Avalanche 2023: Friction World Title Match: Rebecca Tomko (C) vs Lucia Lynch

The Amazon stumbled slightly as the Lone Wolf clipped her leg, stiffening her deliberate walk and forcing her to really lunge if she wanted to grab hold of the challenger but her long arms were just enough to hook Lucia in and pull her tight. A headlock might seem like a downgrade after how fast and vicious the match "started" as but the Full Moon Rising star could attest being trapped between the massive, solid arms of the champ was not an easy time, Rebecca swinging her foe away from any safe haven of the ropes.

Not that the Lone Wolf needed the help, she had her own way to get out of the crush herself as she started smashing the sharp point of her elbow into the bigger woman's back earning grunts that sounded a lot like "Fuck!" from the amazon as her grip weakened allowing Lucia to slip out with her skull not crushed like a watermelon. It seemed that whatever Rebecca tried, reach advantage be damned, if she wanted to grapple with Lucia rather than swing at her she was going to have to do it through a barrage of strikes. Lucia had her gameplan locked and loaded, she needed something more than just 'be bigger and stronger' to get the job done.

There was a desperation in her strikes, knowing full well that the big woman was to just drag them both to the mat like this she didn't have a solid escape plan. The moment she could slip free she did, ripping herself out of the bigger woman's grip so hard she was forced to stumble back. People looking on probably weren't all that impressed, after all, it had just been a headlock. She knew better though just how dangerous the situation had been. Looking Rebecca over she let out a loud huff. This wasn’t great. This woman was so damn sturdy. For any blow the champion landed on her she would have to double or triple it in quantity to make similar progress. Maybe provoking her would work, causing her to do something stupid… but if things got heated she couldn't be sure she would keep her cool either and that was disastrous.

Ideally, she would get this woman in some leg locks to do some real damage but that required her to knock the big woman over, a task she hadn’t been able to do yet even when catching her off guard. Lucia swallowed hard, putting her hands up as she circled. An idea popped into her head, but she wasn't sure how good of one it was, especially since it didn't fit into her grand scheme for the match. She took a half step in, cocking back for a kick. A nice telegraph. "Think fast!" A cocky warning. She let it rip low, but stopped early and abruptly, pulling it back as a feint to see if she could bait Rebecca to grab for or to lunge again.

Lucia continued her habit of not staying still long enough for Rebecca to get anything going as the Amazon was forced to keep turning just to keep the lone wolf in her field of view. Still, if she was just circling, looking for an opportunity it was at least a state that wasn't getting the bigger woman kicked about and with how the match opened, she could take that. Not that Lucia was going to let her rest for long "Think faster!" She snapped back, thrusting her boot up to what was on her waist high but on the challenger a fair bit higher up, aiming to catch the striker in her exposed midriff only for the kick to fall short as Lucia bailed out of her own kick attempt. Shit That was probably bad for the champ.

All she could hope for was an opening. As she feinted, Rebecca acted, looking to meet where she believed the kick was coming. She had to make the best of this as pulling a trick like this would not work a second time. She sprang forward, looking to grab hold of one of the larger woman’s wrists in her hands. Leaping up, she kicked her feet out, throwing her weight into the jump to try and wrap her legs around the big woman’s arm and use her momentum to send them both to the ground with an armbar. She could only hope her body weight and momentum were enough to pull the woman off balance enough to fall otherwise she would be left dangling awkwardly.

Welp, the amazon called it perfectly: Whiffing that kick was bad after all. The champ just wished she could have had that foresight before she blundered in to Lucia's trap but it was a little too late for that now. The Lone Wolf leaped into action by wrapping herself around Rebecca's enormous arm, kicking out to get some momentum and letting gravity do the rest of the work to flip the champion onto her back, aiming to do in the first minute of the match what many wrestlers in AFW couldn't do in 20: Take the big woman off her feet.

However as the challenger went down and her shoulders reached the canvas, any movement from Rebecca suddenly stopped as she planted one knee down on the ground to balance herself and grabbed her own wrist, pulling it tight and holding on to stop Lucia from stretching her out as the attempted submission was stuffed by pure power. With a roar of effort Rebecca slowly started to rise back up to her feet, pulling the Lone Wolf along for the ride as she was deadlifted off the canvas and above the Amazon's head in a display of strength and a reminder of why it usually took so long to bring her down for even a brief moment.

Lucia swung wide and the two dropped. It was an abrupt stop when Rebecca managed to plant herself, leaving the dark-haired actress hanging on her arm like an annoying monkey. The lone wolf grimaced at the feat of strength on display as the champion started to rise. The armbar was DoA, but she still had her position and some time to salvage it. She put her hands to work by choking them up at Rebecca’s wrist, trying to pry and twist at her wrist and fingers instead. She quickly hooked one leg over the other woman's arm to help secure herself then put the other to work. She would kick her leg out and drive it back in, indiscriminately trying to bash at the Amazonian woman in her chest and abdomen with her heel, refusing to let go. It was a race to see what Lucia could do to pour on punishment before Rebecca slammed her to the mat.

Credit where Credit was due, the challenger didn't panic when her submission was stuffed and lifted high up into the air, instead she was continuing to make herself a nuisance up on the Champion's shoulders much to Rebecca's pain and aggravation as she was forced to fight her every step of the way to prevent her arms from getting twisted up while bearing through another series of kicks to her midsection. At least this time Lucia couldn't bring the same power she could when she was holding the ropes.

Rebecca wasn't aiming to bash Lucia down to the canvas, oh no. With how awkward the Lone Wolf was making herself Rebecca wasn't risking going down to the canvas with her, not when there was a juicier target available. Mumbling complaints under the relentless pressure the amazon carried Lucia over to the corner and swung her arms, with the challenger wrapped around them, down at the top turnbuckle.

Every unprotected body shot felt like she was trying to fell a great oak with a hand ax. She could hear her heel slapping flesh, feel how solidly built Rebecca was but this woman was like the Terminator. At the very least she thought she was slowing her down but it was impossible to know. She didn't spare the time to take in where they were to try and figure out where they were going. So when she finally came down, it was an expected rush of air blowing through her hair, but the sudden unexpected stop against the turnbuckle had been devastating

The supposed padded protection of the turnbuckle felt as if it were just for show. She could feel the inner workings of tight cables and rigging dig into her upper back as she let out a choking chough of spittle, wide-eyed with the shock of the impact. Where her upper back stopped, the rest of her didn't, snapping back with a violent display of whiplash whose devastating imagery was only softened by the cascade of her raven black hair being fanned through the air. Her legs, her arms, everything she had been using to hold onto Rebecca came away in one quick instant as she was ragdolled into the corner, slumping against the turnbuckles like a piece of gum being scraped from the bottom of Rebecca’s boot.

And boom went the dynamite! Adrian whooped and applauded from the safety of ringside as her closest companion just smashed Lucia into the turnbuckles with all the authority that came with being the champion. A dominant display of power from Rebecca was just what she needed to slow the Lone Wolf down for a while as she walked all the way across the ring significantly slower than how she'd walked to it before the match started "Fuck that stings." The amazon hissed as she rubbed a hand over her abs only to pull it away sharply as the tenderization job the challenger had done was showing its effects. With Lucia slumped over the turnbuckle like that she could take all the time in the world to recover safe in the knowledge that it was going to take the Full Moon Rising star longer to get back into the fray.

Not that Rebecca was going to spend her time just sitting back until Lucia could continue, she was watching the challenger from her point of safety across the ring with an eager eye waiting for when she'd see enough signs of life to get moving again. By that she meant when the Lone Wolf's feet hit the canvas the Amazon charged in, building a full head of steam before throwing her body into the corner, looking to squish the challenger between the turnbuckles and her back. Heavy bags aren't so much fun when they're smashing into people.

As Rebecca walked off, Lucia’s body slowly oozed down the corner until she hung from the crook of her elbows, suspended by the top rope. A limp mess, her legs just gathered on the kat however they fell as she remained still save for the twitch of her fingertips and the rise and fall of her chest. Her head was down, giving the ring girl a run for her money for the look of pale dead girls with long black hair over their faces. The biggest difference is she didn't have seven days to produce results. This was it, the one shot she would have. Even remaining still like this didn't stop the horrible feeling in her neck as if someone had driven nails into her spine. She could manage the rest with a bit of time, the throbbing back pain, at left from the raw impact, already felt a bit numb. It was the whiplash that was killing her.

Slowly the heels of her boots dragged across the mat, slowly collecting herself to appear like a semblance of a living creature. One foot than the other, she pushed herself slightly more upright, hissing as she leaned her battered. Back against the turnbuckles. Had she known what was waiting, she might have stalled for longer. She lifted her head just enough to peer through a veil of black hair, eyes narrowed in a pained squint. They locked on a charging Rebecca and knew she needed to move, immediately. Her body wasn’t ready, her aching back fighting her as she strained to push herself upright. Too little too late though as the giant woman came plowing into her full force. A scream escaped her, clawing violently out of her lungs, and pressure was forced back on her freshly wounded back. With a pathetic groan, she slumped forward, her weight pressed up against Rebecca’s back as if she had just been pinned between rubble in a collapsed building.