Jackpot PPV: Wild Card Match: Carmen Rodriguez vs Sachiko Kanda

Match Type: Wild Card
Rules: It can be any wrestler from any of AFW brands and any match type.  In this case, it will be a Last Woman Standing Match.
Competitors:

Carmen Rodriguez:

Vs

Sachiko Kanda:

Carmen had to admit, she kind of liked this setup. While she’d never been a gambler, she’d had a handful of matches in her boxing career in Las Vegas, and she was familiar with the one-of-a-kind atmosphere you could expect from the City of Sin. She had to say, the AFW crew had done an excellent job of recreating it.

The glitz, the glamour, the lights, it was all there. The roulette wheels, the poker tables, the machines, with bunny girls moving between the aisles serving drinks to the audience. All with a plush carpet lining the floor and hazy purple lights lining the ceiling, giving it a royal, regal sort of air.

It was the grandest PPV she’d ever been a part of in her time at the AFW, and she had more than most to compare it to. Made her feel right at home, a rarity these days. So, as she stood at the top of the ramp, clad in her black boxing robe as the lights danced around her and her music played, she felt like herself. Maybe more than she had in a long time. She felt strong, like she had a well of energy to spend , this pent up power that was craving for an outlet.

A good thing, too, because she was going to need it. All of it.

She made her way down to the ring with a light jog, throwing out the occasional jab every few steps, staying nice and limber. It was part of the show, wanting to get the audience hyped up, but it was just as much for her as anything. This match had been a great reason to get back into her gym and start putting it to personal use, working out like the devil so she could face GOD. Army and Felina had been good sparring partners, helping her sharpen up her techniques and giving her a good idea of what needed to be focused on. Her strikes were still solid, but she knew that ‘solid’ wouldn’t be enough against a woman like this.

Every day, she pushed herself to the limit. So many laps around the pool that she lost count. She jogged more miles around Kyoto than she drove, by a wide margin. Gave the heavy bag several new cracks. She followed the strictest regimen on her life, worked out in ways she hadn’t done for over a decade.

All for this woman. All this for Sachiko Kanda.

Carmen made her way onto the ropes and stepped through the ropes, making her way in with a heavy sigh and a heavy walk over to the corner. She spun around to face the entrance way, and let her robe fall, revealing her outfit for the evening and taking the audience off guard.


She was dressed in her old outfit, the first one she’d ever worn in Tension, back when she first started out. It was a tighter fit than she recalled, making her miss the loser pants she rolled with these days, but just about everything else was on point. It was a return to form, a way to show that she was going back to her roots. For a match like this, against the woman she wanted to spiritually succeed, she couldn’t think of anything more fitting.

And now came the waiting. Gripping the ropes on both sides of the corner, Carmen kicked the robe out of the ring and leaned forward, her gaze never missed the entrance way, now for a second.

She didn’t want to miss a single second of this.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. To wrestlers, these numbers were the longest and most painful count that there could ever be when fighting in a last man, or in this case woman, match. But to boxers these numbers could go by in a flash and if their opponent wasn't down for those 10 seconds it meant that they'd have to continue knocking them down until they were sure that their opponent was completely and utterly punch drunk. Sachiko, The Lightspeed Fist, Kanda mentally prepared herself for what was surely going to be one of those matches in the women's locker room.

Boxers trained themselves differently Wrestlers, they had to in order to be able to go round after round with another person for an extended period of time using only their fists. Sachiko never stopped training herself as a boxer after getting into wrestling and from the way Carmen carried herself when they first met, she certainly never stopped training like one either. To Sachiko it meant that this, her first AFW pay-per-view match, was going to be a good one.

What made it better was this Casino motif that they were going for in this PPV; it reminded Sachiko of all the great American boxing matches that were broadcasted from Las Vegas, Nevada. The more she thought of it, the more excited she got. She had been looking forward to this ever since Carmen issued the challenge, it wasn't often that someone called her out but when they did Sachiko always found they were worth going all out for and with this Casino theme going on it made her like she was going to be in one of those Las Vegas matches.

With that thought in mind Sachiko finally stood up and made her way out of the locker room with her old boxing robe on, "Hurricane" emblazoned on the back of it, her old boxing nickname. The wait was over, it was time to make this PPV one worth remembering. Sachiko caught sight of Carmen's entrance on screens that she passed on the way to the gorilla position, apparently she too was ready to turn this into a boxing match as she had her own robe on. Sachiko would arrive at the gorilla position and signaled the crew to play her music as she made her way up the steps and stood at the curtain.

The crowd exploded into a wave of cheers and chants as the song did it's initial build up and the moment that first lyric played Sachiko burst out onto the stage throwing a few jabs before looking out on the crowd with her usual stoic expression. Sachiko turned her attention to the woman that was waiting for her in the ring, she looked different but it was without a doubt Carmen. Sachiko raised her arm and would point a finger at Carmen, a small declaration that Sachiko was coming for her as she then began to make her way down the ramp and beeline straight to the ring.

It didn't take her long to reach the ring steps, slip through the ropes. Taking off her robe, she'd shock the crowd as she was wearing the shirt that made her GOD-san!



Sachiko hung the robe on the ring post as she then began made her way over to Carmen, resisting the urge to immediately square up and throw the first punch. "Looks like we both felt like shaking things up tonight. You ready?"

While boxing was more of a ‘serious sport’ than wrestling, it was no stranger to a little theatricality here and there. Aside from it just being fun, you wanted to psych your opponent out a bit and get them in the right headspace - nevermind doing the same for yourself. A little style never hurt anyone, so long as it didn’t get in the way of the job being done.

Judging by Sachiko’s choice of attire, she agreed. And judging by the audience’s boisterous reaction, so did they.

Carmen whistled and nodded at approval as she stepped forward to meet her rival, cracking her knuckles as she approached. ”A little nostalgia never hurt anyone. Nice.”

She raised her fist for a quick bump as the referee came between them, then raised her fist into an orthodox stance they both would be intimately familiar with. Fisted clenched, feet in the perfect position, she stood with a solid base and squared shoulders. ”Couldn’t be more ready. Let’s go.”

As soon as the bell rang, Carmen jerked forward, started to charge at Sachiko hard, only to pull back before she could get into range. A quick fake out to kick things off, wanting to see how her foe reacted, if her reflexes were still sharp.

Sachiko was getting more pumped with each passing second as the time to fight drew closer, each one felt like an eternity fortunately, Carmen was there to talk too and she agreed that the nostalgia would be a nice touch for this match. Sachiko did a quick, friendly fist bump with Carmen just before the bell rang, and almost instinctually she brought her arms up in her boxer stance and was squared up.

Sachiko watched carefully as Carmen immediately attempted to charge forward but thanks to years of boxing experience she could tell it was a feint, most likely intending to get a reaction out of her and see how sharp her senses were. Sachiko wasn't about to play the slow game though, as soon as Carmen pulled back Sachiko would lunge forward and throw a quick jab at her face. If she succeeded in the moment that Carmen took her eyes off of her Sachiko would follow it up with a haymaker punch with the other arm. She wanted to know if Carmen was as tough as she seemed and not just a paper tiger.

With a feint like that, most wrestlers in the AFW would’ve fallen head over heels and opened up their guard, left themselves vulnerable to all kinds of punishment. Even some of the more hardcore striker types. Not that there was anything wrong with them, but wrestling was a different type of sport that built different types of senses and reflexes. Feints and the like weren’t part of the toolkit. She could spend all day recounting the punches she’d landed in the AFW that would never have come close in a boxing ring.

But Sachiko was the rare, different beast, and she showed it from moment one.

Instead of retreating, she advanced, and the surprise was enough to nearly catch Carmen off guard. She dipped her head to the side, narrowly avoiding a jab, only to see the real threat coming right after - a serious punch, coming right for her face.

Carmen dropped down, letting it whiff over her head, coming close enough that she swore she could’ve felt it pass through her hair above. Hoping to do some damage before she could pull back, she threw out a right hook, aiming for Sachiko’s ribs. A mean punch made for one of the worst places to take it.

Sachiko rushed forward and threw her fist out with a quick jab aiming to knock Carmen off balance. The sudden rush certainly surprised Carmen enough for her to just narrowly avoid the jab, but the jab was only intended to distract Carmen for the follow up Haymaker that Sachiko intended to hit her with but Carmen would quickly prove to be a nimble thing as she quickly ducked it, her hair briefly rubbing against Sachiko's arm. Just before she'd pull back Carmen would land a punch of her own to Sachiko's ribs. The former Wrestle Angel gave a low grunt at the pain and quickly back stepped away before her opponent could land anymore. The crowd cheered at the rapid end of the small opening exchange.

"Not bad, a few more like that and I may actually think about getting worried." Sachiko examined the Puerto Rican, taking a minute to reexamine her game plan. This match had only just started but Sachiko was already on her toes waiting to see what Carmen would do next.

Ooo, that was a good one. Carmen had taken more than enough shots to the ribs to know how hers must’ve felt to Sachiko - pretty fucking painful, if she had to guess. It was one of her better ones, too, nice and clean. Without the padding, she could feel the shockwaves rumbling through her body. Good, solid.

And Sachiko was still standing.

Didn’t even seem all that bothered.

”Hm.” Carmen didn’t respond to Sachiko’s boasting, instead taking the brief pause to reassess, thinking over this approach. Her guard was solid as she backed away, and the full frontal wouldn’t work as well this time. But if she spiced things up, maybe…

Carmen pushed forward with a quick, long stride, closing in on Sachiko again. This time she lashed out with a jab of her own the moment she was in range, then juked to the side and fired another two at her face in quick succession, seeing how well she could deal with a moving target, if her footwork was still on point.

Sachiko expected Carmen to respond but only got a grunt in return. As huge as this match must've been for her there should've been no need to rush it but apparently she wanted to treat this as business as usual. That's fine, it just meant that they could focus on the fighting.
Sachiko put her guard up as Carmen quickly dashed forward and through a jab of her own once she was close enough.

Sachiko would quickly move her head to the side, the jab narrowly grazing her cheek before Carmen quickly moved to the side and unleashed another couple of punches aimed for her head. Sachiko turned rapidly blocking the first and quickly dodging the second before taking a step forward, attempting to take another shot at the Puerto Rican slugger's stomach.

Boxers would often hit their own stomach's to get used to the feeling of getting punched all the time. This punch was to test how used to it Carmen was than to damage her but that wouldn't stop her from trying to follow it up with an uppercut to her chin if it caught her off guard enough.

Carmen’s jabs were sharp, crisp, clean blows that sliced through the air so quick you could hear the wind parting as they flew. There wasn’t any flaw in her form, she wasn’t off with her aim, she hadn’t misjudged the range. She applied everything she knew about boxing and unleashed them. Simple.

Didn’t mean they would connect, though, as Sachiko proved when she nimbly and neatly avoided them. More than that, she had the wherewithal to counterattack.

Carmen was in the motion for throwing a heavy right cross to follow up, figuring her foe would be in the right path to take it, when a heavy uppercut cracked her clean in the jaw and sent her head shooting up. It was just the force of the blow, but the alacrity that had her reeling, a heavy shock to her systems that left her seeing a hot, white flash.

Her world thoroughly rocked, Carmen staggered back and put up her guard on instinct, expecting heavy resistance.