Liberty Vella vs. Estela - The Cure For Ennui

Somewhere in the back of Liberty’s mind, the former hardcore champion had a little voice, sounding out some warning alarms. It told her that she shouldn’t be taking Estela lightly, that the woman had managed to get the jump on her once before and that, if she wasn’t careful, she would easily do so again.

This was the sort of voice that she usually ignored, so it really should’ve known better than to even try.

Sure enough, she went ahead, trying to yank Estela in, and sure enough the little trickster made her pay for it when she yanked her down and slapped her on the second rope. Liberty yelped as the stinging pain sliced through her body, leaving her strung out on the middle, folded over it like a towel, hanging there, helpless.

Yanking down on the arms as hard as she could to snap Liberty off of the rope, Estela landed on the ground as she managed to give herself some breathing room. That was until she saw how vulnerable Liberty was, draped like that. Her leg was burning in pain, but with a chance to deliver more punishment onto Liberty for revenge of that brutal figure four, she decided that any pain was worth it as she would gain some distance on the side of the ring.

Taking a jump step forward as she gripped on to the bottom rope, Estela would try to deliver a round house kick right into Liberty's head! She couldn't utilize all of her leg power after the horrid hold, not this early after just escaping, so she had to use the rope to her advantage and swing more of her body weight into the kick in order to compensate!

Liberty was waiting. She wasn’t sure for what, not exactly, but she was waiting.

She knew that Estela - vengeful little bitch that she was - wouldn’t let this window close with using some good offense to keep it pried open. She was going to do something, and it would knock the shit out of Liberty if it connected, which it likely would. Painfully. Immediately.

It was only a question move she’d use for the punishment. As it turned out, the answer was a roundhouse kick. Right to the skull.

Unable to block the blow, it landed hard against the side of her head and sent the hardcore champ rolling, forcing her back inside the ring even as the sound of the impact continued to reverberate. Aching, she wound up staring on the ceiling, hissing.

Sliding on the apron as she buried her foot into Liberty's face, Estela was left sitting on the apron as she watched Liberty flop off of the ropes and landed back first. Panting as she leaned on the ropes, gritting her teeth as her leg was still throbbing in pain, a hold like that wasn't going to be forgotten anytime soon. But Estela wasn't going to let that stop her, she had the advantage and the chance to deliver some big offense now that she had the bigger Liberty down!

Using the ropes to climb back up to her feet, standing on her feet apronside as she began judging the distance between her and Liberty while gripping the top rope. Anticipation ran through her body, the rush about to fly was always the sensation that Estela wanted to savor. Because when she was in the air, all it took was a split second it could all go to hell. Leaping up onto the top rope, Estela attempted to spring board off of the top rope while diving forward, attempting to Swanton herself onto Liberty!

Well. Fuck. That was fun while it lasted.

Liberty was starting to see a very real pattern with this shit. Estela would run circles around her, confound her at every turn, and just be a general pain in her ass...until Liberty managed to catch, that was. After that, she would be able to bounce the woman around with impunity and glee. It was getting predictable now, like a cycle that would only stop when one of them had their shoulders on the mat for three seconds.

She needed to get her bearings back and break the cycle, or at least make it end when she won the match. And to do that, she needed to figure out where Estela was. So where was she?

”Oh.”

Liberty had time to utter that single syllable before Estela came crashing down on her with the swanton, landing like a led weight. Liberty jerked about on the impact, rolled once, then laid on her back as she kicked her legs and rubbed her aching chest. She’d taken baseball bats to that region, and she swore, even they felt better.

Crashing down on Liberty with her falling weight, Estela flopped off of Liberty with her high risk move paying off as she rolled onto her butt. Her hand immediately shot to her back, the landing taking a toll out of her as part of the cost.

But she felt the payoff was far more worth it as she turned around, flinging herself on top of her opponent with her back bearing down on her chest as she hooked the leg to go straight for the pin, looking to finish off this match!

Pain. Lots of pain. Liberty was a moaning, groaning mess on the floor at the moment, as she reeled from Estela’s heavenly assault. It was amazing was a little thing like a falling body could do, even when that body didn’t weight a whole lot. It certainly left Liberty gassed, so much so that she couldn’t escape the first count.

”1…!”

Or the second.

”2…!”

But before the third hit, she was able to muster enough resolve to shoot her shoulder up and roll off to the side, saving herself at the last moment, escaping the pin through the skin of her teeth. Close. Too close. Half a second more, and it would’ve been done.

Estela was hoping that this was it, that her aerial attack was going to be enough to put an end to Liberty in a match that took much more out of her than she thought, sweating profusely as she laid on top of Liberty as she kept the leg hooked. Her head bobbed with each count that the ref did, reaching a second count as her heart almost stopped in anticipation as it felt like the world slowed for a moment.

But the sweet taste of victory would continue to evade her as Liberty shot her shoulder off of the mat, forcing Estela off and onto her stomach. Her eyes were wide, she couldn't believe this bitch could still fight! Shock turned into frustration as she tightened her hands so tight that they would go white as she began to drag herself towards the ropes, standing up under her own power was too much to ask with her damaged leg as she would begin to try and pull herself back up with the assistance of the ropes!

Step 1: Kick out.

Step 2: ...Liberty was still working on that one, had to admit.

She was honestly glad that she’d gotten this far, but she knew that wouldn’t be enough. Yeah, Estela would have to keep working her over and there would be some opening she could maybe possibly hopefully take advantage of, but none of that would mean anything if she was too wiped to take advantage of an opening when it came.

She rolled over to the turnbuckle and grabbed the nearest pad, slowly making her way up, rung by rung. Getting up to one knee, then the other, then a foot, then the other...

Estela made it to her feet as she held on the ropes, rolling herself on them as she made her way to the opposite corner of Liberty unknowingly as it took her a few seconds to realize the situation. Adrenaline was shooting through her body as she saw her opponent pulling herself up in the opposite corner as she panted out, seeing an opportunity as she stomped her leg, trying to force the blood flowing through it and shake off the pain before sprinting off to the opposite corner.

Her face was twisted with pain each step she took, pulling her body across the ring as she attempted to leap up, bring both of her legs up to try and slam her shins into the back of Liberty, looking to try and sandwich her into the corner!