Main Event: GASTER vs Astrid Arvidsson (c) for the LAW Openweight Title

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Being in the ring, you can never be sure of the correctness of your decisions. Perhaps this is one of the most amazing things about pro wrestling. Even when you think your plan is one hundred percent reliable, things can go completely wrong. When Clara made the Golden Dragon lose her balance, the champion decided not to try to hold the brunette, but to try to maintain at least some stable position, even if on all fours.

It was a risk, but this risk was justified at the moment when the descendant of the great Vikings pushed off the mat and sent a powerful punch into GASTER's stomach. Her knuckles cut into Clara's flesh, and the British woman literally doubled over. Astrid could even hear the air coming out of her opponent's lungs along with a painful groan. If she had extra time, she would have smiled for sure. However, at that moment, she was only focused on keeping the pace of the match.

Wanting to take advantage of the fact that GASTER was backing away, the Golden Dragon rose from her knees to her feet. Being sure that her opponent would need at least a few seconds to start breathing normally again, the blonde took a step forward. However, before she could really continue the offensive, something happened that caused the audience to gasp loudly.

Almost simultaneously with Astrid, Clara took her own step forward. Immediately after that, the contender turned around and sent a kick to Astrid's bare stomach. A split second before Clara's sole crashed into Astrid's belly, the blonde managed to tighten her abs. And although this has significantly reduced the impulse…

"GHAA!"

With a painful groan, Astrid took two steps back and leaned forward slightly. Without remorse, the Golden Dragon could say that Charlotte and Nerissa are the best kickers she knows. And so was well aware of the difference between a weak, clumsy kick and a strong, confident kick. Clara's kick was from the second category. There was no doubt about it as the Golden Dragon's right knee began to sink down towards the mat.

"Pull yourself together..." she mentally told herself.

Years of MMA have helped her understand that sometimes the best moment to attack is when your opponent is confident that they have gained an advantage. Overcoming the pain in her guts, the Golden Dragon forced herself to take a deep breath while looking up at GASTER. If there had been a place for special effects, then surely lightning would have flashed around Astrid at that moment.

Instead of letting her knee touch the mat, the champion rushed forward, placing her right foot slightly to the left of her left foot in order to allow her body to start spinning. Like Clara, she also knew how to kick. However, she intended to use something else now. If she had managed to take the momentum with a spin, she would have extended her right arm to the side in an attempt to ram GASTER's chest with a discus lariat!

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Clara trained day in and day out with Alice and Chika for tonight. Chika was a good coach, both in terms of helping Clara mentally and physically… as well as helping the Brit train up her kicks! This was just a taste of that training, with Astrid barely having time to tighten her abs, trying to defend against the kick. The Shadow Lord could feel that her attack didn’t quite have the full effect she intended… but she could still hear her rival grunt in response to the kick.

Under her mask, Clara smirked, spinning back to face the Golden Dragon, expecting her to see doubled over, hopefully halfway on the ground…

…only to see her rival start spinning, turning her back on Clara!

”NO!”

The Brit sensed danger, trying to step back… but it was too late. She got half a step away, but Astrid’s range calculated for her potential retreat.

With a loud sound of bone on bone collision, Astrid’s forearm collided with her chest.

Clara felt herself falling backwards, but the impact was so strong, Clara actually flipped upside down…before flipping onto her stomach before finally landing.

”GAAAAAAAAH!!!”, Clara screamed, gasping for breath, grasping the collision point. Taking the full brunt of the champion’s strength made her realize - this was the woman chosen to lead the company now. She had to prove herself against her. Anxiety started to settle in her mind…

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It wasn't easy at all. Even though Astrid was proud of her stamina and her ability to withstand even the most intense pain, she had to literally force herself to overcome the consequences of her opponent's successful kick. Clara was close to forcing the Golden Dragon to kneel, but this was not a match where the descendant of the great Vikings intended to succumb to weakness. No, not today.

Fighting the pain in her belly, the champion took a quick step forward while turning around her axis. The moment GASTER turned to face her, she saw surprise in the brunette's eyes, which clearly indicated that she had managed to catch the British woman off guard. Sparing no effort, Astrid hit the contender in the chest with her outstretched arm.

The weight advantage and rotation turned her lariat into something truly powerful. She not only managed to knock the ground out from under her opponent's feet, but also literally made GASTER turn over in the air. As a result, the British woman fell on the mat with a crash and stayed face down. As in any decent championship match, today the audience was equally supportive of both the champion and the contender. However, after the Golden Dragon overcame the pain and sent her opponent to the mat, a wave of support swept through the arena in her direction.

"Hell yeah!" she muttered, clenching her fist.

She had never allowed herself to be arrogant in the ring, but at that moment she couldn't help but enjoy the fact that she had managed to take the first significant step forward and gain an advantage. The Golden Dragon turned around and took a step towards Clara, who was lying on the mat. Considering that the brunette was in no hurry to get to her feet, the Golden Dragon was sure that she had a few precious seconds. And she knew exactly how she could use them.

The champion stood to the side of Clara, and then leaned down. Astrid intended to wrap her arms around her opponent's waist. And if she had not met resistance, then surely the noise in the arena would have become much louder. Why? Viewers have seen this enough times to understand without any problems what exactly the descendant of the great Vikings was up to.

The blonde was going to straighten up to her full height, thereby lifting GASTER above the mat in a horizontal position. With a deep breath, Astrid was going to pull the brunette up sharply in order to turn her over and put her on the shoulders. Wanting to make the most of this momentum, the Golden Dragon intended to take a step forward and then send Clara down. Not to the mat, but straight into the pumpkin, because they were close enough to the corner and the Norwegian woman did not want to miss the opportunity to earn the first point on the way to victory. Many people knew it was a gutwrench sitout powerbomb, but she called it the victim for the dragon and it was one of her signature moves!

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Clara breathed heavily under her mask. Her head felt like it was going to explode, her body hurt, it was difficult to take air into her body...

Before the bell rang and as the match was going on, she didn't let the pressure of the situation crush her. But that Lariat blew not just the air out of her body. The truth of the matter was, this was one of the hardest strikes that Clara has recieved in her career. She had wrestled women who gave her a concussion with their kicks alone, one of them even coaching her for this match! And yet, now, the Brit was recognizing that this match, this trip through hell, was going to be a lot more difficult to walk through and come back alive...

"G-gha...", Clara would cough out, trying to force herself to get up...even though she ultimately knew that, in spite of Astrid taking her time to pick her up to appeal to the crowd, the Shadow Lord wouldn't be able to get away in time...

The brief respite did, at least, let her catch her breath, however briefly, but soon enough, Astrid would force Clara up...straight up, into the air, by her stomach and over onto her shoulders...

...and from what Clara recalled of the layout of the ring, she knew exactly where Astrid was aiming at!

"Can't...let her!"

Once she felt the slightest downward motion from Astrid, the Brit forced herself to fall even further down! That way, she would accomplish two very critical things in this match - avoid the pumpkin, and, using her legs, she would try and nail Astrid's head straight into the pumpkin for her first point in the match!

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Supported by the audience, the Golden Dragon intended to take a significant step forward. Due to the hard lariat, the circumstances were in her favor and therefore she was sure that this was the right time to earn the first point on the way to victory. The conditions of this match were very unusual, and although she was prepared for the fact that she would have to put a lot of effort before she had the opportunity to put Clara in a coffin, this did not mean that she was going to delay it.

So she quickly wrapped her arms around the British woman's waist, tightly squeezing her rival. The audience knew this move and they loved it. Previously, Astrid did not care much about playing to the public, but after the responsibility of the most prestigious championship fell on her shoulders, she began to pay more attention to what the audience wanted from her.

With one sharp movement, she turned GASTER over and put the brunette on her shoulders. Thanks to the step forward she took, the descendant of the great Vikings got an extra boost and the last thing she had to do was throw Clara down, right on the pumpkin. Putting additional strength into her arms, Astrid did not hesitate with this, she leaned forward with the intention of crushing the pumpkin with her opponent's body.

And this was the very moment when Astrid seemed to have returned to the past.

When Clara strained her legs and squeezed the blonde's head, the Golden Dragon seemed to be back in her last qualifying Apex match. For a split second, it seemed to her that she was fighting not with Clara, but with Miranda. Why? Because it was exactly the same situation. At that time, the Norwegian woman was going to use her signature move and as soon as she sent Miranda down, she felt her opponent's legs squeeze her head.

GASTER leaned back sharply, using Astrid's momentum against her. If the champion had foreseen such a turn of events, she would certainly have assumed a much more stable position, but she was not ready for this. Her body rose into the air, turning over at the same time thanks to the powerful torque that Clara created.

"GGUAAHH!!!"

The Golden Dragon crashed into the pumpkin, completely smashing it. The orange colored pulp flew in all directions and at the same moment the arena was filled with deafening screams from the audience, who cheered Clara and her incredible counterattack. Astrid was in no hurry to get to her feet, her upper body was surrounded by the crushed pumpkin, and her legs were on the middle ropes, besides, in addition to the pain she felt terribly dizzy. Meanwhile, the inscription on the titantron had changed...

The pumpkin count. GASTER : Astrid Arvidsson. 1 : 0.

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Clara HAD to time this right, unless she wanted to give up the point now. Flex her legs too early, and Astrid would be able to tell, and as a result, she'd be able to stop the move completely in it's tracks, making sure she had time to reposition her attack. Too late, and she'd be splattered against the pumpkin and the corner!

Thankfully, the timing worked out just right, and as Clara fell down, she flexed her legs to bring her rival's head down with her, rushing her fall down to nail Astrid into the pumpkin!

Astrid's body would end up being tossed onto the top rope, while Clara landed on her hands and feet, barely able to get back up to a full stand, her chest still hurting (and the flesh on it turning red) after the Lariat. The crowd erupted as the first point was added to the scoreboard.

The pumpkin count. GASTER : Astrid Arvidsson. 1 : 0.

The earlier anxiety was gone, and the Shadow Lord felt a rush of confidence through her body:

"Mwa...Mwahahahahaha!!! Lord of Shadows, and Monarch of Pumpkins!!!", the Brit laughed, striking a pose... before turning her attention back at the champion. She couldn't let her rest for long, after all!

Wrapping her arms around Astrid's waist, Clara would take a deep breath. Despite it hurting, Clara knew she would need all the strength she could get. Admittedly, a German Suplex was a move that relied on proper movement, rather than strength, but with the size discrepancy in this match, any little bit of the Shadow Lord's might helped! If successful, Clara would drive her opponent off the turnbuckle and neck and shoulder's first onto the canvas!

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For Astrid, there was nothing joyful about being in such a situation for the second time through her own fault. Perhaps it would be fair to say that she underestimated her rival to some extent, she should not have counted on the fact that one lariat would be enough to weaken Clara sufficiently. All she had to do was draw conclusions and prevent this from happening again in the future.

However, for now, the Golden Dragon had to hear the British woman's malicious laughter again. Of course, she understood that in this particular case, Clara was just playing the role of GASTER, but it was still annoying because the descendant of the great Vikings did not really like when there was a place for ridicule and the like in the ring.

Forced to inhale the smell of fresh pumpkin, Astrid had not yet recovered by the time Clara reached for her. This fall was painful, but not so painful that the Golden Dragon couldn't handle it. Her main problem was dizziness. When GASTER pulled her up, forcing her to her feet, the blonde clearly knew that she had to do something, but because of the fog in her head, her body refused to obey.

The last thing she felt were Clara's arms around her waist. The champion couldn't stop her opponent from leaning back. Her body rose into the air, but her flight did not last long. A moment later, Astrid crashed into the mat with a bang.

"GUUAHH!"

The momentum was so powerful that after her upper body crashed into the mat, she bounced and turned over, as a result falling onto the mat again, but face down. There was no point in denying it, the situation for the Golden Dragon was rapidly getting worse. She had to clench her teeth to hold back the painful groans. She definitely needed at least a few seconds of rest. But she knew she wouldn't get it. Therefore, the blonde, despite the pain, put her palms near her head and began to push herself up to get first on all fours and then on her knees.

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Fired up thanks to her counter, Clara's anxiety was fully gone, and she rose to her feet in less than a second after executing the German Suplex. With Astrid reeling, the Brit would swiftly run to the ropes. She was going to use her speed to keep the champion in the ropes, both figuratively and literally. But before she could do that and break her second pumpkin of the bout, she had to get the blonde closer to the ropes...

Rebounding, GASTER would rush straight at her rival, who was already on all 4s. Calculating her trajectory mid-run, Clara jumped with half the ring still between herself and her rival, aiming low as she tried to drive her feet into Astrid's body for a vicious dropkick! If successful, the Brit hoped she would manage to force Astrid to roll towards a corner. Her shadow-y mind was already scheming the way to score a second point! Part of Clara felt bad as she realized just how much she would ruin Astrid's costume with pumpkins...but needs must!

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Stained with pumpkin and suffering from both pain and dizziness, Astrid tried to force herself to concentrate. Her opponent gained an impressive pace and although the Golden Dragon understood that over time Clara's strength would begin to run out because her reserves of endurance were not endless, she did not want to be a fucking punching bag at all. So she tried to gather her strength, starting to get to her feet.

However, when you are under the influence of dizziness, you often lose your sense of time. That's exactly what happened to the champion. It seemed to her that she got up on all fours quickly enough, but when she pushed off the mat and got up on her knees, it became clear to her that it took much longer than she thought.

By the time she raised her head, GASTER had already bounced off the ropes and was running towards the Golden Dragon as fast as if she wanted to win an Olympic medal. When the British woman jumped, throwing her legs forward, Astrid clearly understood what her opponent wanted to do. She even started to raise her arms, but before she could build any kind of defense, both of Clara's feet slammed into her chest.

"GGMMM!!"

Muscle mass is certainly important, which is why the descendant of the great Vikings spent so much of her life at the gym. She always wanted to be sure that her every blow would be like a collision with a truck for her rivals. However, during one of the sparring sessions with Charlotte, the Frenchwoman said that physics is impossible to deceive. For the force of impact, speed plays twice as important a role as mass. And Clara demonstrated it in all its glory.

The brunette's dropkick literally made the Golden Dragon roll backwards like a tumbleweed. Her journey ended only after two collisions of her head with the mat. It is likely that there could have been a third roll, but Astrid's back pressed against the pumpkin at the base of the corner. The blonde's hands lay like rags on the mat, and her eyes were tightly closed. She was gasping for air, because after so many attacks on her head, her vestibular apparatus took a smoke break.

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Speed and hard hits - that was what she trained for, that was her game-plan for tonight… and as long as she kept at it without getting caught! Her legs connected against Astrid’s body, just as the blonde tried to rise up to her feet. The Shadow Lord rushed at top speed, trying to hit her rival with the hardest dropkick she could to take the wind out of her sails…and was strong enough to force her rival to roll on her back towards a corner, exactly the place GASTER needed the Golden Dragon to be at!

”Mwahahahaha…”, Clara laughed as she approached the Astrid: ”Now you will see that the power of Lightning and Thunder is nothing compared to my Shadow-y might… as well as…”

As GASTER monologued, she quickly stepped towards the corner to make sure the positioning was right. Sure enough, Astrid’s back pressed against the round vegetable, with the Shadow Lord pointing towards it as she exclaimed:

”The might of the pumpkins!!!”

Clara stepped back to the opposite corner, aiming to get her second point. She felt slightly bad for Astrid. The costume was so high quality, and there was she - an actual real life villainess, ruining it with pumpkin pulp and juice.

Still, that didn’t stop her from launching herself towards Astrid once more, jumping and aiming her body low for a bottom turnbuckle variation of a Corner Body Splash!