AV 15 Iron Woman Match: Natasha Han Vs. Valley Doll

Had Natasha ever smiled in their matches before? Maybe. Honestly, Valley couldn’t remember off the top of her head. If she did, she surely didn’t do it as much as she was doing now. This was a new Natasha Han, a more confident and asserted one, assured of her own victory. It certainly gave pay to her claims at the bar, that she’d lost their last match because she hadn’t been in the right mental zone.

Valley shook that off and focused on the rest of Natasha’s body, which was slowly stalking her around the ring. Even if Natasha had gotten her groove back, so what? Valley was holding her own. If this had been a normal match or even a two-out-of-three falls, she would’ve won by now. When all was said and done, she was the better wrestler. She knew it. She knew.

Valley eagerly took Natasha’s lock up and tangled arms with her, clashing in the center of the ring. The mighty Russian’s power advantage went without question, but that didn’t mean she was guaranteed to dominate the lockup.

For now, Valley braced with her good leg and put as much effort as she could spare into pushing back.

Valley accepted Natasha's lock-up, and the Russian began to shove against her, drawing on the remainder of her strength, shoving and pushing against Valley as hard as she could. Both of them were tired, both them were hurt, and aching, but she was still the stronger woman. She was still the better woman, and she knew it. She would overtake Valley in the grapple, and then overwhelm her for the rest of the match. Simple.

As the Slamazon pushed against her, Natasha's feet planted themselves firmly against the mat. She leaned forward, pressing her forehead against that of the other woman, and hissed at her, refusing to budge an inch.

"You...will...lose!" She declared, suddenly exploding forwards, summoning up an inner reserve of strength, trying to forcefully shove Valley back, towards the ropes again, desperately trying to defeat her in the contest of wills and strength that was their lock-up.

Valley rammed her head against Natasha’s as the two wrestlers - no, warriors vied for position in the middle of the ring. They were both so close to their limits, teetering on the razor’s edge. Even the referee looked like she couldn’t take another twenty minutes of this. You could almost literally track their movements around the ring by following the trails and puddles of sweat.

”Yeah, yeah…” Valley mumbled as Natasha turned her body into a wall, planting herself in the middle of the ring. ”Bet you thought that the last two times, too!”

Natasha was surging forward, her usual raging self, but that wasn’t nescessarily a bad thing all the way. As Valley was driven back, step after step, inevitably heading towards to the ropes. Before that happened, though, she switched up and pulled in to the Wrestle Angel, trying to transition to a side headlock and bring Natasha’s advance to a screeching halt.

With every step the Russian forced Valley to take backwards, Natasha felt more and more empowered. She had her. She had the advantage. She was stronger, she was tougher, she was better, and it was time to make Valley realize that. Once she had her at the ropes, she knew exactly what to do next. In her head, she was playing out the rest of the match. It was a plan she was ready to execute. She just had to force Valley back again...

...but plans always had a way of not going right, didn't they?

Just as she had shoved Valley into the right position, the Slamazon shifted her body, stepping in closer to the Russian. Before Natasha knew what had happened, she found the blonde's arms wrapped tight around her neck, holding her close with the side headlock. At any other time, this wouldn't have been a problem, and Natasha would have been able to fight her way free. But now? As tired as she was? It was like she was caught in a noose, tightening more and more with every passing moment.

Quickly, desperately, Natasha lifted her arm and began to elbow back at Valley, hoping in vain that she could force her way free.

Assuming the two of them were on speaking terms - ever - after this match, Valley would have to ask for some notes from Natasha on how she improved her striking technique. She’d lost count of the hammer blows she’d taken from the raging Russian since the first bell rang, and some of them were guaranteed to become bruises in the near future. She’d be feeling this match for a month. Bare minimum.

But she had Natasha now. She grit her teeth and soldiered through the pain as she clamped down on the side headlock, wincing with every elbow she took. Ribs were cracking. Soon they'd be breaking. If Valley didn't hurry, she'd wind up taking more damage than she intended to dish out.

”No…” She wheezed, as she locked her fingers to the point of pain and pushed back, enduring another blow in the process. Valley took a step back, then another, getting just far enough from the ropes...and then she went into action.

The Slamazon kicked her leg out, swung it back towards her for some added momentum, and fell forward in the same motion, slamming Natasha’s skull into the canvas with a headlock driver - a nasty move, one Haley would probably give her guff for using, but that's what it was coming down to. Everything was on the table.

With everything she had, Natasha slammed her elbow strikes back into Valley, again and again and again. If she broke a rib, so be it. If Valley ended up out of action after this match, so be it. Everything was on the line now. Both of them knew that. Both of them knew what was at stake, and both of them knew what they had to do to win. If Valley wanted to risk injury instead of letting the Russian go, that would be her own mistake.

Natasha drew back her arm, preparing for one more big, heavy strike against Valley's ribs, when the Slamazon suddenly kicked out, dropping towards the mat. The Russian didn't even see it coming. She had no clue that Valley was setting her up for such a big attack, and before she knew it, her skull had been driven into the canvas.

Natasha didn't even cry out. She simply went limp as she was dumped against the mat, dropping into an unmoving heap. She was still, and quiet, and the crowd went silent too, wondering if this was it, and if Natasha had been knocked out by the sudden driver.

Valley wanted to get up and cheer after she landed the headlock driver. She wanted to go running down the aisle celebrating her hard fought victory. She wanted to proclaim her triumph from the mountaintops.

But she couldn't, because all of those things required her to move around, and she wasn't quite up for that.

The headlock driver hadn't been pleasant for her, since it required her to slam her body into the mat at breakneck speeds, exacerbating every injury across her body. But it worked. Natasha took the worst of it. And it looked like her prophecy had come true. ”I told you I would…” She breathlessly gasped, barely able to form sentences. “...friggin’ told you…”

Valley rolled over to her side and grabbed the ropes, slowly pulling herself back up, as the referee came over to check on Natasha and confirm that she was out. Any second now, the Slamazon would get that sweet point, and a clenched victory along with it.

Natasha laid there, as the referee came to check on her. She didn't move, even as the crowd began to chant her name, urging her to get back up. There was still time on the clock. The match still had plenty of length to it, and no one wanted to see Natasha knocked out like this, not when there was still time to fight.

Natasha laid there, her eyes closed, refusing to move or budge. The referee let out a sigh, and started to stand back up, turning to the officials at ringside to declare the Russian as knocked out.

However, as the referee turned, Natasha's eyes slowly opened, and with a blank look on her face, she began to sit up, moving slowly and carefully into the sitting position. She turned her gaze towards Valley, and stared at her. She said nothing, but it was clear what her meaning was.

This match wasn't over yet, and the Russian could still fight.

The referee sighed and Valley did the same, though hers was for an entirely different reason. Sure, the match still had some time left, but if Natasha was out, it was essentially over. She’d won. Not in the most ideal way, sure, but it was hardly an illegal tactic. She was the better woman. Plain and simple.

It should have been, anyway. But when Valley glanced down and saw the life in Natasha’s eyes, she knew it was going to be anything but.

First, there was a look of horror on her face, as if Natasha was some inhuman creature that kept coming back to life. Heck, maybe she was. It would explain her resiliency, how she kept coming back from damage that would've taken out almost anyone else on the roster, man or woman.

That horror was quickly replaced with rage, frustration, anger, as she realized that no, Natasha wasn't some freak of nature. She was human. And just liked any human, if she took the right amount of damage in the right spots, she'd go unconscious. Valley just had to keep on working at it.

”Okay, Han.” Valley stepped over and started giving Natasha short kicks in her side, trying to prod her into rising. ”Get up. You want to keep going, let's keep going.”

Natasha winced at the first kick, and again at the second, but when the third kick struck her side, she snarled, her face twisting into a more angry expression. Valley was purposely trying to get under her skin now, and the Russian wasn't going to have any of it.

She started to rise, rolling over onto her stomach, then pushing herself up to her hands and knees, when she decided how best to handle things. She waited a moment, then suddenly started to scramble to her feet, expending perhaps too much energy to rush upwards again.

As she hurried back to her feet, she aimed herself towards Valley, moving in her direction as she got up. At the same time, she threw her head upwards, trying to smash the back of her skull into the Slamazon's chin as she rose. It was a risky, dangerous move, but if it worked, it would give her the opening she needed and wanted.