Black & White Catfight - Jaguar Negra vs Gato Blanco

MATCH TYPE: STANDARD RULES

JAGUAR NEGRA:

VS.

GATO BLANCO:

When Jaguar was told that he could have a shot at wrestling another classically trained luchador, he jumped at the opportunity! Doubly so when he learned that he'd be facing off against Gato Blanco himself! Gato was something of a celebrity in the leagues back home in Mexico, not only due to his family's legacy but plenty of his own renown as well! Jaguar was a fan of his for a while, but the man never seemed to stick around for too long and once Jaguar was an established luchador himself, he'd lost track of where the man had gone.

To think that he'd rediscover one of his early idols in Japan of all places was strange, and to be facing off against him even more so. However, adolescent idolization aside, Jaguar was excited at the challenge he now faced. He'd doubled-down on his training before the match to make sure he was in tip-top shape, practiced all his repertoire of moves and holds, he was at the peak of his game. And now, he was going to face Gato down and beat him!

The sound of his own entrance music nearly made Jaguar's heart skip a beat in excitement, it was time! He wasn't the only one excited about tonight's match judging from the crowd's reaction to his appearance, and it served to further invigorate him. Per his usual shtick, Jaguar grabbed the bottom rope and crouched ringside, combining the elasticity and his own athleticism to vault over the top rope and into the ring. Once inside he casually walked to a corner and perched himself atop a cornerpost. He couldn't help but grin while he looked to the stage for Gato's entrance.

Back in the gorilla position, Gato Blanco was stretching against the wall, pulling his legs lean, trying to keep himself ready and limber. Blanco looked ready for a fight, dressed in his red, black and white ring gear, and- most importantly- his signature mask. Next to him was standing his partner, his paramour and wrestling protege, Holly Matheson. Holly checked her own look over, wearing thick boots, to match her hair and short bolero jacket, and a red cocktail dress so tight it looked like the curvy Brit had been poured into it. Holly was usually accompanied to matches by Blanco, but their roles were reversed tonight. Tonight, Blanco was facing off against a fellow luchador, an opportunity he hadn't expected AFW to give him. Ever since it was booked, Blanco had been training hard, preparing to give the Japanese audience their best possible taste of traditional lucha libre. And hopefully, to impress on Holly that, with enough training, she could still turn things around for herself, after her own matches had ended in rather crushing defeat.

After the signal from the crew, and the opening notes of Blanco's entrance music hit, the couple burst onto the ramp. Blanco went from side to side of the ramp on his way down, greeting fans and shaking hands. Holly sashayed behind him, smiling and waving to everyone. The both of them were keeping an eye on the ring though, where Jaguar Negra awaited Blanco. The luchador smiled, approving of his opponent's fierce mask, more and more convinced that this was going to be a contest to impress. He'd heard good things about the Jaguar, that he was skilled, and had recently shown a bit of a mean streak. Holly, meanwhile, looked far more nervous as she stared at Jaguar's ferocious mask and ring gear. She suddenly thought of all of the humiliating defeats she'd suffered in that ring, and she bit her lip in fear that her man would face the same fate.

Reaching the ring, Gato Blanco pulled himself up to the apron, and proceeded to skank in reverse with his music, along the length of that side of the ring. Reaching the turnbuckle, he grasped the rope, and jumped up to the top. There he raised his arms in greeting, soaking in the cheers of the excited fans. Giving Holly a wink and a smile, he dismounted the rope and approached the center of the ring. Looking excited, Blanco reached a hand out, and offered it to Jaguar.

"Thank you for this," Blanco said, sounding earnestly excited. "Didn't think I would get a chance to wrestle a match like this, out here. From what I hear, you're pretty damn good- you ready to give these people a taste of lucha libre they're not going to forget?"

Jaguar watched with interest as his opponent made an entrance befitting the true nature of a luchador. His eyes wandered from Gato's crowd pandering to his companion, who was looking ravishing in her tight dress and get-up. Judging from the way she was dressed, he figured she wasn't likely to give him any trouble if things weren't going her partner's way.

Jaguar nodded slightly as Gato displayed his own athleticism in jumping to the top of a turnbuckle, just as skilled as expected. He'd thoroughly reviewed recordings of Gato's past televised matches to give himself a good idea of what to expect. However that being said, he was also experienced enough to know that a good wrestler was always improving, always bringing something new to the ring. If he trusted too completely in his pre-conceived notion of what Gato was like then he was setting himself up for failure.

Seeing that Gato was extending a gesture of goodwill, Jaguar hopped back down to the mat and joined his opponent with a firm handshake of his own.

"I know what you mean, even the masked Japanese have a style all their own. Gotta say, I was shocked to hear they were setting up two real-blooded luchadors, let alone that I'd be facing the man himself, Gato Blanco. It's an honor to lock-up with you!" Jaguar grinned with perhaps even more enthusiasm than warranted. "Let's show these people how a real luchador does things, eh?"[/b]

After releasing the handshake he took several steps back, stretching his arms out and doing a few crouched leg exercises for last-minute preparation. Jaguar nodded to the referee that he was ready and adopted a half-crouched fighting stance. His gaze locked tightly on Gato and as his mindset shifted to the match, his expression turned somewhat feral to match the design of his mask. Jaguar was in rare form for tonight's match, pulling out all the stops just like he were back in a hometown league.

Blanco grinned appreciately. "The honor's all mine, Jaguar," he said, as they clasped hands. "Can't wait to see what you're bringing into this! I'm sure this is going to be a learning experience, and a welcome return to lucha, for me!" With that, they broke off the handshake, and took to their positions. Blanco bounced on his heels, keeping himself limber. The luchador looked nonplussed, his stance loose and relaxed. Trying to clear his mind of the mass arena around him, Blanco seemed almost zen, as they awaited the opening bell. He shook out his hands casually as the official gave them their final checks, smiling and nodding that he was indeed ready.

Outside the ring, Holly positioned herself in Blanco's corner with one hand on the apron and the other on the rope. "Let's go Blanco!" she called out, trying to sound confident. "Let's show them all how it gets done, mister!"

When the opening bell rang, Blanco lowered his stance and moved forward. Still looking loose, his feet wide apart, he approached Jaguar in measured steps. Tentatively, he raised a hand to Jaguar, fingers extended, offering a lock up. If taken, Blanco would test the younger masked man with by lifting and twisting into a standing armbar, seeing if he could take control, and how the feral-looking luchador would respond to it.

If Jaguar had real fur, it'd be practically bristling with the energy and excitement of the arena. It was as if the people in attendance had picked up on the fact that the match tonight would be like nothing they were used to. In fact, Jaguar had psyched himself up so much that he barely registered Holly's cheering or the starting bell.

As Blanco came forward cautiously, he raised an arm to challenge a test of strength. In Jaguar's mind, this was gonna play out one of two ways. First, the test would be genuine and both men would struggle until one overpowered the other. Second, the more likely of the two in his opinion, the test of strength was more a test of wits, and whichever man made the first move to transition would be in control. As Jaguar would find out soon after accepting the lock up, Blanco intended on going with the second strategy.

"Hnng!" Jaguar let out a small grunt as his arm was twisted and locked down tight, there was no way he was slipping himself free just like that. But this wasn't the first time he'd been on the receiving end of an opener like that, and he knew just how to react.

Jaguar slid his feet into position and then spun himself around so that the leverage and twist Blanco had applied were neutralized. Continuing in the same movement, Jaguar took hold of Blanco's right wrist and slid in tight behind him with a hammerlock! This set off a round of wild cheer at the reversal, as well as a taste of the high-speed, high-skill action they were just getting into!

"Hahn!" Blanco half-grunted, half-laughed, as Jaguar met the armbar and reversed it quickly into the hammerlock. He was right, this was going to be a good contest! Already, the younger luchador was showing his wit and cleverness. Still, this was just the start of it, and the two luchadors had a long way to go before this night would be over.

Blanco held his shoulder with his free hand, feeling the tightness in the joint. Blanco took a couple of steps before snapping back, pushing his body flush against Jaguar's. The white-masked luchador then took that free hand back, and clasped it around the back of Jaguar's mask. Rising quickly, Blanco went off his feet, using his leverage to force a break of the hammerlock, and roll Jaguar over him with a headlock takedown that would send the younger man rolling forward onto his back.

At ringside, Holly was ecstatic at the move, bouncing up and down as she clapped. "Wooo!" she cried out, helping to draw some extra cheers from the crowd. The buxom British girl was still nervous as all hell, but beginning to lose herself in the contest, as the two men in the ring were getting things rolling.

With Jaguar down, Blanco stooped low, and reached out for the darker-masked man's chin. Pulling him up quickly, Blanco would then go down to a knee, planting one in the mat and the other between Jaguar's shoulder blades, in a chinlock surfboard hold, to try and work over the neck and spine. Hardly devastating, but easy enough to transition, if the younger luchador didn't twist his way out of it before much longer.

Jaguar knew something was up when Blanco forced himself close and started reaching back. He tried ducking his head to the side, but his opponent's fingers managed to snag the lip of his mask and gave him a handhold. Blanco applied his force and leverage at the proper angles to flip Jaguar over him and he handed on his chest.

The flip could hardly be counted as real damage, Jaguar recovered immediately following the impact. He grabbed the mat and brought his knees in for preparation of a somersault to escape, but his plans were shot when Blanco firmly pressed his knee into Jaguar's back. Quickly the underside of his chin was grasped and he was pulled up and arched up with Blanco's knee as the focal point.

"Hnnn...hnnn" Jaguar exhaled in short, controlled bursts as he assessed the situation. The chinlock surfboard was hardly a closing or finisher move, it gave the user time to rest and the victim an uncomfortable, constant source of pain to deal with. His mobility was greatly reduced by being on his knees and arched backwards out of position, but a clever luchador was never without options.

For one, he still had used of his arms, with which he would reach up and grab for the back of Blanco's head. Pulling the other masked wrestler's head down would lower his center of gravity and make it more difficult to maintain the hold in exactly the same way. While he was doing this, Jaguar also began to work his left leg up from a kneeled position to having his foot flat on the mat. It would temporarily increase the pain in his neck/back, but it was worth it to get his leg into position. In the following few seconds, it looked like Jaguar had managed an awkward "jump" as he thrust his knee up high as it would go. Even should he miss it would radically change the focal point of Blanco's knee and gave Jaguar a better chance of falling free after.
towards Blanco's head.

Blanco felt his wiry opponent squirm in his grasp for a moment, still trying to gauge the young luchador's strength. This stage of the contest was still about testing strength, trying to gauge where his opponent was in his training. And thus far, Jaguar was impressing. Blanco was impressed with how his opponent was keeping himself under control, not overexerting himself. He pulled back in the hold, and kept observing, keeping an eye open from beneath his mask for what Jaguar Negra would do to get himself out of this one.

As the Jaguar pushed himself out, got his leg freed, Blanco began adjusting his grip. He shifted over to one side, waiting to see how things would go. At ringside, Holly was watching with baited breath. "Come on, Miste- Ooh!" As Jaguar's foot shot out and up, coming around to take a wild shot at Blanco's face, Holly's hands shot up to cover her mouth. The sudden reversal caught her, and much of the audience, by surprise. It also managed to catch a fair bit of Blanco's face.

Blanco had turned away, trying to catch as much of Jaguar's kick with his shoulder as he could, but the black-masked luchador still delivered a deft blow to force a break. Releasing Jaguar's chin, Blanco rolled off. The kick was a wild one, and it certainly did its job, but Blanco wasn't letting Jaguar off that easily. Pushing off of his feet from the roll, Blanco gave a short charge toward his opponent, pushing off his boots, and launching into a low missile dropkick, trying to break their exchange with a solid blow to Jaguar's body.

"Hah!" Jaguar exhaled in victory as his training and flexibility paid off when his foot caught some part of Blanco with a 'THWACK'. His chin was released and like a pendulum he swung forward and caught himself on his hands. The next few seconds would be just as crucial, he knew that his kick was more superficial sounding than it was damaging.

As Jaguar got his feet back into proper position beneath him, he took a stance similar to a track start and then burst to his feet to make an escape. The haste with which he got back up left him off-balance and he nearly slipped and fell back down with each step. Jaguar whipped his head around to land eyes on Blanco; Too slow! he chided himself as he saw his opponent already mid-charge. With his feet out of position and his body still turning, there were mere seconds before his opponent was on him, no chance to evade!

Jaguar raised his arms to contend for a clothesline, but Blanco opted for a low dropkick that aimed lower than anticipated. The younger luchador was knocked off his feet as Blanco's boots crashed into Jaguar's side and knocked the off-balance luchador unceremoniously onto his back. Pained as he was with the wind knocked out of him, he wasn't about to leave himself vulnerable like a turtle on it's back. Jaguar kicked his legs out in a windmill-like fashion and twisted his torso at the same time, giving him a short defensive advantage in that Blanco risked being kicked if he approached. He continued performing the starfish kip-up to get him once more onto his feet. Jaguar was breathing quickly but his arms were up in ready position and he was grinning.

"You kick like a pussycat" Jaguar taunted as he began to circle his opponent slowly. But he would not wait for Blanco to take initiative first this time, Jaguar darted close and aimed a low kick for Blanco's outer/back thigh. It's purpose was not to sweep him but to plant a seed of pain for later plucking.

As his feet collided with Jaguar's chest, Blanco was still looking his opponent up and down.  The young man was fierce, there was no doubt.  The moment he was freed from the chin lock, the Jaguar seemed ready and eager to go into his next attack.  His tenacity was both surprising, and highly impressive.  Blanco's boots had already been in place for the counter-strike of course, and Jaguar's hasty reposte left him unfortunately open to the strike.

After the impact, Blanco rolled back once again.  The constant back and forth was easy enough,for the experienced luchador.  He was far more interested in how Jaguar was dealing with all of this.  And watching the young man pinwheel himself back up to a standing position, it seemed he was doing quite well.

Blanco nodded approvingly, as Jaguar got himself upright.  Bobbed his head along with the young man's taunt, even as Holly huffed at ringside.  Her chest swelling as she showed visible frustration, the Brit shouted at Jaguar, "That 'pussycat' put you down on your bum just now, didn't he!?"  Blanco didn't mind, however.  Instead, he was still waiting for Jaguar's response.

And sure enough, that response came quick and sharp as hell.  The black-masked luchador lashed out, boot swinging hard for Blanco's thigh, just catching him.  Blanco had tried to swing out to dodge the attack, reversing his stance to put himself out of distance, but the tip of the Jaguar's boot managed to clip the luchador's leg.  "Hgnn!" he grunted, in pain.  Rolling with that momentum, though, Blanco spun around for a counter-strike.  With Jaguar committed to the attack, Blanco counted on his opponent's momentum to bring him in line for a spinning kick that was aimed squarely at the side of the Jaguar's masked head, putting an abrupt pause on their current exchange.