Return to the Ring: Carmen Rodriguez vs. Gato Blanco!

Holly hugged her chest indignantly, shooting Army the fiercest pout she could muster. She suspected he wasn't exactly afraid of her, at the moment, and that only made her cheeks flush redder than they had, before. The British Bombshell knew she struggled with forcing the others in the locker room to respect her- especially the men. Still, the Brit looked on as "fiercely" as she could, her pout deepening as she heard him actually snicker.

"Rude!" Holly said, turning her head back to the action in the ring. Holly's thick head of raven hair bounced as she turned back to the action, watching Blanco struggling and squirming against Carmen's powerful grip. Holly tried to focus on her man's misery, for the moment, and ignore her increasingly frustration with the flippant young man at ringside.

Blanco was struggling and squirming againt Carmen for all he was worth. The Puerto Rican figther was one of the stronger foes he'd faced in quite some time, and hard to shake off as she locked him into her hold. Fortunately, after a few squirming, bucking attempts, he was able to roll her up and get the ref counting a pin. Holly squealed when she saw the reversal, followed by the crowd giving a surprised cheer at the beginning of a count!

Blanco felt Carmen shoving him off in an instant, well before the ref reached two. Blanco rolled with the shove, getting a chance to put some distance between himself and the submission specialist. Blanco tumbled away, rolling up onto his knees. He took some deep, measured breaths to try and refill his lungs, clutching the ropes and leaning on them to pull himself upright.

Gato Blanco's chest heaved as he replaced the air Carmen squeezed out of his lungs, holding the rope. Out of the corned of his eyes, he watched his opponent. Legs tense, Blanco waited to see what Carmen might go for next, readying himself to meet her with a stiff elbow, the moment Carmen might ome into range.

Yeah, okay, Army was being a bit rude, he’d concede that. It was just a little hard to take Holly all that seriously. She had this whole poshy princess vibe to her that didn’t quite gel for a wrestler, and she seemed like such an odd fit for the ring - at least, for someone who wanted to be a serious wrestler. She had gumption, lots of that, he wouldn’t take it away from her, but you needed a little more than that to get by in Tension.

But there was no sense in ticking her off without reason, especially when she was already so clearly stressed out. He’d play nice. For now.

Back in the ring, things had reached a momentary - extremely momentary - pause, as Carmen rolled to her feet. She was more irritated than anything about the way Gato had surprised her there. While she was still and would always be a striker at heart, she’d improved with her mat skills since she joined Tension and thought herself good enough to hang with most wrestlers. Maybe she was. Maybe Gato was just a level above the norm when it came to that. Either way, it was a humble experience that she intend to learn from.

She rolled to her feet and popped back quick, taking little time to rise up and charge back towards him. Pressure was the most important thing with Gato, she was learning. The more she pressed him, the less chance he’d have to take advantage of the space, the better things worked. Their styles were diametrically opposed in that way, with her working the best up close and Gato specializing at a distance.

She moved in quick, closed the gap, and...wound up taking a nasty elbow in the face. Of course. While it was far from the most damaging thing she’d taken from Gato all match, the shock of it threw Carmen for a loop, and she wound up stumbling away in a blinking fit.