Nekketsu Championship Tournament: Round 1: Leah Shaw vs Ami Takeuchi

Still surprised at how Leah managed to claw her way towards the bottom ropes, the supermodel was still adamant that she was going to win this match. Leah was softened up quite well already, thanks to herself and Bry-Bunny. Ami would let out her frustrations and vent out her anger, directed at her opponent and the crowd. It was almost surreal that a beautiful, bluenette supermodel would have such a mean side to her but ever since Ami switched to wrestling full time, she was not afraid to show her real personality.

Reaching down to grab Leah by the hair, the supermodel would pull her up and attempt a slap to the face just to add insult to injury but it seemed as if that the blonde had enough, she would reach out to grab the arm of Ami stopping it dead in its tracks. "W-what the hell? Let go you little ingrate" she hissed, trying to pull her arm free.

Leah would begin to twist Ami's arm harder and harder, "Ow, Ow, Owww" Ami would cry out in pain, twisting her body awkwardly to try and ease the pain in her arm. This pretty much allowed her to be an easy target and Leah would boot her in the belly and at the same time release her arm, making her stagger back until she fell on her ass.

For a moment, Ami hugged her own arm close to her chest and kicked the mats like a child throwing a tantrum before her gaze of fury turned to Leah. "YOU! How....HOW DARE YOU?! WAAHH" she screamed. Ami would wait for Leah to get back up on her feet and would get up around the same time as her opponent before rushing at Leah trying to clothesline her head off!

Leah watched Ami with narrowed eyes as she panted heavily. Much of the glamour of wrestling a former champion had long since worn off, giving way to just how disgusting the other girls in ring behavior actually was. The blond knew she wasn’t yet a fully minted wrestler here, still a rookie by name and experience but she was doing the sport so much more justice than the veteran. Both Ami and Brian were underhanded tactics, she couldn’t lose her next big shot to this sort of behavior. She wanted to be better than that, inspire others to do the same. There was a better way than cheating.

She staggered to her feet in time with Ami, keeping her gaze level with the other girl. She couldn’t afford to let up and gift this woman more advantages, she had already taken her share and made Leah suffer for each one. Standing her ground, she waited and watched, letting out a ragged breath. When the model charged forward, the blond dipped in as well, going low to slide just under the clothesline.

Her boots squealed as they came to an abrupt stop just behind Ami, sending a low side kick to the back of one of her knees, trying to buckle the leg and drop her to the other knee. If she managed to floor the veteran, she would take off to the far side of the ring, whirling around to spring off the ropes. She came charging full speed, hurling herself towards Ami to try and rail her in the back of the head with a shining wizard.

The supermodel had just all about she could from this little rookie upstart. There was no way she was going out out-staged by this blonde punk. After having her arm twisted, the now enraged supermodel was looking to strike her opponent with a clothesline and take her down in a rough manner. Charging in towards Leah, Ami's eyes were filled with and fury with her only intention being to knock the blonde down and out on her back.

When she got near though, her opponent was quick on her feet and managed to duck under the out-stretched arm of the supermodel to avoid being struck. From there, an opportunity to counter attack presented itself and Leah would send a low kick to the back of the supermodel's knee causing her to wince in pain and fall down onto one knee. "Tch, you little..." Ami cursed, trying to give it a few seconds and rising back up on her feet when Leah came back off the ropes and struck her clean with a shining wizard.

*SMACK*

Ami almost blacked out there for a moment, the impact immediately stunned the supermodel before she dropped down on her back being left completely dazed.

Leah had the ability to move like a freight train when she put her mind to it, but normally at the end of her charging assaults was the plump fusion of her backside in the form of a hip attack. Not today though as she ripped into a more strike oriented arsenal akin to her sibling to pay Ami forward on being such a poor sport throughout their match. As nice as it was to solidly clap her with a shining wizard, the sting of bone on bone contact with the crackling blow reminded her why she normally stuck to grappling. While she had flopped onto her back after the drive by attack, it wasn't an issue for her to rise up to her knees to survey the damage she had done.

The supermodel was seeing stars… This was the perfect time to go for a pin. She might even be able to steal the win after hitting a move like that but the crowd was positively on fire right now. The cheers were deafening at her hot blooded comeback in the making. To end it here and now would just be…

"Lame." She found herself mumbling under her panted breaths. Instead, the blond chose to rise, leaving the blue haired woman on the mat. With a hobbled skip in her step, she traversed the length of the ring to head towards the corner. A woman on a mission, so driven by the sole purpose of putting a fancy how on this match it hadn't even occurred to her to scout out where Bryan had gone on the ringside.

The blond rookie found herself straining as her fingers curled around the top rope. Kicking a boot up onto the middle turnbuckle, she pulled with a grunt as her body protested the lurching motion but held on long enough for her to make the climb onto the ropes. She slumped forward, resting her hands on the top of the ring post catching her breath. She couldn't dawdle, Leah knew that time was of the essence so she pushed on and stepped up onto the top rope, holding her arms out to the side for balance. With careful baby steps she worked herself around to face inside the ring again, checking to see if Ami was where she had left her… sure enough she was.

"Let's go!" Leah shouted out into the stands to the cheers of the onlookers as she threw a fist to the sky. Curling her right arm back in, she gave it a flex, slapping the bottom of her elbow. Once… twice… the crowd caught on and started to clap in time with her, letting her leave the rest to them as she crouched low, about to vault from the ropes.

How many times had she performed this move? Including practice sessions it was a number beyond counting. In tension, it had become a coffin nail in every match she was in, some way or another. The blond rookie was having difficulty now though. It could have been the exhaustion, maybe even the stakes of this match. She still hadn’t recovered mentally from falling just short of greatness at the Elimination Chamber so long ago. This was her chance to make up for that and all that stood in her way was making a dive to a… sizably more slender target than she was used to.

Stop overthinking it. Just act.

“Right.” Leah muttered softly, eyes steely with determination as she bobbed on the ropes, building up a bit of spring. She was prepared to make the plunge when the yells to her side nearly startled her off the ropes, fulfilling Bryan’s dastardly design without him laying a primly manicured finger on her. Catching herself at an odd angle, she watched blinking, and confused as the primping ponce was tripped on the apron by someone the blond wasn’t entirely sure she knew who was already scampering off. A guardian angel?

The roar of the crowd reminded her she could thank them later, snapping her focus back to Ami. With a final bounce, she sprang forth from the ropes guided by her instincts. For all her worries, all her doubts, and all she had to lose, she found a overwhelming sense of clarity in the air once she let go. Tucking her legs with a practiced motion, bending her arm, she leaned into the fall as she came down perfectly on top of the supermodel’s chest, hitting the other girl with one of the biggest elbow drops in the business.

It had been enough to shake the ring, enough to wow the crowd, but was it enough to close the match? Leah scooted herself up, leaning to drape her back across Ami’s midsection. With a single arm she would hook both the other girl’s legs, folding her up in the perfect package as she held her free hand high in a fist showing off for the fans.

The shining wizard left Ami knocked out for a brief moment, she was down on her back in the middle of the ring. She was oblivious to what was happening after she was struck by that strike, she was too busy trying to recover and get rid of that ringing sensation in her mind. Whilst she was down on her back, Leah would climb atop of the turnbuckle ready to set up for her signature elbow drop.

To Bryan's credit, he sensed danger and would immediately try to interject himself to try and assist his girl. However, just as he was about to get Leah to trip from the top turnbuckle it seemed Leah also had some back up of her own and Evelyn made her way down to the ring to foil Bryan's plan, taking him off the ring ropes.

With Leah clear for take-off, she jumped off the turnbuckle and leapt up as high as possible before crashing down on top of Ami, landing her big elbow drop fro the top of the turnbuckle striking her clean on the chest. "AHHHHHH" Ami screamed trying to cover up her chest but Leah quickly draped her back onto Ami's chest and hooked her leg up for the pinfall. The referee slid down next to the two ladies, starting her count.

"ONE......TWO" she counted with no signs of Ami kicking out.

Leah's chest heaved as she lay back across Ami, beads of sweat speckling her brow. With each count from the referee the crowd yelled back their own to the beat of her raised fist. It was expending the last of her energy but the booming crowd was keeping her line like a shot of adrenaline. At the finale count she held her breath as that single second seemed to stretch out for an eternity until it finally came. The pop from the crowd was immediate and overwhelming, the largest she recalled ever getting outside of her valiant last stand in Tension's Elimination Chamber Match. Unhooking Ami's leg, letting it fall limp to the mat, starting to sit up. There was a brief pause when she looked back at her defeated foe, wanting desperately to say something biting her to make up for how nasty the model had been.  In the end she decided against it. She had already won after all, there was no real reason to be a poor sport about it.

Leaning forward she rocked herself up onto her feet in a low crotch, standing herself up with a slow wobble. Her legs were still feeling a bit rough and her head ached something fierce. The official steps up beside her, taking one arm by the wrist to raise it high. She smiled exhaustedly, giving the cheering crowd a simple nod of acknowledgement before stepping away, moving to the car ropes where she last saw Bryan. Peering over the edge of the ring, just checking if he was alright. She had no real love for either of the Fashion Icons, but she wouldn't wish injury on them… Well, not grievous injury anyhow.

Content with her finding that both wrestlers would likely see action again without issue she gave the crowd another small wave, blew the announce team a small kiss, and made her way out of the ring with head held high. One step of the tournament behind her, she was almost there. She hoped Beowulf had been watching tonight to see her making use of his tutelage. As for Edgar and Felina, she hoped to rewatch the match later with both of them… though separately, to get their advice on moving forward and add her own commentary.