Standard LAW Match, Normal Rules - "The Midnight Panther" Austin Felix vs "The Pantheress" Bast!

[IJustLikeBirdsMan]

Austin had seen large and powerful women in the indies before, but Bast....Bast was something new.

Bast was taller, larger, more muscular, had more mass--Austin struggled to think of things that could stack the deck in Bast's favor more than it already was for this fight. Plus, she was known as "The Pantheress." She likely had a similar fighting style to Austin with a name like that, and there was also a disturbingly high chance that she could outclass him at his own game here. His chances of winning this fight were practically zero, and he knew it.

But "practically" doesn't mean "guaranteed."

If I win this fight, people will start talking. A victory here would shoot me straight up the LAW rankings! I don't think anyone would have an eyebrow unraised at a feat like that...

The match itself wasn't difficult, at least: it was a standard mixed wrestling match, with the win coming via pin, submission, or KO. All Austin had to do was somehow take down this mountain of a woman towering over him using one of those options.

"Yup, that's all I have to do," he joked sarcastically.

Austin finished his corner stretches, then nodded to the ref that he was ready to begin--or rather, he was as ready as he'd ever be--before waiting for Bast's response to the same question.

[BlackAkuma]

Gods, it was good to be back.

Bast had been away from the ring for a long time, longer than she had expected. After her championship match with Alaina Sanders, she had come away as an utter wreck - multiple broken bones, fractures, even some internal bleeding. It was the sort of damage that, if she had been back home in Somalia, she likely would’ve died from, the kind of injuries that required extensive treatment and more than a fair share of luck.

Thankfully, LAW did care somewhat about keeping their wrestlers in good shape, and they’d invested in her recouping process. It took the better part of a year, just shy of twelve months, but now she was back and healthy and in the ring, ready to go again. Despite her mixed feelings about wrestling, she had missed the crowd, the energy, the vibe of it all.

”This is an insult!”

What she hadn't missed, though, was this.

Ever since she’d found out who her opponent was, Cersei, her sister, had been in a bit of a tizzy. After her championship match, she expected that they would move on to big things, maybe even a shot at the Openweight Title, and she didn’t take kindly to hearing that her first opponent back would be a lesser-known male wrestler. Bast, for her part, couldn't have cared less, but then, Cersei’s job as her manager was to care about things. So…

She stood in the middle of the ring, pointing Austin’s way with a microphone in hand, her voice echoing around the building. ”After my sister is unfairly defeated by the cowardly Elena, after coming back from her horrific injuries, this is what LAW throws at us? This pretender? This is a joke!” She turned her nose up at him and swung her fist at the booing audience. ”LAW only has one ruler of the jungle, one predator to be feared, and that is my sister! Bast! Queen of Panthers, Breaker of Men! You all should bow before her, but it seems that, in her absence, you have all forgotten why she is to be feared. Very well - we shall remind you.”

With the crowd properly riled up, she threw the microphone away, sneered towards Austin, and proceeded to slide her way out of the ring, leaving Bast and Austin to begin the match. For her part, the Panthress just sighed - as annoying as the fanfare was, it got eyes on them, which she assumed was the point of it all.

Now, she needed to do her part. With a crack of the knuckles, she stepped forward and nodded to the referee on her way towards the center of the ring, ready to square off.

[IJustLikeBirdsMan]

Bast looked even more intimidating as she took a few steps closer towards him and the referee, almost like a larger, scarier, female version of Brock Lesnar. The mat shook a little with each step she took, and Austin felt each reverberate through his legs like shockwaves traveling across a pond. She looked down on Austin, too; he could see it in her eyes, in her posture, the way she moved. Austin was a puny rodent in the eyes of a killing machine.

But that wasn't enough to make Austin back down. Bast was not the first mega-powerhouse to ever wrestle, and she was also not the first to lose a match. Austin had watched the tapes, studied the strategies--Austin had a plan in mind for Bast.

DING!

The match was on! Austin kicked it in high gear immediately, turning around 180 degrees and running straight to the ropes behind himself. He let his weight carry him deep into the ropes, and the ropes responded by shooting him back towards Bast. Austin sprinted at Bast with the added momentum from the ropes giving him a boost he wouldn't have had otherwise, and he raised an arm to clothesline Bast.

Or at least, that's what Austin hoped she thought he was doing. At the last moment, Austin dropped into a sliding kick aimed at one of Bast's shins. Austin hoped to kick Bast's leg out from under her, sending her falling face first--right where he could catch the Pantheress's head and guide it (while adding some extra speed for good measure, of course) straight to the mat, hopefully stunning her as much as the crowd if successful.

[BlackAkuma]

With her sister finished and out of the ring, Bast breathed a sigh of relief, glad that the preamble was over. She understood that wrestling was just as much about performance as it was about combat, but she was glad that she had to engage with the former as little as possible. She was perfectly happy to go her entire wrestling career without touching a microphone, thank you very much.

No, her expertise lay in the ring, after the bell rang, and right now, she was solely focused on that. Focus on Austin. While her opponent wasn’t as big as she was, he was no slouch, even as men go, sporting an impressive physique and size that would’ve put 95% of the roster to shame. She could also see that look in his eyes, bright and burning, much less his namesake. He would not be taking it easy on her with a slow start, no - he was going to come at her strong, aggressively. He would be looking to take the initiative.

When the bell rang, Bast learned just how right she was.

Most opponents would’ve taken a slow start with her, wanting to feel things out before they committed to anything, but Austin seemed determined to buck that trend. She had only taken a step forward when he bolted away, hit the ropes, and came rushing back towards her at full speed, looking to take her head on. Unwise, ostensibly.

Austin proved to be a touch more canny than she expected, however. While this seemed like a head-on attack, the truth of it came out when he ducked and avoided her grasping arm, going low instead of high. A kick struck her legs, and she began to fall forward, with him coming up from behind her to aid him along.

”No.”

Bast shot her other leg out, planted it firmly, and narrowly stopped herself from tipping over. At the same time, she swung her arm around and tried to ram her elbow into his chest, trying to knock him away with the stiff blow and create space.

[IJustLikeBirdsMan]

SHIT.

No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy, but Austin still hadn't expected Bast to be so...solid. Thick. Immoveable.

Austin at least had speed on his side. Bast was large and powerful, so Austin decided he would chip away at the mountain of a woman until she was nothing but a pile of pebbles left on the mat. The only problem was, a few hits from Bast was probably enough to leave him gasping for air on the mat. He mad to make sure she never caught him.

Let's see how you like this, Ms. Big Cat!

As he nimbly dodged her counter-elbow towards his chest, spinning around Bast's bosy in turn, Austin swapped to his new plan of attack. He took another step around Bast to try to stay in her blind spot even as she spun through with her elbow attack, then tried to deliver three quick jabs at Bast's ribcage under her arm. Anything he could do to wear down the monster would be useful, and he was going to draw it out as much as he could.

After all, the alternative was being squashed like a bug...

[BlackAkuma]

Bast had only just met Austin, knew little of him, but already she could tell what his method of attack was going to be. It was the same one she often saw from the smarter, quicker fighters, the ones who were wise enough not to take her head on and employ some strategy. The best way forward was clear - he was trying to avoid her, use hit and run tactics, thinking that speed was his allies.

A good idea. That didn’t mean it would work, however.

While Bast wasn’t what most would call ‘fast’, she was certainly quick for her size, far from the lumbering dullard that many would see her as. Austin was fleet of foot, but she was fairly certain she could catch him. She just needed to wait and use her time wisely.

The time to strike wasn’t now, she was sure of it. Austin was moving around her, lashing out, and she wound up taking three quick shots in the ribs. Good hits, but they were bait, trying to goad her into making mistakes. She wasn’t biting.

Instead, she whirled around to meet him and brought her arms up in a solid guard, covering her as she carefully advanced. Not going on the offense just yet. Daring him to try his luck against her, seeing how bold he could be.

[IJustLikeBirdsMan]

Austin felt good about his three jabs; he had felt his punches make solid contact with Bast's side, and they would've knocked the wind out of pretty much any opponent. However, the monstrous woman before him looked no worse for wear. Instead, Austin watched as the Pantheress took a defensive stance, more or less unperturbed by his attacks.

She HAD to have felt those, he thought to himself. Looks like I need to keep landing hits until they overwhelm her. I can't win this with one big hit, this'll have to be death by a thousand cuts...

Accordingly, Austin approached Bast again, albeit this time cautiously. The Pantheress didn't react beyond remaining defensive, however, so Austin decided to try to break the stalemate.

Advancing towards his opponent, Austin feigned a jab from the left before shifting right. However, this rightward shift was also a feint, as Austin shifted once again to try to deliver a kick to Bast's lower knee, hoping to knock her off-balance a little and open her defenses...

[BlackAkuma]

Bast did feel those hits. Quite a bit, in fact. They weren’t devastating, mind you, but they were a far cry from feeling like a feather. Strong, solid strikes that rattled her bones, hits she would be feeling for a while. But the trick was not to show it. Wrestling, fighting, was a mental game as well as a physical one, and the more she gave off the impression of being unstoppable juggernaut, the more she could use that to intimidate Austin. In theory.

In practice, he was still bold enough to move in on her, seemingly undeterred by her size as of yet, which meant she needed to give him some good reasons to keep his distance. That chance came a moment later, as he moved in, looking like he was about to take the offensive, juking there then there then…

There.

The real attack came low, a slicing kick that cut into her knee and forced her to stumble. Not wanting to give ground, though, she threw herself forward instead of pulling away, trying to force him into a tie-up so she could keep him close and make the most of her power, or at least keep him from dancing around for the time being.

[IJustLikeBirdsMan]

Let's see her recover from THAT! Austin thought to himself. The feeling of Bast's leg sliding out from under her--EXACTLY what he had hoped for--gave Austin renewed enthusiasm for the fight. Maybe, just maybe, I might actually win this. I just gotta pull back now, and--

Austin's gut plummeted as Bast--not falling, as he had wished--instead threw imposing frame at Austin, using his own kick against him. Unable to escape, Austin caught Bast's arms to initiate a tie-up between the two.

And it was only obvious after the tie-up began that Bast had Austin right where she wanted him.

Fuck! was all Austin could think. He struggled with all his might against the Pantheress, but it was clear that, if he didn't think of something, the current situation would not end well for him. It was a raw test of strength--which, truth be told, Austin was not lacking in that regard. But Bast was much, MUCH more powerful than him.

And now, it was a race against time...

[BlackAkuma]

Got him.

Catching opponents like this was the hard part, but Bast had perfected her technique over the years, and now she had it almost to a science. He would expect her to do one thing, and she would ruin those plans by not doing that thing. Easy to say, but not always to execute.

It worked well, here, as she moved and managed to get Austin into her ideal range. He knew it, too, judging from the look on his face, but it was too late for him to stop. With the two of them locked up, Bast planted her feet and began her push.

A surge. A hard, solid drive towards the corner with all the force she could muster. It was tempting to just transition into a move while she had control, but she preferred to put him into the corner for the time being, a place where his speed wouldn’t save him.