Steel Cage Match: The Stranger vs. Tessa "Harrier" Price

Winning conditions: Pinfall to 3, Submission, leaving the ring either by climbing out and reaching the floor again or through the door: both feet must touch the floor. Rope breaks the cover.

So it would be a steel cage match. At least it was known ground, she had worked in several cages but most have been much smaller and had prevented that she was constantly hugged by a bunch of drunks who visited small wrestling promotions. Back in the days as a valet, eye candy or numbers girl. But some, yeah some of them had actually been matches.

After all had been set and done, she backed up from the stare down but always looked at her opponent. She grabbed the top rope with both hands and dragged it a little bit to warm herself up. Then she cautiously tested the ropes by lending on them with her back before positioning herself between her opponent and a corner. To complete her warming up, she let her head test the muscles of her neck by bending lightly back and forth.
I am ready. Ring the bell if she is too.

Tessa may have been backing away from the stare down, but she would be staring at nothing. In the dark, the Stranger had made her way to the turnbuckle that was located behind and to the left of Tessa. As soon as the cage was lowered and secured, the Stranger had already crawled along the ropes with the aid of the cage so that she would be perched right behind Tessa. So when the girl reacted to the lights coming on, a whole new stage was set for the start of this match.

Damn lights.
Tessa waited for the bell to ring, but she could hardly hear anything because of the cage getting secured and the crowd yelling. Although only the first night of the match, Tessa had never been in an arena this big and hadn't fully anticipated how loud it really was.

The real shock was still about to come, her opponent was nowhere to be seen! With a honest surprise in her eyes and a gasp for air, she lost the little time she would have probably needed to realize the stupid rookie mistake she had made in the steel cage match: don't leave your corner until the bell rang.
Ding Ding.
there it was, the ring bell. And there was her opponent, right behind her. Her hands flew up to the neck of the Stranger to force her head on a shoulder of Tessa to hit her with an inverted stunner, but her opponent had clearly the advantage of prepared time on her side.

As Tessa backed up towards the ropes, the Stranger was quietly waiting for her to notice the silent masked woman. As soon as she did and raised her hands up to grab at the Stranger, the steel-masked woman would grab one of Tessa's wrists before jumping off of the ropes to hit her with a flying clothesline via an improvised Old School. If she managed to down Tessa early on, the Stranger would simply stand there to kick at her abdominals a few times before reaching down for a handful of hair to bring Tessa back to her feet, as long as the blond hadn't any counter in mind.

It was quite a violent ride her opponent had in mind. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know that she would be much too late to prevent the action of the Stranger and reaped what she deserved for her stupid mistake, a crushing clothesline from the top rope that caused her to lose contact to the mat with the greatest of ease, flying with the impact to land on her back. But at least her wrist would be free again if the Stranger didn't plan to fly with her.
Ugghhnn!
Air escaped her lungs with the violent impact and a partially surprised, partially painful scream. And to make matters worse, the Stranger came in closer and kicked her violently. Still to perplex to really countermeasure the first kick without preparing muscles for the impact of the hit, she tried to get herself together and grab the kicking foot of the stranger with both hands after her second kick hit and trapping it momentarily to her side, then bringing her own leg up with force to kick her opponent in the side of her torso, hoping to hit a painful spot like a kidney or short ribs. If her kick would score an impact, she would let go of the Strangers foot and roll out of harm's way to the ropes for now.

The Stranger was feeling confident about her current position as she aimed her second kick in Tessa's direction, but her foot was met with a stoppage caused by the grabbing hands of the Harrier. Tessa had wasted no time in capitalizing on her sudden reflexive action and delivered a swift kick the Stranger's side with the force of a kidney punch.

As Tessa released the Stranger's feet, the masked wrestler backed up a bit, doubled over while holding the area that was kicked. However, her eyes showed no pain as she waited for Tessa to get to her feet, not just out of wish to recover, but with a bit of respect to Tessa for being able to keep from being too dominated early on.

"...Now we're rolling..."
Tessa murmured more to herself than to everyone else. She had some trouble adjusting in the new league, but that would be pretty normal if you came right from the indies. all the many spectators, better lightings and more witted opponents like the masked girl.
several roads to success came to mind, but some were straight shit, like trying to shoulder block her. The girl was brutishly strong although not possessing the stature of a male powerhouse but would move the same way against it.

Heaving herself up at the ring, she would draw a jogging circle around her opponent to find out how her seeing was with that mask, use the ropes to gain some momentum while feeling the cold steel of the cage, then move in to attack with a spinning heel kick.

The Stranger would stand still, not moving her head as Tessa jogged circles about her. Strange woman, she thought as she waited to see the blonde's next move. Sure this could leave her vulnerable to a move from behind, but the masked woman was confident that she could withstands whatever was thrown at her. In the Steel mask, she was mentally-set to be unbreakable.

As Tessa ran at the Stranger with the spinning heel kick, she had three choices she could make before Tessa actually went for the kick, while not knowing that it was actually a spinning heel kick: stand strong, duck, or jump up. Of course she could move to the side, but even her weakest personality took that to be a cowardly move. The Stranger decided to stand strong and try to shoulder-block Tessa as she came at her. However, she would be met with a heel kick, spun right towards her face. Her hands would rise up in reflex, but would not provide enough cushion to keep from an impact, causing the Stranger to fall over, holding her head.

*Hm?*
Her opponent hadn't even tried to follow her with her movement, so she scored a full hit on her and took her of the feet while Tessa rolled with the move to break her own fall. Usually she made that move only against an opponent in motion, but the line of sight of her opponent was obscured and when she didn't even move against her, it seemed probably like a good way to continue on.

She got up and tried to capitalize on that lucky happening. She hadn't forgotten how the Stranger had played with her at the beginning and decided to give her some payback by stomping her once on a knee.

The Stranger's vision was far from obscured, a mistake that might cost Tessa later in the match if she assumed it to be true. In reality, while her other personalities were more high-flyers, Steel was moreso a brawler and had never really faced many high-flyers or high-flying maneuvers. Therefore, when she was faced with the spinning heel kick, she wasn't exactly sure how to react.

Nonetheless, it didn't discredit where the Stranger lay right now, a bit dazed from the kick, but aware of her surroundings. She suddenly felt a stomp to her knee, causing her to jerk up and grab it in pain. Her eyes, however, wouldn't be drawn to the knee, but instead looked sharply and coldly at Tessa, as if to tell her that she would regret that.