SS22 Rising Star Championship - Maria Castillo vs. Alizeh Midori

*Maria's body was easy enough to turn over, but the sudden yank of the boston crab made the vet scream out in pain! Her hands clutched at her hair, reaching for the ropes as some sort of salvation from the intense pain that stabbed into her legs and spine.

Malicious or not, Alizeh knew her weaknesses....all of them. THis was by far the most dangerous opponent Maria could face. Someone who knew her every move and no doubt had a counter for each maneuver, "GAAAAAAAHHH!!! I...I know!"

On a certain level Alizeh felt somewhat bad about using leg based submissions on Maria given her history.. But such moves weren't against the rules, and both women knew there was no ill intent, she was just using anything and everything in her arsenal to get the edge on her godmother and win the rising star title.

Still the most troublesome things about submissions was that too long in one could become a problem if the victim got used to it, and Alizeh wouldn't doubt that from Maria, or her being able to crawl towards the ropes. So Alizeh would make both harder... By transitioning holds! Suddenly turning and dropping down to her back Alizeh wrapped her own legs around Maria's while twisting her ankle for a combination leg bar and ankle lock!

The pain was excruciating, and it took all of her self composure to still keep her senses and not succumb to the pain. Maria gritted her teeth together, trying to break down the move and look for a weakness. Positioning made the Boston Crab as dangerous as it was, but one misstep could theoretically leave the user vulnerable to....YES!

Her eyes squinted with the strain, her hand reaching for Alizeh's closest foot. A final push from her and she'd find her fingers wrapping around the limb, giving a mighty tug to reverse the move and send her pupil face first into the canvas!

Alizeh had enjoyed an incredibly dominant start against Maria throughout the opening moments of this contest, not to say that Alizeh liked to beat on her god mother, but she was eager to earn the victory and her first championship in AFW. Holding Maria in a boston crab Alizeh was on track to fully end this here and now.

Unfortunately however Maria was a veteran wrestler and she was no fool. The moment Alizeh felt a hand on her foot she knew what was about to happen as her leg was pulled and the green haired girl was sent careening face first into the mat! "Gah!" Alizeh grunted out as she smacked into the mat off of Maria, giving La Parca the moment of breath she needed!

Maria's spine and bad leg was white hot with the sheer agony of the submission Alizeh had put her through. The poor champ was in a far worse position than she was when she started this whole thing. As such, it took a few moments to drag herself up to her feet via the ropes, grimacing all the while.

Panting heavily, and leaning on her good leg, she was ready to meet Alizeh on the way up with a brutal discus elbow, before her legs buckled and she collapsed beside her goddaughter.

Alizeh was at a crossroads right here and knew that she would have to do something sooner rather than later. Granted she had a strong position with her leg bar doing serious damage to Maria's leg. But that was part of the problem. As much as Alizeh wanted to win, she didn't want to send her godmother back to the hospital in order to do so. More pressing however was that Maria was attempting to go for the ropes, if she got them it would force a release and create an opportunity to escape or counter.

Neither sounded good to Alizeh and with the pressing damage she knew Maria was taking Alizeh would sigh to herself and decide to take a gamble by releasing the leg in her grasp on her own terms. Standing up to her feet Alizeh would try and retain control by bending down and grabbing hold of the back of Maria's top to try and pull the older woman to her feet in preparation for another move so that Alizeh would try and end things once and for all!

Maria clutched at her leg the moment Alizeh released it in a rare show of mercy. Had she kept the hold, Maria wasn't confident that she would have lasted long. No doubt she may have passed out from the pain, given how her vision was beginning to blur. She used the ropes to drag herself up to her feet, and found some help in the form of Alizeh grabbing the back of her top to drag the groaning woman to shaky feet, "Nnngh...."

Trying to flip the script, she threw an elbow back, trying to put space between the two!

Deciding to take some mercy on Maria the green haired girl would let up her submission hold. But only to follow up by grabbing Maria's top, trying to pull her up to her feet in order to end things with another big move and potential pinfall. However before Alizeh could do so she ended up catching a elbow from Maria! "Ngh!" Alizeh groaned out in pain as she was forced to step backwards while rubbing where Maria had hit her.

Alright then.." Alizeh said to herself as she turned and made and ran to the ropes on the other side of the ring. Turning and bouncing off them Alizeh would come back at Maria, gearing up to try and nail Maria with a king kong lariat!

Maria knew she had bought herself only a little bit of time with that little stunt. Her body was a throbbing mass of pain, one that was not suited to a long and drawn out affair at this rate. She could feel the ring begin to shake as Alizeh made a run for the ropes, with the luchadora waiting until the last possible second before DUCKING under the arm!

Counting on Alizeh's momentum to rebound her off the ropes, Maria prepped her arm as she spun herself around to deal a rather nasty discus elbow to the jaw, clapping against flesh with a loud slap of skin on skin!

Managing to deal a good amount of damage to her godmother with the submission expertise she had garnered Alizeh would take her first real hit from Maria as a result of a counter elbow from the woman. Not unexpected, but it just meant Alizeh would have to charge her while the woman was against the ropes!

As she came in however it proved to be just what Maria had wanted as the woman managed to duck under Alizeh's offense with the green haired girl instinctively turning and bouncing of the ropes before coming back at-

"NGH!" Alizeh's offense, and train of thought, were immediately cut off once she ate a spinning back elbow from Maria! Stumbling to the side from the impact Alizeh had a dazed look in her eyes for a second before tilting over and falling onto her back with a thud, dazed from the hit and finally offering Maria a chance to get her own offense in!