Sophie vs Mary (D) - From the bottom to the top?

[Lederface]

Mary had hoped to create a neutral struggle on the outside, but Sophie’s quick thinking completely shattered that plan. Before Mary’s boots could even fully plant on the arena floor, the powerhouse braced her boot against the steel post, using the insane leverage of her leg and upper body to turn the tug-of-war into a violent launch.

The sudden, monstrous pull jerked Mary forward like a ragdoll. With no base underneath her, her shoulder and ribs slammed hard directly into the steel post. A sharp gasp of pain escaped her lips as the air was knocked right back out of her, her grip slipping under the sheer strain of Sophie's strength.

As the referee began his loud outside count, Mary hung there for a agonizing second, her vision swimming as blood dripped onto the floor padding. Realizing she couldn't win a battle of pure leverage against the post, Mary attempted to use the momentum of the crash to twist her wrist, hoping to force Sophie's fingers to slip off her arm.

Desperate to avoid further damage on the outside, Mary sought to collapse onto her knees on the ring floor, trying to immediately put her hands up in a loose, defensive cover while scrambling to catch her breath, leaving her vulnerable position and the ref's growing count entirely up to how Sophie decided to follow up.

[ReticentCone]

3...

The count went as Mary collided with the ring post. Sophie may not have gotten to do quite what she wanted to do to her opponent when she decided to slide out to the ringside, but she did manage to accomplish something. She lost her grip on her opponent as she twisted her wrist, but that was no concern. Her opponent was still crumpled on her knees, holding her hands up defensively.

Now, a simply reaching down on her opponent to attempt to lift her up was just asking to get grabbed and grappled, even if she was in an inferior position to Sophie. A punch would be similarly risky. A kick too could lead her foot getting caught out of the air. No, Sophie knew better to do any of that. She'd give Mary something a lot harder to cope with.

With time barely having passed since Mary collapsed to her knes, Sophie maneuvered herself in position to grab the post with both hands and use it to help pull herself around for a powerful knee strike targeted at her foes chest, lest she try to duck a knee aimed at the head. If that succeed, she'd then attempt to grab a dazed Mary by the hair to repeat a previous move, a sit-out facebuster, this time on the even less forgiving floor surrounding the ring.

[Lederface]

The devastating impact of the sit-out facebuster against the cold arena floor left Mary completely paralyzed for a crucial moment. Her body felt heavy, bruised, and thoroughly battered by the relentless punishment.

Above her, the referee's voice cut sharply through the roaring crowd, starting the agonizing outside count.

Knowing that staying down meant handing Sophie an easy victory by count-out, Mary’s instinct violently fought through the haze of pain. Gasping for air with a throbbing chest and a bleeding nose, she attempted to roll her dead weight over onto her stomach.

Whit the pain running in her body, Mary tried to crawl blindly toward the edge of the apron, hoping to grab the bottom rope to pull her trembling, broken body back underneath it and slide onto the canvas before the referee's count could reach more. It was a desperate, agonizing race against time, leaving her ability to beat the count entirely up to how Sophie chose to react.

[ReticentCone]

With her opponent dazed and battered by her assault, Mary was barely able to move herself toward the ring apron to re-enter the ring before the referee's time count had concluded. Yet, Sophie didn't want her opponent to face defeat by technicality, so she would attempt to help her get back into the ring, but her help would come at a very steep cost indeed.

She would grab the woman's head from behind and attempt to slam her face first into the ring apron. If successful, though, this was not the cost of her help, but merely a downpayment that made sure she was daze enough for the full cost. Next, Sophie would try to lift her up onto the ring apron before climbing up herself after her, rolling into the ring and getting back to Mary to grab her through the middle ropes. From that position she'd try turn herself and Mary around, so she could drape her across the ropes and on her shoulder.

If she had her in that position, Sophie would sit-out one more time to perform her Critical Signature,

, from which she'd grab her hair, to drag her fully back into the ring before the conclusion of the count out.