Belinda Northman Vs. Manami Kuroda - Handcuff Match

The crowd fell rather silent after the Wolf Girl's terrifying powerbomb, which seemed to have laid out the blond on her back, arms and legs spread rather wide after Manami had moved up and away from her. The generous rack of Belinda Northman heaved with each breath that her almost lifeless-looking frame took, she was drenched in sweat and markings that would probably be bruises in a few hours.

Manami soon left her side and went to fetch something, a fitting notion for a canine like woman. Manami shortly enough returned though, yet as she had returned Belinda's senses had started to come back to her, she blinked a few times, the lights were bright and it was difficult to figure out what had happened, it took her a second or two for everything to come rushing back into her brain.

Just as Manami was caressing her cheek and then raised that iron pipe up into the air did the short haired blond gather her senses, eyes widened as the pipe was raised high before coming down. The hands of the Shooting Star shot up light lightning by reflex alone, moving to grab Manami's wrists in the swing to stop her in her tracks.

With which, Belinda's right leg would shoot up in and arch should she be able to stop the strike, the leg kicked up and far to try and smack Manami right on her head, from her downed position to the hunched over Wolf Girl.

Ah. It was moments like this that she lived for.

That lingering gasp in the air summed it all up perfectly. The crowd was left in chilling suspense, many looking on with mouths agape and through parted fingers as the wolf raised the iron bar high into the air, bated breaths dying in their throats. The seconds before impact, the heavy weight weighing over the blonde beauty’s face like a great anchor from the bowels of divine fate. She felt the power surge in her hand, a wild flare in her eyes as her pupils shook and her grip trembled with excitement. It was intoxicating, a high that she couldn’t help but absorb every inch of her lungs in.

And then the high-flying rat just had to move and snatch that wonderful release away from her. Manami threw the pipe down, cutting the air as it went before the momentum was suddenly stopped by Belinda’s hand. The metal barley tapped the side of her cheek. Manami’s smile dissipated in an instant, replaced by a stern glare and slightly parted lips as her grip on the pipe tightened and she went to force the instrument closer.

In her simmering fury, she failed to notice the flash of blue streak by her face, Belinda’s swift boot smacking the Wolf Girl upside the head. Manami’s hair whipped back, sending her stumbling backward, the pipe still in her hand as she brought her free hand to the freshly laden boot scuff on her forehead. Through one uncovered eye, her gaze trailed up from the floor to the recovering Northman, her eyes narrowing in frustration.

“Wily little bitch.” She growled before she lunged back. The wolf drew the pipe back as she moved. With a wide, downward swing, she aimed to crack the pipe on Belinda’s side. Fight back all she wanted. Manami would at least ensure that it cost her a rib or two in return. Force the discipline into her.

Belinda was in a poor spot right now, she had to find some way out of it and fast, a way for her to be able to fight back against Manami Kuroda, and she thought she had one, as the green clad woman swung down her iron rod towards Belinda, the Swede was able to grasp at the Wolf Girl's wrists as she would quickly then shoot her right leg up and smack it right into the head of the cocky and wild woman. 

The Swede would look at the upside down sight of the wolf girl stumbling backwards. Belinda would take a deep breath, shaking her head a little to clear the remaining cobwebs from her mind and clear her thinking up. Something that Manami Kurodo could clearly need as she would watch the woman charge at her. 

Belinda's eyes widened as she came down for that downward swing, the blond would take this moment and roll the the side, to avoid it, letting the wild swing be what would catch her unaware. Belinda quickly rolled up onto her knees and would swipe her arm against the back of Manami's knees and with it try and send the Wolf girl tumbling down onto her back! Should she be able to do so, Belinda would quickly raise both arms and try and hit the green clad woman with a double axe handle straight to the solar plexus of the downed wolf girl!

Was it her persistence or that cavalier look in her eyes that was bothering Manami more? She couldn’t decide which exactly she had a more difficult time wiping away, but all she knew for sure was that the wolf had found her patience withering. Belinda was a nimble evidently, preferring to do most of her thinking on her feet. It may have been natural, then, that she accustomed to the high-flying aspects of wrestling, but that wasn’t a style Manami was willing to indulge.

Her intention in delivering her rather...defacing blow was to send a clear message to all the hopeful spectators tonight and for all those to come. Belinda was AFW’s shining star, a beacon of dedication and love for the industry and one of the few veterans unbesmirched by the stains of controversy. She kept her affairs in order, her hands clean, gave everything to the industry and asked nothing from it in return. A purist. A rarity in this day and age, but one that garnered the support of everyone, anywhere they traveled in this contemptible promotion.

Manami’s message was singular: your illusions can be broken with a single stroke.

She’d attempt to hammer that point home, again and again, as many times as it took, until this woman finally realized just what force she was attempting to reckon with. A task she was finding increasingly difficult, as Belinda rolled out from under her downward strike, but one she’d pursue nonetheless.

She’d just begun to wind up for another swing when her legs were suddenly taken out from under her. The back of her head hit the canvas with a hard thump, forcing her teeth to grit and vision to haze for an instant. Soon enough, however, the world would come back to focus, just in time for the Wolf Girl to witness Belinda barreling down on her and landing a double axe handle to her gut. Her body jackknifed against the impact, but Manami remained determined to return the woman’s aggression in kind. Seizing some semblance of control to her body’s spastic reflex to the axe handles, the wolf swung up in a wide arc towards the woman’s side the instant after her attack landed, searching for recompense in the form of a broken rib or two.

Belinda wasn't someone who was willing to give in, no matter the odds she had decided that she would always give it everything she had and push herself as far as she could, there was a reason why Cecilia had given her that nickname of a shooting star, as she was someone who would burn brightly and if it was only temporary then that was fine...yet, she was going to do everything in her power to make sure that it wasn't temporary, that it was a long lasting star shooting through the sky.

She had always liked that nickname even if it had a negative connotation to it. She had always been a fan of astronomy, she had named a few of her finishers after constellations and the like. It wasn't the most complex way but she had tried, she always was bad with names.

None of that really mattered though, for what mattered right now was that she was up against quite a bully, someone who looked to make an example of the fan favorite face, the woman who had managed to win the hearts and minds of the fans and become a shining beacon of the future. Someone who they sought to maybe someday be the future and the face of the company....but Manami Kuroda, the wolf girl sought to tear that image apart before it had fully formed, burning down the Sistine Chapel while it was still being painted so to speak.

Belinda though wasn't about to let her! She took Manami down onto her back and then slammed her arms down into Manami's solar plexus, looking to take the air and fight of Manami, yet...as she did so the iron rod was swung right into her side, right after her hands collided with that weak point...." Aagh!" Belinda gasped out in pain as she was forced to shy away from Manami.

Her arms went up around her side, holding her ribs as she was certain she had felt a crack to them, small drops of water forming in the corner of her eyes as she gasped out in pain and tried to create some distance between the two...she was pretty sure Manami would be short of breath right now. As Belinda would clearly need a moment to come to terms with the sudden burst of pain that had formed in her ribs.

Finally.

Belinda had proven herself to be many things this evening. Agile, spirited, delusional stubborn, annoying, pathetic. But chief among them had to be one word: elusive. For all the power her slimmed frame could bring to bear, there was an equal amount of speed backing her movements. Keeping a grapple on her could be difficult, let alone scoring a well-placed strike in that infuriatingly radiant smile of hers.

Her ribs would just have to do in that case, and Manami took no small amount of joy in hearing that satisfying crack she’d been craving ever since the outset of this little bout. In any other instance, this would have been the point where the wolf rose to her feet. Where she pounced on the unsuspecting waif and tore her asunder, testing that newly laden injury for all it was worth.

The swelling pain in her gut had told her otherwise. Her eyes narrowed as they looked across at the aching blonde, vision slightly hazy from the sudden lapse in breathing. A labored groan made its way from between her lips as she balled her hands into fists again and again. The solar plexus was never a good area to suffer damage even on accident, and Belinda had had more than enough time to ready a clean strike. An error on Manami’s part. One she was sure to not replicate again.

Her nose wiggled. Her appetite was up. She logged in her memory where exactly the pipe had landed as the young Northman tumbled away, keeping that little opening in the back of her mind from now on. Rolling herself onto her stomach, Manami pressed her knuckles to the canvas, pushing herself shakily on to two feet, slightly hunched over from the blow. With a sharp glint in her eye, she kept her gaze on Belinda, walking towards her with one sure step after another to the veteran, slowly raising the pipe in her hand as she approached.

Belinda was certainly hurting right now, she was in no position to do any quick moves as that pipe had struck her firmly in the ribs, there was a terrible ache, a weird burning sensation and was shifting between feeling ice cold to feeling burning hot. Breathing became painful and she was for the moment in a bad spot....

She had managed to put a decent stop to Manami Kuroda though, but she didn't know how long that would be the case, the Wolf Girl was already starting to pull herself back up into the prowl but the blond had to find a way to fight her own way back. Groaning, gritting her teeth so hard that she could practically hear those pearly white chompers cracking from the pressure she was putting down on them.

The blond started to push upwards, her body was protesting fiercely, she wasn't going to get up easily or painless, but she forced herself up, rising up towards her feet through the pain....

Her red eyes glared through her blond bangs at the brunette opponent, she had to take this carefully, she couldn't this wasn't the moment for instinct or impulse, this was the moment for thinking, for anticipation....for strategy.

One step. Two steps. Three steps…

Bah.

Manami’s aggravation only rose with every inch she gained on her opponent. It was split, however. A fair amount was directed towards Belinda, but just as much was pointed back at herself. Continually being beaten back by this unpleasant glory hound was a pattern that she’d tried again and again to break, but even a rod of iron would not suffice. The Shooting Star had a will of a steel, a body of considerably stronger resolve that betrayed appearances.

Northmans were an interesting breed, to say the least of Manami’s first impressions. Already, despite the clear damage to her ribcage and the swirling torrent of fatigue mutually ravaging their bodies through tonight’s hectic contest, Belinda stood strong as ever. But the wolf wouldn’t allow herself to be uttered. Victory was so close. Nearly within her grasp. All it required was action of a considerably...bolder nature.

Just a few steps out of striking distance, Manami would suddenly adjust her grip on the pipe, twirling it in her hand into a backhand grip. She handled it now less like an iron bat and more akin to an olympic javelin. The reasoning would come soon enough.

Reeling the bar back and, with a cry mixed in frustration and anger, she’d hurl the instrument straight towards Belinda’s center, throwing herself forward in the effort. Whether it hit or not was of little concern, for her next action would be the same regardless. She’d lunge forward, chasing after the veteran with the same force she’d thrown the pipe, before leaping up high and attempting to bring the woman down with a stiff knee strike to her jaw.

Belinda glared over at Manami as she had risen up towards her feet, she had a focused look to her, eyes were perked up and she was working through what she could do to put Manami Kuroda away. The Wolf Girl was one hell of a competitor, she was tough, she was strong and she was skilled. All of that combined made the whole package as deadly as they came. Her name was without a doubt a fitting one, as it felt as if she was fighting an actual wolf....

The Swede would take a deep breath, her side ached like crazy with every breath she took. Shaking her head a little as she grit through the pain, trying to shake it off. That was when Manami shifted her grip on that pipe, she was pretty sure she knew what was coming and she would have to be ready for it, bringing her arms up. Then the pipe came flying towards her, Belinda would duck her head down...to avoid the flying pipe....but that wasn't all that the blond did.

She rushed forward following her ducking down, closing the distance between her and Manami. As her foe took to running towards her. Trying to intercept the Wolf Girl and catch her unaware, looking to raise Manami up off of her feet after she crashed into the green and white clad fighter. Belinda would then try and throw Manami down hard onto the canvas, attempting to hit the brunette with a surprise spinebuster!

An annoyed huff worked its way out from between Manami’s lips. She hadn’t fully expected anything to come from her haphazard attempt at a throw. The Swede had been eyeing her carefully with an admonishing glare the whole way, studying the wolf’s movements as the tension between the two intensified to ever greater degrees. Landing a strike would take calculation, planning, not a shot in the dark. Any fool could see that.

Nevertheless, there was tinge of disappointment in not being able to witness the pipe crack upside the Swede’s impeccably wretch-inducing countenance. Just a sliver of blood, a cut anywhere on that bright face would have at least amounted to a good bit of entertainment. Carved the wolf a clear path for her follow-up. But there was no reason to be deterred. Belinda was forced to duck to avoid the blow and unknowingly seal her fate, putting her in the perfect position for Manami’s strike.

At least, that was the intention. With a burst of life, the young Northman suddenly lunged forward fresh off her evasion. Manami’s eyes widened, bringing her arms up to mitigate the collision, hoping to end up in a favorable position. Belinda, however, hadn’t come into this blind. In a spirited display of strength, she used her momentum to shoot the Wolf Girl into the air, slamming her back down harshly against the canvas, sending a tidal wave of agony up and down her spine. Stunned, paralyzed, and overtaken, Manami laid with her arms spread wide, her eyes close in a tight grimace as her mind attempt to make sense of the damage. Her fists curled, yearing a clear desire to rouse back to life.

She doubted very much, however, that Belinda would waste the opportunity in front of her. Tenacity was the woman’s strong suit, after all.