SS22 Friction World Championship - Alaina Sanders (c) vs Julia Rogers

Match Type: Standard
Win Conditions: Pinfall, Submission, or Knockout.
*Special Thanks To Fieuline For The Match Banner*

Julia stood behind the curtain. She had heard the preview video playing over the tron moments ago, highlighting everything that had led to tonight. Once it ended, the crowd had loudly applauded and cheered, excitement filling the thunderous noises that spread all throughout the arena. The sound made her smile, but did nothing to make her feel any less nervous. Yeah, after competing in more matches than she could count over all these years, you’d think getting butterflies in the stomach before a match wouldn’t be an issue anymore. Not so. Julia got them before every match, but never had she felt the feeling as strongly as she did now. This was the biggest match of her life, with Friction’s most important prize on the line. The pressure couldn’t have been greater, especially considering how rocky the path to this point had been for her.

Oh, and this was also practically a hometown show for her. Granted it was in Texas rather than New Mexico, but it was a 13-hour drive from Albuquerque. Plenty of her hometown fans had made the trip in. And during the first several years of her career spent training and wrestling in Mexico, she’d also wrestled on tours in Texas. No doubt she’d have supporters from both in attendance tonight as well. She hadn’t seen or heard from Jesse, Josh, or any of her family aside from a barrage of “Good luck!” texts this morning, though Julia had no doubt they were all here somewhere. They knew she’d want to be alone as much as possible to stay focused for her match, and they could all get together after the match…maybe…depending on how things went.

Julia's music:

The cowgirl was distracted from her thoughts by the familiar string strums at the start of her entrance theme. The crowd joined together in shouting out in excitement, and surprised Julia by doubling the volume as soon as she burst through the curtain! Hardly even able to hear her music over the audience in the stands, Julia smiled brightly and pointed a finger skyward, prompting a row of red and orange fireworks to burst into the air in rapid sequence going across the stage at either side of her!

Clad in her usual ring gear, along with a tasseled leather vest and a jeweled, white cowgirl hat, she then hurried down the aisleway, slapping hands with as many fans along the front row as she could before she got to the ring. Then she hopped up on the apron and entered through the ropes, before climbing up onto the second rope in the nearest corner, where she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted out as loud as she could.

“MAKE SOME NOISE, HOUSTON!!!!”

They didn’t need to be told twice, immediately erupting into another wave of thunderous shouting in response. Taking a moment, Julia nodded in approval while her eyes scanned over the packed stands. Then she hopped down and walked over to her corner, taking a deep, calming breath while she began to stretch her limbs out and waited for Alaina to join her in the ring.

Tonight was going to be tough.  Alaina had recently fly kept her momentum going winning a match against Bomber Kishima.  Julia however destroyed a monster if a woman in Rosa Cabrera.  Alaina however was a different breed of wrestler entirely.  She had beaten Julia before in a title match, she was going to do it again.

She knew the crowd would be behind Julia more than her no matter what she did, so she was pleasantly surprised that she also received a loud cheer as she entered the arena as she was announced to the crowd.  Alaina held her championship up high and flexed for the crowd.   The amazon moved down the ramp high fiving fans as she steut down, swaying her hips a bit.  Things outside the ring had been a bit hectic, so right now the champion was focused entirely on her wrestling where all was right in the world for the champion.

Alaina made it to the ring holding the belt high again before handing it to the official before stepping right up to the middle of the ring.  Alaina had a serious, stern look on her face but she extended her hand to Julia doing her best to smile warmly at the woman she was trying to beat again to stand victorious over to retain her chanpionship.

Julia’s eyes followed Alaina as the Amazon came down to the ring, then shifted to the championship belt when it was handed to the referee and then held up in the air for the crowd to see, which prompted another small burst of cheers and applause from the crowd. That prize was what this was all about. What Alaina was fighting to defend, and what Julia was desperate to achieve.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she noticed Alaina stepping toward her, offering a hand. Knowing her as well as she did, Julia knew the Amazon’s smile had to be at least somewhat forced. Alaina was by far the most competitive woman she’d ever met. Friends or not, Alaina would fight her with everything she had tonight as if they were bitter enemies, and the luchadora already knew from experience what that was like. Smiling back, she stepped forward and shook Alaina’s hand. The start of his encounter was already a polar opposite of their first, though that was unlikely to remain the case for long.

Julia stepped back into her corner while the ring announcer came to the middle of the ring to make the formal introductions.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT IS TIME FOR YOUR MAIN EVENT! THIS CONTEST IS SET FOR ONE FALL, AND IT IS FOR THE FRICTION WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!” A burst of excited and eager cheers filled the arena.

“INTRODUCING FIRST, THE CHALLENGER. FROM ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, STANDING AT FIVE FEET SEVEN INCHES TALL, WEIGHING IN AT ONE HUNDRED TWENTY POUNDS, LA VAQUERA….. JULIAAAAAAAAA ROGERS!!!!!”

As her name was called Julia stepped forward and removed her hat, holding it up in the air while her fans once more shouted and cheered their support for her. Then she went back into her corner and rested the hat on top of the ring post, before removing her jacket while the announcer proceeded with Alaina’s introduction.

Alaina stood with her hands on her hips before Julia was introduced, clapping as the crowd roared for the challenger as she was announced. Alaina then confidently strut to the middle of the ring holding the Friction title high in the air.

"And now introducing the Friction Champion..... From San Diego, California standing a five feet nine inches tall and weighing in at one hundred seventy three pounds..... "Amazon" Alaina Sanders!"

Alaina held the belt high with one hand flexing a bicep and kissing her free arm. Alaina handed the title to the official, striking a pinup girl pose as she winked to the crowd, running a hand through her hair while placing a hand on her hip. After Alaina was done she stayed in the middle of the ring, standing ready. She knew Julia was going to come at her with everything she had, so Alaina had to do it back even more. She had beaten Julia once with a title on the line, she just had to do it again. Easier said than done.

Julia couldn't help but smile a bit as she watched Alaina pose for her introduction. The Amazon's unwavering confidence had always been one of the cowgirl's favorite aspects of her friend. And it was largely because of that very thing that Alaina had been able to become the living legend she was now. No matter how rough things got, Alaina always believed she had it in her to be the best. Or at least, that's how it always seemed to Julia. And now it was more than just a belief. Alaina had the title to back it up now, and no doubt getting her to part with it would be no easy task.

DING!

The bell sounded to officially kick things off, and the excited crowd burst into a new wave of deafening shouts before either combatant so much as took a step toward the other! Julia smiled and glanced from side to side, taking in the electric atmosphere before she brought her gaze back to Alaina and nodded, a silent gesture to say she was ready.

With speed being one of her greatest assets, many probably expected Julia to try to overwhelm Alaina with an all-out blitzing assault right away. But The Amazon knew her and her moves better than just about anyone. And against someone as good as Alaina was, the last thing the luchadora wanted to be was predictable. So for now she kept it simple, beginning by slowly circling Alaina while gradually inching closer, before finally lashing out with her arms to initiate a collar-and-elbow lockup with the champ. Naturally, Julia knew she wasn't about to win any test of strength in this position, but she had some ideas up her sleeve...

Alaina heard the bell and saw Julia circle. In terms of agility and speed no matter how much Alaina tried to stun opponents with what she could do that wasn't going to happen with Julia. Julia was far faster, the quicker woman, the more nimble flyer. Sure Alaina shocked women with what she could do for a woman her size but Julia knew her playbook.

When Julia came in for a grapple that did surprise Alaina a bit. Alaina was the clear stronger woman no contest of strength was needed and she knew Julia wouldn't let herself just get plowed back into a corner nullifying her speed. Julia was up to something.

Alaina decided to try to diverge from her usual playbook too. Instead of forcing Julia back she opted instead to swing her knee up into Julia's abdomen as hard as she could before grabbing an arm, swinging it behind Julia and putting her in a hammerlock to start things off nice and slow in this match. Alaina had to be smart to retain that championship today.....

The extent of Julia and Alaina's familiarity with each other's moves, skills and mindset was such that it was bound to be a factor in every moment of this match, present in even the moments that seemed the least consequential at a glance. The cowgirl hadn't done anything to telegraph specifically what she had in mind when initiating what looked on the surface like a standard lockup. But even without knowing what Julia had planned, initiating this on her own in spite of the clear difference in strength was enough to give away that she had a trick up her sleeve, and Alaina wisely chose not to spring the trap.

Instead of being forced back as she'd wanted, the luchadora suddenly let out a heavy gasp as the champ's knee buried itself in her midsection! And before she could completely recover from the blow, Alaina had seized her arm and secured it behind her in a quite uncomfortable hammerlock. The masked blonde briefly hissed at the pain in her arm, then grinned lightly over her shoulder at Alaina.

"Too obvious?" she asked, playfully referring to her opening trap that Alaina had avoided. Getting right back to business, she glanced around the ring while evaluating her options. She knew some nifty counters out of this involving the ropes and turnbuckles, but was too far away from any of them to try that approach, and doubted Alaina would just let her do anything to change that. But that was fine. She could work with this too. Her free arm went up and wrapped around the back of Alaina's head, and then Julia leapt up and kicked her feet, turning almost completely upside down. Her legs then swung back down while she twisted her hips forward, trying to use the grip on Alaina's head and neck to flip her forward with a snapmare, and hoped that would make her release Julia's trapped arm in the process.

Alaina grit her teeth and tilted her head to the side. "Just wrestling smart...." Alaina said before her jaw dropped as Julia sprang into action! Alaina didn't see this coming and let out a yelp as she was snapmared landing hard to the mat and slapping the canvas with her palm as she rose back to her feet, turning to face Julia."That was unexpected!" Alaina said as she tried to surge at Julia closing the small gap between them extending her arm at the last minute to clothesline Julia with all the force she could muster!

It was no secret that flash and flare were more synonymous with Julia's in-ring style than wrestling "smart" as Alaina had put it, but the luchadora liked to think she came to find a nice balance between the two for herself during their time training under mutual mentors after coming to Japan. Her athletic snapmare variation was a decent example of it, earning a brief but audible collective gasp from the crowd as she freed herself from the Amazon's clutches for now.

But the champ was just as quick to recover as Julia, and even quicker on the draw after. As Julia hurried back to her feet, she was met with the impact of Alaina's arm hammering into her upper chest! "Ugh!!" she grunted out as the forceful blow dropped her straight onto her back again. Still her mind urged her to not let the pace slow down. Fighting through the immediate pain her foe had inflicted, Julia started to push herself back up again, only to then suddenly swing herself around while still low, throwing a leg out in an attempt to sweep Alaina's feet right out from under her.