Smother Match: Julia Rogers vs Salma Mariela Lambert

Match Type: Smother Match
Victory Condition: The first wrestler to score a KO over the other via smother will be the winner.

Julia's Music:

Julia Rogers:

Familiar music began to play over the speakers of the friction arena, announcing the arrival of Julia Rogers! The masked blonde strode out onto the stage, smiling brightly as she was greeted with a thunderous roar of cheers from the live crowd. Waving to them, she began to quickly make her way down the aisle, high fiving those along the first row at either side of her on the way down.

Once at ringside, she hopped up onto the apron and climbed up to the top rope, cupped her hands around her mouth, then shouted out at the top of her lungs. “MAKE SOME NOISE, TOKYO!!!!” Her call spurred a new round of cheers and calls from the audience. Meanwhile the cowgirl moved to stand with both feet on the top turnbuckle, then threw herself back into a backflip, landing right on her feet in the middle of the ring!

Things had been...odd for Julia since she came back to Japan. She had escaped with a victory by the skin of her teeth in her return match against Suzumi Ishikawa, and her struggles in that match had only seemed to plague her since then. Getting back on track hadn’t been as easy as Julia hoped. But she was determined to make sure tonight was different. It was her first smother match, in or outside of AFW, but that didn’t matter. This match was going to be that first big step she had been looking for, and as far as Julia was concerned that’s all there was to it!

A veteran cowgirl of Friction was facing off against the newest addition to that niché of wrestlers. As the Arizonian blunette stood at the Gorilla Position now after the blonde Julia Rogers had made her way down to the squared circle. She was dressed in the complete garb, hat and all. Jacket over her shoulders. When she heard that she was facing off against a fellow cowgirl Salma had hoped it would have been a hog-tie match though a smother match suited her just fine. She'd have to wait a bit longer before she brought out the lasso it seemed.

Spoiler:

When her fan favorite opponent had made her entrance and the music died down...there was a bit of a silence. After a few seconds the sound of rattling chains and a beat, the singing came along with it and The River by Blues Saraceno began to play out of the speakers. Salma began to walk out onto the ramp and gait of the of the cowgirl had begun, as she made her way to the ring and climbed the stairs. She walked to the center of the apron and then slipped in between the top and middle rope, having to hold onto her hat as she did to prevent it from falling off of her head.

She walked around the ring, a certain strut as she made a full circle around the ring before she settled back into her corner. Shimming off her jacket off her shoulders caused her generous breasts to jiggle within the confines of her tight top as she then slung the jacket over the turnbuckle. She kept her hat on her head as she lokoed over at her blonde opponent. Giving her a sly smile as she would walk up towards the center of the ring, hands on her hips, thumbs having slunk in under her belt as she placed herself confidently in the dead center of the squared circle. Giving Julia a bit of a staredown as she was sizing her up, old western style.

Well, what an interesting surprise this was!

Julia’s family owned and ran one of the most prominent indy wrestling promotions in the American South-West. And prior to the luchadora’s recent return to Japan, she had spent the previous couple years back home in Arizona helping the promotion work through some financial issues. During that time Julia had helped to scout and book talent for shows, and in the process had learned just about every name in the region worth knowing. Salma Mariela Lambert was one of them for sure. The name had been vaguely familiar when Julia saw it on tonight’s card, but it wasn’t until she saw the girl that she recognized her. She was fairly sure they had booked her for at least a show or two. And though it had been too long since Julia had seen her tapes for her to remember much about the woman’s moveset, she remembered enough to not be surprised that Salma had made it to Friction. What were the odds she’d be matched up as this woman’s opponent so far away from home?

Seeing the larger cowgirl staring her down from the middle of the ring, Julia strode right out to meet her there, standing toe to toe with Salma. Despite the fact that she had to look up to meet the woman’s gaze, there was no less confidence in the masked blonde than there was in her foe.

“Small world, ain’t it?”

Salma would stand firm as the blonde luchadora strode up and met her inte the center of the squared circle. Standing face to face with the blonde, the cowgirl would look down a bit to meet the gaze of the rather famous Julia Rogers. Hearing her speak out those words did bring a bit of a smile onto the face of the dark turqoise haied beauty. She honestly didn't think Julia would have remembered her, but she was somewhat happy she had left such an impression on her.

" Seems like." she spoke out as she would nod her head a bit. Keeping the staredown going for a few seconds as silence fell over the arena. The buxom cowgirl would crack another smile and then lift her hat off of her head as the referee girl approached them. Handing it off to them, as she didn't want to move away from Julia just yet.  

" Look. I respect you, but that don't mean I'm not gonna knock you out cold. Got that, darlin'?" Salma would finally say as she removed her hands from her belt and offer Julia a handshake. " Though, feel free to give it yer all. I'd expect nothing less."

Though the silence between them only held for a handful of seconds, the moment felt much longer. The palpable tension between the two cowgirls wasn’t unlike a dramatic scene out of an old western film. Salma was the one who finally broke the silence, with a gesture of respect and words filled with the utmost confidence. Julia couldn’t help but grin.

“The feelin’s mutual,” she replied while shaking the taller girl’s hand. “But try to keep that energy when I’m sittin’ on yer face in a little while.”

Outside of one humiliation match she had participated in in Tension, Julia couldn’t remember the last time she had made a conscious attempt to smother an opponent in a match, but she was looking forward to it tonight! Whether she was being spurred on by Salma’s confidence or was simply excited to be trying something different tonight, she couldn’t say. But as Julia went back to her corner, bouncing on the balls of her feet, she could hardly wait for the bell to ring...

With both of the women seemingly in agreement of their feelings for this match and now that Julia had thrown in her own little cocky words into the mix. Salma would back off from Julia now that the referee was going to call for the bell, Salma would bounce on the balls of her feet as well and then roll her shoulders, limbering up one final time and getting herself ready as she heard the bell.

*Ding Ding*

The match was on and Salma would step out of her corner and make her way towards the center again, circling in the ring and narrowing the distance between her and Julia with each passing second. Raising her arms up she would then gesture for a lock up as she would inch her way closer to the masked blonde.

Hearing the bell ring, Julia came out of the corner with her hands up and began to circle her foe, the movements of the two cowgirls practically mirroring one another. Gradually the distance between them began to decrease, and it was clear where things were about to go here. Salma indicated it as well, and Julia moved in right when her foe did. Lashing her arms out, the masked blonde sought to lock them up with her foe’s in a collar-and-elbow tie up.

Some might question Julia’s wisdom in going along with this. Anyone watching could tell Salma held the strength advantage in this matchup. Locking up with her like this would no doubt give her the chance to drive Julia right back up against the ropes or in one of the corners. However, the luchadora didn’t seem to be worried about that. In fact, she even seemed to be encouraging it, beginning to step backward almost immediately after locking up. Julia had something in mind, but whether or not the chance would come to pull it off depended on whether or not Salma used her apparent advantage to continue forcing Julia backward.

The two cowgirls were soon enough locked up after they had closed the distance with one another so that there was no other real choice for them to conduct the start of the match than by doing that. Salma of course was a bit curious as to why Julia had decided to go in for a lock up knowing that she would most likely be bullied right back. Could be a pride thing, could be all sorts of reasons if you racked your brain around it long enough you'd be able to come up with a million different reasons as to why. Salma wasn't the kinda gal who would worry about it, besides she had her own reason for wanting to go in for that lock up.

It wasn't to push Julia back though, it was to get her hands on her so that she could more easily do something she had wanted to do for a while, since the first time she had caught Julia give her generous chest a glancing eye. Salma's hands would quickly shift, her arms sliding up with the speed of a striking rattlesnake as she would try and snap them around Julia's head, clasping at the back of that blonde maned head as she would try and quickly pull Julia's head in between her cleavage! Trying to go for a standing smother attempt in the dead center of the ring.

Julia thought she was being clever. Her idea had been to entice Salma into using her superior strength to lead them back toward the ropes, at which point she’d reach out with her legs, spring off the ropes and use the extra leverage to toss the larger cowgirl down with an arm drag. Not the most conventional means of using that basic move, but it was a nifty trick Julia had pulled off many times before.

It might’ve worked here too, if the blonde hadn’t just stumbled right into a trap. Having never competed in a smother match before, she was still thinking the same way she would under standard rules. It hadn’t even occurred to her that Salma might attempt a smother right off the bat. And by the time she noticed those hands were clasping around the back of her head, it was already too late.

“MMMMMMPH!!!” she yelled out in muffled protest as her face was pulled straight into Salma’s cleavage, while her hands frantically pushed and pulled at the woman’s arms.