The Cowgirl Rides Again! Julia Rogers vs Suzumi Ishikawa

Julia was making progress toward getting out of Suzumi’s hold. It was slow, but progress nonetheless. While she struggled the crowd began to clap in rhythm to cheer on her effort, starting slow but quickly building up in both speed and volume. Even while she fought against the hold Julia repeatedly waved her right hand up matching the beat of the claps, encouraging them to continue rallying behind her. Finally she was able to get a foot underneath her, and felt herself just about to slip out of Suzumi’s grasp. But just before she could, the crafty veteran released her hold and sent a sharp kick right into the blonde’s spine!

“Agh!!” she hissed at the sudden impact, immediately rolling a few feet away to collect herself. With one hand on the small of her back and the other on the mat for support, the cowgirl eased herself around until Suzumi could be seen through the corner of her eye. Julia then began to pick herself up ever so slowly - partly because her back still stung from that kick, and also because she wanted to take just long enough to entice Suzumi into getting impatient and moving in first. If she did, then Julia would abruptly drop down while sweeping her right leg out, aiming to sweep the Angel’s legs right out from under her and send her down to the mat.

If Julia's body had rust to shake off her mind most certainly didn't! Suzumi was a bit impatient and she did begin to advance, getting close enough to try to lunge in for a grapple again! However as Suzumi drew close the leg sweep connected sending her down hard onto her back! "Unnnghhh!" The tsunami groaned as she hit the mat back first, knowing full well she had to get up! Suzumi began a desperate scramble to get back up to her feet, hoping that Julia didn't have anything else planned for a follow-up although that seemed to be an unlikely hope or wishful thinking!

The cowgirl successfully took Suzumi down with her leg sweep, but she had to be quick in following up. Her foe was already starting to pick herself back up. But just before she could get her feet under her, Julia swung her right leg out again, this time aiming a quick but impactful roundouse kick straight at Suzumi’s sternum!

The kick, however, was just a means to an end. She’d tried to time it so that Suzumi wouldn’t have time to catch or fully block the kick, which would mean either it would hit or she would have to quickly lay back down to avoid it. Either of those would put Suzumi on her back, which was right where Julia wanted her.

Whether the kick hit its mark or not, hoping she’d at least succeeded in getting her foe prone once more, she’d follow through with the momentum of her strike until she was brought to stand with her back to the Angel. The moment her foot came back to the mat the masked cowgirl leapt and flipped backward, aiming to splash down on Suzumi with a standing moonsault!

The kick smashed Suzumi in the sternum, eliciting a moan as she fell back onto the mat, gritting her teeth. Unfortunately for Suzumi the real pain was about to follow that. She was laid out as Julia jumped, flipped and crashed down had on Suzumi! "Ungh!" Suzumi was clearly hurting after the moonsault and having trouble keeping up with Julia. She tried to thrust Julia off of her to prevent a pin, although it was clear that Suzumi was in a lot of pain after Julia landed on top of her!

The mid kick/standing moonsault combo was Julia’s favorite go-to move for the early phase of her matches. When well timed it was hard to defend against, on top of the fact that it was just damn fun to do. The cowgirl crashed down onto Suzumi, her sudden athletic display sparking a fresh wave of awed cheers from the crowd!

She was shoved off before she could attempt to pin the Angel, but that was fine. There were other ways she could capitalize on the opportunity here. Quickly shifting behind Suzumi, Julia lifted her head up just enough to allow her to throw her legs out and around the woman’s head and neck. One curled inward, calf seeking to press right under Suzumi’s chin against her neck while tucking under the opposite leg, trying to lock the Tsunami in a Figure-Four Headscissor!

Suzumi now knew why Julia had such a prestigious reputation! She felt like she were fighting Mighty Yukiko at her best in a Wrestle Angels ring again, and before Suzumi could react a headscissor hold was locked in! Suzumi cried out and gagged in pain, thrashing out as she kicked her legs wildly in all directions, trying to move the duo along as best she could! Suzumi pried at Julia's legs hoping that she could create just enough room with her arms pulling as well as her body thrashing, doing everything in her power to escape the strangling hold she found herself in!

The cowgirl felt like she was at a rodeo back home trying her best to stay mounted on a bucking bronco. Oddly enough, Julia had never considered how much those experiences probably helped her in her wrestling matches, particularly in moments like these. It took a considerable effort to keep her headscissor locked in nice and tight while Suzumi wildly thrashed about. She tried to shift in the same directions her foe did to stay properly balanced and maintain the pressure of her scissor hold. It was working, but the former Angel was gradually inching them toward the ropes, something Julia couldn’t do a ton about.

“Rgh! Tap out, Suzumi! I got ya!” Julia growled, reaching to pull back on the foot anchoring in her headscissor to squeeze even more tightly on the Tsunami’s head and neck. With Suzumi being the crafty veteran she was, the cowgirl doubted she’d be able to make her submit before she reached the ropes. But the more she could wear her down now, the better it would serve her in the long run.

Suzumi felt things tighten and right now the submission specialist was feeling totally out classed in the ring by the returning Julia! Gasping, gagging and choking the very red faced Suzumi flailed about her pulling at Julia's legs feeling totally useless. Suzumi began punching and slapping at them as her lower body thrashed about more desperately, the tsunami struggling to reach the ropes before she found herself tapping out quickly to Julia in her return! Suzumi had nothing against Julia, but she did have something against such a poor showing on her part in a match! Reaching her legs out she finally managed to get a foot on the bottom rope, still punching and slapping at Julia's legs as she choked out a call to the referee.

The strikes against her legs caused Julia to wince in pain with each blow, but she persisted and kept her hold locked in while Suzumi continued to drag them toward the ropes. If the cowgirl were stronger maybe she could pull them back toward the middle of the ring. As it was, however, she couldn’t stop the Angel’s efforts toward the ropes. And it was just a few more seconds until she heard the ref calling out.

“Rope Break!”

Julia knew she had five more seconds she could get away with squeezing Suzumi if she really wanted to. Maybe that would’ve been the smart thing to do, but it wasn’t the right thing to do. If she was going to beat Suzumi, she was going to do it the honorable way. Anything that could even remotely compromise her integrity was off limits as far as the blonde was concerned, and this would be no exception.

So right when the ref made the call, Julia uncoiled her legs from around her foe and rolled backward, getting to her feet. She stood back and stretched her legs while keeping her eyes on her opponent, giving her plenty of space to get back up, but also preparing to get right back to the action any moment now.

Suzumi needed to get herself back into this otherwise she was about to get run over by Julia! She struggled to get back up and was still in a daze but she was desperate. Suzumi tried to run at Julia and this time she would try to roll to the side to move past Julia and keep running! Suzumi knew it was a gamble but she jumped up onto the middle rope and did a springboard off, swinging her legs around as she attempted to hit Julia with a springboard dropkick!

Suzumi was getting desperate early on, and she needed to hit some higher impact offense to keep Julia down if she wanted to set her up for better moves. However if Julia was able to move out of the way Suzumi would be left with quite a painful landing!