SS21 - Adrian Kytes vs Maria Castillo

Maria was still reeling from the pin attempt that she was unable to escape the smooth transition into the Gedo Clutch! The veteran groaned softly, her body twitching and wriggling to keep at least one shoulder off the mat! The ref was already checking for a pin, running her hand near her shoulders and occasionally getting a one count as Maria kept breaking the pins!!

"Nnngh....get....off...of...ME!" she growled, trying to roll Adrian off to the side!

"Dammit!" Adrian cussed out as her pin attempt failed at the start, Maria's shifting making it harder for the former cosplayer to get balanced on all fours and keep the Reaper pinned "Come on! Ugh... that was three ones in a row!" She complained as she collapsed out of the hold, spun out so she ended up sitting in perfect position to continue chiding the referee for what she perceived to be incompetent officiating "No way she had her shoulders up in between counts. What is there a forcefield around the ring? Was the canvas sprayed with... anti... luchador... spray? Come on!" the former cosplayer grumbled before rising up to her feet with a groan of exertion, reaching down to pull up the struggling Maria with her in a tight front face lock "Okay... we're doing this the hard way then."

Maria fought tooth and nail to avoid getting pinned, keeping the audience on the edge of their seat before Aiden began her tirade on the ref. In the meantime, the luchadora slumped on her side, chest heaving as she tried gulping down oxygen to try and keep her lungs from burning from the exertion.

Her respite was brief, feeling smooth fingers run over her jaw and yank her up onto shaky legs, with Maria's hands weakly pushing away at Adrian to try and break free, "Nnn...no..."

"Nnno- yes we're freaking doing this, shut up." Adrian snapped at the struggling Maria as the two rose to their feet, panting for breath as she looked around at the crowd with a wild-eyed expression on her face. Frustration wasn't just building, it had already been built and was now arguing with the council over planning permission for an extension and a swimming pool, but she had Maria in prime position and now what she needed to do was lift her up, summoning all of her strength to not only get the luchadora up in the air but hold her for a few agonizing seconds upside down as though she was stalling with a Vertical Suplex. In a tribute to her fellow Bullet Club member, Adrian was going to Do the Deal and nail Maria with a Falcon Arrow, twisting the Reaper upside down so she could slam her down on the canvas in front of her. Her shoulders were going to hate her but the damage would be worth it: no-one kicks out of the Falcon Arrow.

Maria's head was swimming a bit as Adrian manhandled her up onto her feet, roughly adjusting her so the Bullet Club member had the luchadora in prime position for her next agonizing attack. A sharp tug on her gear brought the veteran up into the air, giving Maria dangerous flashbacks to her debut match against Rosa the Crusher! The burning embarrassment of that defeat still ate away at her, and being in such a similar position to how she had been ruthlessly slammed to end that encounter did little to assuage her panic.

A sharp twist and drop brought the champion spine first into the canvas, bouncing once before she crumpled limp between Adrian's legs. One tug brought her leg up, with the ref sliding in to count the pin, with the crowd counting alongside.

"ONE....TWO...." The ref began, bringing her hand down for three before a sudden jerk from the luchadora broke the count, clearly more on instinct than of any conscious effort to get out of the pin!

This was it! No-one kicks out of the Falcon Ar- "TWOOO!" The ref declared, shattering Adrian's illusions of victory. Maybe she didn't hit the Falcon Arrow right, made it more of a half-baked Michinoku Driver instead, it was rare for Adrian to get anyone up that high anyway... or the elephant in the room was that Maria was a tough motherfucker who won't stay down without Adrian pulling some bullshit on her. "Ugh..." the brunette groaned, mind racing for what she could pull and more importantly: get away with. Unfortunately for her the ref was being a little sharper than the normal AFW fare which meant that Adrian was going to have to do this, heaven forbid, fair and square.

Pulling herself up to her feet, Adrian shook out some of the tension in her legs and headed back to the corner, hoisting herself first up to the second rope and then up to the top with a clear view of the whole ring. From there she launched herself forward, bringing her hands above her head as she braced for the impact of a top-rope elbow drop.

If anything was gained by Adrian's outburst over the break, it was precious few moments for Maria to regain some semblance of sense in regards to her position. Adrain was no pushover, that she knew, and would have to fight tooth and nail to earn this victory. Time to stop taking the beatings....she had to keep pressing, until the woman broke.

Her tired eyes focused just enough to see the heel clawing her way to the top rope, prepping for a dive! Her body screamed at her to move, right then and there, but she had to be patient. She had to wait and seize the initiative at the proper moment. Wait for her to spring...yes like that....sail to her proper height....yes....and....MOVE!

Within an instant, Maria rolled her body to the side, leaving nothing but canvas to cushion Adrian's probably painful landing. With one hand clutching her back, she rose to her feet, breathing hard as she brought her leg around for a nasty roundhouse kick to the skull!

What went up must inevitably come down and with how Adrian leaped up she was coming down hard, too bad there wasn't a person shaped cushion to land on... "UGH!" She grunted as she splatted down on the canvas, landing mostly on her hip and elbow and basically causing the whole right side of her body to go numb with pain. Her left arm and left leg were still moving but it was slow going when their right-side counterparts weren't pulling their weight "...dammit..." She groaned as she managed to crawl over to the ropes, gaining some ground to help herself recover.

"Alright let's do th-" was about as much as the brunette got in before clocking a kick to the head and slumping straight back, her upper body bouncing off the bottom rope as she slipped through and out, landing on the outside of the ring looking like she'd just been Yamcha'd by Maria's kick! "Kaio-wha..." she mumbled out.

Maria stood their, her body throbbing in pain as she watched Adrian slide out of the ring, chest heaving with the exertion of the back and forth fight between the luchadora and the Bullet Club leader. She had to be careful here. She almost lost this twice over already with near falls, so she was under no illusion about Adrian's capability. The Bullet Club leader was probably one finisher away from taking the Aztec Championship off of her, judging by how hard those slams hit earlier.

Sliding out of the ring, Maria reached down and grabbed Adrian by her jaw, dragging her up and hurling her body into the ring. Panting heavily, she began the slow climb up to the top turnbuckle, ignoring the burning in her arms and legs as she perched herself up on the top rope!

With the crowd reaching a fever pitch, she leaped off the top, extending her limbs for a five star frog splash, her finisher that she dubbed "Flight of the Reaper!"

Adrian was dead weight for the luchadora as she attempted to hoist her into a position for whatever The Reaper had planned and grabbing the former cosplayer by her already aching jaw wasn't speeding up the process either, although it did add that little bit of extra pain to cut through the kick-induced coma Adrian was going through for what little mumbling "ow" constantly was worth. Her whole body hurt as she eventually came to a stop in no mans land, flat on her back and away from the ropes while Maria began her assent to the top.

Her shoulders didn't want to twist away, her arms stayed flat by her side as the crowd roared in approval at Maria's flight, the brunette's legs and hips could move but not fast enough to get a good roll going like how the Aztec Champion had juked away from Adrian's elbow drop, she was pretty much stuck in place. What she could do however, was raise up her boot high in to the air, feeling the tingle of "why are you making me do this" in her hamstring in the hope that she could intercept Maria's flight path and catch her in the face, or at least force her to abort the splash to prevent the worst of the anti-air damage.