Sayumi Arai vs. Valley Doll - Turn the Page

Valley brought Sayumi down hard and forced her body into arch, testing her flexibility and enduring the lingering pain from the earlier attack. She wasn’t too confident on this working - Sayumi seemed to competent to get pinned this early on, too strong from something like a German Suplex to do the trick. But it was more about the mental aspect. Getting under Sayumi’s skin. For all her skill, she was clearly nervous about this whole thing, and few things rattled a wrestler more than being one second away from a loss.

Up went her hands, up came her shoulder, and the referee’s hand froze in mid-air as the pin was broken. It wasn’t a real kick out, not enough to save her from Valley’s grasp, just enough to keep her in the match. The real effort came next.

Valley held on as Sayumi kicked her legs out, forced to roll with her as the moment took them both around. Not a bad thing, really, as it ended up with her on top and Sayumi facing the floor. So many options.

Looking to keep the pressure up, Valley scrambled up Sayumi’s body and attempted to plant her knee in the small of the woman’s back, looking to keep her pinned down. At the same time, she reached around and tried to wrap her hands around Sayumi’s chin, yanking it back, forcing it up into a bad angle.

Not looking for a submission, didn’t think she would get one, but it was a good way to keep grinding away on her. That seemed to be the game, here.

Average onlookers couldn't really understand how difficult it was to break a pinfall that was applied well. To go from a state of zero energy, pressed flat or bent up in a ball to a kinetic jolt of freedom. It was more than raising an arm or kicking your legs. It took energy, and was taxing. Sayumi was feeling that all too well as she managed to topple both women over, rolling onto her stomach.

She had hardly gotten a chance to breath when she felt Valley on top of her, pushing her weight down across her back to keep her flat. No sooner had she tried to shove back than a knee was jammed into her back causing her to involuntarily squeak of all things.

Fingers laced under her chin, drawing her backwards in a painful arch, bringing her back as far as her back allowed before the stain of bone and muscle caused Valley to have to fight for any more ground. The Japanese hands clapped over the other woman's, digging her fingers in as she tried to shake her head and worm herself between the grip of Valley, working to pry herself free.

Her began to shake, trying to roll, to do anything to get Valley off of her. A lesser opponent, perhaps, but Valley was a veteran, a champion, and was still far too fresh to be brute forced out of a position of power. Sayumi was left at her mercy, kicking her boots into the mat as she desperately tried to pull her foe's fingers apart.

Grinding, grinding, grinding. That was the Word of the Day, the one that kept echoing in Valley’s head as she dug into Sayumi’s chin and pulled back, digging her knee into the younger wrestler like a dull knife. Stamina was on this woman’s side - that same energy that Valley had seen in so many of her opponents since coming to the AFW and repeatedly having to tangle with millenials. Starting out strong wasn’t good enough with someone like Sayumi, she’d just keep bouncing back and take her down in the home stretch.

It was effective, too, keeping her opponent locked down and struggling. Sayumi thrashed about hard, expending valuable energy, but it wasn’t getting her anywhere fast - this position was just too solid, too sweet, too grounded. She’d be free when Valley wanted her to be free. The Slamazon could hold this all day, if she wanted.

Luckily for her, she didn’t want that. She had ideas.

”Up...up…” Valley slid her leg off Sayumi’s back and began to rise, forcing her up, still keeping a tight hold on the back of the vibrant wrestler’s chin. She kept pulling back, right up until the moment Sayumi was on her knees, and only then did she let go.

But that didn’t mean she was giving her opponent a rest.

Valley hopped back a second after releasing the hold, lifted her leg up and whipped Sayumi’s spine with a punishing Soccer Kick.

”Double!”

And another one, half a second later.

”Tap!”

Sayumi's resume was relatively unimpressive when it came to her wrestling accomplishments. She was a creature of potential, a good look, ample motivation, and a winning personality. She was a great many things, just not seasoned. It was true she had matches under her belt and was technically undefeated, but all her pas opponents hadn't been people like Valley Doll.

Despite winning not an inch of ground, she fought through her head being cranked backwards, not holding a single centimeter without providing all the resistance she could. She had always been a bit of wildfire, a huge surge of energy that would in time burn itself out and here was no exception. The veteran was reading her like a book.

While it served Valley little favor to let her free from her clutches, it did wonders for the crowd who were excited to see each change in the match as it unfolded. Sayumi let out a long frustrated groan as she was dragged up to her knees like some manner of sacrifice to the wrestling Gods.

Valley's shin guards cracked loudly, echoing throughout the arena too the hisses and "Oooooo"s of the crowd as Sayumi was left wide eyed and screaming without audible sound. Her body tensed with the impact, fingers bending into claws as she suffered the sting that shot up her back light lightning. Before she could even think about recovering another came, arching her back as it slammed into her. She wobbled forward on her knees, collapsing back down to the mat with a howl of agony, clutching her back with both hands and kicking at the canvas.

Good impact on those kicks, even by Valley’s usual standards. Nice torque, managed to get a good degree of her body weight behind them, quick and fast and with a real sting to them, if Sayumi’s shrill shriek was anything to go by. Almost made her feel bad for the girl, but she’d clearly came here for the full Slamazon experience. She wasn’t going to leave disappointed, not if Valley could help it.


She whistled and took a step back to shake her leg, getting the feeling back as Sayumi rolled around. People often asked her why she bothered wearing the shin guards, thinking they would just dull her force, and this was a textbook example of their best use - protecting her legs from the force they could create.


Still with a mindset to keep the pace up, Valley dipped down and grabbed Sayumi’s head from behind, hauling her up to her feet whether she was ready or not - especially if she wasn’t ready, in fact. The second she was up on her feet, she grabbed her opponent’s arm, twisted about, and attempted to send her running towards the corner with a fierce Irish Whip, looking to create some distance between them.


And punish that spine a little more, if she turned around and hit the pads. That would have to suck.

"Auuugh…" Sayumi let out a quiet whine to herself, blinking the tears from her eyes that the sharp impacts had brought out of her. She had ceased her kicking, digging her boots I to the mat to slowly push herself away from where Valley had been. One hand still on her back, the other aided on her slow retreat… or did until the other woman grabbed hold of her from behind.

The lavender hair girl let out a small hit as she was jerked upward, rekindling the slowly fading pains in her back as she was brought up to her feet. She tugged at her arm, trying to free it from Valley's grasp but the sudden pull of seeing whipped to the ropes saw her make no progress before being sent off.

She staggered at first, fumbling in her footing as she was thrown forward like a rocket, struggling to keep up. Her footing even out, preventing her from toppling face first forward and eating the mat, her the pace she was set at from her opponent saw her rushing towards the post. She winced proactively, knowing what the safest course of action was… turn and take the brunt of this moment on her back. Given how Valley was breaking her down at this point, taking many more big hits to her spine was going to lead to a crippling submission down the road… she couldn't have that.

She swallowed hard at option two… reaching her arms forwards, hands outstretched in waiting. Sher fingers clenched around one of the ropes, the other clapping down on a turnbuckle as he last step was a high one, pushing off the bottom turnbuckle to jump herself up and over the corner. Her arm strained as it there's her to the ring, whipping her back around to land on the opposite side of the ropes on the apron.

Her other hand immediately reached out to grab the ropes, pulling her close enough to cling to them to keep from falling to the outside. She looked wide eyes and breathless, like someone who had narrowly avoided being hit by a car when crossing the street. Her big bright eyes slowly drifted to Valley, giving the other woman a nervous smile.

The moment Valley released Sayumi, she took off in the opposite direction, not even bothering to see if the woman would go with the flow. She didn’t need to, not really - this match was getting more and more into her wheelhouse with each second, and she wasn’t about to relinquish control. No doubts, no fears, she had this.

With practised ease, Valley swung her body around right in front of the opposite turnbuckle, swinging her leg about and dropping into a runner’s stance. She was only there for an instant. Muscles tight. Back poised. Arms at the ready. Prepared and pumped.

Fire away.

She took off after Sayumi at full dash, closing in on her from behind as she made her way to the corner. It was a simple plan, really. The moment Sayumi hit the turnbuckle, Valley was going to leap and hit her with a flying knee to the chest. Or face. Probably the chest. Hard to plan those particulars. Regardless, it was going to do some big damage, maybe even lay her out, and it would be a great setup for the Full Moonsault and the win.

But, as plans in wrestling often did, things didn’t work out quite the way she’d planned it.

Valley was just jumping when Sayumi did her move, flipping over the ropes in a single, deft maneuver. It could’ve been a train wreck on both sides if she hit the woman in mid-air, but thankfully, that wasn’t to be. Unthankfully, it did mean that Valley no longer had a target for her knee to connect with. Unless you counted the unoccupied corner.

Her knee slammed into the top pad, she bounced off, landed on her back, and rolled away to come down on her feet...and stayed there. Her leg was stinging from the impact. Not serious damage, but she’d need a moment or two for it to wear off and get back in kicking condition.

Sayumi yelped, jerking back from the post as Valley slammed into it despite being well outside of the dangers zone for the big strike. She blinked, wide eyed at what could have easily been her face of she had done what she thought was the right move. Maybe it had been, which is how Valley had been so sure that she followed up as she had. Playing things safe was going to make her predictable…

As her opponent tumbled back, Cherry Bomb was already pulling herself up onto the turnbuckles. Boots pushing off the ropes as she climbed don't the post in a crouch. She wasn't a high flyer, not even in the least… which is why this seemed like a good follow-up. She couldn't afford to hesitate though, once she found her balance she rose fast, kicking off the post to launch herself in the direction of Valley.

She rotated in the air, arms and legs spread wide to become as much of a target as she could as she soared. Sayumi had breathed in, holding it to breath out as she landed, hit or not, in a big cross body at the veteran, trying to take the woman to the mat and go for a sudden pinfall.

Valley really had nobody to blame but herself, here. She was in control, she had the match going at her own pace, and that made her complacent. If she’d been thinking clear, she wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to follow after Sayumi, and then…

No, that wasn’t fair. Sayumi was just good. That move she’d pulled off had been slick, and she’d fallen into the trap. No sense taking away her accomplishment.

It was only a momentary setback, anyway. Valley was already starting to push her way back up, getting the feeling back into her leg, ready to pick up where she started.

Or so she thought.

That idea was squashed when she looked up and saw a flying Sayumi, heading straight for her. Valley was able to get her hands up in anticipation, but at this point, that was like trying to stop a cannonball with tissue paper. It just was not happening.

She came down hard with Sayumi on top, making the ropes quiver, and the referee immediately dropped down for the pinfall.

”1…!”

Valley had to take in some air, needing a big gulp to get the strength for this kick out. Her vision was hazy, too, which wasn’t helping things. Funny how such a simple move could take so much out of you.

”2…!”

She threw her hand up right as the referee did the same, beating the three-count by an uncomfortable margin. Hurting, yes, but safe. For now.

Sayumi wasn't what one would consider a high flyer. It wasn't that she couldn't handle the technique or anything, she took pretty quickly to most of her ring work. It was getting over the doubt. Hesitation was one of the worst enemies when it came to aerial moves. Windows of times were tight and failure to land was crippling for the person at the wheel. She had pushed past that all now. She needed to catch back up and playing things safe wasn't an option anymore.

She came down hard across Valley, bringing them both to the mat in a clatter. She wasn't particularly heavy, but it too a strong body and a quick reaction to catch overy a hundred pounds of person being thrown at you. She bounced on top of the veteran, her own fall cushioned by crushing the form under hers. She was too far up to really reach for a leg, so she doubled down by spreading her legs to straddle an arm why folding her arms over the top of Valley's other arm, hunkering down on top of the woman to make it as hard as possible for her to power out.

Cherry Bomb let out a soft sound of surprise as she was suddenly buckled, just enough to break the count. She had started to believe she had it, it had been an incredibly close call. Now was no time to give up her advantage though. She brought her hands to Valley's shoulder, using her weight and leverage to roughly shove her back to the mat. She twisted her body, shifting over top of her opponent to lay across her body… her first thought was to go for a grapevine and a smother. Old standbys for her… the old her. She knew she could make it work, wear her down… but that wasn't part of what she wanted to be known for now. That was who she use to be…

Sayumi threw a leg on either side of Valley's waist, straddling her midsection. She gave her backside a small wiggle, nestling herself down comfortably upon the other womans lap, ready for the long haul. Leaning back she started to start to rise, attempting to jerk her opponent's upper body with her. After they had cleared the mat enough, she reached an arm back behind Valley's head to capture it under arm. She continued to draw herself back as she bent Valley forward trying to cinched in a sitting guillotine choke. She used her free arm to try and hook one of Valley's free arms to lock the limb down, denying her options. "My turn now."