AJ Shay vs Remi Tachibana - Determination vs Grace

Match Type: Standard Match
Victory Conditions: Pinfall, submission, or KO.

Alexa had been working hard since her last match, with her last opponent in fact. Suzumi was a seasoned veteran, one who had given her not only access to a vast resource of old taped matches from older promotions, but some personal tips on things to round out her skill set. The big focus had been on strikes, which was notably one of her weakest fields outside of her chops. Tonight she was going to put her new moves to the test.

She had been fiddling with her new kick pads for awhile now, trying to secure them comfortably on. She was use to moving without the extra bulk of both those and knee pads, but for now at least she needed them to keep herself from doing damage to herself as well as her foe. As she stood up, Alexa bounced a bit on the balls of her feet, frowning slightly. These were going to take getting used to.

She didn't know what to expect from the person she was up against tonight. They were billed as “Graceful Remi”. She didn't know much of her aside from that. Alexa assumed she must have been a dancer or something? It made sense, but it could have just been a name to push a gimmick. Either way she was looking forward to getting a shot at someone newer to AFW, maybe she would be on similar footing. “Let's do this…”

---

Theme:

Alexa pushed her way past the curtains onto the stage, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she moved to the top of the ramp. She bobbed her head with the music, looking out over the crowd. She got a decent rise, despite her relatively unknown status. Having a decent bout and endorsement from. Wrestle Angel had done her well on that front at least. She pat her thigh lightly with the music waiting for just the right moment.

As the music picked up to the chorus, she threw up an arm, pumping it to the two syllable breakdown of the word "action" within the lyrics. She sprang to life, jogging down the ramp with a notable spring in her step. She had on her biggest brightest smile, trying to make a good impression. A few people seemed to be into her or her music well enough to reach out to her. She went out of her way to brush hands and slap high fives. It was a small but thankful change from her last showing.

Bursting into a run at the base of the ramp, she threw herself down under the bottom rope to roll into the ring. Popping up to her feet, she moved to the far corner, stepping up on the bottom ropes to rise up just slightly to throw up her arms, flashing a double V sign, something she picked up from Suzumi’s videos.

Moving back towards the center of the ring, she took a moment to stretch out her arms and legs, setting her focus towards the stage. Alexa gave her cheeks a light pat, waking herself up a bit. This was another chance to try to make a better impression. “Alright, Graceful Remi…” She whispered to herself. “I’m ready for you…”

Another match for tonight, and Remi Tachibana was planning to get herself a win under her belt. Considering that this would be her second match in AFW, it would be time for her to leave her mark here in this wrestling promotion, showing everyone who she was and what she was capable of. Never being a modest person, Remi already concluded that this match would end with her win, especially since her opponent was just a rookie. She had quite a large share of rookies being beaten prior to her joining AFW, and this wouldn't be any different.

Already donning her wrestling outfit, designed to be both eye-catching and practical, and perfectly displayed her curvaceousness, Remi took a sip of her favorite drink, Dr. Pepper as she waited for her cue to enter the ring. Once her entrance music, Endless Dash, was played, she took one more sip before she handed the half-empty can to a backstage worker so that she could make her entrance.

Remi Tachibana:

True to her nickname, Remi walked down the ramp in graceful stride, ignoring the mixed reactions from the crowd. It's already expected, considering that while she might show quite an arrogant persona, making herself detestable to the crowd, she also displayed quite a technical prowess in wrestling. It's no wonder that people were both cheering and booing her.

So, once she finally arrived at the ring, she would climb up the steel steps before slipping through the ropes to enter the ring. She would blow some kisses here and there before she looked at her opponent, Alexa. Smirking quite arrogantly, she would place one of her hands on her hips, tilting her head before saying, "So, are you ready to be schooled, rookie?" At the moment, she still considered Alexa to be a mere rookie. "I'll show you how real wrestler fight..."

Alexa's light warm up bouncing between her boots came to an end once her opponent's music hit the speakers. She slowly backed away from the middle of the ring, taking a moment to adjust her father's elbow pad. She gave a soft thoughtful nod at the track, unfamiliar but she liked it. It sounded sounded like something she could have imagined in a video game, but was almost certain she hadn't ever heard it before. As Remi started down the ramp, she raised a brow curiously. It was true that she looked pretty, even moved rather elegantly, but Alexa had to question what it was she was wearing. She fidgeted a bit, trying to imagine herself in that before shaking her head dismissively. No thanks. The reaction she was getting from the crowd was interesting. If this woman had a history outside of AFW, she wasn't familiar enough to know why she was getting such a mixed reception.

Alexa met Remi's smirk with her own smile, giving the woman a small upnod in silent greeting, the arrogant nature of her opponent's open look seemingly lost on her, until she spoke anyway. Her brow furrowed slightly. She was under the impression Remi was a rookie as well... to AFW anyhow. It was possible she had been in any number of any promotions. After all, up until she moved to Japan, professional wrestling outside of the states was a bit beyond her. She drew in a deep breath, huffing softly. Whatever Remi's experience, she knew what she was doing. Trying to psyche her out, intimidate her. It wasn't going to happen. Suzumi had talked to her at length about the type of people AFW, Friction especially had waiting to get shots at fresh faces like her. She wasn't going to let this woman win the match before the bell even started.

"My name is AJ." She clapped a hand on her shoulder, rotating her arm like a crank as she stared Remi down. "Sorry, I'm not here on a Student Visa. More than happy to give you a... POP quiz though!" She twisted her upper body, pivoting on her back foot to display one of the high kicks she had been working on, not nearly close enough to actually hit Remi, she wouldn't try to cheap shot the woman. Once she was done showing off, she lowered  her foot back to the mat to return to her light bouncing on the balls of her feet. She gave  the woman a small wink, extending her palm to beckon her opponent with with a grin. She was feeling fired up, ready to dive into this match the second the bell range.

It looked like the newbie got guts, Remi thought. If she was intimidated by what Remi had said, she definitely didn't show it. But then, when Alexa suddenly did her high kick, Remi was almost caught off-guard, taking a step back before she realized that it was merely a demonstration of the girl's capability. Quickly regaining her composure, Remi smiled at Alexa, hands on her hips as she would speak to her in her sophisticated yet arrogant tone. "Oh really? Very well... let's see what you are made of..." Giving the girl a wink of her own, she added, "Hope you do not disappoint me, AJ..."

And so, Remi would wait for the match to begin. Once the referee called for both wrestlers to come to the center of the ring, she would step forward, looking confident and sure of herself as she looked at her opponent. Once both wrestlers seemed ready, the referee would call for the bell, starting the match between Remi and Alexa.

For starter, Remi would hold out her arms in preparation for a contest of strength between the two of them. She was planning that once the two of them were locked up, she would quickly try to twist around while holding one of Alexa's arms, looking to twist her arm behind her back for a good old hammerlock!

“Hmph. I’m not doing this for you. I am doing this for myself, and them.” She pointed a thumb lightly to her chest then off to the side. In time with her hand motioning to the crowd, she nodded her head into their direction as well. “No offense or anything, I sure you have some lofty standards for me to live up to, but that's not really what I am here for.” She gave Remi a small apologetic smile, though it was pretty clear she was being sarcastic.

As the bell sounded, she moved to meet Remi in the center of the ring. She was certainly more sure of herself tonight than most nights, though it was more determination than confidence. She hadn't had a whole lot of luck in Japan this far, but recently she had gotten on the right track to improvement with the guidance of her friend Ryoko and some coaching from Suzumi. Things were looking up, she needed to make these woman proud for believing in her.

She came to a slow stop before Remi, ready and willing to lock up and go for a traditional tie up when she noted the raised arms calling for something different. A test of strength. She was hesitant to trust the woman to actually follow through completely, but felt obligated to meet her honorably on the off chance it was an honest beginning. It could be the other woman’s attitude was strictly for show after all. This woman might have been super nice outside of the ring.

Raising her hands to Remi’s, she cautious laced their fingers together. Stepping in to start to apply a bit of force to their lockup. They had barely even been together when her opponent made her move. True to her namesake, the swift motion she slipped around Alexa and hooked her arm up against her back was rather graceful. For obvious reasons, the brunette wasn't about to give the woman praise.

She wobbled at first as her arm was wrenched up behind her, almost losing her footing as she leaned off to the side with the hold. She briefly struggled, testing how well she was actually locked in to see if she could pull herself free. She winced as the hold tightened, Remi obviously knew what she was doing. Thankfully when it came to many of the more traditional holds, so did Alexa.

She dipped down to the side, trying to backpedal herself to slip right past Remi, ducking down under her own arm she would twist her body to try to grasp the arm holding hers to reverse the hammerlock into one of her own. If she managed to lock it in, she would give it a few hard cranks, just to let her opponent knew she knew what she was doing before trying to just shove the woman away, free from the hold.

Once Remi got her opponent into the hammerlock, she would give her a few hard cranks, applying pressure in the hold, but it seemed that Alexa wasn't just a mere rookie, as she immediately reversed the move, twisting around before putting Remi in a hammerlock of her own. Grimacing slightly as her opponent put her in the hammerlock, she was then pushed away, freed from the hold. But it was clear now that she wasn't dealing with a mere amateur. While the girl before her might be a mere rookie, she was in no way unskilled.

"Heh..." Still, Remi smiled, knowing that her opponent might pose a challenge after all. After their brief exchange, Remi decided to get close again, this time she would go for a more traditional tie up, getting Alexa into a collar-and-elbow stand-up grappling position, clinching one hand around the back of the neck while the other hand would go to the elbow. She would like to see how well Alexa would do as Remi would combine both the grappling maneuver and her own footwork to put her under pressure.

As Alexa shoved Remi away, she took a few steps back, shaking out the arm that had been targeted by her opponent. She was trying hard to stay composed, practicing a calm and collected breathing technique. She looked like stone, but felt like jello. Her heart was pounding at the first brief encounter that could have gone far worse. This woman was quick, and clearly knew what she was doing. She bobbed a bit, bouncing gently on the balls of her feet to keep herself from lingering too long and getting caught unprepared.

She wasn't sure what to make of Remi's smile. It didn't seem to be the sort of warm friendly smile others she had wrestled against had given her. Up until now, she never really faced anyone that came across as outwardly threatening really. Sure, all of them had been better than her, but in the end they had all become friends. She wasn't sure about this one. She couldn't help but feel like she was a plate of meet to this woman. "Hm." She met the small sound with one of her own, watching the woman opposite her very carefully.

As Remi lunged in, she instinctively flinched, but was fast to cover it up my stepping in to grapple with her foe head on, following sure by locking her hands down on the woman. She was mindful not to over extend her pushing inward, as well as being caution every time Remi loved, looking to avoid sweeps and leg captures. In terms of where the two went, the brunette seemed to mostly be following her opponent's lead at first due to a healthy dose of paranoia. After the hammerlock, he had been expecting another similar quick turn around move, one that didn't come. It worked to Remi's advantage, being able to position the two of them a bit better. Alexa's ring awareness seemed rather decent though, forcing the two to circle away from the corners if she was attempted to be blocked in.

Now grappling with Alexa in the collar-and-elbow tie up, Remi would dictate the direction of their movements, putting her opponent under pressure. The girl was no slouch either, keeping up with Remi's movement as they grappled with each other. She could tell that her opponent was wary of her due to her hammerlock earlier, which served Remi just fine. Now that Alexa was acting cautious while locking up with her, she would be able to take the initiative and bring the two of them to a direction that she desired. And she had her mother to thank to for her usage of wrestling psychology.

While her mother wasn't an active wrestler anymore, she remained an important figure in wrestling, and she had been training numerous students right now. And Remi had trained under her, learning on how to utilize wrestling psychology to bring the flow of a match in a way she desired. While the two of them might have several disagreements in the past, the knowledge that her mother had imparted to her had become something that Remi truly valued.

But enough about a brief moment of sentimentality during the match as Remi was planning to shift the direction they were going. After grappling with Alexa for a while, Remi would try to shift her positions, making use of the hand that she placed on the back of Alexa's neck to pull her closer so that she could drape her arm over the back of the neck, in which she planned to shift into a neck wrench or front chancery, this time applying pressure on the girl's neck.

Perhaps overly cautious wasn't doing her any favors. So ready was she for just about anything that when nothing came she was left awkwardly following Remi’s lead as if the two were dancing rather than wrestling. When she was drawn in with an arm around her neck. She had been keeping her legs so safe, her upper body was low enough to make it easy for her for to take advantage of.

Alexa grunted as Remi’s bicept tightened around her, the woman's forearm digging in just below her chin to work to choke her out. She reached up and under, hooking one of her arms around to clamp down on the other woman's shoulder, trying to keep her leaned in close so she couldn't straighten up and wrench in the hold any worse than it was.

Her other hand rested on Remi’s thigh, trying to steady herself at first to keep her balance as the woman cranked on her head. She was at the other girls mercy for quite awhile, struggling in vain to try to pull free before finding it an impossible task. She put her efforts into a new approach, using her lower center of gravity to attempt to press in her shoulder into Remi’s midsection to try and force the woman backwards towards the ropes. If she managed to get the two of them to the ropes, she would immediately try for a rope break.

Remi wrenched Alexa's head, applying pressure on her neck with the neck wrench, but Alexa wasn't one to just take whatever Remi did to her as she forced her backwards towards the ropes, where Alexa would take advantage of by seizing a rope break, which would force Remi to let go of her. The referee would come over to her and start counting, and Remi would let go of her opponent's head, releasing her as she would then step away from her, keeping her eyes on her as she did so.

"So, what's next?" Remi asked, smiling confidently. While Alexa had been keeping up with all her moves, she was certain that the rookie would soon get herself into trouble the more pressure she put on her. She would distance herself from Alexa, smiling at her as if trying to taunt her, making a hand gesture to beckon the girl to come and get her. She was planning to take on whatever Alexa would throw at her, and try to deal with it, depending on what she would try to do to her.