Summer Splash 2020: River Styx Hardcore Title Open Challenge

Christie’s knuckles sank into Styx’s nose with an overwhelmingly satisfying amount of force! The familiar feeling of bone crushing against cartilage was an exciting feeling that only helped fuel the grave Keepers desire to punish and tarnish the woman placed in front of her. Styx’s jewelry added a new feeling to the blow, a strange alien resistance given by the thin metal loop in her nose. Christie couldn’t help but think about grabbing at the dangling loop  in her opponents nose and tearing it right out! A ripping pain would be an excellent exclamation point to put on the larger woman’s beating! But, there was a side of Christie that could at least appreciate the woman’s commitment to looking the part of a streetwise. As vain as Christie was, she could never shave her head like the brute in front of her had done. Even if it was the smarter thing to do.

Besides, there was no need to get gruesome just yet. Blood was usually inevitable in these types of fights, but incapacitating someone with such ”elated prestige” as Styx would be so much more effective when it was done using the woman's own methods. Beating the best of the worst with less than the tools provided! Right in front of her little friend and all of their sad little fanboys.

No one would question the Grave keeper after that!

Despite making no progress and taking constant blows throughout her body, Styx still couldn’t get it through her head. Her bully tactics would probably work with everyone else here, but anyone with an eye for it could see what Styx was about to do. After her head was thrown off to the side, it wasn’t hard to guess that the huge ball of unbridled aggression was going to retaliate. Styx’s glare crossed Christie’s apathetic stink eye like a blow torch just before the big lunk pulled her arm back for another strike.

Avoiding the first wide swing was easy at the start of the match, so why Styx thought this would be any different was beyond Christie. Whatever her mindset was, Christie wouldn’t fall for it. Already ducking down in preparation for Styx’s arm, Christie would-

WHAM!!!

“Gah!!!”

A powerful blow suddenly slammed into the Grave Keeper’s abs! The force of it pushing Christie off her unprepared feet as she crashed and bounced off the floor before she even knew what had happened! Most of the air had been forced out of her lungs, and a dull throbbing ache remained after Christie finally came to a stop.

The hell just happened? I ducked under the strike! What did she-?

A small vibration went through the ring as Styx seemed to slam her foot back down. It became pretty clear after that. The champion used her leg like a battering ram, and took Christie by complete surprise.The fallen woman hadn’t even thought Styx could lift those gargantuan limps. A feint paired with a strike she didn’t think Styx could pull off, Christie realized that Styx had been leading her on the entire time.

And for some reason...that made her smile~

“Well,” Christie muttered as she began to climb back to her feet, one arm still wrapped around her stomach, “I didn’t expect a colossal bitch like you could be sneaky.”

Christie didn’t seem to mind tossing the semi compliment to her opponent...perhaps she was happy that Styx might be an opponent closer in quality to Liberty rather than a Clara Wonders type. Or perhaps she was simply buying time to recover. Either way, the smile remained as Christie once more glared at her larger foe, some caution finally making its way into her posture.

Where had this woman come from, exactly? Styx didn’t monitor the hardcore scene outside of the AFW much - in part because it didn’t really exist - but she felt like she would’ve heard about a woman like Christie before this match. Tough, fast, fairly smart. If these first impressions were anything to go by, she was the sort of person who could’ve done well in just about any league she’d gone to.

It raised some interesting questions, but she wasn’t in a hurry to learn anything at the moment. There’d be time to suss it out. Plenty of time. She had the distinct impression they would be at this awhile.

The good news was that this undefined amount of time wouldn’t be spent with her constantly getting pelted around the ring and hit with Christie’s potshots. Her gambit paid off well. Sure, it made her look a little stupid, flailing around like that, never the most graceful woman, but that wasn’t important. The key, here, was that it worked, and it gave her a future roadmap of how to handle this opponent. She might not have been as fast or agile, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t score a hit, and she could even up things with ease when she did.

Styx stepped back after the attack, admiring her handiwork, and saw Christie trying to make her way up. Bitch had plenty of fight in her. That was a good thing. And, if that smile was anything to go by, she was in the right mood, taking her more seriously than before. Another good thing. It was important the two of them understood each other, loud and clear. ”More where that came from.”

Reaching down, she grabbed two handfuls of her opponent’s long, black hair - she was clearly proud of it all, probably took long as hell to grow it all out, but it made for a handhold Styx couldn’t pass up, using it to hold her opponent in place while she reeled back and let loose with a wild knee to her face.

Fame, recognition, none of that was any real interest to Christie before she entered the federation. Most of the fights she had gotten into were brutal and real. Stuff that happened in the heat of the moment and got the blood flowing. They weren’t fights that pleased the crowds and got people all hot and bothered like this place did. At most, Christie fought in a dank basement that smelled of mold and rat shit for a couple of grand per fight. At the very least, she fought to get the high of beating someone, being the last one standing no matter what it took. Every fight back then pushed her further, made her stronger, smarter. Low blows were the norm, and big ass bitches like Styx were a dime a dozen. But to her credit, Styx seemed to have a bit more brains then the rest of them. Sure, she only landed one hit, but that was more than most did near the end of Christie’s less than virtuous career.

And on top of all that, she was eager. The Grave Keeper had hardly any time to stand back up before feeling Styx’s grab a few handfuls of her long black hair. With a brutal tug, the champion pulled Christie up into position and slammed her in the face with a surprisingly sharp knee strike! The impact rattled the ring, and a pained grunt could be heard through the fabric of Styx’s pants. Everyone in the crowd knew about Styx’s strength, so they were surprised that Christie’s head didn’t fly off from that solid strike alone! Even the uncomfortable referee turned her head away from the train wreck that was Styx’s raw power!

Only Styx would feel a strange and somewhat familiar sensation running up her leg. At first, it might have been thought of to be the impact from the blow, but more than likely she would realize the familiar feeling of a pair of arms snaking around her leg and pulling it up and away from the ground.

The champion would get the chance to see the effects of her knee on Christie’s face as the Grave Keeper peered up at her with a fiery gaze. A fresh red impact mark could be seen on her left cheek, the woman somehow enduring such an excruciating blow and pushing forward regardless! With a yell, Christie pushed off the canvas floor, looking to bury her shoulder in Styx’s abs and drag her down to the floor with her leg in tow! But Christie wasn’t foolish enough to bring Styx down into a simple ground and pound. If she succeeded, Christie would actually extend some wrestling maneuvers into the fight, looking to get back up to her feet and twist Styx’s leg into a painful Boston Crab!

That earlier knee was good...better than Christie thought Styx was capable off. Wearing the champion down would prove to be beneficial in the long run, and paying her back by tearing up her leg was an irony that was not lost of the Crypt Keeper.

Styx knew this was going to be a day of firsts when she woke up, but she couldn’t conceive of just how many at the time. Meeting the Grave Keeper was one of them, sure. Defending her title for the first time was a big one. But one that would really take her by surprise, one that she would still have a hard time believing if she lived a thousand years, was that this would be her first time being put into a Boston Fucking Crab.

It wasn’t so much that it was a rare move in the AFW - quite the opposite. Everyone used Boston Crabs, because it was so easy and effective and everyone knew how to do it, so it was perfect for the inexperienced bimbos that the brand attracted like flies over a maggoty corpse.

No, what was rare was for it to happen to her. No one had put her in one before, never, and she didn’t see it coming. When she felt that arm around her leg, she knew Christie was going to go for something, but this was beyond the pale. She was barely able to register the fact that she had drawn first blood before she was pulled to the canvas, flipped over, bent backward and-

”Fuck! Fucking bitch!”

Yeah, she was none-too-pleased about her current situation and not afraid of voicing that displeasure.

Styx grit her teeth as the pain tore through her lower body, reaching a height that wasn’t new for her, but was far more than she wanted to be taking on so early in the match. She reached out and gripped the ropes - not because she was looking for a rope break, she knew that wasn’t happening. But she used to pull her and Christie forward, then she grabbed the apron and tried to drag her way under the bottom rope and out of the ring, hoping it would force her opponent to dislodge the hold before it did too much damage to cope with .

Wrestling really wasn’t much of Christie’s forte. Most of the moves were too flashy or too telegraphed to be of any real use in a fight, and considering a simple hook to the jaw or knee to the gut did the job just fine nine times out of ten there really wasn’t much reason to use them. It didn’t matter if it was inside or outside the ring, Christie genuinely preferred to simply brawl like her life depended on it and let the ferocity of her blows knock her opponents down for her. However, being in a wrestling federation had forced her to get acquainted with such flashy moves if only so she could learn how to avoid them. Never once had Christie thought she herself would stoop to using such situational attacks like the submissions she had read about. But here she was, attempting to flip the brick wall of a bitch onto her stomach so she could wrench back the very leg that had smashed her in the face just a few moments prior.

Maybe luck was on her side, because Christie found that Styx wasn’t all that hard to flip into position. It was almost like Baldy had never been put into such a position before, the look of surprise and frustration flashing across her face as Christie pulled her opponents leg back as far as it could go!

Results came immediately. The smug aura of Styx died down as she began to hurl obscenities at her tormentor, the Grave Keeper pulling back Styx’s leg as far as it would go and beyond! The limb was surprisingly heavy, taught with coiled muscle that had never experienced this level of acute stress before. Pulling back on it was almost a challenge, until Christie got it to the point where gravity was starting to do half the work. Christie could imagine the pain rolling up Styx’s leg, stabbing her in the hip and clawing its way up her back as she pissed and cursed about her situation.

“Shut the fuck up and grow a pair, will ya?!” Christie growled, adjusting her grip so she held less of Styx’s pant legs and more of her foe’s actual leg.

Before Christie could get too comfortable, Styx was already making her next move. The champion maintained a level head, and reached over towards the ropes that were just close enough to be in her reach. The many River Styx fans cheered as their favorite heel managed to grab ahold of the rope, encouraging her to keep going as the woman slowly began to drag herself and Christie closer and closer towards the edge.

To her credit, Christie held onto her prey, not quite ready to let her go just yet. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Styx’s knee to the face had affected her like any shot to the head would. The Grave Keeper was getting small bouts of vertigo every few seconds after she had taken Styx to the ground, and sitting on her foe’s broad back proved to be an excellent chance to not just put in some early offense, but to also recover for a moment. As the champion pulled herself closer towards the apron of the ring, most of the vertigo had vanished, but the pain from the knee was still lingering in the Grave Keeper’s jaw. A constant reminder of what Styx was capable of.

What exactly was going through Styx’s thick head, Christie couldn’t say. There were no rope breaks in this fight, and despite the low opinion Christie had for the champ, she had proven herself to be smart enough to remember that fact.

The answer came in the form of Styx wiggling underneath the rope towards the floor. The bottom rope pressed up against the Grave Keepers back and let Styx use gravity to scrap the nuisance off her back like it was nothing! In a matter of seconds, Christie’s prey literally slipped from her grasp and fell outside the ring, leaving the challenger to pick herself upad glance over her shoulder. The champion was retreating outside the ring, a place with concrete floors, narrow passageways, and hidden weapons.

Heh! It’ll be just like home.

While Styx was collecting herself, Christie wouldn’t be so kind as to cut her any slack. Crawling through the ropes quickly and standing at the edge of the apron, Christie glared down onto Sytx’s form with a blazing glint in her eyes. Lunging forward, the Sadistic Succubus would pounce from the apron, and attempt to drive the heels of her boots into the broad back and shoulders of the Hardcore Champion! Rubbing salt in the wound by literally grinding Styx under her heel!

This whole scene probably looked a bit stupid at first. Styx could picture it. There she was, the big, bad hardcore champ, crawling towards the ropes, scratching along them, struggling to get herself clear and free. It would’ve been a pathetic sight in a normal match, but here, it was just weird. The ropes couldn’t save her, so why bother?

Well, she had a plan. And since the alternative to that plan was letting this bitch break her back, she didn’t much care about the appearances. She was getting free. Fuck it.

It worked, too. Styx couldn’t see what was happening with this awkward position, but she could feel the strategy bearing fruit behind her. Christie fought against it, but gravity was a close, personal friend of hers, so there wasn’t much fighting it. The hold was released and flopped to the mats below, landing on her chest in an unceremonious heap. Not far off from where Abattoir was standing, as it so happen.

The other half of WAR stayed a couple of feet away, maintained a safe distance, but she crouched down for a quick word, speaking raspy through her mouthpiece. ”Need help?”

”No.” Styx started to push her way up, hissing as her back protested the action. ”Would you do it if I asked?”

”Probably not.” She stood straight and took a quick step away. ”Heads up, by the way.”

Styx looked over her shoulder just in time to see Christie descended her way from on high. While her body was still aching from being folded in half, desperation was still a reliable way to squeeze some action out of her, and she threw her body to the side in the nick of time. Christie’s feet came down on the mat beside her, boots slamming into the carpet. That would only buy her a little and she knew it, so she tried to make the most of the temporary window by swinging her legs around, trying to catch Christie behind the knee with the tip of her boot.

One might think that it would be a rather difficult task to miss such a large target such as the broadside of Styx’s back. Even as Christie was snaking her way through the ring’s ropes, the giant lunk head was struggling to get back to her feet. The damage to her leg and back seemed to be rather considerable if the grimace on her face was anything to go by. Why, even Styx’s little pet seemed to have the need to check up on her. The Grave Keeper was careful to keep an eye on her, watching as the masked woman knelt down to her partner and probably offered her some help with the fight. That action by itself managed to piss her off even more than Styx’s knee to the face did. Christie had already given her the opportunity to join in on the fight at the very start, and Styx declined for her. If she had wanted in, she should have said something rather than be Styx’s little coat rack for the belt at the very start. Asking Styx now might have been a little insulting to her, but for someone like Christie, it felt like a kid nagging to join something that was already midway through!

Christie only clicked her tongue before she decided to end the duo's little chat. Jumping off the apron, Christie planned on putting two fresh bruises on the bruiser’s back, but before she could Styx was suddenly warned by her annoying companion. Turns out, Baldy could really move it when her desperation took hold of her, and just before Christie could make her landing the broad target she was aiming for darted out of the way. The Grave Keeper’s boots SMACKED against the floor, the woman’s momentum making her knees bend slightly before she straightened up and glared over at the two members of WAR.


Christie practically spat out the word, her tone laced with venom as she began to turn towards her downed opponent. Just as she faced Styx, the woman suddenly lashed out, trying to use her battering ram of a leg to smash the Grave Keeper’s knee. The Sadist tried to make a retreat, and almost got away unscathed, were it not for the sheer size of Styx’s leg. The toe of her boot managed to smack right into Christie’s retreating leg, knocking it off course and forcing her to stumble and nearly tip over, grabbing onto the side of the ring’s apron for support.

That was twice she had fallen for the champ’s legs...Her attention was on the masked woman for too long! Christie needed her full attention on Styx if she was going to properly beat her down! Anything less, and things might actually go badly for her. Styx had already shown she was smarter then she let on, and the Grave Keeper couldn’t help but keep guessing at what was going on in Styx’s mind.

Christie pulled herself back to her feet, her left leg throbbing right where Styx had hit her. She didn’t even need to check to see if there was a bruise there. Christie could feel it.  Already, Styx had done more damage than most! That fact alone gave Christie a subtle, excited chill down her spin.

If Styx had yet to recover, then Christie would approach her hated foe with a surprising amount of speed for her damaged leg. Her intent was to grab ahold of Styx’s head and, pulling her up onto her feet, drive her face right into the arpon with merciless force!

Abattoir stared back at Christie with a blank, unfeeling gaze, cold and hard, even as the woman threw a quick insult her way. Pet? Not the most original taunt. She’d heard it lobbed her way, and it was effective then as it was now - not at all, really. She wasn’t that easily goaded. While she wouldn’t have objected to a fight with this woman, it wasn’t her time, and if Styx were the sort of person that needed help in a match like this, then she wouldn’t be the sort of person Abattoir would associate with. Simple facts.

That being said, if Christie made the mistake of bringing any of that aggression her way in this match instead of against Styx, she wouldn’t have had qualms with making this a 2 on 1. But only then. Without that, she was content to let things unfold.

She took another step back, all the way to the barricade, giving the two fighters more room as the brawl continued. Now that they were on the outside, more options were going to start opening up, and Styx was confident she could turn things to her favor - if she could stand up. And that would require getting Christie off her ass for a little bit.

Styx was making some headway on that front, her kick landing and hurting the woman. She thought it would buy her some time, and it did...just not enough. The Gravekeeper was on her soon after, grabbing her by the head and ‘helping’ her rise the rest of the way.

What she would do, in this situation, was ram her opponent’s head into the apron, so it was no surprise when Christie attempted to do that. It was only with some quick thinking that Styx was able to bring her arm up and plant her forearm between her head and the edge, blunting the blow. Still not that pleasant, but not as bad as it would’ve been. She still had the wherewithal to strike back.

And strike back, she did. Jerking around, Styx threw arm up and swung her elbow towards Christie’s upperbody. Really, she was aiming for the neck, but she wouldn’t complain if it hit her in the forehead or the chest. Just so long as it hit something and hurt as much as possible.

The masked freak decided to back off after Christie’s comment, falling all the way back to the barricade while still watching the fight with all the interest of a porcelain doll. So long as she knew her place in the fight, which was nonexistent, then Christie could live with the weirdo’s dead eyes following her around as she continued to brawl with Styx. Hell, it might motivate Christie to speed up the fight just so she had enough energy to spare beating the hell out of her next. The Grave Keeper had no clue what Styx’s pet could really do, but she was willing to take her out for a spin and see what shakes loose!

But, one fight at a time! There was still a healthy helping of Styx that needed to be tenderized before being served up on the proverbial platter! Paying her back for the kick in the leg was something that greatly appealed to the Vengeful Vixen. To the point where she was looming over her opposition, reaching down and seizing Baldy’s cranium before forcefully pulling her up! She didn’t care if Styx’s leg and back protested the sudden and forceful action! Christie was so caught up in her own plan for revenge, she didn’t see that Styx’s eyes were still as sharp as ever...and a plan could be seen brewing inside the champion’s fierce orbs!

Guiding Styx with as much care as a bulldozer, Christie brought Styx’s head right over to the sharpest edge of the apron! Pulling her head back, Christie put everything she could into throwing her opponents skull straight down! As if she was looking to crack it open for all to see! Had her plan gone exactly as she thought it would, Styx’s achievement of first blood would likely have been forgotten after getting her head split open. But that isn’t what happened. Rather than Styx’s head hitting the edge of the ring, it hit her arm, which served as an excellent buffer thanks in no small part to the muscle that bulged from the limb. With such a meaty arm, the best Christie might have hoped for was maybe pinching the damn thing! That wasn’t nearly enough to repay her bruised leg.

Right as Christie was about to grab at Styx’s arm, the woman roared to life! Styx spun around like a tornado, with Christie too close to even try and get away from the champion’s calculated blow! Like a lightning bolt from Zeus, Styx’s elbow came in almost faster than Christie could register, and exploded against her collar bone like a stick of dynamite! Pins and needles was all Christie could feel for a split second. The force pushed her a few steps back, her bruised leg nearly giving out just as the shock in her chest went away.

Searing Agony.

“GUH!!!”

An arm immediately moved towards the point of impact, a small welt already appearing on Christie’s chest as she grinded her teeth in pain! Just touching it, the wound was warm, like she had burned rather than struck. The bone underneath seemed to be intact, but the waves of pain and numbness made it difficult to discern. The Grave Keeper’s right arm hung to her side, her fist clenched tight as she growled her frustration away. The eyes of a viper glared up at Styx just before Christie began charging forward! A hiss born of anger escaped Christie’s maw as she moved to assault Styx, looking to slip by the brute once again and return with a backhanded fist directed towards the center of the Champ’s face!

The crowd wasn’t sure what to make of this, their cheers and jeers mixing into an unintelligible slurry of sound. While they didn’t care much for Styx, it was clear that Styx didn’t give a shit about them, either, so they were left in the dark on who to be a sheep for. Not to mention that hardcore already wasn’t a big priority for the Friction crowd. Christie’s outfit didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination, but it wasn’t much to chew on, especially since it was all too clear this wasn’t going to take a sensual route.

So, without that, all they had to do was watch the rare spectacle - the sight of someone getting the better of Styx from the opening bell, and the increasing possibility that they might be seeing a fresh new hardcore champion.

Styx had every intention of ruining their expectations in that regard. She’d gotten off on a bad start, but she was beating this bitch. It was happening. She just had to start getting in the good hits, and she was making headway with that in this very moment.

Her elbow landed clean from the sound of things, cracking her around the clavicle. Not the best place it could’ve landed, but far from the worst - she’d taken some nasty hits of her own there in the past, she knew how much it could suck, and the Grave Keeper was feeling it. The blow hurt the woman enough to make her back off for a second, which was all Styx needed to straighten up and find her footing, putting them even.

She moved away from the ring and started to charge, but Christie beat her to the punch, closing in before she could even get good momentum. An arm shot out, quick as a whip, and slashed her across the face, knocking her head to the side with a backhand. For a second, it seemed to rob the champion of her stamina, as she bent over, stunned, staggering forward…

...but she didn’t stop moving. Instead, she picked up steam out of her crouch and barreled forward, attempting to ram her shoulder into the smaller woman’s stomach and tackle her at full force. A gambit, but it if worked out, Styx would ram Christie into the barricade, a move that would leave her back wrecked.