Don't Anger The Bear: Kyo Akamatsu vs Shin Utaka

Inch by painful inch, he managed to pull them towards the ropes. Inch by painful inch, he felt as though his spine and legs were being contorted out of shape by Shin's powerful grip as she torqued the hold tighter. Inch by painful inch, Kyo found himself expending more energy than he really wanted to trying to get close to the ropes. He reached, out, face contorted in a grimace of pain...and finally managed to snag the bottom rope. At this, Shin finally released him.

He rolled and slung an arm over the middle rope to haul himself up, his back throbbing with protest as he did so. He had vastly underestimated Shin: not only was she far more fast and skilled than he had first assumed, but her style was a technical one that may very well have matched his own. He managed to pull himself to his feet, eyes locked with Shin again, his face flushed from both the exertion of his escape and from embarrassment at having been locked in a boston crab so early in the match.

Moving away from the ropes, he began to circle Shin again. This time, though, he did not seize the initiative like he had last time: this time, he wanted to see what Shin would do. Already, he was starting to learn that he couldn't afford to be reckless with this raven-haired powerhouse...

Just as she predicted, Kyo slowly crawled his way to the ropes. Using force of will to escape rather than submission. Shin didn’t make it easy for him either, constantly torquing on the hold and wreaking havoc on his spine. When he did reach the ropes though, the bear immediately released his legs before the ref could even tell her to.

Standing back to her feet, she walked back to the center of the ring and waited for him to rise back up. She wanted to fight him at his best, and kicking him while he was down was downright unsportsmanlike. So instead she waited for him to recover enough energy to stand and face her once more.

Crouching back down into her stance, the two circled each other. But Shin could see that he was hesitant to rush back in again. It looks like it was her turn to have the initiative as the bear would suddenly try to rush forward towards Kyo! At the very last second she would try to take a lunging leap, her knee aimed for his chest!

Kyo had to give Shin credit where it was due, she respectfully kept her distance as he tried to pull himself up on the ropes. A less scrupulous wrestler would have tried to stomp on his back while he was down, or would have hauled him up and hurled him across the ring to the ropes (and admittedly, Kyo had been guilty of that on more than one occasion). Instead, the Bear stood, and waited for Kyo to get back to his feet. He had to admit one thing about the musclebound ravenette, she at least had good sportsmanship.

For a second time, the two circled, Kyo trying to ignore the throbbing in his back as the two stared each other down. Then, in a blur, Shin was moving, launching herself with a knee that shot up at his chest...

Kyo had no intention of letting that knee land. He spun to the side, trying to evade that knee strike: if he managed that, then he would roll around behind Shin and try to wrap his arms around her waist while her knee was in mid-kick, before arching back, trying to use the big girl's own momentum and imbalance against her and slam her back-first into the ring with a sudden German suplex!

Shin had to wait a little bit but her opponent eventually would finally get back to his feet. If he took any longer and the bear would’ve had to forgo the sportsmanship just to continue on with the match. Thankfully that wouldn’t be the case, though as they circled each other, Shin did notice that Kyo would rather wait and defend than attack.

And Shin couldn’t disappoint him as she would charge forward and try to crush his chest with her knee in a leaping knee strike! However, now it was time for her opponent to shine as he would quickly sidestep out of the danger zone. Quickly he would dash around behind her and before she knew it, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Shin would barely have any time to gasp before she was suddenly yanked backwards. Her momentum helping her as she was thrown through the air before crashing back down to earth on her head and shoulders. ”UGGHNNN!” She cried out, the first noise she made since the match began as she used her hand to rub her neck.

The ring shook as Shin was suplexed down hard, the impact causing her to cry out as she collided with the mat. So you do have a voice, Kyo thought as he sat back up, his mind briefly flashing back to his match against Testament and how he had been brutalized by that silent giant. Ignoring the way the pain in his back flared a little after the effort he exerted in that suplex, he quickly rolled back up to his feet, trying to seize an advantage now that Shin was down.

Grabbing a hold of one of Shin's legs with both arms, he tucked it under his armpit and stepped over it, trying to roll Shin onto her front. If he managed this, then he would waste no time sitting down against her butt and lowerback, leaning back as he tried to lock in a single leg boston crab-- as far as he was concerned, he needed to respond to Shin's earlier submission hold with one of his own. Given Shin's strength, though, he knew he would be unable to go for a double leg boston crab as Shin had, and instead focused on just the one leg, trying to torque it back painfully while using his own legs to stabilize himself in case Shin tried to throw him off...

Shin groaned as she flopped onto her back, thoroughly stunned from Kyo’s German suplex. It looks like it was Kyo’s turn for some payback as while the bear was recovering, she felt her leg get grabbed and suddenly flipped onto her belly. Shin’s eyes snapped open as she pushed against the mat and tried to stop the inevitable, but it was too late.

“Nnnghh!” She grunted as she felt her form get bent into a letter. Kyo was smart too, using only one leg instead of two to limit shin’s chances of escape. But shin was still determined, so she pressed her hands into the canvas and would try to forcibly yank her leg out of her opponents grip, maybe even knock him off balance if she was lucky.

Kyo clenched his teeth as he managed to lock the old on Shin, tucking her leg under his armpit as he leaned back, stretching away at it. For added effect, he next planned to stretch the trapped limb across his shoulder, forcing the leg to arch further is his trademark stretch muffler...but Shin was not making that easy for him. Pressing her palms against the mat, the big girl was pushing out with her trapped leg, forcing Kyo to call on all of his strength just to keep the leg locked in place. He clenched his teeth, pouring more effort than usual into keeping the boston crab locked.

Slowly but surely, however, he felt the leg pushing backward. Knowing that he would not be able to stop Shin from kicking out with the leg-- and flipping him in the process-- he changed tactics. He swivelled his body to the side, loosening his grip enough so that Shin did kick out with the leg and send him crashing down onto his side. Wincing as his shoulder hit the mat, he would nevertheless scissor his own legs around Shin's thigh just above her knee and, shifting his grip with his hands to her booted ankle, twist hard, trying to stretch out Shin's leg in a modified legbar.

True, he was borrowing one of his sister Makie's signature holds...but, well, firstly, he was the one who had taught it to her, and second, he couldn't really be picky about his holds right now. He stretched away at the limb, trying to angle his body so Shin couldn't easily kick him with her free leg, hoping to make her crawl to the ropes instead...

The pain was intense, but Shin could feel Kyo’s grip giving way as she struggled. Slowly her leg fought through the hold it was in and began to straighten out, overpowering the man’s grip and freeing herself. Shin began to press herself more against the canvas thanks to the extra leverage she had gained.

And soon enough she was able to escape, but not in the way she was expecting. Instead of flinging Kyo off like she was expecting, the man fell to the side himself instead. Technically speaking, he let shin go because he saw the writing on the wall and got out when he could. But shin felt there was something more to it.

And she turned out to be right as Kyo didn’t give the bear any time to regain her bearings. She felt his legs wrap around her thigh and before she could pull away it was suddenly locked in another submission hold. The legbar immediately sent pain traveling down her leg as she grit her teeth and groaned. From her angle, she had no way of kicking him with her other foot. She had no choice but to try and crawl her way towards the ropes.

Kyo's transition from one submission hold to another worked almost flawlessly: lying on his side, he continued to scissor at Shin's trapped leg, pulled and twisting on her boot as he stretched her leg out painfully. Facedown on the mat and unable to kick Kyo away, Shin's superior strength couldn't be used, and so, just as Kyo expected, she instead began to crawl, slowly and painfully, towards the ropes.

Kyo kept the hold locked for as long as he could, feeling Shin drag them both towards the ropes even as he torqued the hold on her leg. Then, finally, the dark-haired amazon finally grabbed the lower rope. Without even waiting for any prompting from the ref, Kyo released her and rolled away. It was his turn to return Shin's earlier courtesy as he stepped away from her instead of attacking her while she was down, allowing her to rise back to her feet.

"Not bad," he finally said with a faint smile, speaking to her for the first time in this match as he waited for her to get back to her feet. Thus far, the two of them had traded a submission hold each, and had each gotten a sense of the other's skills. Kyo had a sense that the match was about to become a little less polite moving forwards, though...

Funny strange how quickly positions can be reversed. How something you just did ends up being done to you. Find yourself put in the others shoes for a short moment and suddenly without realizing it, you’re doing the same thing they did to escape. And the realization only hits you when you finally gain that freedom.

This was the position Shin found herself in when she had thought she had escaped the half crab. Only to be locked in a much worse hold with that modified leg bar. A hold that she wasn’t able to kick or force her way out, but rather drag her way to the ropes. Just like Kyo did when she had him trapped.

And just like she did earlier, once she made it to the ropes. Kyo released his hold and backed away slightly, giving a compliment to the grounded bear. “Don’t get too full of yourself.” She replied as she climbed back to her feet with the use of the ropes. She then went back to the center of the ring, watchful for his next attack.