Makoto 'Shogun' Ray (D) vs Erina Stallone

"Alright Makoto, don't be or feel nervous, this is your first match, everything'll be okay..." Makoto thought to herself in her mind, the Japanese athlete was standing behind the entrance curtains for some seconds, she seemed to be dealing with some panic due to the idea of having her first match with thousands of people watching, she wasn't used to wrestle with much people around. Plus, this is her first wrestling match outside of her birthplace.

Erina would be walking down the hallways in the AFW backstage area and spotted Makoto, her opponent for tonight, having a massive freak out. She decided to come over and help calm her nerves down. She would sit down with Makoto and started patting her on the back.

“Hey. First time wrestling in a big promotion?”

Erina laughed about her opponent wrestling for the first time. She then tried to ease her nerves by trying to relate to her.

“I’m Erina. I feel the same way as well. I mean, I have a lot of pressure on my back because I have a similar last name to someone pretty famous. You ever seen Rocky? Rambo? Any of the Creed movies?”

"I haven't seen any of his movies, yet i recognize he is one of the greatest actors of all time, hehe. And nice to meet you, Erina. I'm Makoto." she said with a friendly voice, smiling with both eyes closed, as that interaction helped her to feel less nervous.

Erina nodded as she then heard her music started playing. She then got down from where she was sitting and would shake the hand of Makoto.

“Well. That’s my queue to come out now. I’ll see you in the ring. Good luck man.”

And with that, Erina jogged towards the show curtain. There, she went through it and made her entrance. She walked down the ramp and then slid into the ring. Erina then waited for Makoto to make her entrance.

Erina was impressed by Makoto’s entrance. Guess that was the norm for her opponent back in Japan. It didn’t matter now as she needed to get serious as her opponent was standing across from her now. The bell then ring and it was go time.

Erina began circling the ring with Makoto. She was trying to see what she’ll do for her first move. Seems like she was trying to size her up. Once she got bored of circling the ring, Erina then approached Makoto and began the collar elbow tie up.

Makoto walks in circles inside the ring while getting into a fighting stance until she stops. Later, she charges at Erina to clash with her in the collar elbow tie up, moment in which they struggle. "Yeah, about my entrance, I should thank you for making me feeling better than moments ago..." Makoto said to Erina with a soft smile while still locked in that tie up.

Erina would be dancing with Makoto in the ring as they were struggling in the collar elbow tie up. Erina also was thanked for making Makoto feel better before their match, to which she felt good about. However, Erina needed to keep up the act as she would transition it to her giving Makoto a headlock.

“Yeah no worries. I’m glad I made you feel a bit more at home before our match. You want me to buy drinks for the both of us after the match?”