Samiya Pedroza vs. Muriel Spencer - A Is For Assassin

[BlackAkuma]

Call Muriel a traditionalist - or an ‘old fogey’, as Ms. Welsh often did - but she liked to start matches off traditionally, always favoring the collar-and-elbow, even when the outcome was an obvious one. It was a good way to kick things off, with so many ways the match could be turned in her favor, and it gave her a chance to rely on her technical skills, which so many modern wrestlers eschewed.

In this case, it had the dual purpose of putting Samiya at a range where her kicks were less effective. While Muriel enjoyed the height advantage, she wasn’t a striker, and didn’t like the idea of trading blows even with a smaller foe, if she could get away with it. Like this, she could exert greater control of the match and dictate the pace.

Samiya’s knees put a stop to those notions. One shot up, slicing into her stomach with a powerful knee strike, one that cut deep into her core. Another followed after it, drawing out a gust of stale air from her lungs.

But a third? No, Muriel would not suffer a third.

The knee landed, but this time, Samiya wasn’t allowed to take it back. Muriel wrapped her arm around it, reached over to capture her opponent’s head with her other arm, then arched her back, brought the woman down, and slammed her with a Fisherman’s Suplex, making sure to bridge out after the impact to pin her foe’s shoulders. She strongly doubted she would get more than a one-count this early in the match, if that much, but that wasn’t the point - she wanted to put a little fear into Samiya.

[Liesmith]

The thing Samiya enjoyed about a collar-and-elbow was pretty simple. It wasn’t all that far removed from a nice, simple Muay Thai clinch. And that made it satisfyingly straightforward to twist it until she could start throwing knees, particularly when most wrestlers defaulted to that silly push-and-shove nonsense.

Not that it wasn’t fun to bully her opponents around; the idiots she called fans loved it.

But, right now, Samiya was thinking that Spencer – who she knew to be a suplex specialist – was going to find it a whole lot harder to throw her around the ring once her midsection had been tenderised a little bit.

Both because she’d need to breathe but also because that core did a whole lot of the work when it came to lifting and throwing. Weaken that, her opponent’s options would start to shrink nicely.

Which could explain why she stuck around for a third knee when common sense really ought to be telling her that she was seriously pushing her luck against a vet like Spencer. Maybe it was telling her but, if so, Samiya ignored that little voice in the back of her head in favour of resetting and repeating.

Stupid choice.

She got the knee in but Spencer twisted, taking it as a graze rather than a solid hit, Samiya’s dark eyes widening appreciably even before the blonde’s solidly toned arm snagged it tight. They widened still more as she was wrenched off her feet, sent for a rapid ride that ended with her back slamming against the canvas.

Taking the impact on her upper spine and across her shoulders, Samiya instinctively arched up – tried to arch up, only to find she couldn’t. Spencer still had her, the blonde’s body curved over the Schoolgirl Assassin, keeping her pinned to the canvas as the referee came sliding in.

”ONE” boomed the crowd as hand met mat.

Samiya shook the cobwebs from her purple-haired head and twisted, thrusting her free arm off the mat with all the considerable power at her disposal.

[BlackAkuma]

It might not have seemed like it, but Muriel had already gleamed important knowledge from her little exchange with Samiya. Tidbits that she could build on as things progressed.

First and foremost, she noted that the woman wasn’t a traditionalist. Whoever had trained her, they either hadn't taught her to begin matches the old-fashioned way, or she hadn't cared to take their heed. Judging from Samiya’s attitude, she would wager either possibility was equally probable, and she wouldn’t hazard a guess.

All well and good, Muriel was nothing if not adaptable. On the second point, those knees were nothing to sneeze at, landing with powerful purpose. Mixed Martial Arts? Most likely. Not something she had dealt with often firsthand, but she was confident she could find a way to handle it, here.

So far, she was doing a good job. It was hard to be sure from her vantage point; she couldn't see her opponent’s face, but she had to wager that Samiya wasn’t used to someone picking her up and dumping her square on her shoulder, especially when she was in the middle of unleashing hell with her knees.

Muriel managed to get a single count, which was rather encouraging this early on in the bout, before Samiya thrust arm up and broke free of the hold. Instead resisting her escape, Muriel aided her, pushing the woman further along as she lifted her way until she was on her chest. From there, she slid over, secured a tight side headlock, and stood up while she poured pressure on her opponent’s head, trying to keep her in control as she rose. ”A shoddy opener, Ms. Pedroza.” She chided her foe with a tsk of the tongue. ”This will cost you points, I’m afraid.”

[Liesmith]

If there was any consolation for Spencer’s choice of move, it was that a leg trap suplex like that didn’t drop Samiya square on her head. On the other hand, it wasn’t like being slammed down on her upper back and shoulders was exactly a picnic, especially when the woman doing the slamming knew her trade as well as Muriel Spencer.

Hence the brief pause before she went to kick out, that little struggle between wanting to lie there a moment and let the stinging fire in her spine die out versus that part of her which hated giving an opponent one single inch so early in the match.

It wasn’t a surprise that she was able to get her shoulder up without much trouble; Samiya had the power and bridging pins had their weaknesses. The unpleasant surprise came when she found herself being helped along her way, until she was flipped all the way over onto her front – by itself not the most comfortable of positions for a woman as well-endowed as Samiya.

The arm snaking around her skull and drawing tight, that was more of a problem.

Samiya winced, hissed in discomfort, but otherwise kept silent as she begrudgingly followed Spencer’s lead in standing, the grinding pressure around her temples almost as painful as the little jab about her opening.

“Yeah?” She threw back, the snap in her tone giving voice to the discomfort she felt as the teacher worked the hold like the pro she was, “Try it on someone who cares, Teach.”

The other half of her answer arrived as a clubbing blow to the midsection, aimed for the spots she’d been working over with her knees. Should still be tender, shouldn’t be too hard to convince Spencer to let her go or at least weaken things enough for a more decisive counter.

[BlackAkuma]

Muriel stayed close to her opponent as they rose, keeping the pressure tight and not giving her any real space to escape. Though the match was young, she felt this was the best way to approach things - the less room Samiya had to maneuver, the better. Chain wrestling was her expertise, giving her an advantage over less experienced opponents who didn’t know how to deal with it.

The hiss in Samiya’s voice was telling, and the words she spoke were even more so. This was not a young lady who was accustomed to being on the backfoot so early, she suspected.

Retaliation came soon enough as her foe lashed out and shot her in the stomach with a stiff strike that knocked the wind out of Muriel and forced her grip to loosen. A problem, indeed, as she suspected Samiya would quickly take advantage of her stunned state, but the veteran had another trick up her puffy sleeves.

Instead of merely letting go of the hold, Muriel brought her leg up and hooked it around Samiya’s calf. She slipped out of the hold, grabbed her foe by the chin, then threw her body backwards, attempting to bring her opponent to the floor with another wrestling classic - the Russian Legsweep: a rather basic move, but an effective way to target the upper back and neck early on.

[Liesmith]

It’d be fair to say that, on first inspection, Samiya’s greatest strength was in her lower body, those thickly built, well developed haunches – unmissable, even at a casual glance. But it’d be a mistake to miss the smoothly built muscles layered throughout the breadth of her shoulders and arms.

And she knew where to aim as Spencer had just found out.

The ‘oooph’ that escaped the blonde teacher’s lips as Samiya’s forearm slammed home was decidedly satisfying. So much for point scoring, she mused vindictively. That had been one of the reasons she’d dropped gymnastics competitively, the last thing she wanted was to find it in her wrestling.

More immediately, Spencer’s hold had been loosened but the blonde was still draped all over her. Enough to get out? Maybe, but Samiya had other priorities – like dishing out a little more punishment while she had the chance.

Shifting her stance a fraction, she pulled her arm back for a second go-around only to find herself a step behind the veteran. Spencer went from unravelling headlock to caught in what she vaguely recognised as a Russian legsweep an instant before her feet were swept right out from under her.

There was that brief moment of uncontrolled vertigo that she instinctively loathed. And then impact.

Again, the force of the collision was spread out over Samiya’s flared upper back and shoulders, lessening the bite of being driven into the mat but it still sent a venomous sting up and down her spine.

Instinctively, the Schoolgirl Assassin threw herself to the side, looking to roll herself away from Spencer’s grip – ideally to the ropes but at least far enough that she could get some space.

[BlackAkuma]

Ah, yes. Reaching deep in her bag for that one, as the kids would say.

So far, Muriel’s strategy of sticking with her technical style was working rather well, even better than she had expected. While she could tell that Samiya was skilled and had the body and strength to match her talent, she seemed somewhat lacking, not having the refinement that came naturally with age and experience. Moves like that wouldn’t take her off guard someday, but that day had yet to arrive.

At this moment, the Russian Legsweep was enough to lay her low. It wasn’t the most pleasant sensation for her, either, sending a tingle down her spine, but she was able to push through it fast enough and roll over to her single knee, while Samiya looked noticeably more distressed.

A golden opportunity. One she would be remiss to pass up.

Muriel jumped to her feet and chased, closing the distance on her opponent with rapid steps. She leaped up when she was close enough, tucked her legs in, and attempted to come down on her foes’ thigh with a knee drop, trying to target her most valued weapons.

[Liesmith]

It wasn’t like Samiya was some blushing rookie fresh out of the academy. She knew her way around the mats. Not quite like this though and she wasn’t planning on getting real familiar with the experience either.

One thing she did know – in pro style matches, the ropes were usually her friends. Get close enough or even under them and she’d be safer (though not safe, never safe) from a whole raft of the stuff Spencer might be planning.

Of course, the teacher would know that too and probably wasn’t just going to let her go.

Samiya wasn’t going to have long to get some distance and a better plan than ‘roll for the hills’.

Right now though, she’d settle for a little space and time.

Hearing Spencer’s footsteps rapidly approaching, Samiya knew that being flat on the mats wasn’t where she wanted to be anymore. And, whatever the teacher had in mind, she wanted no part of it.

Timing her last rotation to aim her lower body in the direction her opponent was coming from, she rapidly rolled her weight back onto her shoulders as though for a kip up. Uncoiling her body with a powerful thrust, Samiya’s legs lashed out, looking to catch Spencer with her ankles around the neck and rip the older woman off her feet with a savage handstand headscissors takedown.

That ought to turn the tables back the way they should be.

[BlackAkuma]

So far, Muriel’s strategy was a basic but effective one - basically, she sought to overwhelm her foe with offense. Given the woman’s demeanor, she didn’t strike her as a defensive fighter, more like one who was used to taking her opponent’s head on and withering them down before the first few minutes of a bout concluded. A novel approach, but against someone who could keep up with such a pace, they would undoubtedly see diminishing returns.

Such was the case here, Muriel felt, as she was consistently able to keep Samiya on the backfoot. As the woman rolled away, she gave chase and lunged towards, feeling secure in her position, not believing herself to be in real danger as of yet.

A tiny bit of hubris, perhaps, and one she paid for in shorter order as her opponent’s leg lashed out and snagged her neck, securing her with a tight hold. She likely could’ve pulled her way free of it if she’d had the time, but her foe ensured she didn’t. No, she was going for a ride.

Muriel cried out as she was sent hurling away, flipping over and coming down hard on her back. It made for a dizzying ride, one she was eager to get back on track. She popped up to her feet and spun around with her arms raised, unsure of what to expect next, but certain that something would be coming.

[Liesmith]

That was more like it, Samiya crowed to herself as she felt a neck caught between her ankles.

So far, things had been far too much Spencer and nowhere near enough Pedroza, an imbalance that the younger woman felt obliged to correct – for pride’s sake, sure, but she sure wasn’t winning this thing by playing defence (even if she’d wanted to and she really, truly didn’t).

No, she was winning this thing by stomping the teacher’s head through the ring. Much more satisfying and way more effective.

A clench of her tummy and a twist of her hips let her send Spencer for a tumble across the ring, but it also dropped Samiya into a low crouch, her lips twisted with satisfaction at the thud of impact behind her. She wasted no time spinning around, measuring the teacher with a glance, finding her already coming back to standing – but that was ok. Expected even.

The Schoolgirl Assassin exploded out of her crouch, halving the distance between them with a first bounding step then a second.

As she did, Samiya bicycled a knee up to her chest before driving it out like a piston, aiming to flatten her opponent with a savage pump kick.

So far, striking seemed to be one area where she had the edge – might as well keep at it, keep things marching to her drumbeat.