Domino vs. Carmen Rodriguez

Standard Match
Winner is decided by Submission, Knockout, or Pinfall



Back in the locker rooms, Domino is getting ready for his next match. He takes ahold of the collar of his shirt to tug it over his head and unceremoniously toss it into storage. His shorts are next to go, already wearing his wrestling trunks. He takes a seat on a nearby bench to begin lacing up his boots. With his bracers already set over his wrists, they're really the last thing to take care of!

The black and white ensemble left the majority of his sleekly toned body exposed, a fact not lost on the young model or the female demographic. And while he definitely loves the attention, he'd rather win the audience with skill and strength. By now, he's had a number of matches and has started to make a name for himself. But after his latest loss to a rookie, he has a little to make up for. Unsurprisingly, he's been paired with another relatively new face to the Tension league. If he can bring her down, maybe the older hands will start paying attention. Hell, maybe he'll be approached for a Pay-Per-View. That'd be sick.

The boots are secured to his feet.

'One more win. No fooling around.'

The teen shifts to his feet and makes his way to the entrance ramp, awaiting his intro music just behind the curtain. Despite his usually upbeat demeanor, a stoic look has taken to his features. His athletic frame rises and falls heavily with each breath, and he begins bobbing on his feet to get the blood flowing, anxious.

That music sounds off, earning a little cringe from the grappler. It's so... generic.

'Gotta make changing that a priority.'

Suddenly, his name is announced! Domino springs into view, immediately putting on a radiant smile. A fist thrusts into the air to the cheering audience, basking in the praise for an indulgent moment before trotting for the ring. For as serious as he is as a competitor, it's at least clear he appreciates the support of the fans, slapping high-fives with a few of the bolder female fans getting hugs en route. Upon reaching the ring's edge, he hops onto the apron and vaults up and over the top rope. While his music continues to pump through the arena, he rushes up a turnbuckle to face the other section of seating. That fist thrusts into the air again in salute, confident smile worn.

As his music ends, the dark-haired teen hops down from the turnbuckle to make his way to his corner. Amethyst eyes lock onto the entrance ramp, waiting for his opponent of the evening.

So. Things hadn't gone exactly as she planned.

Her first match in the AFW was against a woman, and she lost - in the most sensual way imaginable. She didn't mind losing - it wasn't like she had a perfect record before coming here, and she didn't expect to have one forever after she left. But she did want to be taken seriously as a competitor, and getting pinned for a ten-count while you were thrashing under the sexual assault of another woman on national TV wasn't the best step in that direction.

Yup. She had some ground to make up. The only real way to do that was to stick with male opponents, at least for the time being; fighting people who she didn't have any chance of being attracted to and totally removing the potential for any amounts of hanky and/or panky. From now on, it would just be her fists and skills on display - nothing any more private than that.

She waited in the back as Domino's incredibly generic and boring music played, finishing up a little studying while she waited - from what she could pop out online, he didn't look like all that much. Decent record, but he was young - really, really young, not even in his twenties. Experience would be on her side, good. Decent body, but not a powerhouse, and he seemed to have a good grasp on the wrestling moves, so he'd have him there.

"Right." She tightened her fist as the music started to play, the lighthearted string of [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vULsGEm4x4s:1l5uzp6f]Rodrigo y Gabriela[/url:1l5uzp6f] accompanying as she strutted down to the ring, stepping to the beat and getting her blood pumped - setting her mood perfectly. Tomorrow she'd lost, yes - but today? Today was a new day.

She rolled into the ring and looked Domino's way, giving him a glance from head to toe as she pummeled her fist. "You ready for this, kid?" No sense in playing coy - they knew what they were here for.

As the woman made her way into the ring, Domino perked up more, head canted. A few wispy bangs of hair drift over his right eye with the motion. She's tall - his height, at least. About Mindy's size, at that. He'll likely have to outmaneuver her a while before bringing on the truly hard hits. And when she enters the ring, he steps forward, offering a bright smile-

And then she says that to him.

The smile is immediately gone. "Kid?" His eyes narrow. He gets enough flak for his age, modeling career, and lack of bulk. While it's annoying, he usually brushes it off - he's had enough of a career in wrestling before coming to Japan to know his skill level. But the recent loss to a rookie has left him increasingly aware of public opinion regarding these things. So the last thing Domino's willing to put up with is condescension. Whether deliberate or sincere mistake, Carmen's hit a nerve.

"You're going down."

The teen's closes in to the center of the ring and widens his stance. His hands lift to shoulder level with fingers splayed at the ready to grapple.

The referee signals the match to begin. *DING*

Oh, that was precious. One word and she'd already scored a direct hit to his ego - he already reminded him of her brother, fit, sure of himself, out to prove something 24/7. She could work on that. She'd knocked Army on his ass more times than she could count, after all; if there was one thing she knew how to handle, it was a guy with a chip on his shoulder.

"Relax, Dominó." She sighed, putting a little accent at the end of his name as she moved into her boxing stance, getting both of her fists up for the Peekaboo. This would be her first time going up against a grappler - the strategy was simple: don't let him grab you. Keep moving, punching, dodging. Control the fight and keep him at a distance. Simple.

"Didn't mean anything by it - but if you want to get serious, fine." She edged towards him, tensing up. "Let's get serious."

As soon as the bell rings, Carmen shot out two left jabs in short succession; one aimed for the face, the other heading for the chest. Rapid fire.

"Tch. You're still goin' down," remarks Domino, though with noticeably less bite than before.

It's odd for someone to be telling him to relax. It's almost always the other way around. Were he to linger on it, it might even get a chuckle. How many people's skins has he gotten under with his friendly, flirty attitude? But the comment just ran through him. He does have something to prove - to this newcomer and to the audience.

When she enters that boxing stance, an eyebrow lifts. Oh, a striker. He's not gotten to wrestle one of those in this league yet. And to his surprise, she obviously has the boxing experience to back that up, offering no defense to those poppy jabs. His cheek is tagged, snapping his head briefly aside, and his firmed pectoral takes the follow-up shot. "Mmf!"

But it spurs him to react quickly, opting out of inviting her for a lockup. Instead, he attempts to push through her defense with a swift lunge. His hands make a grab for the woman's shoulders, though contact isn't needed so much. The actual counter is a knee firing up to ram into her gut.

Oh, to be young. And headstrong. And impetuous. And cocky. And gullible.

The two strikes found their targets - Carmen was expecting one to get through, but for them both to land was a big bonus. He had as much experience with boxers as she did with wrestlers - none at all, really, which meant it would be pure style vs style. And with that chip on his shoulder weighing him down, she was betting on that advantage.

He went to grab for her shoulders, probably trying to get her in close - she smacked his hands away with a quick jab, only to open herself up for the real attack - a knee to her stomach, driving her wind out with a grunt. Tricky and fast, she hadn't seen it coming, but she had something to reply with as she staggered back - a right cross, coming low and going straight for his ribs.

That feeling of knee sinking into midsection was a rewarding one, due payback for taking a shot to his face. But he was hoping it would leave her a bit more stunned than it had. If anything, it spoke to her durability. If he's going to bring her down, trading blows might not be the best way to do it. He'll need to get creative.

Her cross swings in and drives into Domino's ribs, earning a pained grunt from the model, body twisted in to favor that side. He tries to retort with a grab for her wrist and elbow, teeth grit. He would attempt to wind that arm around and wrench it to the side just before putting his full weight against her shoulder to bear her down against the mat on her chest in a falling armbar, the limb hyper-extended into the air.

Ah, sweet music - the right cross landed, straight on. She'd have to bookmark that spot for later; tenderize it, wear those ribs out after a while. His stance left him wide open to that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, she had to pay for the punch - he caught her arm before she could pull it back and his wrestling experience shone through, catching her by the arm and twisting it around, putting it at the breaking point. Carmen managed to tag him in the ribs with another tunch, but it was all she could do before she was brought down, flat on her chest.

Gritting her teeth, she started to crawl forward on her hand and knees, going for the ropes.

The impact of that second shot to his ribs wasn't quite what it could be, thanks to the rapid repositioning and awkward body mechanics, but he felt it. He's thankful to be taking the match to the mat, at least. And this was an advantageous position he didn't want to let go so easily. Hell, if he could wear out that arm...

Domino twists into her, putting his weight over her shoulder to bear her down more firmly into the mat and hopefully slow down her moving across the mat. And though they'll still undoubtedly scoot along, Domino shifts about to keep the hold locked on. He twists her arm back further, straining her bicep and shoulder joint. And while he wants to inflict as much pain as he can, he's careful not to go too far with it. She may have annoyed him earlier, but she really doesn't deserve a dislocated arm.

"Boxer, huh?," he murmurs to her as he tries to keep her held down. It seemed an easy assumption to make. Those punches were coming in at angles a wrestler or brawler wouldn't bother with. "Welcome to my world!"

Talkative in the middle of a match, wasting breath - yeah, just like her brother.

Carmen had to give him credit, though - he was determined to go after her arms, probably figuring they were her only tools to work with. A safe assumption...wrong, but a safe assumption, and she'd show him just how wrong when she got up. If she got up.

After what seemed like a hour of intense pain but which couldn't have been more than a minute, Carmen managed to grab the rope, holding tight for the rope break.