Violeta 'Eztlicoatl' Ayala vs. Spider Kikuchi - Tangled Web

Match Type: Standard
Victory Conditions: Pinfall, Submission, or KO

***

The AFW was many things, but predictable was rarely one of them. Tonight was going to be no different, as the sold-out crowd at Tension’s latest show was about to discover.

They were expecting a match, coming from some new addition to the roster out of the indies. They'd get it. What they weren’t expecting was for the lights to suddenly drop all over the arena without a single warning, bathing the crowd in nothing but the glow of the ad boxes above their head and the smartphones in their hands.

Confusion swept through the stands, and it only became stronger when an unfamiliar tune came blasting out of the speakers. Most wrestling intros were high-pitched, energetic, filled with electric guitars or just whatever music was popular at the moment, something to fit the AFW’s perferred style of wrestler: cute and happy, busty and bouncy, so saccharine you could get cavities from kissing them too much. This sounded like something that belonged in a club, a dark club, one where the patrons wore an abundance of leather and makeup. It was certainly not what the casual wrestling fan was used to. Good. Perfect. Spider Kikuchi preferred it that way, distinguishing her style from the first moment.

The ramp lit up, but not much, as a garish violet light lit the way all down to the ring. She was there, standing at the top, but her form was only a silhouette in the pale light. The fans couldn’t make out the specifics, couldn’t see her face or what she was wearing, but they could see her body movements. They told them enough by themselves.

She didn’t walk to the ring so much as she stalked towards. Her arms moved and twisted along with every devilish quirk of the music, her steps followed anything but a straight line, her body contorted and shook and bent. She didn’t move like a person, but like some unnatural thing, a demon that was trying on the flesh of a human for its first time.

Spider walked up the steps and made her way to the top of the turnbuckle scampering along the ropes until she reached the highest pad. She slid her legs over the top rope and ended her entrance sitting there, legs crossed, butt planted firmly on the turnbuckle.

When the lights finally came back, the audience finally saw Spider Kikuchi in full - a woman with pale, white skin and even whiter hair, with an obvious arachnid motif going on throughout. Spider mounted it like a queen on her throne, overlooking the entire ring with the smallest smile on her face as the music died down, like the whole match was just a fun little diversion for her. Another day of play inside her domain.

It was. Tonight, in Spider’s mind, was all about establishing her dominance in the AFW, showing what she could do and why she deserved to be respected in this company. This wasn’t going to be match, so much as it would be a demonstration of what happened to people who stood in the way of her goals. A showcase of brutality.

Etzlicoatl was on a bit of a slide.  She hadn't been doing particularly well in the ring lately, and even the inexorable confidence that comes from being delusional about your own abilities can only carry you so far.  After a point, it became difficult to go through all the elaborate motions, particularly with her insecurities weighing her down.

Still, when the administration had let her know she was the chosen opponent for one of the debuting Friction wrestlers, she had prepared accordingly and was waiting with full ceremony to burst out and, uh, welcome Spider onto the AFW scene.  As her music hit and an absurd amount of pyro went off in seemingly random places, Etzli leapt out onto the stage, mantle draped around her shoulders, arms spread to welcome the blinding light of the (simulated by a large spotlight) sun.  She spun in place once, kind of half-heartedly, and then charged down to the ring and leapt up onto the apron.

Well, this lady looked....ominous.  Etzli took a moment to look Spider over; she seemed intimidating, and from the way she carried herself she probably at least sort of knew what she was doing.  Still, a stiff breeze would probably leave her naked from the waist down if she wasn't careful.  How oddly impractical.  (The hypocrisy of Etzlicoatl calling anyone 'impractical' was entirely lost on her, as it usually tended to be.)

Stepping through the ropes, the Nahuatl girl tossed her mantle off to the side and struck an imperious pose.

"Behold, that which was once....uh...."  The sentence kind of trailed off.  ....Man.  She really was on a slide.  Etzli frowned.  "....mrgh, let's just wrestle."

Spider was hardly an easily startled woman - she typically excelled in startling other women. Perception was a big part of her style, and that perception required her to stay in control at all times. At least when the cameras were rolling.

But, when the pyrotecnics went off, she jumped and very nearly slipped off the turnbuckle she was sitting on, awkwarldy managing to keep her balance with some frantic arm waving. The only saving grace was that everyone - everyone - seemed far too distracted to notice it.

She quickly righted herself and retook her poised position, glaring down at Etlicoatl. Or Etzlicoatl. Or Etzilcoatl. However her name was spelled. Her glowing eyes were curious, not quite sure what to make of her opponent. Cute thing. An interesting gimmick, though she seemed to lack the energy to go along with her electrifying entrance entrance. In fact, she seemed aloof and morose, like her heart was barely in this matchup.

That wouldn’t do. Spider wanted to make Etzlicoatl depressed. Having her start that way ruined much of the fun.

”We can.” Spider pushed off the turnbuckle and landed a few feet away from the sun goddess, right as the referee came in through the ropes. She raised her arms high and stretched, staying nice and limber. ”Though I am a little curious where you were going with that, dear. Not much in the mood?” She kept her voice saccharine and genteel, as if she might offer Etzlicoatl a cup of tea at any moment.

Etzlicoatl's eyes narrowed suspiciously at the newcomer. Melancholy though she may have been - her hobby for the week prior had largely been 'lying on the floor listening to the Magnolia soundtrack and wondering why she hadn't pursued higher education' - she was far from fangless, and Spider's condescending manner didn't seem to do much for her.

"Silence your lying tongue," she answered haughtily, striking another pose. "Now - have at you!"

With that, the luchadora bounded backwards, leapt onto the second turnbuckle, dove off into a front handspring, used the momentum from that to land on the middle rope, springboarded off in a flip, and....tried to grab a waistlock on her opponent.

Well, depressed or not, it was clearly still Etzlicoatl.

The referee called for the bell after Etzlicoatl’s little tirade, eager to get this match underway so she could get back to not being in a ring with two crazy women. The crowd was into it - as much as they could be in a match with a woman they didn’t much like and a woman they didn’t much know.

Spider Kikuchi had been planning to start this match up strong, and she even took a step forward after the bell rang with that in mind. But she was taken aback when her opponent took the initiative and kicked things off. Not with a lockup or a quick flurry of strikes, but, well…stuff.

Flippy, flashy, flying stuff. Spider simply watched, wide-eyed, as Etzlicoatl did her thing. It was impressive. Not terribly effective and completely pointless considering the way it ended, but impressive. Weird was better than dull, she supposed.

When Etzlicoatl cinched in the waistlock - finally - Spider went into action. It had been a while since she’d officially competed, but her reflexes remained sharp, and she immediately brought her foot up in and tried to drive her heel into Etzlicoatl’s foot, hoping to cancel whatever attack she was going for. ”I don’t lie.”

Gripping Spider tightly around the midsection, Etzlicoatl began the great endeavor - a takedown. She didn't want to leap immediately to suplexes - that was risky this early on - and so, hoisting Spider up and slamming her down to the mat would be the first step in her glorious fifteen-part plan to win in the coolest way possible.

She heaved backwards and had her opponent about a foot off the ground when the stomp came, shattering all fifteen parts of the plan and causing her to drop Spider.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, promptly letting go of the waistlock. It'd clearly caught her by surprise; such a simple, straightforward counter to her usual bizarre and needlessly showy offense had clearly never entered her mind. Go figure.

For a moment there, Spider was actually worried. It had a little something to do with being lifted off her feet and nearly suplexed. Not that a single German would have been enough to put her away - she wasn't that much of a waif, despite her looks - but she didn't like losing control of the match at such a crucial stage. She wanted to establish her own pace and force Eztlicoatl into it.

But her quick thinking was rewarded, both with the sound of Etzicoatl’s anguish and a ripe opportunity to take advantage of.

There were a lot of ways Spider could have moved on from here. But since she was still trying to get a sense of Eztlicoatl's wheelhouse, she decided to keep it simple, and few wrestling moves were simpler than a hairmare. She turned around, grabbed her opponent’s auburn hair with all ten vicious fingers, then turned around and yanked the would-be goddess’ head over her shoulder, trying to dump the poor thing right on her little butt.

A foot stomp?  Really?  Etzlicoatl tried very hard to be a villainous figure - an evil overlord if you will - but even she forswore such base tactics, and---

"WAAAAAAAAUUUUGHHHHHHH"

Two handfuls of hair.  Good god.  It was difficult to properly process her displeasure while she was flying through the air, but Etzlicoatl was now aware that she was well and truly in the shit, so to speak, and very annoyed to be there.  She landed with a thump on the mat, half-sitting and half-sprawled, and glared at the upside-down Spider.

"By the sun," the luchadora growled, now thoroughly motivated out of her apathy, "I will strike you with the back of my hand for your churlishness."

Spider looked down on Eztlicoatl with an ever-widening smile. It was a genuine one, too, not simply for effect. She was quite glad her opponent was finally showing some fire, that she had something to work with. Granted, she was using said fire to be impudent. That simply wouldn't do.

”I'm sorry," She canted her head ever so slightly to the side. "I didn't quite catch what you were saying, there.”

Spider lifted her up to a full sit and let go off the hairhold, but only so she could reach forward and cup Eztlicoatl’s chin with both hands. She shot her leg out behind her, then brought it forward at lightning speed, slamming the point of her knee in the young goddess’ spine and keeping it there. At the same time, Spider wrenched her head back with a tight chinlock, wrenching every inch she could out of the hold.

Spider brought their eyes as close they could get without the two of them making skin contact, and spoke in her same, sweet voice, only marred by the occasional grunt. ”Care to repeat that, dear?”

"Hrrrrgh..." Ooh, that was tight. This one clearly knew what she was doing.

We often criticize perceived weaknesses or flaws in others that we, ourselves, are extremely guilty of. Part of the reason for this probably has something to do with unrecognized guilt or something but the main reason is because we can readily identify those flaws, since they're part of us too.

For this reason, even as the sleeper cinched in and the point of Spider's knee was digging in between her shoulder blades, Etzli recognized that her opponent liked to gloat way, way too much.

She glared, knowing better than to answer with a forearm under her chin, and waited for the other girl to lean closer. Good...closer...closer...there. In a flash, Etzli pulled down against the chinlock and arched her entire body into a sort of seated Pele kick aimed right at Spider's forehead. It wasn't particularly graceful, but her flexibility allowed her to get some serious torque on the kick - more than most people would manage under the same circumstances.