Standard Match: Akane Saito vs Rebecca Owens

Pacing around the backstage area full of nervous energy Rebecca Owens, tall, strong, and with long ruby red hair that was tied up in a ponytail to keep it contained, was eagerly awaiting her chance to debut in this new and exciting environment. She had decided that she would leave her significant other away from this match (the last time she had brought him, it had taken many weeks and matches to overcome the stink of his interference).  She would stop pacing as she heard the announcer begin to talk and gave her outfit one last adjust so it fit comfortably on her frame and then when the haunting tones of a old Frankish war song would play over the speakers she stepped onto the steps and onto the stage to the cheers and applause that was the usual mark of someone who was new.  The red haired warrior knew though that someday those would be much louder as she was determined to win gold here and prove herself as the Warrior she knew she was.  Once on the stage she would give a few stomps and a battle cry in time with the beat of the song before marching down to the ring where she would mount the steps and enter, giving a warrior's salute to the crowd before settling into the far corner to await whoever had been arranged as her opponent.  

Spoiler:

Theme:

Akane Saito:

With a wide sweep of her arm, Akane threw back the black curtains to step out from gorilla position, confidently striding out onto the stage. Up until now, her receptions had always been middling, a few diehard fans who genuinely adored her and a slew of detractors who thrived on the sight of her many many failures Dubbed the "Loserweight Champion" within the locker room she had a record to back the criticism. Tonight however she was met with a strange and overwhelming response as the crowd came alive at the sight of her, surprising enough that it made her pause to stare out across the audience. People were… changing her name. That was new.

She had recently been booked in a cage match with a massive woman who towered over her in height and weight, locked into a construct of hardened steel with no good escape… and she won. Rather handily. Against all odds, she had managed to make a fool of her opponent and leave her utterly defeated in the ring. That had won over a lot of people, more than she realized. Her cheeks took on a faint reddish hue, flattered to no end by the sudden outcry of support she was receiving when there used to be none. Her smile grew into a wide grin, throwing her fist high to pump it with her music.

She charged down the ramp, picking up speed until she zoomed the distance as if it were nothing with long leaping strides. Lunging forward she threw herself beneath the ropes, sliding into the ring on her chest, coming to a slow stop. Shoving off the mat she rose to her feet with a spring in her step, striking a heroic pose with her hands on her hips as she stood before Rebecca, another giant who needed conquering. Brazenly she marched right up to the redhead, butting chests with her. Akane had to get up on her tiptoes and even then it was an odd display with the larger woman having nearly a full foot on her petite height… somehow she was still fearless.

She stared up at Rebecca for a long moment, lips pulled tight and eyes narrowed in a look of clear determination. Dropping back down onto the heels of her boots, she stepped back to take in the full sight of her opponent."I'll be your opponent tonight. I hope you came prepared for a fight. I am Saito Akane, and I am taking you down for the one… two… three!" Akane threw a finger up at Rebecca, holding it toward the other woman's chest. With a small confident nod, she lowered her upper body a hit, getting into her grappling stance to wait for the bell.

Here was the issue that many from her previous wrestling promotions had known that no one here did. The tall woman here had a hair trigger temper. So initially upon seeing her opponent she had had to bite her own tongue to keep from rushing forward and acting like a child who has found a puppy. This brazen attitude however had cooled her down considerably and now she was ready to do this.

"I'm Rebecca Owens, and it is not me who is losing tonight...also if you value that finger I suggest you move it quickly." She was doing all she could not to go berserk right away but with anger issues like hers...it's a toss up if she can control it. Once the bell rings Rebecca approached the center of the ring holding her arms out to suggest a lock up. She had little hope the smaller girl would actually take it...but she was always on the lookout for duplicity...the side effect of being married to one they called cheatmaster, so if Akane tried anything she was hopefully ready for it.

Akane was plenty cocksure and confident as she stood before this amazonian woman, a fearlessness in her eye that some might say was more of a flaw than a blessing. She seemed ready to dive headlong into this match without any real hesitation until Rebecca casually threw out a threat at the finger gestured so close to her face. Much of the tough girl act she was putting up immediately fell away as she withdrew the finger with a blink of her eyes and a small blush.

"Oh… sorry." It wasn't hard to read the angry boiling behind the surface on Rebecca's face. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't a matter of intimidation that had her suddenly backpedaling but a hope she hadn't offended the other woman somehow. The projected confidence fell away as Akane's grin had faded leaving her lips forming a small pout as she bowed her head apologetically. Perhaps she had committed some sort of social faux pas in this other woman's culture… she certainly wasn't from Japan, not with that dialect in her voice, but Akane was not nearly well-traveled enough to place it.

At the sound of the bell, she had readied herself for a charge from Rebecca. While she seemed undeterred by the vast difference in their sizes, she wasn't blind to the likelihood of someone this big trying to rush her down. When the redhead came forward at a slow pace and instead made a silent offer of contested strength though, Akane eased up and slipped out of her ready stance to stand more casually. It was a terrible idea to willingly grapple with Rebecca like this… but she couldn't help but look on slightly starry-eyed at her opponent standing ready for an old-fashioned lock up, she just looked so cool and determined!

Against the shouted advice from the crowd and any internal voice of reason that might have spoken up in her head, the pink-haired girl gave a firm nod to Rebecca as if agreeing to the offer laid out before her. With a small bounce in her step, she walked into the looming shadow of the larger woman in earnest. Extending her arms to interlock them with the redhead, slipping a boot back along the canvas to brace herself, she seemed content to freely engage like this with no strings attached. There was no false start or trickery here as Akane stared up at Rebecca with her bright eyes, an innocent naivety glistening inside of them. When they both seemed ready, she applied a faint amount of push to the lock-up, waiting until Rebecca returned some sign of resistance before actually pushing all her weight and strength into attempting to take control of the grapple.

With her initial burst of barely contained anger Rebecca saw a change come over the smaller girl and her conscience immediately began telling her off for it. The result of this mental argument was a slight softening if the focused features. Even more surprising was the fact that Akane willing locked up with her despite the clear size and strength difference between them. That kind of courage earn you respect in Rebecca's eyes, but that would not stop her desire to win.

After locking up with her opponent she would attempt to push her to the ropes. If that was successful her next move would be to whip her across the ring, and then meet her in the middle off the rebound with a lariat.

"Hrk!" Akane's boot heels squeaked against the canvas as her initial push into the grapple was met with overwhelming force. She winced, as her arms quivered, fighting her hardest to keep Rebecca at bay but having no real luck as the redhead was able to just walk forward, pushing the small girl back as if her efforts were inconsequential. It wasn't that the pink-haired girl wasn't trying. She shifted her weight, tried other angles, but every attempt to come at her opponent a different way just found her needing to backpedal more to keep from being bowled over. Even as the ropes dug into her back she continued to fruitlessly struggle to fight back to a place of control.

"Y-you're ugh… pretty strong!" Akane admitted through the strain of their grapple, just as Rebecca shifted her position to Irish whip her across the ring. It got a small surprised squeak from the smaller girl who fumbled her first few strides before catching herself in the run. Reaching the far end of the ring she turned, springing off the ropes back the way she came. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the redhead baring down at her, ducking her head at the last minute to slip beneath the lariat unharmed. It passed over her head, the force enough to make her hair blow back it its wake as she continued forward. Hitting the ropes yet again she ran directly at Rebecca, kicking off the canvas as she neared to launch herself up towards the big woman, throwing all her momentum and weight into a crossbody block

Rebecca knew she was stronger, but she did not expect that much stronger than her opponent. Nodding at the compliment given she threw her opponent across the ring and came charging in with the lariat.

However when it came time for her blow to connect, all she got was the whoosh of empty air, the pinkette having slipped under her blow and when she turned around she had about 2 seconds of seeing Akane flying towards her, before the flying body collided with her, bring her forcefully to the mat. Thankfully for her she recovered quickly and would attempt to grab her before any pin attempt was made and squeeze her in a ground based bear hug.

Soaring through the air, Akane twisted her body horizontal, leveling herself out to come flying directly at Rebecca's chest. There was a soft gasp from the audience and a collective silence for just a moment when they waited anxiously for if the move would work. They had seen this sort of matchup before, there was a high likelihood this gamble wouldn't pay off and the larger, stronger Rebecca might snatch her from the sky. To everyone's surprise, except Akane's, her weight slammed into the redhead at full speed providing her enough force to take the big woman off her feet cleanly and to the mat. There was an uproar from the crowd at the pure spectacle of if.

With a beaming smile on her face, Akane put her palms to the mat, trying to make a hasty rise to make good use of this moment. She let out an alarmed cry as strong arms wrapped themselves around her body, yanking her back down to the canvas on top of Rebecca. The pink-haired rookie let out a grunt of strain, kicking her legs wildly and jerking her body from side to side, trying her best to wiggle free of this increasingly constrictive hold around her.

"Ngh! Y-you aren't supposed to do this move on the ground!" Akane whined through her struggles, blindsided by the new application of a move she was more familiar with than she likely card d to admit. "L-let go."

"I know it's more traditional to do this standing up, but we make do with what we are given" Rebecca was a fighter who used her endurance to outlast everyone she met to look for opportunities to counterattack. She had lost the opportunity to catch Akane in the air so now she was doing in on the ground. The issue with doing it here was that she had very little in the way of maneuverability on the ground and was a bit to close to the ropes for her liking. So using her heels she tried to scoot herself closer to the center away from the ropes. "Just think of this as a bit of innovative offense."

It hadn't only been Rebecca who made note of just how close the ropes had been. It had taken some struggling but she managed to slip an arm free, pawing towards the ropes. The referee moved around the two, paying careful mine to note of the pink-haired girl managed to touch them but her flexing fingers were but an inch or so shy, even as she stretched as far as she could. The rookie had an intense look of concentration and pain on her face, eyes squinted, tongue poking out the side of her lips as she batted at the ropes again and again. She felt as though she was making progress but in truth, she hadn't budged the two on the mat at all. It wasn't until the redhead started to drag them away from her potential escape did panic start to really set in.

"It... it's just a hug!" Aken blurted out, failing to think of any real combat to rebut Rebecca's observation. The distance from the ropes grew more substantial by the moment, stranding Akane in the no-mans-land that was center ring.  This was bad, real bad. With a grunt, the rookie shoved her forearm up under Rebecca's chin, trying to shove her head up and away. She swung her legs back a bit further, making a sudden concentrated effort to earn her freedom by bringing a knee down to stiffly jab her knee into Rebecca's thigh. The first attempt wasn't very strong, but she would draw it back again, and again, trying to hammer the bigger woman's leg as hard as she could muster to attempt to make this hold too costly to justify. "Let me go!"