Rafael Vega (Debut) vs Matthew Matthias, A Judoka Makes His Move!

MATCH TYPE: STANDARD
VICTORY BY PINFALL, SUBMISSION, OR KNOCKOUT.

Rafael Vega:

VS.

Matthew Matthias:

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Inhale. Exhale. Inhale again. Rafael focused on keeping his breathing even and narrow, but he was just too damn excited! This would be the first time he'd ever been in front of so many people at once, the first time he'd ever fought someone in front of an actual paying crowd. And it was all thanks to luck and the generosity of Kamo Ryusaki, his unexpected benefactor. This match was just the first step to establishing himself as a wrestler, and a first step towards finding out where or even who his father was.

But no more thinking about that! He had a fight to win! Kamo had given him a few pointers about his match up too. As he learned a little while later, Kamo was actually an AFW wrestler too, and he'd faced Matthew before. Thus Rafa was feeling pumped! There was no way he could lose with insider knowledge! He was practically bouncing on his heels with giddiness when the stagehands came to tell him it was time.

BOOM! As soon as his music started, he didn't need to be told twice! He stumbled and nearly fell when he stepped out onto the scene, but as soon as people laid eyes on him, it just became endearing. The nearly still wet-behind-the-ears Rafael grinned and waved in wide sweeping motions as he proudly walked towards the ring in his bright blue gi. Definitely an odd choice of attire for a wrestler, but it also definitely made him stand out. He was on cloud nine right now, nothing could ruin this day for him!

Matthew was squatted down with his hood over his head, in a foul mood after his last experience with Kamo & Casimir, and anxious about tonight's match. When he found out this guy was looking to debut, he jumped at the chance to face him. He himself had been humiliated in his debut match, and now he wanted to give that feeling to someone else. Hearing his music play, he stood up and began walking to the entrance ramp, a look of certainty in his face.

Hearing his familiar music play, Matthew flipped off the fans to a chorus of boo's as he walked down the ramp, he wasn't looking to entertain them, he was looking to kick this newbie's ass. Entering the ring, he got a first look at his cheerful opponent, and couldn't help but laugh at his strange attire. Shaking his head, Matthew said ""You sure you're at the right place here buddy? The kids taekwondo class is on the other side of the city!" as he laughed. Looking at the happy expression on his opponent, Matthew started limbering up his muscles, this was surely going to be easy work.

Aha! Trash talk! That made Rafael grin like a mad man when he heard it, and he placed his hands cockily on his hips. "Kids taekwondo? Man you Brits are stupid! This is a judoka's gi, Big Ben" he laughed back at him. Ok, clearly he needed a few lessons on trashtalk, but this was very very new to him!

Rafael grinned defiantly at his taller opponent, repeating the advice Kamo had given him over and over. The guy's sourpuss attitude was a bit disappointing, but maybe things would change when the match started and the action heated up.

"Well, I'll try not to make your defeat hurt too much, I know Brits are kinda fragile" Rafael added as he threw his head back with a loud laugh. Ok, that was probably a bit too much, but oh well. He gave an enthused thumbs up when the ref asked if he was ready, and he literally started to bounce on his heels.

Matthew rolled his eyes as he listened to the rookie insult his place of birth. "Wowwww, British jokes, aren't you clever!" he mocked, making a fake expression of proudness as he did. "Kid, you don't know what you're getting yourself into." he continued as he nodded at the referee and the bell rang, signalling the start of the match.

Matthew circled the ring, arms stretched out as he purposely made himself look like he was about to go for a test of strength, but would hope to fake him out and hit an unexpecting kick to his bottom shin and make him drop to one knee! If all worked out he would then grab his opponents head with his arm and drop back to the mat in a snap DDT!

"Kid? You're one to talk, babyface!" Rafael shouted back as he hopped backwards. That comeback wasn't so great either, but eh, did it matter if he won in the end anyway? He adjusted his gi slightly as the bell started to ring and then threw his hands up to adopt a grappling stance. Rafael was intrigued by Matthew's challenge and was even encouraged by it. One of his strengths was using an opponent's size and weight against him, so why not show the sourpuss what he was dealing with?

Rafael grinned as he paced forward, still angled slightly to the side with his judoka stance. However, as his eyes traveled upwards to lace fingers, he was deceived and his shin struck out from under him. He fell to a knee with a gasp of surprise, and was promptly yanked into his opponent's side. Matthew bombed him face first into the mat with his DDT and a wave of 'ooohs' of second-hand pain swept through the audience on behalf of the rookie.

Rafael, now laying on his chest, began to lift his head up in somewhat of a daze. He was somewhat bewildered, but like hell was he gonna lay there and let that Brit brute get hands on him again! Rafael turned onto his back and promptly got to his feet with a kip-up. That seemed to earn some applause from the audience as well and it changed his expression back to that chipper grin. Sure his face still hurt, but he'd taken his fair share of beatings already.

"Awww man, you're going soft on me, aren't ya? Comon Brit, fight me like a man!" Rafael laughed as he started to circle towards Matthew's flanks. He doubted he'd get them, but he'd run in anyway. The goal of his counter-offensive was to vault up using Matthew's thighs, and then slam his knee hard into the man's nose!

Matthew's attack was a success, as he successfully dropped Rafael's face hard into the mat with the snap DDT. Getting up to pander to the crowd, his smile soon dropped as he turned around just to see Rafael kip up and shake the attack off like it was nothing. Matthew let out some air from his nose and said "Whatever you say, karate boy." With a gleam in his eyes.

Both men started to circle each other once more, and Matthew went to grab at his opponent, but it seems that the rookie was one step ahead, and, using Matthew's thighs to vault up, hit a straight knee right to his face! Falling on his back to the mat with a pained sound. Matthew felt his nose to make sure there wasn't any permanent damage, and looked up to see his smiling opponent looking down at him, turns out this kid had a few tricks. He was starting to get pissed, it seemed like his opponent wasn't taking him serious. Growling at his expression, he said "Do you think this is funny?!" Before jumping up and attempting a rushed left hook straight to the gi-wearing man's jaw.

"It's judo by the way, Brit tola" Rafael fired back at Matthew after the man felt the fury of his knee. He stuck his tongue out and bounced around on his feet afterwards, the rush of the crowd on his side was unlike anything he'd ever felt. He was pretty sure if he jumped into the air right this second, he'd just take off and fly around the arena like a bird!

Matthew asking him if he thought this was funny was a terrible choice of words, you always made people laugh when you said that. "Whoa there!" Rafael laughed in surprise when Matthew came up swinging. He ducked under Matthew's left hook and turned into the direction of the coming momentum so that his sidestep would take him to Matthew's left side. Rafael would fire off a high kick into Matthew's back and then continue that direction in a shuffle.

"Ole!" he shouted and posed as a matador does, barely able to keep himself from busting out laughing. The crowd seemed to enjoy his little act as well, a sweep of laughter soared through the arena.

Matthew's swings were a miss, and before he knew it, he found the gi-wearing man swinging around to his side and Matthew was sent flying on to his face via a Rafael-induced kick. Murmuring "Fuck." under his breath, he got back up to his knees and shook his face, turning around to see his opponent performing a matador pose, laughing along with the crowd at his expense. Matthew's bad mood was getting worse by the second, and this could either go one of two ways, he would make more mistakes, or become even more dangerous.

Becoming even more pissed off, he got up and growled "....BE SERIOUS!" angrily at his opponent, before attempting to run forward and charge him into the corner. If all worked out he would headbutt the Japanese-Brazilian before going to deliver a series of sharp gut kicks to his gut, in attempts to drop him into the corner.

Rafael laughed and cheered as Matthew stumbled and fell to his knees like a circus fool. The crowd really seemed to enjoy the way the babyface appeared to be toying with his older, taller, and angrier opponent. It was like he was playing with fire and winning too! Matthew's shout to get serious, like his shout about this not being funny, was of course even more comical to Rafael.

He was awash with bubbly laughter right up until Matthew forced him into a corner, and like a mouse caught in a trap, he realized that his escape options were suddenly cut down. He tried to duck out of the way, but ironically in true judo fashion, Matthew grabs hold of his gi to land a headbutt. Matthew wouldn't need the extra kicks to the gut, though they certainly helped, because he had already fallen back from the headbutt. Rafael was certainly seeing stars across his vision, and some pep knocked from his step, but the resilience of youth had him already trying to climb to his feet.

Matthew made sure to put some extra power into his hits, now he was in the advantage he didn't want to give the man any opportunities to slip away. His kicks were razor sharp as he aimed straight for the judo fighters gut, and stopped to catch his breath, only to see his opponent climbing back to his feet. As Rafael began getting back up Matthew hit a dirty elbow straight to the man's jaw, Matthew wasn't going to play around, he wanted to win this match and hurt this rookie bad.

"Stop the nice guy act. I tried it and trust me, you'll get nowhere." He slowly mentioned in Rafael's ear before spreading open the centre of his gi to reveal the man's bare chest, before chopping it as hard as he could with an open slap. Dragging him to the ropes, he threw him across the ring, and as he came from the rebound, would look to hit a dropkick, aiming straight for the man's chin!