Triin Liiv vs Louise Vandenbroeck (D) - Empress of Estonian Enclave

Empress of Estonian Enclave match

Hanging above each of the four corner posts of the ring is a flag bearing the Estonian coat of arms. The bottom of each flag is 4 feet above the top of the post (roughly 7 feet above the surface of the mat) -- easily accessible from the ropes and just at the edge of jumping reach.

Triin wins by capturing her opponent in a pair of handcuffs.

Her opponent wins by taking down all four flags, and is permitted to be outside the ring for up to 30 seconds.

Either wrestler can also win by forcing her opponent to "yield" (submit).

Triin's corner post is a decorated "stone" that has her sword in place, Sword-in-the-Stone style. (Blunted and padded of course, but properly weighted.) The sword can only be pulled out by Triin, but if it is pulled out, the banners are dropped to hang lower, making them easier for her opponent to reach.

Use of the sword and the flags as weapons is allowed.





Tonight, Triin Liiv was going all out. Tonight was probably going to be the biggest match that she had had in AFW so far. Tonight not only her own dignity, but the dignity of the entire country she represented was in line. Tonight, she absolutely had to win.

And why? All because she hadn't learnt to say no to AFW management.

Granted, a part of her was also very curious and keen to have this match. She had stated right from the beginning of her career in AFW that she enjoyed matches with some special gimmicks and in out-of-the-ordinary places, which was in all honesty true. But once the management had taken up on the idea for the first time, they hadn't been seeming to leave it any time soon, levaraging Triin's gimmick as the Baltic Knightess to their heart's content - and to their pockets' content, based on what Triin could deduce from her ratings bonus checks. Apparently it wasn't just the management that loved to see the Baltic Knightess in action, and admittedly often in peril, but the wider audience of AFW as well.

So, Triin couldn't really complain. And when the management had suggested her an Estonia-themed match where she was to issue an open challenge and protect the ring as her territory from the enemy to the best of her capabilities, obviously she couldn't say no. Whether or not that had been a good idea...well, there was only one way to find out.

Triin Liiv - The Baltic Knightess:

While Triin's attire tonight was the same as usual, which actually sported the colors of Estonia anyway, pretty much everything else was different. Such as her entrance theme... Tonight it was "Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm" - the national anthem of Estonia! And as she had marched proudly to its tunes down the ramp, the Baltic Knightess made her way into the ring between ropes that were colored from top to bottom in blue, black and white, just as in the Estonian flag, before marching towards her corner where the "stone" for her sword laid. Inserting it sternly in its place, the four flags bearing the Estonian coat of arms hanging by each corner post of the ring, that were going to be the targets of her opponent, got lifted a few inches higher to their assigned positions, while the heroine checked that the pair of handcuffs provided to her for her own victory condition were also in their place by the stone in the corner.

And it looked like everything was ready. Now all she had to do was to grab the microphone and issue her challenge.

"Good evening, everyone. Nice to see you all." the knightess began in a polite, but still characteristically indifferent-sounding tone. "You chose a good day to come here in AFW...as I have prepared for you a special treat!" That, obviously, was a lie, as everything had been set up and suggested by the management. But Triin knew well enough how to play her gimmick... "You see those flags over each corner? Those are the ones that my opponent needs to snatch. I, on the other hand, have naturally a pair of handcuffs, with which I'll be capturing my opponent to win." she continued, explaining the rules. "And naturally, my opponent can also just choose to yield, or try her luck with getting me to do so." Then the blonde pondered for a moment whether to say anything about the sword or keep it as a surprise, before eventually deeming that as a heroine her mission was to be as fair and transparent about the set-up as possible. "But beware, I also may use my sword..." she then added, pointing at the stone in her corner. "Now, everything is ready, so all I need is an opponent. So, I'm issuing this challenge to you all backstage... Which one of you subordinates is going to be brave enough to accept the challenge of the empress knight in this ring tonight?"

Ending her question with an especially confident tone, this was now the time when the real excitement - or rather anxiety and nervousness was going to begin. And the obvious source of it was the question, who exactly was going to appear accepting her challenge?

"Man, why the hell does everybody here have some stupid gimmick?"

Louise Vandenbroeck sat at her locker, crossing her arms to hide the copious amounts of skin shown off by her match costume. Her small black top, leather sleeves, fingerless gloves, and short, tight black shorts left very little to the imagination. She'd worked with one of AFW's costume designers on her attire, and she'd tried to limit the amount of boldness of her attire. When the final design was delivered to her, however, it was as if nothing she told the guy mattered. In the moment, Louise waved it off as an occupational hazard -- AFW was like the successful older brother of underground foxy boxing and nightclub oil wrestling, after all. Of course, that didn't mean she liked having her tits hanging out in this cold-ass locker room, but she'd be able to put up with it.

Louise's Match Attire:

"It's not everyone. What about our team?"

Louise had been brought here by her manager, Christina. The psychology professor turned wrestling manager told her that, to make something go as smoothly as possible, practice should be as close to the real deal as possible. So, here she was, freezing her ass off while showing her body off for anyone to see, all in the name of "simulating the match night experience." She heard Triin's

"Okay, first of all, our office is probably the most normal place I've been that's associated with AFW. Second of all, even Brooke has that whole 'I like guns' thing going on."

"That's not the same thing, and you know it. So, you gonna take Triin up on the match?"

"Sure thing, Doc. And no, not a chance. If you want me to fight, then book me for a fight, not whatever Shakespeare in the Park crap this is."

Just then, a familiar song started to blare outside. It was a song that Louise listened to a lot; in fact, it was her "hype song" before games back when... Back then. Way back then. But wait, wasn't that song supposed to be...

Louise's Entrance Song - The Champion - The Score:

"This was a trick."

Christina grinned at Louise. "Sorry. Anyway, everyone's probably wondering where you are. Good luck!"

Louise simply stared at her simpering manager for a few seconds, processing what she'd told her. Then, grumbling a number of obscenities in English and Dutch, she hopped off the bench and ran to the gorilla position. Taking a deep breath, she walked out onto the entrance ramp, almost blinded by the arena lights. Her opponent -- Triin, apparently -- stood in the center of the ring, backlit but still visible as she looked in Louise's direction.

"Hey!" she called out. "I know everybody here's got some weird schtick, but this crap takes the cake." Letting that taunt hang in the air, Louise took off down the ramp at a light jog. When she neared the ring, she took a sudden long stride, her other foot joining the first soon after. The silver-haired woman crouched down before springing back up in a big leap -- she had to pull her legs up to her body, but she was able to clear the entire 40-inch gap between the floor and ring apron! As she quickly established her footing on the ring apron, Louise heard the crowd swell in response to her impressive athletic feat. The roaring cheers rocked her to her core -- after countless years dreaming about her moment under the lights, it was finally here. She just wished that, instead of a debut in some hedonistic fight club, they were cheering her name as it was announced for the night's starting lineup in a game of-

No. Now wasn't the time to think about that. Whether she liked it or not, she was in that hedonistic fight club right now. Shaking off her mix of stupor and nostalgia, she entered the ring, careful not to show the crowd too much in the process.

"I mean, I get all the Estonia stuff -- I'm Dutch. Louise, by the way," she wondered aloud, gesturing at the ropes and banners. "But what does that make you? Some old-ass knight?" Her words probably sounded harsher than she'd meant them, but the whole affair was patently ridiculous. Getting ready for the start of the match, Louise crouched down low, ready to dodge whatever her opponent threw at her. "So, Miss Knight, all I've gotta do is take these flags, yeah? Seems easy enough. Let's hope this won't be too much of a bother!"

Triin had mentally prepared for a long and rather gruesome wait, but to her surprise, very little time passed before the rock tunes of her opponent-to-be began blaring throughout the Friction arena! And based on what she was hearing, her opponent was going to be one meaning business, rather than some cute idol from a J-pop band. And the knightess wasn't left wondering for long, before a figure appeared on top of the ramp - and evidently shouted something at her direction that she couldn't possibly hear. Something about sticks, cracks and cakes... Or then something completely else.

In any case, obviously she was the one coming for her.

The first thing that Triin could clearly witness though was the impressive athletic feat that Louise decided to showcase right before entering the ring. The leap made it clear to the Estonian blonde that the girl could jump, and-... "Damn, she can jump." Triin's thought process got immediately stuck at the realization that jumping capabilities were obviously an asset for her opponent, and now that she thought of it, it was actually pretty logical that whoever had been going to be taking up her challenge was likely going to be an avid jumper.

Something to consider next time, then.

If Louise was unhappy with her attire, Triin on the other hand was, secretly, liking it very much. It not only made it easier for her to evaluate the physique of her opponent, but also more exciting to... Well, let's just say that wrestling usually included quite some body contact. Even if Triin's intentions in that regard were purely professional and competitive.

The girl wasted no time with beginning to talk though, and apparently she was continuing from whatever she had said up by the ramp entrance. Luckily, it was easier for Triin to hear now. Or more accurately, unluckily, since the girl seemed to definitely hold some nasty attitude. If she was so unhappy about the setting, why had she taken up her challenge in the first place?!?

"Name is Triin. Triin Liiv. The Baltic Knightess." the heroine introduced herself, choosing to ignore the Dutch girl's mocking attitude for now. Noticing that her opponent was already crouching into position, eager to get the fight going, the knightess proceeded to meet her in the middle of the ring while responding to her questions. "Did no one tell you the rules? Or didn't you just listen?" she began accompanied by according rolling of her yes. "But yes, taking the flags, that's what you'll try to do. And I'll be the one who's going to cuff you. Deal?" Triin concluded as she simultaneously offered her hand forward for Louise to shake.

Louise eyed Triin's hand warily. She'd heard that AFW employed no small number of heels and cheats. However, based on her gimmick and Louise's first impression of the Knightess, she figured that Triin wouldn't be one of those. More importantly, she didn't want to be one, either. Regardless of how she may have felt about her past, she was still brought up in an athletic culture. Sportsmanship and fair play were tenets she valued, if only begrudgingly by this point. So, she rose slightly and took Triin's hand with a curt nod of sportsmanlike appreciation.

"Oh, I was listening -- mostly. Just wanted to make sure. Look, between you and me, my manager accepted your challenge on my behalf without me knowing. But lemme be clear: As long as I'm in here anyway, there's not gonna be any 'try to do-s' from me. And there's no way I'll let a walking museum advert throw me in cuffs, either!" The short speech was unexpected, even to Louise herself. It sounded like something she might've said way back then. Was the feeling of competition really bringing all of that back?

Assuming that Triin released her from the handshake, Louise shook herself out of her musings and took a few steps back to her previous position, crouching again as the bell rang to start the match. She evaluated her options: She didn't have enough running space to grab the two banners behind her, but Triin was obviously in the way of the others. That meant that somehow, she'd have to either get around her opponent or go through her. And given Triin's obvious experiential advantage in wrestling and combat, Louise would have to get creative.

Louise took a wide step forward and to the right, rearing her right arm back as if to deliver a vicious hook to Triin's side. Just when it looked like she'd fire the punch off, the Dutch woman would suddenly spring over to the left, hoping to send her opponent in the wrong direction -- a classic juke from the Scarlet Streak!

It was always a test of trust of sorts when one offered her hand for a shake inside a wrestling ring, but Triin felt that tonight it was even more appropriate than usual - this was her accepting her opponent's offer to take up her challenge, and welcoming her to her own territory after all! Louise seemed a bit hesitant though, but eventually dutifully accepted the handshake accompanied by an appropriate nod, which Triin promptly reciprocated.

Right after that her opponent began her little speech though. And what Triin heard next she found rather irksome. So her manager had accepted Triin's challenge on her behalf? That just didn't sound really nice to the Estonian... Louise wasn't here because she wanted to, but because she had to! That was all the more reason for Triin to make sure that she won... How embarrassing would it be to lose the match for her dignity to a woman who didn't want to even be there in the first place?!? And secondly, the "walking museum ad" -jab wasn't nice at all either, and shouldn't have gone unpunished, if you asked Triin.

"Well, we'll see about that." was her rather sour answer as her opponent began crouching before her like a predator. Taking a few steps back to get prepared for the bell ringing, the knightess evaluated her options on the best way to attack her challenger. Probably some neat kick would work the best to start off with!

But after the bell had rung, before the blonde knightess had time to attack, Louise had started moving. However, it seemed to be rather obvious what she was going for, and Triin promptly stepped to the side to avoid what seeemed to be like a vicious hook coming at her! But the unexpected difference was that it never came, and once Triin realized that, she had to glance over her shoulder to see her opponent already seemingly headed towards a corner - and a flag that was hanging above it!

Out of the corner of her eye, Louise saw Triin sidestepping her blow -- or so the Baltic Knightess thought. While her opponent was reading a dodge and counterattack, Louise was already done blowing past her. The move gave her just enough room to get a good running start towards the corner. In an instant, she was just a few feet from the post, crouched down like she was just before she'd entered the ring.

This time, the crowd seemed to know what was coming, as they'd seen it before. Hearing and practically feeling the crowd rise to its feet, Louise sprang up. As she flew through the air, some baser part of Louise couldn't help but feel energized by the swell of the crowd. In that brief moment, a whirlwind of emotions whipped up within her -- nostalgia for memories she wished she had, pride in her craft, intense longing for something more -- only to get stamped down just as quickly. She couldn't dwell on those, not now. Not when she had a job to do.

Louise reached out for the banner and, despite her leaping abilities, just barely grabbed onto it. The flag didn't immediately detach from its hangar, though, which was good for multiple reasons. First, and most obviously, Louise wasn't sent flying into the stands. Secondly, Louise was able to use her momentum to swing around like a scared cliff jumper.

"Hey, Knightess! Think fast!" she called out, having swung fully around the corner of the ring. Now facing her opponent, Louise kicked out, shifting her weight to pull the banner free and launch herself feet-first at Triin!

As soon as Triin glanced over her shoulder, she realized that her sneaky opponent had tricked her! Also realizing that she was headed right towards a corner and a flag prompted the knightess to rush behind her. But she was hopelessly late. This time Triin got an even better seat to witness Louise's jumping capabilities, and the knightess could not almost believe her eyes as the Dutch girl made the leap to grab the banner hanging on top of the corner, clearly showcasing that the setup of the match was more than favoring her abilities.

For a moment it looked like Louise would be snatching the flag and flying off into the distance, but the debuting Dutch seemed to have another idea. Performing a fancy swing, she used her momentum and support from the banner to face the ring once again, which was to the Estonian's puzzlement, as she had not realized the flags to have been so sturdily in their places. But that should have been just good news for the knightess, right?

Triin was still coming at Louise, determined to push her off the turnbuckle, or something similar once she would get the slick Dutch to her hands, when she urged her opponent to think fast. "For what?" was the only thing Triin had time to think of, before the Scarlet Streak had launched herself towards the knightess, pulling the banner with her and smacking her feet right above Triin's breasts! The blow was totally unexpected by the heroine, who promptly fell onto her back to the mat, momentarily reeling from the impact, but determinedly trying to get back up again as soon as she just possibly could. She did not want to let Louise start heading towards another corner!

For all her bluster, Louise couldn't deny the fact that she'd hardly ever fought somebody before, much less at the professional level. She'd managed to pull down her first of the four banners, and based on the resounding thud that came with her kick's impact, she guessed that it probably hurt Triin. After that, Louise realized, she had no idea what the hell was going on.

"Urgh... what the hell?" she grunted. One minute, she was flying and swinging through the air, and the next, she was lying on her back, shrouded in darkness. Waving her hands around, Louise realized that she was actually shrouded in the banner itself. A few more waves, and she was back on her knees and under the lights. Looking up, she froze as she saw Triin doing the exact same thing -- rising to her feet. Too late to get up and scramble to another banner but not quite confident enough to take Triin in a straight-up fight, Louise realized that she needed to keep her Estonian counterpart as limited as possible.

Louise reached over and threw the fallen banner onto Triin, hoping to disorient the Knightess! Regardless of whether or not this move worked or if the banner was simply swatted aside, she would lunge on her knees towards her opponent. Louise reached out, hoping to grab Triin by the shoulders and shove her over, not realizing that Triin could very well simply take this chance for a makeshift lock-up!

Triin had to take a moment to recover from the impact before starting to get back up again, and expected her foe to probably be somewhere already either going for yet another banner, or setting up some attack on her. Thus, it came as a pleasant surprise as she saw that the Dutch herself was only starting to get back up as well! Maybe she had gotten somehow entangled with the banner or something, as it appeared to be a bit heavy.

What Louise did next confirmed Triin's suspicions, as the Dutch girl decided to use the banner as a weapon! Just as Triin thought that she was getting on her two feet, the banner slammed into her, halting her progress. Irritated, the knightess tried to shove the flag aside as fast as possible - while still trying to treat the object with some respect - but that process took just long enough for Louise to get on her knees right in front of her.

Realizing that standing up was no longer an option with her foe so close to her, Triin accepted that she had to face her on her knees. And just as she had done so, Lousie planted her arms on her shoulders, trying to shove her over! The Estonian barely managed to resist her attempt, while managing to land her own hands onto Louise's shoulders as well... But while the knightess realized very well that this was a good chance for a lock-up, she decided against engaging in it. While it could have been considered a bit cowardly, Triin knew that she wasn't the strongest fighter, and while Louise did appear to be rather similar to her in build, the Estonian had seen her leaping capabilities... And those told a story that she had to possess at least some power in her legs!

Besides, during their brief struggle for control with their bodies almost pressed against each other, the knightess came up with a plan. Suddenly ceasing her own pushing, Triin let Louise to shove her over, so that the Dutch girl landed right on top of her. But instantly, the Estonian blonde tried to then wrap her legs around Louise's midsection for a squeeze, while trying to gain some control over her arms with her hands, and hoping to then be able to roll them over so that she would be the one on top now, and her opponent would get pressed between Triin's body and the mat!

As a former athlete in a contact sport, close and aggressive body contact wasn't all that strange to Louise. Given the rather revealing state of their respective outfits, though, the Dutch woman couldn't help but nervously blanch at feeling the heat from Triin's skin on hers. By focusing on her surprise and outrage at Triin reversing her move, though, she was able to get her mind into the match.

Now, Triin was perched on Louise's hips -- a dangerous position for the Scarlet Streak. Louise wrapped an arm around the back of her opponent's neck, with the resulting headlock serving as an attempt to prevent Triin from lifting her own body. Given Triin's experience advantage, the Estonian would probably be able to escape from the amateurish hold rather quickly. That just meant that Louise had to think fast.

"H-Hey, are you one of those pervs that joined this place just to grope some chicks or somethin'?" …Or she could just buy some time by taunting Triin. In fact, that was really Louise's only option right now other than keep trying to hold Triin down with the headlock. Other than that, with Triin's body pinning hers to the mat, there wasn't much the Nederlander could do.