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

The nasty elbow clocked Rafael across the jaw and for the first time so far, he made a noise of pain. Rafael's eyes were a mixture of 'fuckfuckfuckthathurts!' and 'ohmygodthisisawesome' as he hung from the ropes with his idle arm. Matthew grabbed him by his gi and hauled him up with some words of advice, though they were lost on someone like Rafa. He was too optimistic, too starry-eyed and dreamer to let such negativity get to him.

"What act? I'm just---gahhh!" Rafael shouted as Matthew yanked his gi open and landed a harsh chop across the bare skin. Matthew threw him towards the ropes and he stumbled all around as he tried to get his balance back before it was too late. By the time he whipped his head around to face Matthew, the man was already charging at him.

Once his opponent got mid-air his instinct to get out of the way overrode everything. Thankfully, a great deal of judo practice involved learning to fall and to take a fall without injury. Rafael let his feet fall out from under him and he crashed to the mat rather ungraciously, but it avoided getting nailed by Matthew's dropkick. And now that both men were on the ground, he became excited again as he could work his expertise.

Rafael's clothed knees slid across the mat as he "pounced" on his opponent. The springy rookie tried to get on Matthew's back as he worked his arms into position. His left arm would loop under Matt's left arm and then cross behind his neck, while Rafael's right wrist slid under Matt's neck. In judo you'd call the move katahajime, but wrestling fans would prolly classify it as a half-nelson choke attempt.

Matthew threw Rafael as hard as he could across the ring, and his dropkick was as precise as it could be, there was no way he could miss.....but he didn't expect Rafael to fall to the mat to dodge the attack. Matthew fell back to the mat with a thud and a groan, he had never seen such a counter before, but he didn't have much time to react to it however as suddenly his opponent began to lock in the half-nelson choke.

Feeling his arm get crossed behind his head and Rafael's strong body press down on him as his other arm began to choke his neck, Matthew began to panic as he knew he was in a very dangerous position. Matthew choked out "Grrk.....NO!" as he rolled onto his back and, in a burst of adrenaline, used the ropes to help pull himself up, even though he had the weight of the man pulling him down.  Matthew was determined not to let himself lose to this guy in his debut, imagining how the Tension locker room and the AFW crowd would view him if he suffered such a critical loss in such a quick fashion, and despite his confidence to avoid it, right now that seemed more and more plausible.

He pulled himself onto one leg and shouted "GET....OFF!" as he flew backwards and tried using his weight to squash Rafael under him, hopefully it'd loosen the hold at the least, and give him the chance to escape.

"It's okay dude, you can just tap out" Rafael joked as he worked to cut off Matthew's air supply as quickly and efficiently as possible. The crowd was getting a kick out of him dominating his taller opponent, and Rafael probably even more so. Matthew rolled them around so that Rafael was on his back, but that wouldn't help his victim as much as getting to his feet did. "Ahh, what's that American expression? Yee-haw?" Rafael whooped as he was dragged up to his feet, and then off them as Matthew stood tall.

However much progress Matthew was making, time was against him and Rafael was counting on it. When he felt him start to move backwards, he cockily thought it was the end that was coming, boy was he wrong. Matthew fell backwards and slammed down atop him, crushing him with that extra thirty pounds he held over him. Rafael's arms swatted the mat at his sides on reflex rather than intent, and it ruined his own progress as the choke was broken.

The situation was still salvageable! Rafael's brain told him, they were back on the ground again where he could excel. His legs would shoot up and squeeze round Matthew's sides as he worked to keep him in place with a bodyscissors. As quickly as it had been broken, Rafael would try to reapply his katahajime but he'd have to start over on chipping away at Matt's consciousness. "You weigh a ton dude!" Rafael grunted as he worked. It was more an observation than an insult in his mind, but there was no such thing as a friendly observation in the ring.

Matthew threw his body backwards and managed to successfully crash back to the mat, slamming his body weight down onto Rafael with a thud. Matthew smirked between panted breaths, there was still hope for him. He slowly rose up but suddenly his blonde-haired opponent shot up and attempted to lock in the half-nelson once more, even combining a bodyscissors to weaken his waist and keep him in place. Matthew went on full instinct and tucked his chin down to try and prevent Rafael from locking in the sleeper, and rolled onto his front.

Due to the distance Matthew threw himself back, he was pretty much in the centre of the ring which was literally the worst place he could be. Despite the man pressing down on his back once more and the body scissors slowly weakening him, Matthew's body was still loose in the hold, which still gave him an attempt to escape! He slowly and painfully dragged himself to the edge of the ring, grunting out "You're....such a pest!" angrily as he did, until he was just able to grab the bottom ropes.

Matthew pulled as hard as he could to pull himself under the bottom rope, which allowed him to finally escape the hold and land on the outside. He knelt on one knee as he caught his breath, listening to the crowd continue to laugh at him, causing him to turn around and give an "Italian Salute" insult to the people behind the barricade, shouting "Screw you!" as he did. He turned around once more and looked at the beaming Rafael, his mouth openly taking in breath as he was still full of rage. He burst back into the ring and attempted to hit a knee as quick as he could, hopefully connecting to the Japanese-Brazilian's midsection to allow him to set him up for the cradle piledriver.

Matthew complaining loudly about being a pest made Rafael laugh with amusement. He was impressed with his opponent's knowledge though, that chin maneuver had saved him from a second perfect application of his choke. And even more impressive yet, Matthew was dragging the both of them towards the ropes despite his state. Had they just been sparring, Rafael would have probably genuinely complimented him about his resilience.

As his opponent reached the ropes, Rafael knew the rules, the referee didn't have to tell him twice to let go. As he stood up and backed off, the sight of Matthew sliding under the ropes like a dog with its tail between his legs made him grin and laugh again in triumph. "Look at him run! I would have pegged him as French if I didn't know any better!" he joked as he threw his hands in the air and soaked up the attention the crowd was lavishing him with.

It unfortunately but understandably stole his concentration away from the match and Matthew was able to use that when he came storming right back in. A knee blasted into his gut and doubled him over right into Matthew's waiting arms. The world turned upside-down and blood rushed to his head, but Rafael found himself in a position to fight back. He twisted his torso about as he tried to get a headscissors on his opponent, that ought to give him something else to focus on besides ruining Rafael's day, right? No more need for that impending migraine due to blunt force trauma, right? A kid could only dream.

Matthew managed to lunge forward and strike Rafael powerfully in the gut with his knee. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he stuffed the blonde's head between his legs and pulled him up for the cradle piledriver. "Get ready for the end kid! Gwa-!" Matthew shouted as he held him, until suddenly his judoka-styled opponent attempted to wrap his strong legs onto his head for a headscissors. It was an impressive attempt at a counter, but it wasn't good enough, as Matthew managed to avoid the attempts long enough to drop to his ass and deliver the move, slamming Rafa's head straight into the mat and his body bouncing from the impact!

Watching his body jump up violently from the move and fall to the mat, Matthew smiled and hooked his opponent's leg for the pin. As the referee hit the first count, Matthew said "Stay down, I'm tired of your little games." as he pushed down on his opponent tightly, there was no way a rookie like him would kick out!

Rafael winced prematurely as his head was stuffed between his opponent's thighs. His own headscissors didn't seem to slow him down at all, the next thing he knew the world was rushing by him, and then an instant moment of blackness. Rafael's lightweight body bounced nastily and he was left panting and glossy-eyed on his chest.

He was aware that he was being flipped over onto his back and that Matthew's weight was resting against him, but the pain was too new and too much. They don't teach you to take a blow straight to the head in judo, so Rafael's adjustment to the new sensation delayed his recovery. The sound of the referee hitting the 'TWO' count seemed to jolt the Brazilian's brain back to the task at hand.

"I'm not done yet!" he shouted as he kicked up hard enough to roll himself onto his chest. Ouch, yeah, that hurt the head, too quick! Rafael crawled away on hands and knees towards the ropes. In-out. In-out. Slow your breathing, and find your center. Rafael focused on calming his nerves and pushing down the pain, he needed to get back into this fight!

Matthew closed his eyes in glee as the referee counted the second count, he was about to get his first win!......but he opened his eyes in shock as Rafael kicked out! How could a rookie kick out of his signature?! He had hit it perfectly and everything! Matthew was wide eyes as he began pacing back and forth angrily, running his hands through his hair. He screamed in anger as he turned to notice his opponent slowly crawling to the ropes.

Matthew quickly grabbed Rafael and pulled him up to his feet painfully by grabbing his hair. He then ripped off the blondes Gi, revealing his bare upper body to the world. Throwing the jacket outside, Matthew pushed Rafael against the ropes and slapped him straight across the face! "Why won't you just quit! Stop trying to think you have a chance because you don't! You're garbage and always will be! Look at me!!" Matthew shouted in his face, eyes bloodshot as he pulled Rafael's face up to make sure they were face to face. He then would pull him forward, hook the rookie's near leg behind his own knee with his other arm, and fall backwards and attempt to throw him across the ring in a cradle suplex!

"Arghh can't you wait!" Rafael groaned as he was grabbed by his hair, and he yelped as he yanked up to his feet. Matthew tore the top half off of his gi with rage and threw it aside as he was thrown into the ropes. He gasped in shock and surprise as Matthew then backhanded him across the face and berated him with a slew of angry words.

Rafael could see the craziness in his opponent's eyes and it unnerved him. He prepared a wide left hook into the side of Matthew's head but that didn't seem to slow him down very much, as his next move was yanking him away from the ropes. Rafael hopped on one leg and swung another punch into Matthew's pecs as the man lifted his leg, but the execution of the cradle suplex was airtight.

Rafael was thrown across the ring and he tumbled for several feet before ending on his back, staring wide-eyed at the bright overhead lights. Matthew was just toying with him, throwing him around like a dog and his chew-toy! The litany of new pains and bruises was clouding the rookie's ability to get his head back into the match, and instead he was consumed about worrying what Matthew was gonna do to him next.

Unlike the piledriver, the suplex didn't impede him quite so much. It was Rafael's turn to roll and slip under the ropes, thankful for the respite from action as he panted with hands on his hips. "You need therapy, dude" Rafael shouted to him as he started to walk around the outside of the ring. He'd just take a short break, catch his breath, stretch out the pain, then he'd climb back in. Walking around also made it harder for Matthew to coming flying out at him, so that was a bonus too.

So when he was finally ready, Rafael suddenly bolted for the stairs in front of him. He leaped up the stairs and began climbing the turnbuckle, figuring that this method of climbing into the ring was probably the easiest to avoid being mangled.

Matthew flung Rafael with the cradle suplex, smashing him into the mat, however Rafael was able to quickly move towards the edge of the ring. Matthew desperately flung himself towards him, crawling towards him and clawing at his lower Gi to keep him in the ring, but he was too late as his opponent successfully got out of the ring.

He watched his opponent walk around the edge of the ring, ignoring his insult and simply growling at him in response as he got to his feet. Meanwhile, the crowd were no longer laughing, now watching quietly at Matthew, as he was showing a much more violent side. Matthew wasn't completely there in his mind, one half was pure instinct, the other half focused on wanting to destroy Rafael. He lunged forward as the Japanese-Brazilian burst on to the turnbuckle before gouging at his eyes, poking his thumb right in there. Giving him another punch to the face to keep him busy, Matthew pulled Rafael's legs forward and rested his opponent's thighs on his shoulders before pulling him back into position for a powerbomb!

Matthew turned around, getting used to holding Rafael up as this wasn't a common move in his arsenal, before running forward and attempting to hit the powerbomb.