Wrestling Dynasty

Spoiler:

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ryu 'the Dragon' Hiroshi arrived at the AFW gym with some doubt lingering in his mind. As he parked his car and made his way inside, his expression was stoic and emotionless as he passed by the receptionist who gave him a friendly hello but he bypassed her without any acknowledgement. He went straight to the locker rooms, there was a lot on his mind. Having just switched wrestling organizations due to suffering a heavy loss at his previous one, a doubt lingered in his mind. He was not sure whether he had it anymore. At his age, many would call it quits but Ryu simply wanted to move away. Perhaps he needed a change of scenery to get his mojo back because after being successful, being a champion and a veteran of the ring- things were now starting to go downhill.

locker room:

He took off his clothes and headed into the shower, figured he could wash away all that doubt. However, he came out and changed into his wrestling attire and nothing changed. He put on his gym sneakers and fingerless gloves, his blue wrestling briefs and looked himself in the mirror. He noticed something, he rubbed his jaw and turned his head to the side as he saw a couple of grey hairs in his stubble beard. He clicked his tongue in frustration before noticing some more grey hairs on his hair as well. He was now 41, there was no denying that age was catching up. He took out his phone, checked social media for reviews on his last match, many of the comments ridiculing Ryu for being slow, sluggish and that his time was up and that he should retire. He gritted his teeth, throwing his phone against the locker while getting back up to his feet.

Ryu Hiroshi:

"I...tch" he said to himself while looking in the mirror before suddenly walking out. He would enter the main gym hall, noticing many young wrestlers and some in their prime getting in a good work-out. He was still in good shape but even he could tell that he was getting slower, his stamina was fading away and there was not much left in the tank. However, he wanted to think he still had it. He took a deep breath and walked towards one of the work-out benches but instead of working out, he simply stood next to it looking at it blankly and simply wondering "Is my time in the ring truly up?".

The resounding crash of something substantial meeting plywood and springs sent shockwaves through the gym, a cacophony of cheers and whoops punctuating the thunderous noise. A modest assembly had gathered around the gym's main training ring, a mix of enthusiastic onlookers expressing delight and others tending to their fresh bruises on nearby benches with ice packs and aspirin. At the heart of the spectacle was a young blonde woman, folded up from a powerbomb, and a larger woman of a darker complexion, Teuila Matautia, towering over her with a domineering presence.

Teuila Matautia:

Teuila, whose usual commanding aura seemed particularly oppressive that day, displayed an almost casual ease as she flipped the hapless girl over like a mere piece of cardboard and swiftly clamped on a Boston crab. The young blonde tapped out almost immediately, rolling out of the ring the moment she was released from Teuila's grasp, joining the collective humility of those who had dared to challenge the Samoan wrestler ringside.

With a satisfied air, Teuila strolled toward a far corner, snatching a towel from the top of the turnbuckle to pat away the sweat from her head and neck. A swig from her water bottle followed, accentuating the physical exertion of her impressive display. The crowd buzzed with murmurs, individuals exchanging glances and questions, speculating whether anyone else would summon the courage to test their luck against the renowned Samoan wrestler. Teuila's legacy loomed large, known for her family's wrestling dynasty, a ruckus-causing body slam of a beloved sumo wrestler, single-handedly thwarting an armed robbery, and even triumphing against a famous movie star in the AFW.

Despite the attention, Teuila paid little mind to the crowd. Instead of making bold challenges or insulting those who had fallen before her, she seamlessly transitioned back to running ring drills. The instigation had come from those who sought to challenge her, disrupting what was supposed to be a quiet workout day. The Samoan powerhouse continued her routines, seemingly unfazed by the hubbub around her, as the gym's atmosphere remained charged with both awe and a tinge of fear.

As Ryu entered the infamous AFW gym, he was distracted by the sudden commotion of someone being slammed down onto the mat with force. He looked around and saw many people huddled around a practice ring and he would walk up to ringside and saw the woman with the darker skin have the young blonde woman trapped in a vicious Boston Crab. After a moment of struggling, the blonde tapped out and rolled out of the ring.

It was an impressive display, clearly the woman who won this spar was talented. Perhaps this was exactly the break he needed to turn his fortune around, if he were to beat someone like her his doubters would no longer doubt him. He would hop up on the ring apron after no one else seemed to be interested. However, he knew that she would regard the inside as her territory so he would not enter inside just yet.

"Impressive victory young lady" he said applauding her. "Tell me though, can you do the same in an official match against an opponent who...is more than a match for you?" he questioned while raising his eyebrow, remaining stoic faced.

Teuila shifted her weight, leaning into the ring ropes as she executed a quick lunge forward before resetting, the rhythm of her drills apparent. As Ryu climbed onto the apron, she paused, her back pressed against the ropes, eyes glaring in his direction as she stood upright. Fingers clenched into balled fists, she seemed poised and ready for him to step into the ring with her. However, when he spoke, she turned to give him her full attention.

“Yeah, thanks," she responded, though her tone lacked enthusiasm, as if she didn't particularly care for compliments or perhaps didn’t believe what she had done was worthy of praise. In this gym, populated by AFW athletes, not everyone shared the same level of skill or pedigree, and Teuila seemed to know it.

“Sure. Good luck finding someone who is a match, though.” Teuila snorted softly, a dismissive sound that seemed to brush Ryu aside without a second glance. With that, she returned to her ring drills, seemingly uninterested in further conversation. The Samoan woman's focus remained steadfast on her training.

As expected, as soon as he stepped up on the ring apron, the dark skinned woman would get ready to fight. Ryu had given no signs of challenging her but despite that, it was a fight or flight reaction from someone who was used to fighting or being challenged. Of course, it was expected that people would step up and challenge you if you were seen as one of the best but did that apply to the woman inside the ring. Clearly, after she disposed off the first opponent, no one else wanted to step up to her so she continued her regimen until he stepped up.

Her thank you did not seem too genuine, perhaps she thought that the Dragon was not being genuine either but truly he was, he really did think she had an impressive figure and of course to beat someone with such ease as she did, clearly she would be talented.

She would brush his hint aside, continuing on her training while ignoring him. He would shrug his shoulders and would enter the ring now to make this more serious. "Oh, well that should not be too hard to find considering its someone who is staring you right in the face" he would respond.

"My name is Ryu Hiroshi and...I challenge you, to a one on one wrestling match" he said, approaching her. He extended his hand to her, for a handshake.

The rubber soles of her sneaker squeaked to a stop as Ryu ducked between the ropes, coming dangerously close to being the next person she was going to have to put to the mat this afternoon. She turned to look his way with a flat look that displayed her irritation on her face. The crowd around the ring seemed abuzz with excitement at the prospect of another impromptu bout, especially now that someone the size of Ryu was possibly volunteering himself.

Had this been a normal gym, she would have buried her fist elbow deep in this man’s face for stepping into her ring to issue her a challenge. She had plenty of people approach her on the street trying to start fights, fans asking for her to put them in sleeper holds in the clubs, she even had someone ask her to sign their face when she was at a spa… people were nuts. This however was an official Tension gym. If this person was here it meant he was part of the company and not just some random hono off the street. She let out a sigh, allowing her aggression to slowly vent off. There was such a thing as professional courtesy and despite her not approving of his approach she wasn't about to start something over words… at least not these words.

She stepped up to Ryu, deep blue eyes casually scanning over him, both sizing him up and seeing if she found anything about him familiar. Despite coming from a family of wrestlers, she wasn't too familiar with the happenings outside those her family was a part of so Ryu’s indie fame went unnoticed by her. Still, she reached out to take his hand and gave an incredibly firm handshake. “Teuila. Pretty bold to challenge a stranger like this… or stupid. You think you have what it takes to keep up with me?”

If she was ready to mark her territory and fight him right here and now, he was going to oblige. He was ready in case she would charge at him or cheap shot him but something told him that she was not that type to start off with a cheap shot. He made his intentions known, that he wanted to challenge her one on one. He was a tall, imposing and muscular man but the two shared the same height and the woman was amazingly fit as well.

The Dragon approached her with his arm extended and surprisingly the young woman accepted his hand, shaking it but she made sure to let him know that he was foolish to challenge her without knowing anything about her. "If I thought I couldn't keep up with you, I would not be challenging you" he said, shaking her hand firmly before parting handshakes.

Teuila withdrew her hand, reaching up to idly grip the towel hanging from her neck with both hands. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other in quiet contemplation before speaking. After a few moments, she gave her head a small shake and chuckled. “Alright, sure. You want a match, I can give you one big man. If you’re so confident you can hang with me, we’ll do it live, in a Tension ring. I’ve already given thee slackers enough of a show.”

Teuila cast her gaze across the gathered audience. They were all here because they were members of AFW after all and clearly she thought they had better things to do than gawk at the spectacle her daily training had become. Her attention fell back to Ryu, giving him a small upnod. She had a cool confident tone that made even her cockiest words sound like they were based on immutable fact. “You aren’t afraid of a few hundreds of thousands of people watching me pin you in the ring though, are you?”

Both of them said what they wanted to before withdrawing their hands. Ryu was ready to leave the ring, having made the challenge which was accepted. Teulia would chuckle while grabbing the towel across her neck and once again begin to try and taunt him, perhaps looking for a reaction or an impromptu fight. He remained calm, even when she turned around to face the audience and turned back to him to ask him if he would be okay getting pinned in front of thousands of people in the arena.

He would shrug his shoulders and roll his eyes. "Good. I like that confidence, keep it up. Its going to be that much more satisfying when I break that confidence. Still, you've got a good gig in beating people in the AFW gym so once I beat you, you can come back here and continue just beating people here in the gym" he snapped back.

“You can have the beating up people in the gym thing. I’d prefer my peace and quiet.” Teuila snorted softly, giving a small shrug. Wrestling every single person that asked her wasn’t a good way to train and as evidence of today, hardly a workout. She preferred her time spent at the gym to be impactful and focused not babysitting for adults.

“I’ll still take the win off you though.” She turned heading back to the corner to toss her towel onto the turnbuckle again. Without another word, she went back to running her ring drills, intent on getting her actual workout done today before heading off.