The Cowgirl Rides Again! Julia Rogers vs Suzumi Ishikawa

Julia had managed to keep the match alive, if only by the skin of her teeth. But that didn’t mean she was safe. Far from it, in fact. The battered cowgirl barely had time to take two or three much needed breaths before she was grabbed by the wrist and dragged along the mat. She tried to squirm, but her meager resistance wasn’t enough to free her from Suzumi’s clutches. They came to the middle of the ring, and in a flash Julia suddenly found her foe’s legs coiling around her head and neck, trapping her in a deadly triangle choke!

The blonde’s thrashing struggles greatly intensified while her masked face contorted with pain and discomfort. Her legs kicked in hopes of pulling herself toward the ropes. But the ropes were much too far away to reach, and she didn’t have the strength to drag Suzumi toward them. Her free hand then tried first punching at her foe’s leg. But tired as she was, she lacked the strength to muster no significant impact on these strikes, and so the effort quickly shifted to desperate and instinctive pawing and pulling at the leg, even though Julia knew she would have no chance of prying it off of her.

The world started to spin, and her options were rapidly depleting. Second by second, she was drawing dangerously close to being choked out!

Even though Julia was tired Suzumi was as well, both women appeared to be spent. As Julia struck and struggled against the hold Suzumi's grip was starting to fail! She was putting everything she had left into the hold but if Julia kept striking or thrashing about then it would surely lead to a break out despite the best efforts of Suzumi! She was doing her best but Julia was resilient, and even though Suzumi was trying to end things right here she was attempting to try to formulate a plan just in case Julia did escape!

She was getting dizzier by the second. Each moment that passed brought her a bit closer to unconsciousness. Perhaps the only reason she wasn’t already there was that Suzumi was also tired and seemed to have some difficulty in maintaining the hold. Not much had gone the cowgirl’s way to this point, but that was something to be thankful for. Still, she had to find a way out before Suzumi could fully apply pressure again.

One last gambit came to mind. It would be hard to pull off, but she doubted her foe would see it coming. Shifting first to her knees, Julia got her feet under her, then leaned forward while kicking against the mat. This threw her lower body up in an arch. Her upper body was still held in place in the tight vice of Suzumi’s legs, but Julia’s feet swung over and came to rest on the mat just past her opponent’s head, bridging her body over Suzumi’s for a sudden pin attempt! Julia grimaced in pain as the position put a tough strain on her back and neck, but she only needed to endure it for a few seconds. Her hope was that either she could catch Suzumi with a surprise three count, or that her foe would be forced to release her hold to escape the pin.

“ONE…!”

Suzumi thought she was about to put Julia down earning a huge win but things shifted, with Suzumi now being tipped back down on her shoulders! She was in a panic as she was now being pinned. Suzumi was reluctant but she had to let go of the hold, shoving Julia away while she rolled in the opposite direction herself at the two count. Suzumi shook her head, staggering up to her feet as she grabbed hold of Julia trying to pull her up to her feet by the arm!

"Time to go for a ride isn't it?" Suzumi said trying to Irish whip Julia as hard as she could towards the ropes at the other side of the ring!

The moment Suzumi’s lets uncoiled from around her head and neck, Julia gasped while taking in several heavy breaths as she was rolled off of her foe. She wasn’t surprised that Suzumi kicked out. If anything the cowgirl was just glad to be able to breathe again. She wasn’t given much time to recover, however, as Suzumi was quickly pulling her right back up before whipping her into the ropes.

That might’ve been a big mistake on the Tsunami’s part. As tired and battered as Julia was, she lacked the energy to go running off the ropes. But Suzumi’s throw gave her speed and momentum she wouldn’t have otherwise been able to muster herself. Trying to turn that to her advantage, Julia threw herself forward into a handspring, with her legs swinging overhead to bounce off the top rope. They came bounding back, and the moment her feet touched the ground again she leapt and flipped backward, swinging her right foot up and over to try to catch Suzumi in the head with a surprise Overhead Kick!

Suzumi was not expecting Julia to recover so quickly and the tsunami was about to pay the price! She watched Julia's acrobatics and that also helped mask the ending move that Suzumi was wary of. Unfortunately for Suzumi she did not see the kick coming in time and it connected with devastating force! "AAAARRRRGGGGEHHHHHHH!" Suzumi shouted as she howled in pain, falling back in a heap as the kick leveled her. She landed on her back, bringing her arms up to cradle her head as she rolled to her side. She was in quite a daze from the kick, and Julia had bought herself an opening after halting the tsunami's momentum in this matchup!

In truth Julia had hardly recovered much at all. If she had attempted to run into the ropes and throw herself into that handspring on her own power, it would have flopped horribly. Suzumi’s Irish Whip had been the only thing that gave the cowgirl enough speed and momentum to pull it off. And though the kick hit right on the mark and dropped her foe, Julia was down too.

With both women lying flat on their back, the ref went first to check on Suzumi, and then on Julia. The luchadora was clearly conscious, but the heavy and quick rising and falling of her chest as her lungs fought furiously to catch their breath made her exhaustion plainly obvious. After a few moments, the ref backed away and called out.

“ONE!”

The count toward a double knockout had started. The fans certainly didn’t want to see this end as a draw, and immediately the volume of the crowd rose exponentially, until a muddled sea of cries and calls pleaded with both Julia and Suzumi to get back up and continue the fight!

“TWO!”

Julia had to agree. As much as her body wanted to just lay there and run out the count, her mind didn’t want that. And her gut told her Suzumi wouldn’t let it end so easily either. She had to get up. Not just to beat the count, but to make sure the Tsunami couldn’t unleash another onslaught on her.

“THREE!”

With a groan she rolled onto her front, planting both hands onto the mat, and shakily pushing herself back up toward a vertical base.

“FOUR!”

On her hands and knees, grunting with the painful and strenuous effort, Julia pushed up to get a foot under her then eased herself to stand straight, stopping the ref’s count just shy of the halfway point of the five count. Even only halfway through the full count for a double knockout, Julia wanted to make sure she got up before Suzumi. That was priority number one right now. And assuming she had, the cowgirl would wait for her foe to raise up high enough herself, before twisting around and throwing a big spinning heel kick at the former Wrestle Angel’s gut, hoping to wind her and double her over.

Suzumi was down and dazed, really struggling as the count had begun. She shook her head, rolling onto her stomach as she pushed herself to her hands and knees.

"FIVE!"

She had lost track of Julia, unsure of where she was as she stumbled up to her feet. Suzumi turned and turned right into a hard kick as soon as she faced Julia, doubling over and having the wind knocked out of her! Suzumi's mouth was wide open but no scream came out as she wheezed, gagging as she struggled to breathe as she reeled after Julia hammered her abdomen with the kick leaving her wide open for the cowgirl.

The kick did its job perfectly, blasting Suzumi right in the gut and leaving her doubled over in front of her and vulnerable. Immediately the cowgirl moved to take advantage of the opening. She put her hands on Suzumi’s back then pushed off of her while jumping up, leapfrogging to land astride her back before rolling forward into a flip. Her legs sought to hook against the former Angel’s arms on the way to drag her along with the cowgirl, ultimately aiming to slam her down onto her back!

Some call it a Yoshitonic, others just say Sunset Flip Powerbomb. Julia was way too tired and beaten up to care one way or the other. She just hoped she could plant Suzumi down on the mat with it, and if she did she’d keep her legs draped over her foe’s shoulders for an immediate pin attempt!

The stunned Suzumi was in no shape to try to counter the blindingly fast Julia and she was now tossed around like a rag doll in the clutches of the cowgirl! Her flight through the air was capped by a thunderous impact as Suzumi felt pain coursing throughout her entire body! "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Suzumi howled, laying flat against the mat as Julia had her pinned!

"ONE!"

"TWO!"

"NO!" Suzumi screamed, howling as she thrust herself off the mat at two and a half, dangerously close to all her hard work going down the drain. She was out for the big win, not to be a stepping stone victory for a returning top star. She wanted to be the top star. However, after the high impact offense Suzumi was still laid out, her chest heaving as she gasped for breath unable to move.