Hiroko Matsumoto (D) vs Mia Yukari Wilson - Standard match

Sometimes experience was a valuable asset in terms of having the edge in a match. Hiroko didn’t look like a pushover, in fact, the blonde had the body size and the disposition for greatness, but something was preventing her to shine, and it clearly looked like it was her lack of experience. Maybe the woman was taken aback by her debut match and wasn’t able to fully take off.

That was how both contestants reached the point they were at the moment. Mia had the momentum on her side as she had chained several moves on her rival, but she wasn’t blind and noticed something was going on, so instead of relentlessly going on in beating her opponent, she decided to give Hiroko an instant of respite after elbow dropping her. “Come on, Hiroko! Start fighting back!” Of course she had to disguise her encouragement in the form of some boasting, but Mia’s intentions were true.

A part of Hiroko was relieved that Mia stopped her onslaught and gave her a chance to recover. But another part of herself was annoyed that it had even been necessary in the first place. She might be relatively inexperienced compared to much of the Friction roster, but Hiroko still had a level of pride and confidence in her abilities. Of course she wanted to shine in the ring, but that was something she wanted to earn.

At the same time, however, she got the feeling Mia wanted the same thing. She hadn’t come here looking for an easy win against some new girl who didn’t know what she was doing. Mia wanted to test herself and grow from the spirit of true competition, just like Hiroko did.

The rookie rolled onto her front and started pushing herself up, one hand resting over her chest where Mia’s elbow had struck. And once she was up to her knees, Hiroko shouted out while abruptly bolting into a dash straight at Mia, trying to plow her shoulder into the girl’s stomach while throwing her arms around her foe’s legs! If she made that forceful impact, Hiroko would lift Mia off her feet and keep running, seeking to drive her foe back against the turnbuckles in the corner!

Mia wasn’t really sure about what was going on inside her mind at that moment. The Mustang was in a moment in her career that things looked bright: she was getting some popularity and her matches were going good. The crowd seemed to like her mix of character and fighting instinct and mostly her career was taking off. Maybe seeing someone as Hiroko, whose career was just an enigma for now, gave her some sense of perspective. It was true that she wanted to win and she wouldn’t give away the win in the eventuality of her being defeated, but she didn’t want to crush that new wrestler’s hopes and career from the start either. That was why she was letting the blonde some space to get up and fight. She wanted to give Hiroko some time to shine and show what she could do despite everything.

And what resolve the debutant woman showed. Instead of slowly carrying herself on her feet and hesitate, she rammed into Mia’s stomach and pushed against her legs! As her bigger rival pushed, the Mustang’s feet lifted from the ground and Hiroko kept going, running and carrying Mia until a forceful stop against the turnbuckle! Coughing and groaning in pain, the Mustang would remain there unable to pose any threat as she was taken by surprise and needed some seconds to recover from the sudden rush coming from her rival.

There, that was more like it. A head on charge like that was reckless, and could’ve gone quite badly for Hiroko if her foe had managed to avoid it. But whether it was through luck or just good timing on her part, the rookie powerhouse managed to plow the mustang straight back into the corner turnbuckles with an explosive crash! Hiroko allowed herself one quick, deep breath, then set right back to the task of seizing control. Her charge may have worked out, but these precious seconds that Mia was defenseless would be meaningless if she didn’t capitalize.

Hooking her right arm under her foe’s left arm, she looked out toward the center of the ring and took aim. Hiroko then dragged Mia along as she took one, two almost jogging steps out from the corner. Then on the third step, she planted her feet while pulling up on her enemy’s trapped arm with all her might. If all went well, this would hurl the mustang up and into the air so Hiroko could then slam her right back down on the middle of the canvas with a high-angle hip toss!

It was true that Mia didn’t want to overwhelm her debutant rival from the very beginning. It was on her good spirit to give Hiroko some time to shine, but maybe that was a strong underestimation of the blonde’s capabilities as the Mustang was completely taken by surprise by Hiroko’s resilience and raw strength, no wonder coming from a woman much bigger than her. Being trapped against the corner wasn’t ideal either, and her rival sudden burst of strength left the brunette breathless for enough time so the blonde could muster a plan.

With precise and nimble moves for someone her size, Hiroko perfectly positioned herself to drag a couple of steps before executing a hiptoss on her rival. It wasn’t a high impact move, but Mia had to admit that Hiroko’s size added to her strength made it more painful than what she expected. With a thud her back impacted the mat and she groaned in pain. Rubbing her pained back, her survival instincts took off as she tried to roll away far from Hiroko, trying to break some distance to properly get up and reset things, but she had to admit that at that precise moment she was at a disadvantage.

A hip toss on its own is far from being the scariest move for wrestlers to deal with. You’d probably have to go back decades to find the last time one was used as a decisive finisher. But Hiroko was pretty good at throwing her opponents up nice and high with it to maximize the impact. It wasn’t going to be keeping Mia down for long, but the impact was rough, and likely would’ve knocked the wind out of most people.

The newcomer was just about to reach down to pick her foe back up, but the Mustang wisely rolled out of her reach before she could do so. Deciding on a different course of action then, Hiroko took a couple running steps toward her downed foe before leaping up. She brought her legs up and leaned backward, and let gravity do the rest. If Mia failed to move out of the way, the larger woman would come crashing down back-first onto the Mustang’s torso with a running senton!

Based on how things were developing since the moment Hiroko found the inner strength necesary to start a comeback, breaking some distance between them and resetting the match looked like the wisest choice for Mia, since her rival was currently in a powerful situation and she was in bad shape. Breaking the match’s momentum to force a reset would be more than helpful for the Mustang, and that was why the brunette was making all her best effort to roll away from Hiroko.

But the blonde wasn’t so eager to let her good moment just slip away, so the first thing Mia would see when stopped rolling was Hiroko running and leapint towards her, using both women’s momentum to execute a powerful running senton. “G-aaaaaahhh!!” Completely taken off guard by Hiroko’s powerful move, the blonde landed back first on Mia’s upper half, air escaping her lungs as she writhed in pain, gasping for some air as she was now defenseless, her bold move completely countered by Hiroko.

The running senton had been a fairly reckless gambit. If Hiroko had timed it any differently, or if Mia had seen her coming, the newcomer could very easily have ended up needlessly throwing herself back-first onto the mat while making herself a wide open target for her opponent at the same time. But fortunately, she managed to come crashing down right on top of her foe, leaving her winded and writhing in pain.

Now Hiroko found herself having to make a decision. Mia seemed weakened enough that she could have pressed the attack further. However, Hiroko’s senton had been an instant reaction done without any time for planning beyond that. So she decided to crawl over Mia, laying her body across the girl’s chest while reaching out to pin her far arm and shoulder to the mat, going for an early pin attempt.

“One…!” the ref called as her hand struck the mat. Naturally, Hiroko was not expecting to get a full three count here. But it would at least keep Mia under control for another moment or two while the rookie powerhouse planned what would come next.

Now that was some good show. The people filling the stands started to get into the match as that unknown rookie was showing what she could do against some more relatively well known wrestler as Mia. Now stakes were high for the Mustang who couldn't allow a newcomer to just arrive and like that take a victory from hwr. But with each strike Hiroko was getting confident, and she was using that confidence in her skills to go bolder with her strategy, and for the moment it was playing out just well.

Mia was fully aware of the predicament she was in at the moment. Hiroko's running senton used all the woman's size advantage and momentum to keep the Mustang in a state of daze while her body ached from the impact. Mia knew really well that her current defense state was a more than appealing opportunity for the blonde to step her game up and ascertain some edge, and that was precisely the reason why Mia was so surprised by Hiroko's decision of going for a pinning maneuver. It was too soon in the match to get a three pin done, and Mia was just going to take that chance Hiroko gave her of resetting and maybe turning tables. As the count reached one, the Mustang groaned in exertion as she bucked her body managing to raise one of her shoulders from the mat. Then she would slowly rise to her feet while keeping an eye on Hiroko.

The kickout came as little surprise. Hiroko had not expected to put away her foe so easily. But it had made Mia exert some energy while giving the newcomer a moment to decide what to try next. With more experience, these decisions would come more naturally, and she would likely not need the extra time for this sort of planning. Regardless, an idea had come by the time Mia had forced her shoulder up and broken the count.

Hiroko got off of the woman and moved to grab her by the wrist so she could drag her back to her feet. “Come on, up you go,” she muttered aloud. Once Mia was up, the bigger girl would turn toward one of the sets of ropes, and then seek to send her foe running off toward them with a strong Irish Whip, ready to attack when the woman came back her way...