Raya Ashberrry vs "Tigress" Tina Armstrong

[ellth01l]

Standard match
Victory by pinfall, KO, submission, count out or disqualification

Spoiler

Raya closed her eyes and tried to focus. She was facing the former middleweight champ tonight, no pressure. A loss here wouldn’t be too brutal, she was well aware of who exactly Tina Armstrong was, but the opposite rang true as well: A win here might propel her to that top tier she had been expecting to grasp at only to be sent back down to earth. She’d expected to have to fight and win her way to that summit, but a win against Tina might very well shorten that distance by a good amount, especially if she did so in impressive fashion.

Still, better not to get ahead of oneself. There was an entire match yet to play out, Raya’s destiny would shortly be in her own hands. She would certainly not be favoured, but to dismiss herself beforehand would also be just as ridiculous a notion as proclaiming herself victorious prematurely. Regardless, this would be a good test of how far she was and how far she'd need to go here at law.

When the time came, she walked out to the arena and faced the roaring crowd. As she walked towards the ring, she could feel the intense energy, even with her refusal to interact with anyone that was not named Tina tonight.

Her nerves had been oddly calm backstage, but now, as reality set in and she drifted towards the ring, a slight knot formed in her stomach, and she did her best to make sure her hands didn’t shake. There was no need to give away her state of mind to her opponent for an unnecessary disadvantage.

As she got into the ring, Raya took a few deep breaths in order to calm herself. She’d take advantage of being the first out to get a grip as she waited for Tina to show up.

[Highfly]

Tina hadn't been in the ring for a while. She had been doing some promotional stuff, fan events and trying to get herself ready. She knew that Alaina was going to be retiring soon. She wanted to be ready to fully step out from under the shadow of her mentor. She wanted to keep training new women herself.

Tina wasn't the new young wrestler anymore. She was a veteran and knew her role in LAW had changed but her goals hadn't at all. Tina was ready to go tonight clad in her two piece tiger print attire. She was in the gorilla position ready to roll. Once her music began to play Tina bound out into the arena full of energy. She posed at the top of the ramp and pointed out at the fans before strutting down with some bounce brimming with confidence. She was going to be ready and saw that her opponent was a bit bigger than she was. Tina knew she could still use some power moves and suplexes, sure, but she wasn't going to just bully or overpower this woman. Tina had to be smart and fast tonight. Intense but not reckless.

Tina slid into the ring underneath the bottom rope and pointed out at everyone before settling near the middle of the ring bouncing on her feet looking ready. She smiled and nodded to Raya and said "Hey there, ready for the match of the night?" Tina asked as she waited for the opening bell.

[ellth01l]

Raya watched silently with a hint of respect as Tina entered the arena and posed at the top of the ramp. She thought of what she wanted to say, she’d been used to trash talking right before matches but had a feeling taking such an approach might not fly tonight and would backfire. Still, she didn’t want to seem like she was licking Tina’s boots, so she needed something not too mean but not too complimentary. As she was lost in thought, Tina caught her by surprise by asking if she was ready.

“Yeah, ready to kick your ass!” She yelled emphatically, almost by instinct. “Uh, I mean. Yeah, I hope you enjoy tonight, but I’m still gonna win!”

Raya felt slightly embarrassed that she had overdone it, but she quickly shrugged it off and focused on the match ahead of her.

As the match started, Raya would put her arms up and offer a test of strength in a lock up, which she was confident Tina would accept despite being at a slight disadvantage physically, but still despite that her opponent was the overwhelming favourite and being cautious was the way to go here, going over aggressive from the start would be a bad move especially against someone with as much success as Tina, so she'd decide to test the waters to start things off.

[Highfly]

Tina looked at Raya and knew that accepting this wouldn't go well for Tina. She could keep it close, she may even win but it would be a real endurance test that would take time. Instead, Tina had other ideas. As they locked up Tina pressed and pushed as hard as she could but once Tina was giving ground?

Tina's plan came in to play. She would take a couple steps back and then give way on purpose, rolling backward and kicking her legs up against Raya's abdomen to monkey flip her over onto her back! Tina was trying to start out smart and effective instead of rushing or going for brute force tonight. It wasn't a big devastating start but Tina knew she could try to win the mental game and start to begin wearing Raya down with offense like this.