!" Kimmy would insist loudly as she swung her leg towards Valley's.

That's right. Come in close. Take the bait. Play the game.

Valley eyes were bright, but steady. She was cautious not to get too cofident, but she couldn't help it if a little cockiness was seeping in. Ever since this year started, she'd been trying to make up for the dismal way she ended the last one. Two good wins against two experience opponents, and for the moment, it seemed like she was well on her way to a third.  Doing good so far. Just had to keep doing good.

Kimmy was looking determined as she closed in, but determination wasn't always a good thing. Especially not when it was leading you into an area where you couldn't hang. She had good power, but Valley felt like she could win if this turned into a grappling contest, that she could outmanuever the younger lass and let experience be the deciding factor. It seemed like that was what she going for, too.

Seemed. In reality, she went for something a lot more dramatic. And effective.

Kimmy's kick came out faster than Valley expected, a flash of movement across the edge of her eye. By the time she realized what it was, there was only a split-second left to act. Not enough time to doge. Not even enough to react.

A dull THWACK echoed through the arena as the blow hit Valley's leg right on the side of her knee, making it buckle on reflex without another second lost. She didn't fall down, but she was forced to stagger back towards the corner with a limping leg. Her arms came in tight, now, taking on a more traditional fighting stance, arms in front of her face. It was a full retreat, and it seemed like Kimmy was going to earn her namesake...

As she approached Valley, Kimmy was wondering what the older wrestler was planning to do once she got within range. A lot of girls that she had wrestled back home would keep coming at her in a grappling stance, again and again, expecting to keep locking up, pushing against each other, and then one or the other throwing their opponent down. Over and over again until someone won. Those girls were usually new, and that strategy usually didn't allow them to last long, especially against someone with the skills of a striker like Kimmy. Valley was certainly planning something beyond simply another lockup, but it did look like she wanted to grapple.

So Kimmy would go in a different direction entirely, hoping that, this time around, she could be the rattler and Valley could be rattled. As they approached, Kimmy would make as if to grapple with Valley, but she was not going to play by her opponent's rules! She paused a beat after getting within grappling range, and then swung her leg to nail Valley with a lightning-fast kick right in the side of her lower leg. As Kimmy's foot hit Valley's leg, the Brooklynite could feel her foe's limb begin to buckle. Kimmy would pull her leg back and hop a little, bringing both feet down onto the canvas with a loud boom to punctuate her excitement.

Valley didn't fall down on a knee, but she did stumble backwards, her balance compromised by the kick. Kimmy would follow her opponent as she stumbled, keeping her fists up and grinning as she would wait for Valley to come to a stop against the ropes. "Come on!" she would implore as she followed her opponent's backward track. "Let's go!"

Kimmy was flush with confidence right now, as her kick had done all that she wanted it to do and more. Truth be told, she was probably feeling too confident right now. Intellectually, she knew that there was a long way to go and that she would have to work her ass off if she wanted a shot at beating Valley Doll, and that unless she could get really, really lucky with a pinfall, it would be a while yet before that victory could come. But there was no reason to be down on herself. Confidence, Kimmy thought, could only help her here. As Valley put her hands up in front of her face, Kimmy would aim another kick at her—this one aimed for the Californian's stomach. Kimmy wanted to kick Valley right into the ropes, and maybe catch her bouncing back from them, too.

KImmy seemed proud of her hit, and she had every reason to be, to a point. As near as Valley could tell, the budding wrestler wasn't a high flyer like she was, but she could've been if she wanted to be. She certainly had the body for it, and most importantly, she had the legs. Strong and solid, with enough force to make bones ache, and that kick was delivered with complete confidence. This was not a girl - no, a woman who wasn't used to holding back. She'd meant what she said.

And it was an effective way to go, putting Valley on the temporary defensive. Kimmy didn't leave the gap open for long, either. She was a bouncing ball of boundless energy, and she shared some of it with Valley in the form of another kick, this one higher and aimed for the stomach. It was a good move, and she was right to pour on the pressure, but there was a tiny problem - Valley was ready for it.

Her guard opened up as the kick came in, and her hands circled around the ankle, grabbing it tight holding it. Kimmy's blow still had a lot of force in it, and Valley would up taking some of it in her stomach, but that was a worthy payoff for what she gained.

With the Brooklyn Bruiser's limb secured, there were all sorts of options Valley could do, but only a limited time to choose. An enziguiri was likely one on the way, and with Kimmy's speed, it would be coming sooner than usual. The choise was quickly made - Valley dropped forward, spun her body around while her grip remained tight, twisted Kimmy's leg along with the rotation and tried to make the rest of her body tumble with it. A dragon screw leg whip, one of the moves she'd picked up since she came to Japan. Her first time using it in a match. Not the best time for a test run, but it would do. "Around you..."

Kimmy had taken a calculated risk with her second kick, hoping that she could smack Valley right in her tight, taut belly before the older wrestler could adequately prepare herself to defend against the blow. With Valley still reeling from the kick to her leg and with her arms up high in front of her face, Kimmy hoped that her kick could make it through and strike home without fail. Nevertheless, her mind worked as she would let her leg swing forward, and she saw Valley guard opening up and her hands coming down. Yes, Kimmy's leg was going to be captured, and she couldn't stop it from happening at this point.

"Ugh." Kimmy's grunt wasn't very loud, and it was not out of pain. It was more out of annoyance. She had really wanted that kick to hit, but she knew that she had other options.

Before she could exercise any of those options, Valley would take her down with the dragon screw leg whip, spinning downwards and then twisting Kimmy hard to the other side to slam her down onto the canvas. Kimmy cried out in shock as she smacked into the surface of the ring, her body flopping for a second like a floundering fish. She sucked in air, and then breathed out, hissing through her teeth. "Sssssskkk...fuck..."

Kimmy was not doing well at all. If this was the way her AFW debut kept going, all she was going to do was embarrass herself in front of all of these tens of thousands of fans. She would disappoint everyone back in Brooklyn who was watching, too. Her parents hadn't been too enthusiastic about her moving to the other side of the globe to begin with, and were certainly cringing now as they watched their daughter being put through her paces. Al and Kat and Min and Yugs were probably all watching Kimmy blow her chance at a good debut, too. Losing your first match didn't ruin your AFW career. But having your face used like a mop to wipe the floor was something else altogether. Kimmy knew the statistics. Dozens of girls had only ever made it through one match in this league. Then they dropped out. They couldn't handle it. AFW was too much for them.

Was Kimmy going to be one of those? Was AFW proving too much for her? She couldn't even keep up, it seemed, with a woman ten years her senior...

Kimmy rolled around onto her front. Her leg hurt too much for her to try to get up. The best she could do right now was to try for a submission move. She would keep on writhing, exaggerating it just a little, trying to make Valley think that she was in tremendous, terrible pain and that there was no sense in hurrying to hit her again. Meanwhile, Kimmy would be watching Valley from the corner of her eye. She would wait, hoping Valley would get up onto a knee or both knees. If she did, Kimmy would immediately try to wrap an arm around Valley's thigh and yank on it to take it out from under her and pull her down again. With any luck, Valley would get up onto her knees, and maybe Kimmy could capture a leg...

The crowd went into a short burst of clapping as Valley pulled the move off, and it only added to the exhiliration she was feeling, a steady euphoria that was hurrying her breath and making her blood race.  She landed on her back after the dragon screw and took a moment to pump her fist towards the ceiling, rallying the crowd behind her. "Woooo!" She cried out.

"Wooooo!" And they cried out along with her.

She sat up and started to get to her feet, expecting Kimmy to be rising up soon along with her, but her eyebrow when she saw that she was the only one here trying to get vertical. Her opponent was down, and didn't seem like she would be getting up soon - a bit of an odd reaction for the screw. Then again, it was the first time she'd employed the move. Maybe she put a little more torque into the swing than she'd thought, and seriously hurt a leg. Maybe there was a prior injury she'd exaggerated. Her mind flooded with maybes, but they hardly mattered - the end result was that she had a perfectly fine, prone Brooklyn Bruiser to take advantage of. It was a little cruel, but that was the game, and if Kimmy was really hurt, Valley should end it quickly and cleanly. That would be the best thing. The fair thing.

She rolled up to one knee and slid over beside Kimmy, pushing at her side to get the young wrestler on her back. She could pop up, hit her with a standing moonsault and then, hopefully, end it with a quick pin. A good plan, but it didn't take into account one of the maybes she'd ignored: the possibility that this bright, young, vibrant girl was just playing possum.

"Crap-" Valley croaked as her back hit the mat, and a few dire realizations dawned on her. Aside from Kimmy suddenly having her down, it looked like she was about to try a submission hold. Normally, that wouldn't be the end of the world, but the dragon screw had landed them almost smack dab in the center of the ring. Whatever she was about to do, it would be a long trek to break out of it. Her grip was firm and she'd already shown some good reserve, so this wouldn't be easily escaped.

Valley squirmed around and started to scoot backwards, hoping she could make some progress before the pain started.

Kimmy normally didn't like to stay down on the canvas too long. She did love herself some submission holds, but she wasn't one to go rolling around all over the ring trading the top position with her opponent, trading submission holds and wearing each other down that way. She would rather be on her feet, punctuating that sort of fast, fiery match with a few slower submission holds that would make her opponent holler. As she recalled, Valley was more of a high-flyer herself. Maybe, Kimmy thought, she could catch Valley unawares by staying down and doing something out of character.

It was burning Kimmy up a little to just keep laying on her belly like a dead animal, though, as Valley and the audience roared. She wanted to get up and whack Valley upside the head. It was just that, the last two times she tried, it had ended pretty unfavorably for her. Valley was much more experienced than Kimmy was, and it seemed that every hit that Kimmy landed on her older foe only got her deeper into trouble. She was going to change that right now.

Kimmy grabbed at Valley's ankle and forced her to fall down onto her back on the canvas, her legs pulled out from under her. Kimmy now had ahold of Valley's legs, and grinned as she realized that she had quite an advantageous position. She had her opponent by the legs, and they were in the very center of the ring. Valley was going to have to do a lot of work to escape this one. The Californian seemed to realize that, too, and began to try to scramble back using nothing but her arms.

"No way, Cali girl!" Kimmy would bark, as she would yank hard on Valley's leg to try to pull her back and keep her in the center of the ring.

Kimmy would try to push herself up onto her knees, keeping both hands on Valley's leg as she got herself into position to really take advantage of the captured limb. She would give it another yank, trying to pull Valley closer so that she could set it up. Then, as quick as she could, Kimmy would adjust the hold, grabbing onto Valley's foot and then wrapping the other arm around her ankle. Kimmy would then yank up hard on Valley's leg, trying to bend it into the air as high as it would go in an ankle lock that she hoped would really punish the California-born veteran!

"Haaa!"