AV 17 Tag Title: Imperial Order (c) vs. Masuyo & Valley Doll

The elbow drop served two purposes. Maybe three.

First, it put a stop to Gwendolyn’s escape, stopping her dead in her tracks before she could make it to the ropes. Important, for what was coming next.

Second, it worked on her spine, and setup something that she could make exponentially worse with a few effective moves. Also important for what was coming next.

Third, it was fun and got some payback on Gwen for her earlier cracks. Not important by itself, but satisfying.

As Gwen languished on the floor, flat on her back, Valley was quick to roll on top of her and get back to work. She intended to tag Masuyo in soon, but before that, she would be remiss if she didn’t do something to even the score with the haughty heiress. ”Got something special for you, princess.”

Facing towards Gwen’s head, she reached back and pulled her legs back, tucked them under her arms, looking like she was about to go for the rarely seen and not quite effective reverse Boston Crab. That notion was erased, however, when she reached forward and grabbed Gwendolyn’s arms, too.

The audience’s cheers rose as Valley planted her feet on the floor, took a deep breath, and rose to a stand, holding Gwendolyn aloft with an ever rarer variation on the Boston Crab: the Rocking Horse.

The fleet-footed movements of her Californian foe were becoming an irksome nuisance for the pampered socialite, and something that Gwendolyn assumed wouldn't be an issue since Valley was so dreadfully advanced in her age, at least in terms of wrestling years.

Hence why she was just as surprised as she was in pain by the time Valley had already shortened the distance between them and spiked her back down to the canvas to a deadened slump with the flying elbow drop. One misstep was leading into a slippery slope whose descent Gwendolyn was struggling to halt before she suddenly found her ankles being grasped and her legs curved over herself from behind. A token scrambling crawl to the ropes while she still had use of her hands didn't aid in the slightest as Gwen found her arms tugged back and the rest of her suddenly weightless.

"HRgh...Unhand me, you impertinent peasant!!!" Gwen snarled out from her precarious position, teetering helplessly a few inches off of the canvas and much to the riled up amusement from the audience. The strain on her curved spine being compounded by the aforementioned leaping elbow drop, an aching discomfort that was still secondary in priority to the sheer indignity of being trussed up between Valley's legs with only her spiteful words as her sole source of fledgling resistance.

As silly as the move looked, the Rocking Horse was one of the more effective wrestling moves in Valley’s arsenal. That being said, there was a reason she hadn’t busted it out in over half a decade. The move was pretty much the definition of a double-edged sword.

On one hand, it was one of the more painful variations on the Boston Crab. It bent the spin at an awkward angle, and the effect of gravity gave it more torque than usual. Not only that, but there was no way to escape. You were pretty much stuck in it until your opponent got tired and let you go.

Which led to the other hand, the big problem with the move: It was hard to maintain. Gwen wasn’t heavy by any stretch of the imagination, but Valley wasn’t that strong by any stretch of the imagination. She could only support this weight for so long. Luckily, she knew what to do with it. ”I’ll let you go in a minute, Gwen. We just have to take a little walk, first.”

She took baby steps back towards their corner, nodding to Masuyo as they neared. ”Get ready to tag in soon, I’m almost ready. Just need to…” The second she was close enough, Valley thrusted her hips forward and sent Gwen swinging into the middle pad of the turnbuckle, letting her hit it with her unprotected face. Once. Twice. Three times.

Masuyo was probably enjoying this a bit more than she should have in a match like this.

Not that it was always like that. She found herself biting her nails at times, one being when Gwen reversed her partner’s kick and put her in If that was her up against Valley again, that strike would have caught her clean. Knocked her right on the noggin and put her in a daze for at least a good few seconds. She was starting to get an idea of what she was really up against. Maybe this wasn’t going to be as simple as she thought.

At the same time, though, it was hard for her to not enjoy seeing Snooty and Stiff getting taken down a peg. Stiff would have to come later, actually, but Snooty was getting worked over pretty well. Masuyo raised her eyebrows at the interesting hold Val had gotten the heiress in. Looked painful. Even more so as the two came her way.

“Sure thing. Take your time.”

She’d never seen this kind of move before. The Demon just crossed her arms and canted her head to the side a bit, wondering where exactly Valley was going with this. The answer didn’t take very long to come.

“Oh-”

“Holy-”

“Damn.”

Lord, have mercy. That probably didn’t look too bad to the onlookers in the audience, or to the people watching at home. Akiha’s view was probably obstructed from her side of the ring too. Masuyo, though, had a front-row seat for the whole thing. That moment was one that would not be leaving her anytime soon.

Speaking of moments, hers was coming up now. She knew the tag was coming from the moment the two locked. She’d been watching carefully these past few minutes, trying to gauge her soon-to-be opponent as best as she could. They’d gone over this. Their best chance was to hit the Order hard from the get-go. Take one down before they had a chance to regroup. Worked on paper, but in the back of her mind, Masuyo knew she was the only liability in this plan. Not only as a newcomer, but as the only person in attendance that hadn’t even seen her opponents until a month ago. She was going to have to give it her all, soon enough.

The match at first had been going well for Imperial Order but as the match started to progress more and more things were now starting to go south a bit.  Then when Gwendolyn was placed in a rocking horse submission hold and slowly sent to the enemy corner, Akiha decided she had to do something.  The rocking horse was a very humiliating move by the looks of it and had caught everyone attention, this would be something that Akiha would use to her advantage.

While everyone was distracted and looking at the spectacle, the crimson hair wrestler would jump off her corner and land on the ground.  Just as Gwendolyn was sent into the corner, Akiha would rush towards Masuyo, trying to blindside her.  If successful, she would try to grab both of her opponent boots or at least were the boots were supposed to be, a bit to Akiha surprise, it seemed her fellow Japanese wrestler did not wear boots. Regardless she would try to grab both ankles and give a quick yank, trying to get Masuyo to land face first on the canvas and leaving no one for Valley Doll to tag in.  Since neither her or Masuyo were legal wrestlers, she didn't have to worry about being disqualified.

For someone who reigns supreme as the CEO of a multi-national conglomerate, having the utmost control over all facets of her operation was simply good business sense. Gwendolyn always prided herself on having all facets of her life meticulously planned out to the nth degree, and so the very notion of surrendering control over of anything in anyway was utterly ludicrous.

Hence why this particular submission was frustrating Gwendolyn to no end. The pampered socialite snarling through gritted teeth as she hung weightlessly between Valley's legs anf she endured the bending compression on her lower spine. Her natural flexibility afforded her some leeway from the stinging pain in her curved vertebrae, but she still had precisely zero options to fight back or even wriggle her way free. Much to her fuming irritation.

"HHrgh...You've even the slightest notion who you're doing this to you vapid-headed-!!! HE-HEY!!!" Gwendolyn elitist and pompous words being interrupted by the waddling steps taken towards the enemy's turnbuckle, a disconcerting prospect under most circumstances. But even moreso once Valley's intentions were laid bare and Gwen's pretentious face began being smacked into the middle turnbuckle.

"NGH, HuGH, RrH..." Gwendolyn became increasingly dazed and whirl-eyed from every faceplant that bopped her head into the corner. Her sniping comments being jumbled into a mumbled mess as the fans cheered and counted along with every humiliating hip thrust from the dizzying swaying motion. Back and forth...back and forth...bAcK anD forTh...

Masuyo was already holding her hand out for the tag. A bit overzealous on her part considering Valley still had the hold going and the heiress pretty well under wraps. Very well under wraps. God, that even made her dizzy.

Her partner had done a pretty good job of softening Gwen up, but it was up to her to finish things off. Even if the heiress was pretty thoroughly indisposed, it’d be a mistake to lower her guard. Masuyo needed to be on the attack as soon as possible. From the moment she got the word ‘go’. She was already thinking of more than a few ways to press the advantage, too. Couldn’t let the Entropy champion outshine her for too long.

Her hand shook back and forth. Fingers curling erratically, beckoning for their palms to meet and...why was the crowd getting so restless?

It wasn’t something she picked up on, at least not right away. Not that she could have. The noise from the crowd gradually built over the course of a few seconds, from silence to outright yelling in an instant. It all happened so fast that she thought nothing of it until it was too late.

Something grabbed her. Her head whipped around, but all her eyes could see was red. There may have been a mouth a pair of eyes there too. It was all a blur either way, because the next thing she knew, she’d been yanked away from the ring. Her hand slipped like butter from the rope before she fell and banged her forehead against the apron. Whoever this crimson assailant was, they’d left the MMA maven on her stomach for a good couple of seconds. Not that she was going to stay that way. Masuyo let out a groan, placing a hand on the floor as she moved to get up in spite of the pain thumping inside of her skull.

Valley wanted to win this. Really. She wanted to be a two-time champion, to have that notch in her belt, to make her mark in the AFW in a way that few could claim. She also wanted to do it with Masuyo, eager to see such a bright, young talent get some serious acclaim to kick her pro-wrestling career off with.

But even if she did lose, even if they came up short, she had no regrets. It was all worth it, just for the chance to do this to Gwen.

It was a silly looking move, but that was the beauty behind it. Not only was it effective - smacking your opponent’s face against the turnbuckle repeatedly just had to be - but it did damage to the pride as well as the body, and despite having just met, Valley knew that was a weakness for the heiress. It would be the first of many insults, if she had her way.

"And, with this, my life is complete."

But Valley’s fun couldn’t last forever. Her limbs were beginning to strain underneath Gwen’s weight, and she was forced to drop her foe, letting her flop on the floor. Fine. Not a problem. She was about to tag in with Masuyo and take a well-deserved…

Wait, where was Masuyo?

Confused, Valley stepped over to the ropes to see her foe on the floor and Akiha not too far away. She didn’t want to turn away from her opponent for too long, but all the same, she had to lean over the ropes for a moment to check on her. ”Masuyo!” She called down. ”Masuyo, are you okay?”

Akiha had managed to grab Masuyo feet and drag them off the ring.  She would then watch as her fellow Japanese wrestler head hit the edge of the ring before then landing on the ground.  The crimson hair crusader knew it was going to take more than that to keep her opponent down but sure as hell felt good to start getting some revenge but she was still not done.

She would then hear Valley Doll calling, asking if her tag partner was okay.  “Oh, thank you for performing such a distracting move and taking everyone eyes off me, allowing me to get the drop on your partner.” stated Akiha in response to her blonde opponent.  She would then see Masuyo trying to get up, the crimson hair wrestler would then attempt to pull on her fellow Japanese wrestler hair and try to grab her trunk.  If she succeeded, she would then try to throw her head first into the steel steps.

Stupid. She was feeling outright stupid right now.

Even though she couldn’t see her, Masuyo was certain that the redhead that had just pulled her down likely had the worst scowl on her face right now. Wonder how long she’d been brooding in her corner, just waiting for an opening. But honestly, Masuyo had no one to blame but herself. Valley warned her about this already, but she clearly didn’t take that advice to heart.

Well, she was paying for that now.

She felt her hair being grabbed - for, what, the fourth match now? - and another firm grip on her trunks. Her hands went to pull one of them away, but Akiha was being quick about it. She practically tripped over herself as the crusader through her headfirst into the steps. Her head banged right onto the corner of one of the steel steps. Rolling herself onto the apron, her hands slapped to her cranium, laying on her back and trying to dull the pain in whatever way she could.

“I’m...fine!”

Not really. Not even close, but Masuyo knew that her partner had bigger things to worry about than her right now.