Steel Cage Match for LAW Apex:
Winner can only be decided by pinfall or submission. Both women are locked inside a steel cage surrounding the ring.
Winner will be considered for the Inaugural Openweight Title at the end of Apex. The loser forfeits their chance to become the Inaugural Openweight Champion.
---Winner can only be decided by pinfall or submission. Both women are locked inside a steel cage surrounding the ring.
Winner will be considered for the Inaugural Openweight Title at the end of Apex. The loser forfeits their chance to become the Inaugural Openweight Champion.
Everything had lead to this.
When she first joined LAW, she didn't expect there to be such a prize made. At the time, there were six prizes and one mark of disgrace. The championships for each weight class--Heavy, Middle, and Light--along with the Tag championship, the Hentai championship and the Lawless championship, with the Loser championship being a slap to the face. Of those prizes, there was really one only option for her: the Middleweight Championship. Lillian Bryne's reign was great, but it was time for someone new to come in and hold that belt. But in her time, building herself up, there was an announcement. Apex. Complete a set of qualifying matches, and you have a chance to go to Apex and compete for the newest, grandest prize in LAW, and that was the new prize that she was shooting for.
Kathleen Hendricks was going to be LAW's first Openweight Champion.
There were no barriers to it, no weight class or style of competition you had to utilize in order to win. You just had to be the best wrestler in the company to win it. And there was no one better than the Queen of Domination.
... right?
Of course, Kathleen would like to believe herself to be the best in the world. She called herself the Queen of Domination for a reason, and carried herself as such. Her track record already spoke of prestige, of a prodigy in the making. Kathleen tangled herself with some of the legends of LAW early on her career, and she vanquished them, and led them to their Culmination. With how her career was going so far, you'd think she'd be well on her way to a legendary career, one filled with legendary rivalries, numerous title reigns and beyond.
So why was their this voice in the back of her head telling her that perhaps she wasn't cut for this?
Kathleen Hendricks did not have self-doubt. Kathleen Hendricks did not falter. But... in LAW, she couldn't deny there were cracks in her golden road. Cracks that she feared may expand and swallow her entire path as she set forward on it. Those cracks were losses--failures on her behalf. No one could quite deny the drive of the Queen, and it couldn't be tossed up merely to a lack of effort. Kathleen put so much into her matches, she tried so hard to destroy her opponents, so much so that she had already a number of injuries thanks to her actions, and even a retirement. A career ended because of her sheer determination to dominate and to win.
But those losses, those matches where she fell short... they gnawed in the back of her mind. And it didn't make it any smaller, knowing that one of the women she lost to was her opponent tonight.
Tina Armstrong. The first Middleweight Champion in LAW. That accolade alone would put her in the record books forever, and make her one of the founders of LAW. It was that prestige that made her and her friend, Alaina, a target for Kathleen. At this point, Kathleen and those two had faced off quite a few times. Kathleen had defeated Alaina before, but Tina? She unfortunately hadn't just yet. And if she couldn't beat a former champion, then... what hope did she have of becoming a current one? And.. if she couldn't be a champion, then who was she, really? What was a Queen without its crown? Was she one of domination if she couldn't win against the strongest foes? And if she wasn't that, then what was she?
--
But none of that mattered as soon as her music hit. Any self-deprecating thought or doubting whisper in her ear went away as her new music hit. This was her biggest match in all of LAW, and it was fitting that there'd be a new theme for her, one that could more accurately represent her elegance and royalty to the crowd and viewers alike. Kathleen exhaled through her nose, imagined her victory in her head--no matter how hard that nibbling bit in the back of her mind twisted to twist it--and walked out onto the stage.
(Go to 0:38 for repeats)
A packed arena, filled with roaring fans, this was quite unlike anything Kathleen had experienced before. I Am LAW 5, in her match with Ichika Rei, wasn't filled like this. When every match was a potential championship match, when everyone competing was a contender for the biggest prize in the business, and with only the best competing because of the qualifying matches, it was no wonder why it was filled. Yet, Kathleen didn't let that rattle her.
She stood atop the stage, her hand firmly gripping her waist, and her deathly stare eyeing the thousands in attendance, her tanned skin gleaming with the lights shining down onto her. From this image, she truly looked like a Goddess, a Queen, deserving of her title. No signs of self doubt, of inner conflict. None of these pesky fans would know the truth. They may speculate of course, but any of that was without any substance. One look at Kathleen, and one would (rightfully)assume she was filled with as much confidence as ever, with the same determination and focus as ever.
Soon, Kathleen began her descent down the ramp, and her eyes locked on the ring. And the steel cage that was set up on it. Yes, this was a Steel Cage match, handpicked by the Queen herself. Because all of this went back to Tina. The woman who handed her her first loss in LAW, and made all of this self doubt possible. Oh, how the Queen despised her.
That one small package. Kathleen wanted to destroy Tina, and make her wish she never entered a ring, let alone stood up to the Queen. She was the first Middleweight Champion in LAW, and that was only part of why Kathleen wished to rip her to shreds. She was a valiant champion, one the fans loved. But where did that title reign end?
Inside a cage.
The worst moment of Tina's career, deliberately tapping out and surrendering her championship. That was why Kathleen picked the cage. The pure cruelty it allowed and there being no escape for anyone who entered was just a bonus. Make no mistake about it, Kathleen was an evil, black-hearted woman. And those flashes of self-doubt only made her even more cruel, more sadistic. And it made her desire to destroy the Tigress once and for all even greater, both physically and mentally. Kathleen shouldn't be having these thoughts, and once she defeated Tina once and for all, it'd vanquish all self-doubt inside of her and she could move onto even greater things.
Reaching the floor, Kathleen ascended up the steel steps at ringside and entered the cage door, stepping through and onto the apron, in which she stepped through the ropes and into the ring. Inside the ring, she stood cracking her wrists, tightening her wrist-tape, stretching her neck. But most of all, staring out towards the stage. There was no need for theatrics here, she'd let her domination do all the talking for her.
The Queen of Domination was ready.
Spoiler
