El Matador y la Muerte: Arturo Hernandez vs Skullface

[Underdoggo]

Match rules: standard
Victory by pin, submission or KO

The LAW arena was bustling with excitement tonight. The card had already been packed full of intense matches, but one of the headline matches had especially caught everyone's interest. This time, two fighters from the male roster would be battling it out, and there was a lot of opening speculation on what these two newcomers would be like.

The audience would not need to speculate for long, however, as one of the fighters soon made his presence known. Red lights began to suddenly strobe the arena, and "The Widow Maker" by Carpenter Brut burst to life on the audio system. At that moment, a tall figure suddenly strode onto the ramp-- a tall, rather slender figure, a black leather jacket and matching pants that seemed to hug his light frame. His head was mostly bare, revealing short-cropped blonde hair, but his face was obscured by a heavy, skull-shaped mask that sat across his eyes. Even so, his leering eyes were visible under that ghoulish mask, as was his mouth, which at that moment was twisted into a fiendish grin.

The newcomer was holding onto a long, twisted piece of metal piping, which he held like a cane as he sauntered down the ramp as though he owned the whole arena. As he reached the ring, he slid under the ropes and stepped towards the center of the ring, twirling his metal club/cane as he gave the audience a theatrical bow. Skullface had entered the arena.

Spoiler

The audience boo'd at Skullface's entrance, as most of them still remembered how he had brutalized Weiss Schnee in the ring in his debut. Ryuji simply grinned and rank in their uproar, even as he slid into the ring. Casually tossing his cane out of the ring, Skullface slowly unbuttoned his jacket and threw it into his corner, revealing an incredibly fit bare chest underneath, with well defined chest and arm muscles that defied his slender build. He kept his mask on, however, and continued to smile devlishly as he leaned back against the ropes, waiting to see who his opponent for the night would be...

[ScylliasExoter]

Arturo waited in the gorilla position for his cue to enter. He hopped and shadow boxed. His debut was strong and he was having a good run so far. When the signal came, his music hit and he stepped out into the entrance ramp.

Arturo

Theme

Arturo emerged to cheers. For his earlier matches he was booed. Yet here the fans were actually rooting for him and singing along to his theme. This Ryuji character must truly be a scoundrel, he thought to himself. Arturo called back to his bullfighting days and greeted members of the crowd as he made his way to the ring. He had the showmanship down pat as he sauntered up to the ring, hopped up, and stepped inside.

Arturo then came face to face with Ryuji. Perhaps the skull mask gave him pause, but Arturo had a feeling and never took his eyes off of Ryuji. They were pretty much the same height and lean build. Both of them clearly had been working out and they appeared as physical equals. He approached the blond Phantom Thief.
”You ready, Cráneo?”

[Underdoggo]

Ryuji watched with interest as his opponent entered. He had been given absolutely zero idea of who to expect. Were they pitting him against another spunky waif like Weiss? Or maybe some all powerful amazon this time? To his surprise, however, his opponent was a man. And not an unpleasant surprise, Ryuji thought, noting the other guy's well chiseled physique.

The crowd certainly seemed to be behind this "Arturo" guy, and he reciprocated, greeting the crowd as he made his way down the rope. Unsurprisingly, Arturo seemed focused on Ryuji as he entered the ring. Noting this, Ryuji rotated his shoulders and stretched slightly, making sure that his handsome foe got a good look.

"I'm always ready, amigo," Ryuji scoffed back. "Wish I could say the same for you, though. Still...let's make sure we put on a good show, huh?" And with that, Ryuji would extend a hand towards Arturo, trying to look as sincere as he could about wanting to make a display of good sportsmanship. The truth, of course, was that his intentions were anything but good...

[ScylliasExoter]

Arturo observed Ryuji stretching and showing off his muscles. The point not lost on him, Arturo did the same as the announcer went through the introductions. He then approached Ryuji
”We’ll see who’s ready, Cráneo.”
Arturo extended his hand to shake Ryuji’s. However, being a sneaky and agile fighter himself, was expecting a kick to the gut and readied himself to counter it.

[Underdoggo]

After flexing for an enjoyable few seconds, Arturo seemed hesitant to accept Ryuji's hand shake. Of course he did, Ryuji thought to himself: he was wary of any tricks the guy in the skull mask might pull. Heck, the fans seemed to realize this as well, and many of them started to chant "DO NOT DO IT" over and over again. And yet, all the same, Arturo slowly reached forward and shook Ryuji's hand.

And Ryuji, to his credit, did not pull any tricks: he instead shook Arturo's hand in a nice, honest-seeming grip. It was only a few seconds into the handshake, though, that Ryuji would suddenly yank hard in Arturo's wrist and shoot his head forward, trying to slam his mask against Arturo's nose in a sudden and vicious headbutt!

And with that, and with a chorus of boos from the audience, the bell would ring.

[ScylliasExoter]

Arturo expected a kick to the gut. Instead he got a head butting his head. Ryuji, with the aid of his skull mask, dealt a critical hit with his headbutt. Arturo was knocked backwards and off his feet. He lay on his back, momentarily stunned.

[Underdoggo]

Ryuji winced a little, feeling the vibration of the blow echoing through his head. It hurt, admittedly, slamming his forehead into Arturo's like that, but the Spaniard took the worst of it and went collapsing onto his back, visibly dazed. A perfect opening, Ryuji thought, and now Arturo was easy meat for his follow up.

A follow up that took the form of a simply knee drop, aiming to slam his leg across Arturo's throat and leave him gagging, hopefully leaving him softened up. If Ryuji managed to pull this off, then he would leave his knee pressed against Arturo's throat, choking him on the mat until the ref got in his face. "What? Oh sorry ref, I got distracted!" he would laugh, before rolling clear.

[ScylliasExoter]

Arturo was in a bad way. He gurgled out cries of pain when Ryuji knee dropped onto his neck and "accidentally" stayed on there. He grimaced and then gasped for much needed breath when Ryuji rolled off of him. Needing to put some distance against his crafty opponent, Arturo began rolling and attempted to roll out of the ring. If he made it outside, he would try to recover and ready himself for Ryuji coming after him.

[Underdoggo]

Ryuji watched as Arturo rolled out of the ring, and grinned even further. This was even more perfect: he had been hoping to get Arturo out of the ring at some point, and now it looked like this was happening a lot sooner than expected. Which was great, as it meant that Ryuji would get to show Arturo some of his toys...

He rolled after Arturo, and slid out of the ring after him, hoping to nail him with a baseball slide to stun him. If he managed that, then he would reach under the ring, pull out a pair of nunchucks that he had "left" under there before the match, and, gripping them together, try to drive them into Arturo's chest to knock the air out of his lungs!

[ScylliasExoter]

Arturo managed to escape the ring but not his foe as Ryuji baseball slid into him from the ring. Arturo was nailed in the shoulder and went flying to the side. He was crawling across the ring floor as Ryuji followed him. The Phantom Thief grabbed nunchucks from under the ring and was coming after him. It seemed that great minds think alike, and that Arturo and Ryuji definitely both had scoundrel minds. Arturo crawled over to the part of the ring he was going for, reached under, and pulled out a weapon of his own: a steel pipe. The crowd saw this and began cries of "OOOOOOOOH!!" As Ryuji was stalked behind him, Arturo spun around attempting to nail Ryuji in the side with the steel pipe, intending to tank the nun chuck blow if he had to.