Marceline Gagnon vs. Blair Dame - Le Rasoir National

[BlackAkuma]

Match Type:Guillotine Match - No Disqualifications, No Countout
Victory Conditions: Pins only count if the opponent's head is trapped in a folded steel chair and stomped on. Submissions only count if won by wrapping something around the opponent's neck.

***

‘The New Blair Dame’.

, despite the aura she liked to emanate, did not see herself as a vain or prideful woman. Perhaps she had been at one point, but time and experience and age had a way of watering down such traits. She could have thrown her weight around LAW, for instance, and made a play at the now-vacant heavyweight title, if she so desired, but she was content to let the younger generation play that game, at least for the time being, not wanting to take up time in the limelight. Hers was a flickering fire.

But certain exceptions had to be made, and she decided Marceline Gagnon would be the exception.

The woman - ‘Madame Guillotine’, as she was so delightfully called - had never formally met Blair Dame, they had never so much as been in the same room, but nonetheless, the two of them often found their names spoken in the same sentence. The similarities between them were striking. Both Frenchwomen of considerable height, with a penchant for strikes and heavy moves. They had a reputation for a stiff, brutal fighting style, though Blair Dame typically mixed in an air of sensuality, and, to top it all off, the aristocratic aura she carried was a notable counter to Marceline’s tendencies.

The phrase ‘dream match’ was often used with too little care, but this was a clear case that combat fans had wanted for a while, but thought would never happen. With both women being in LAW and active, however, it was only a matter of time before management pulled that trigger.

Today was the day, and calling Blair Dame focused would be a vast understatement. When her

played, Blair Dame came down the ramp with a steady gait and a hand on her hips. No sensual saunter, no teasing for the crowd. She was alone, having told Brittney to stay in the back for this match, as much as she welcomed the young woman’s company, she wanted no distractions, no divisions in her attention.

She made her way up the steps, slipped through the ropes, and headed to the corner, where she began warming up with light shadowboxing. All the while, she kept her eyes focused on the ramp, waiting for the music to fade and her opponent’s to begin, her heart striking like a triphammer against her chest.

It was time to end the debate.

[ReticentCone]

Marceline Gangnon may not have got the heavyweight title shot she was hoping for, but that didn't mean that she failed to make any impact at all in her pursuit of a title match. She was already being compared to Blair Dame, the veteran heavyweight wrestler from France. While Marceline didn't like the idea of being seen as the 'next' if anyone else, she certainly liked that she was being respected for her greatness. That it had lead her to a match against the veteran wrestler was even better.

With her opponent already in the ring, Marceline stepped out from out if back stage to the start of her

at the top of the ramp that lead to the ring. She brought her hand across her neck in a cutting motion dramatically before heading toward the ring in her new

Tonight this motion was more than a vague threat of defeat, but a promise.

As tonight was a special stiputiulation match, a particularly brutal one at that. There was no guarantee their match would finish in the ring. Technically, there was no guarantee it woukd even finish in the arena. There would be no respectful conclusion between the two of them, so it was unlikely there'd me much respect in the process either. Aoto Marcy's mind there was no point starting the match with feigning any particular respect. Once she made it into the ring, she threw a few shadow punches in the air vetween stepping to her opponent before the bell wrang, as she had a few words choice wirds her 'fellow' Frenchwoman:

«​ C'est l'heure de te piquer pour de bon, sale chienne rouillée ! »

Marceline said with a sneer, still standing before her. She respected that Blair was a great and dangerous wrestler, but that was far as the respect went. She wanted to humiliate her opponent and she wanted to harm her opponent. She wanted to show everyone that Marceline meant business .

[BlackAkuma]

And here she came.

While Blair Dame wasn't thrilled to have an unwanted successor, she grudgingly admitted that the woman the internet picked wasn’t exactly unworthy of the title, even if it wasn’t hers to take or the world’s to give. While she would question Marceline’s taste in attire, her stature was beyond reproach, and everyone who saw her marching down the ramp would have to agree. Madame Guillotine cut an imposing figure, as if someone had chiseled her body from marbled stone. Blair Dame would even concede that her opponent was far superior to what she herself had been at that age.

But that was then, this is now, and in the present, Blair Dame was more skilled, more dangerous, more deadly, and more than willing to prove it.

She stepped forward to meet her foe with arms folded, expecting words of respect and endearment, the reverence due to her history and pedigree. Instead, she received something entirely unbecoming of a Frenchwoman.

She sighed and fanned her face, unwilling to give Marceline the satisfaction of an equal response. [”As ever, youth is wasted on the young.”] It was nice to converse in her native language, she would admit. A shame it had to be wasted with someone so vulgar. [“I see you’re in need of a lesson in manners, young lady. Fortunately, I am, among other things, an excellent teacher.”] She tilted her head forward with a daring smirk. ”Let us begin.”

Blair Dame stepped back and slipped into her Muay Thai stance as the bell rang, signaling the start of the match, and the crowd cheered. She didn't dive in just yet, instead circling the ring on her bouncing feet, giving Marceline a fair bit of space and seeing what the woman would do with it. She already had a sense of the opponent she was dealing with, but she wanted the full picture and as much data as possible before committing to anything.

[ReticentCone]

That Blair didn't respond to her insult in kind didn't matter much to Marceline. She hadn't said it just to be provocative, she said it as a declaration of intent. If youth was wasted on the young, position was far more wasted on the old. Blair was just another example of an old woman taking up space that was better suited to someone younger than them, so that they could make use of their youthful vigor to their maximum extent rawhide they still had it, rather than be held back by those whose dynamism had long left them. But standard was everywhere and anywhere, that the likes of Blair Dame would squat on prominence and position far longer than they had ought to, which was to the general detriment of everyone else.

But one saving grace for the combat sport that was LAW, was that these sorts could end up violently torn down from their perch by the sufficient application of overwhelming brutality. That was the revolutionary violence that Marceline intended on bringing to Blair on this night. While she might not complete the task of putting her out to pasture, she could at least bring that day closer. Ultimately, either she would have the sense to give it up on her own, or someone would put an end to her wholly against her will. Ideally, of course, that person would Madame Guillotine herself.

She didn't doubt that the match would present an opportunity for Blair to teach her lesson. For all her age, shr was not someone that could just be wrecklessly overpowered. Marceline needed to be deliberate and cerebral with every move. The consequences could be dire if she wasn't. Even if her foe wasn't intending on matching Marceline's own violence, the nature of the match required her to do much beyond normal to win. It was also probable that Blair would soon be angry and or desperate enough to take things plenty far anyway.

When the bell rung, Marceline met Blair's Muay thai stance with her own Savate de Rue stance and went to work immediately. First, she'd use a stutter-step slide from her stance, her feet low to the ground, to get in just close enough to attempt to stomp the heel of her boot into Blair's lead ankle. The aim here was to preempt a teep with an attack that needed to cover a shorter distance while also pulling her opponents'focus downward, nevermind causing her joint pain.

Provided the opportunity, Marceline would immediately follow this up with a coup de pied bas into her opponent's lead knee while shifting off at a 45 degree angle to her foes blindside. If succesful, the shift moves her out of the ever important to a muay-that fighter center-line, while the low kick potentially buckles Blair's lead leg outward.

To top the barrage off, given the chance, Marceline would attempt to drive a heavy savate chassé in Blair's supporting knee to both exploit and violate an effort to turn to face Marceline after her attacks to collapse her to the canvas. In whay was likely to be a a strike heavy match like this, legs would play a crucial role, not only for kicking but as a base for punches and elbows, so wrecking her foes feet and knees was of paramount importance to Marceline.

[BlackAkuma]

Ah, Savate.

Blair Dame perked up as she saw Marceline take the stance, which sent her back decades. She’d dabbled in the art once before settling on Muay Thai as the basis for her style. There was nothing wrong with it, of course, but she much preferred the more aggressive, brutal style that the Asian art provided. It contrasted well with her sensibilities and often took those who judged her book by the cover off guard. Also, she might’ve felt a Frenchwoman using Savate was a tad too predictable, as silly a reason as that admittedly was.

Marceline, however, shared no such qualms. She came in fast, closing the distance with an impressive series of steps. Blair Dame tried to back away and maintain the distance, but it was too late, and the legs were flying. She did everything she could to pull her leg away before her foot got mashed into the canvas.

More kicks coming now, all low, all precise. Marceline’s game plan was an obvious one, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t effective - you don’t cut down a tree by sawing at the top, after all.

It wasn't just the kicks, though, but what Marceline did after them. A blow struck Blair Dame in the knee, and the woman shifted away before she could retaliate. Not quite retreating, but making it harder for her to follow up, avoiding her ideal range. Smart, this woman. Impressionnante.

Blair Dame would not be so easily hamstrung, however. She moved in, closing the gap herself, and brought her leg up to take Marceline’s kick on the shin instead. It was hardly pleasant and the blow left her bones numbed, but it was a better result than the knee her foe was likely targeting.

She rushed in and made her first attack, not with the kicks most expected, but with punches. While their lower limbs would get good use through this match, there was no law in LAW that they start out using them. She threw a couple of swift jabs, teasing blows meant to test her opponent’s guard, before stepping in with the real killer, a driving straight aimed at Marceline’s chest, meant to do damage and force her away.

[ReticentCone]

Marceline would have already been on her way to mangling the legs of a lesser woman than Blair Dame by now with her barrage of low kicks. She hadn't exactly expected her opponent to crumble under these attacks, but they weren't by any means entirely ineffective. They were just the start of the start of what would certainly be an extensive slog.

She hadn't exactly been caught unaware by the counter attack the Blair launched, either. Any good striker would make use of their hands when they were in range of an opponent and Marceline was, certainly, in range. So as was standard with Savate stance, her forearms were already up to intercept the upcoming jabs. But she didn't just block them, she swung her fore arms into her opponent's fists to bat them aside. She knew doing this opened up her chest, which was why she preemptively began bracing for an impact to come.

Sure enough, a straight right came, hammering into her chest. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, but it wasn't un predictable, which made it that much easier to endure. Which allow Marceline to launch her own first upperbody strike. Her lead hand came down for the wrist of Blair's extended arm to hook her wrist, with the intention of rolling her upper body inside just enough to drive a point of the elbow strike into her opponent's face.

Success here would likely disrupt followed her opponent's vision and pull her hands up to protect her face. She'd then attempt to use that sustained wrist grip to pull herself around Blair's outside angle. This would be followed by an attempt to drive a heavy side piston kick into the back bend of her rival French woman's knee. Even her upper strike and grapple remained tools for a continued assault on her foes lower body. She relied on the commitment to the straight punch to keep Blair's foot grounded for Marceline's heel to slam into her knee joint to buckle it inward and force her upper body to pitch forward.

If enough of that pitch forward came, Marceline would lift a foot way up high and Madame Gullotine would bring down a cruel coup de pied marteau down onto an exposed neck. As a young martial artist she'd broken the neck of a bitter rival that once broken her arms. Marceline had been chasing the rush she'd felt from the scream it elicited and the crying that followed it ever since. Given the opportunity, Marceline wouldn't show a hint of mercy or restraint. The match stipulations called for victory by neck trauma and she'd do her best to get a head start on that.

[BlackAkuma]

This was good. This was quite good, indeed.

Blair Dame could already tell the stark difference between Marceline and anyone she had fought so far. In those cases, her opponents had been more theatrical, more likely to start a dialogue with her, fitting the pro-wrestling style. This kind of combat had a rhythm, a way things were supposed to go. Even the JOB Squad, silly as they had been, fit that mold.

Marceline had no such compunctions. This was a woman who molds.

The punch that Marceline took would’ve sent most women staggering, but her fellow Frenchwoman was made of sterner stuff. Instead, she held her ground, capture the wrist, and let fly with an elbow that cracked Blair Dame on the brow and left the audience wincing, rightfully so. It wasn’t enough to break her flawless skin, but she could feel that it had come far closer than she would’ve wanted, and it was not like to be the last one.

Her arms came up reflexively, and Marceline once again used the chance to change her level. By the time Blair Dame realized her mistake, it was too late - the kick caught the back of her leg and she went down, leaving Madame Guillotine to loom over her like her namesake.

Speaking of which…

Down came the kick, aimed at her neck, a beheading blow. Blair Dame turned to the side, raised her elbow, and brought up her arm to absorb - all good ideas, but there was only so much any of it could. She managed to absorb much of the damage, but it still a strong strike to her neck, one that left the bones burning and numbed her arm up.

But this wasn’t the time to back away, not at this range and with the woman so close. Instead, she pushed up, swung around, and drove a stiff elbow into her foe’s ribs, aiming for the bone, then drove up again.

This range was good, and she sought to keep it as she tried to catch Marceline’s arms in a clinch, wanting to lock up for a moment.

[ReticentCone]

Marceline took the stiff elbow to the ribs, having not been able to do much to prepare for it, which put Blair in position to attempt to lock up Marceline. Lock ups, though, required two people to play at the same game and Marceline had no intention of doing that when she could bettee press her advantage. The match may have just started, but she was already noticeably wearing down her opponent. Her base was comrpomised some by Marceline's repeated stmps and kicks. Her arms had just tried to block the heel of 100 kg woman dropping an axe kick on to her neck. She'd got the elbow into her and the clinche, but nothing was immediately following it.

So instead of matching her opponent's clinch with one of her own, she'd move instead to attempt to drive up a stiff forearm square under her opponents chin and into her throat in an effort to break the clinch and force her opponent back. The same neck that'd taken a blow from behind, would be Tsing one from the front. The arms in the clinche, likely still sore from the kick, might not be able to hold on through forearm forcing her back.

Keeping an economy of motion, Marceline would now, ironically, reach around a hand now to grab the back of blair's neck. But rather than have this be an extneded grapple, this would be her trying to violently pull her down into an attempted rising knee to her opponent's solar plexus. Like every move before it, was to be carried out with purely destructive spite. Every blow an opportunity to bring Blair even just a little closer to the end of more than just her match.

In the event of any successful impact from that knee strike that brought her opponent over sufficiently, Marceline would one quick motion wrap one arm around the back of Blair's neck at the same time as gripping her leotard with her opposite hand and dropping backwards to spike Blair head first into the mat with a snap DDT. She'd focused primarily on standing strikes so far in this match, sure. But that didn't mean she wouldn't go into the traditional professional wrestling playbook to pile on the hurt.

[BlackAkuma]

Blair Dame was many things, but she was neither blond, nor ignorant. Even in this heat, she had enough sense to know this wasn't what she would call an ideal start against Marceline.

While she had landed a couple of good shots, Madame Guillotine had landed more, and more importantly, they had been good shots; in fact, she was fairly certain that the axe kick could’ve ended the match if she hadn't been able to mitigate the damage, and they nearly had done her in regardless. Going toe-to-toe with this woman wasn't the best option, as hard as it was to admit.

But she was low on options against her foe. The clinch was a way to buy time to recover, but Marceline had no intention of letting her enjoy that - she was only in it for a few brief seconds before the woman thrust up against her neck and made space, forcing a break before the referee could even hope to interfere. Blair Dame tried to pull away herself, but it was far too late, as a steely grip came around her neck.

A knee. Stiff. Quick. Solid. It drove into her stomach just as she was drawing breath and knocked it all out again. It left Blair Dame gasping, and she might fallen to her knees if Marceline hadn't caught her head under her shoulders.

This was not a good development.

The DDT drilled Blair Dame’s skull into the canvas with a sickening impact and sent a wave throughout her body, shocking her up the spine. Instinct and experience took over, here - instead of flopping down, she threw herself into a roll, over and over, until she came under the bottom ropes and dropped onto the floor. She stumbled a few steps towards the barricade, then caught herself on it at the last second and leaned on it, using it to stand on her aching feet. Blair Dame shook her head, doing her best to clear the fog and figure out what her next move was.

Through it all, she couldn't help but chuckle. ”I am…slightly impressed.”

[ReticentCone]

Marceline had yet to play to the crowd the yet throughout the match, she was simply to busy on offense. Nut as her opponent began rolling toward the ring ropes, she figured that would be a better use of her time than scrambling after her. So she sat up with a smug smile, curled her biceps one after the other and kissed them both and got back to her feet, while still keeping an eye on Blair Dame. Once she did get to her feet, Marceline began performatively dusting one hand with the other, shifting her hips from side to side as she did.

"Running for your life won't save you! Falls count anywhere, there's no escape from Madame Guillotine!" Marceline yelled as she backed up and away from the side of the ringside Blair was on. A more reckless wrestler would have insisted on attempting to force her advantage by rushing outside of the ring, but Marceline knew better than to do that and rush into an ambush.

She also had something she needed to retrieve from the under the ring apron sooner or later and now was an excellent time to go looking for it. Backing up from Blair while jawing at her, also allowed her to keep an eye on her while heading away from her without it looking like she was in anyway scared of her.

Once she reached the ropes on the opposite side, she leaned her back on them, hooked the her arms over them, then used to backfip onto the outside apron before hoping to the floor. An almost different Marceline than went down for the DDT had gotten back up it, seemed. In reality she was fine playing sexy when she hadn't anything better to do at the moment. But it was a moment that was drawing to a close, as she began to dig under the ring apron for her item of choice.