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

Gwendolyn had been taken down due to her need to throw insults but Akiha was not going to make the same mistake. She would charge in, closing the distance between herself and her opponent, intent on getting her revenge. The crimson hair wrestler would then raise her arm up and attempt to hit her fellow Japanese wrestler with a clothesline.

Yet just as her attack connected with Masuyo, her opponent would grab hold of her arm, causing Akiha eyes to widen as she was taken by surprise. She would then feel the raven hair wrestler arm wrap around her neck. Before she could even start to perform any sort of counter, she would be brought down for a DDT but instead of hitting the canvas, her head would hit the turnbuckle, causing her head to bounce off it before then landing on the canvas, out cold at the moment.

That worked out better than she thought it would. Not that she got away unscathed. Masuyo was still feeling some of the effects from that clothesline in her chest, but it was definitely better to go with it than fight against it. The result spoke for itself: Ahika was down for the count and she wasn’t.

Masuyo rolled the crusader off to the side as she got up to one knee. She was about to go for the pin until her ring sense got the better of her. In the event Ahika kicked out, she wanted her as far away from the ropes as possible. She pushed herself up to two feet, stepping out of the corner and going to grab her boot then...

...why was everyone cheering?

Oh. Right. She just decked them both. Albeit not in a very flashy manner, but the crowd was seeing beyond that. They weren’t just seeing the rookie in action, but seeing she had a chance. It was still way too early to celebrate, though. She still had to go for the pin, and then there was Gwen to deal with after that. Still plenty of match to go.

Ah, what the hell.

Masuyo puffed her cheeks as she blew a spout of air. She cocked her head to the side camera, grew the biggest smirk she could manage, and dusted off her shoulder.

Right, back to it. She reached down and grabbed Ahika’s boot, looking to drag her from the corner to the middle of the ring. Assuming the redhead hadn’t put up too much a fight, she’d hook the woman’s leg and start the pin.

Hitting the turnbuckle had left Akiha temporally knocked out. The crimson hair wrestler was now laid out on the canvas, with barely any signs of movement. The Japanese crusader would then be grabbed by the boot as her fellow Japanese wrestler would then drag her into the middle of the ring. When her opponent got on top of her and went for the pin the only reaction to come out of Akiha would be a bit of a groan as her eyes were still shut. The referee would then slide beside the two female Japanese wrestlers and start the count by raising her hand up before starting to bring it down.

“ONE!”

At the moment there wouldn't be any real signs of life coming from Akiha as her eyes remained shut, it seemed the DDT into the turnbuckle had done a real number on her.

ONE!

Whoa, she might actually pull this off.

It was too early in the pin attempt to be exactly swelling with confidence, but that was one slap and the redhead had barely even stirred. That DDT was haphazard at best and she’d worried she’d given Ahika more time than she should have to recover by taking a brief moment to showboat.

That didn’t seem to be that case on the surface. The crowd was looking on wide-eyed, seeming to adopt the rookie’s disbelief that she might actually score a pin hardly a minute in the ring. Her plan was to just keep her down and tucker her out. Pin early, pin often. Something she picked up in her time here. If she actually managed to get an elimination, the rest should be a cakewalk. She thought the felt the crusader rouse to life a bit beneath her, but passed it off as her imagination. The heat in here must be getting to her.

One down, one more to go. Thought the cocky MMA fighter.

TWO!

Akiha would groan as her fellow Japanese wrestler laid on top of her for the pin attempt. She wouldn’t make any movement as the referee brought her hand down for the one count. The audience would start to blow the roof off the stadium with their cheers as they saw the hand of the referee coming down for the two count. The referee hand would once again hit the mat for a two count and would start the three count.

The Japanese wrestler would kick out as the referee just began to start to bring her hand down. As long as she stayed in the match, Imperial Order would have the advantage as the duo could double-team their Japanese opponent. The crimson hair wrestler would attempt to start slowly rolling away, trying to get to the ropes.

One second. Just one more second and Akiha would be done. Just one more second and she’d have to take the long walk of shame up that ramp and leave things to her better half. Just one more second and she’d have Gwendolyn all to herself.

Should have known better than to rely on wishful thinking. The crusader sprung to life and kicked out just an instant before the official's hand put her out of the game. As she did, she rolled out from under the Demon and made her way to the safety of the ropes.

She clicked her tongue. “It's like that, huh?”

Masuyo crawled after her at first, thinking she could get her body over the woman before she got away again. By the time she’d make her way up to two feet, however, Akiha had made just enough distance on her to make it over to the ropes. Masuyo slapped her hand against the canvas and went to stand up.

Lucky.

The Japanese wrestler had managed to kick out at the last moment. Not wasting a moment she would roll towards the ropes, attempting to put some distance between herself and her fellow Japanese wrestler. As she started to roll away, her opponent would give a bit of a chase but it seemed Akiha managed to get to the ropes before her opponent could catch her causing a bit of a reaction from Masuyo.

She would then take a moment to catch her breath as she would then reach out and grab the bottom rope with one hand. The crimson hair wrestler would then start to pull on the rope and get to her hands and knees before then grabbing onto the middle rope and trying to get to her feet while still holding onto the ropes. Hopefully, she could get back into the match and deal out some damage before then tagging in her partner and use the number games to dominate this match.

Her inexperience was starting to show a bit when she didn’t charge straight after Ahika as soon as she was back on her feet. Ropes weren’t a thing in the octagon. She’d never had to rely on them personally, either, and just preferred to play things by ear. Safe to say, then, that the technicalities were somewhat lost on her.

Did she have to wait for her to let go? Give her a few more seconds? Could she have just gone on the attack straight away again?

What it amounted to was a couple more seconds of breathing time than Masuyo probably shouldn’t have allowed. She shifted her weight back and forth from one leg to the next, eyes darting between her opponent and the referee. Her impatience got the better of her, though. This wasn’t the time for second-guessing. She had an opening and she was taking it.

Masuyo lunged from the center of the ring towards the crusader. At top speed she’d dive low at the last moment, going to wrap her arms around Ahika as they bounced back against the ropes to take her down to the mat.

The crimson hair wrestler had managed to steal herself a bit of a break, letting her take in some oxygen into her body as she grabbed onto the ropes and started to get onto her feet. She wasn’t too sure why her opponent wasn’t attacking her, maybe she waiting for Akiha to get back on her feet so she could hit her with something big. Still, the more time she got to recover meant the more time Gwendolyn also got to recover as well and get back into the fight, so from a certain point of view, time was on her side.

Once she was on her feet, she would then be tackled at her legs, causing the red hair wrestler to lose her balance as her back then bounce against the ropes before she was then slammed back down into the ground. “Arrh” stated the Japanese Crusader as she landed on the canvas of the ring as she had taken off guard by the attack.

Masuyo’s tactic may have looked plenty headstrong from anyone looking in from the outside. It was straightforward, rough, and likely easily avoided if Akiha had one more second to herself.

But Masuyo was willing to bet that the crusader’s performance on the ground wouldn’t be able to shape up to hers. She was good on the mat, but Masuyo knew she was better. She was heavier, stronger, and far more rugged than her noble counterpart. So long as she kept up the pressure and didn’t let her slip away into the air, she’d be able to squeeze a submission out of her before Gwen got her head screwed on straight.

This was her chance. Akiha was on the canvas and in Demon territory now. She wasn’t letting her just slip out this time.

Forcing Akiha down onto her back, Masuyo would scramble up from her waist to straddle herself over her midsection. Planting herself over the crusader, she’d reach out and attempt to grab the smaller woman’s forearm, slamming it down into the canvas while the MMA maven snuck her other arm up from underneath, establishing a tight kimura lock.