Layla Colt vs Erika Adelheid Becker

[arktriumph]

Layla Colt vs Erika Adelheid Becker
Standard Match
Victory by pinfall, KO or submission

Layla bounced lightly from foot to foot backstage as she waited to be called to enter the LAW arena, itching to get her next match underway. The Canadian wrestler stood with her grey hoodie over her wrestling attire - a black lycra top, tight, jet black wrestling shorts, fingerless gloves and grey boots. She didn't have much information about her opponent - all she knew was that she was also fairly new to LAW. This match would decide who could make their mark early on in the competition.

Layla Colt

Entrance Attire

The first notes of Burn Halo: Save Me erupted from the speakers and Layla loped out onto the entrance ramp, a thin smile on her face, hands handing loose by her sides as she walked calmly and confidently down to the ring, catching high-fives with fans as she went. She slid gracefully in under the bottom rope and rolled to her feet, standing in the center of the ring for a moment before moving over to her corner. Tossing her long dark hair out of her eyes, she hooked her arms over the top ropes and lounged against the turnbuckle, waiting for her opponent to enter.

[Aphrodi]

Clap, clap, clap. Were the sounds that could be heard coming from Erika's room as her next match was coming. If one got closer to the door, jumping sounds could also be heard, as well as a faint voice. "...47,48,49,50!" Then the sounds came to halt. In reality, all of this was just Erika doing a series of jumping jacks to get herself prepared for her upcoming match, the blue-haired brawler using a tower to wipe some sweat out of her as she waited to be called for her match. She didn't know much about her opponent other than her status as a relative newcomer to LAW. And that interested her because they were at the same level. In that case, the winner would be, without a doubt, the most skilled.

As she was putting her long azure hair in a ponytail, someone knocked on her door. "Herein! Oh, I mean, come in." Erika was still having some trouble with her speaking, sometimes her German coming first out of her mouth before the English, which could become a problem when the time came for her to grab a mic. After her self-correction, the staff member came in. "Layla is currently walking down the ramp, your cue will come shortly, get ready." Erika nodded to the staff member, giving herself the final touches like tying up her shoelaces and looking at her family photo one more time before walking out of her room, standing by the tunnel that gave access to the entrance ramp as she waited for her cue. The staff member then gave a thumbs-up motion to the music team, before giving the same thumbs-up to Erika, who nodded and rushed through the tunnel.

Coming out to her song Jaeger, Erika came out into the view of the crowd as she hopped in place, looking at the audience. She was still a fresh rookie in the crowd's mind, so reactions were lukewarm at best. But she wouldn't change that by wishing it would change, she was going to do it by changing their minds, and her tool to do that would be her wrestling. She started to sprint towards the ring, sliding under the ropes and stopping on the center of the ring as she got up to one knee, staring down at Layla. She had been practicing her intimidating stare so she could turn it into a death stare, and progress was being made... Somewhat. She then walked towards her corner, using the middle-ropes and turnbuckle as a seat, waiting for the match to start.

[arktriumph]

Layla cocked a quizzical eyebrow as Erika came racing into the ring, diving under the bottom rope and arriving on one knee in the center of the ring. Then came the start. It was a little unsettling the way her opponent glared at her, as though she was willing Layla to burst into flames. Eventually though, Erika broke the stare and moved into her corner, awaiting the start of the match.

Layla smiled thinly, stepping out of her corner and tightening her gloves. The bright-blue of her opponent's hair was eye catching, to be sure, but looks wouldn't win matches. She met Erika's gaze.

"Did I say something?" she said innocently in reference to the death stare, spreading her arms wide. "You don't even know me, girl." Then she glanced at the referee and nodded, tossing her grey hoodie to the side and bending her knees, ready in her wrestling crouch. "I'm ready whenever you are."

[Aphrodi]

Erika sighed as Layla seemed more confused than intimidated by her stare. Damnit, she had been training it on the mirror for weeks, why wasn't it working?! If it did, it could've been her trademark, something she would've been remembered for! But for as many times she tried to do it, it either got no reaction or her opponents picked on her for it. Maybe she should just stop doing it... "No, it was just me trying to intimidate you. Clearly didn't work..." She spoke with a shoulder shrug, before assuming a fighting stance and smirking. "Seems like I'll have to build a reputation first... Not with a stare, but with my skill. I'm as ready as you are." She said confidently. The ref gave a final look at each of them, before motioning for the match to start.

DING! DING! DING!

As the match started, Erika carefully made her way towards the middle of the ring as she watched and examined her opponent. She was quite slender and was also smaller than Erika, so she had all the reason to not try to clash with Erika in a strength-based lock-up. Still, Erika extended her hands forward, offering to go for a lock-up with Layla if she so wished, but she wouldn't go for it herself. She would wait for Layla to make the first move and react accordingly and effectively. That way, she would not run the risk of her opponent dodging her approach and leaving herself vulnerable.

[arktriumph]

Layla gave a wry smile when Erika explained the stare, and she shrugged. "I dunno, I've seen worse." Then she too took up her fighting stance, ready to spring as soon as the bell rang.

The match started, and she saw Erika raise her hands, ready for a grapple but waiting for Layla to make the first move. Tensing her muscles, Layla accepted the challenge. Darting forward, she crashed into Erika with a collar-and-elbow tie up. Gritting her teeth, Layla knew she didn't want to stay in the grapple for long as sheer power was not her greatest asset.

Instead, she attempted to shift her position and pull her opponent into an arm bar, hoping to start wearing her down with some simple moves.

[Aphrodi]

Erika wad admittedly caught off guard by Layla actually locking up with her. Erika was bigger and stronger than her, that was easy to see just by looking at the two, so a direct lock-up would go no doubt in the German's favor. Yet, it was the oddity of Layla's decision that prevented Erika from immediately trying to capitalize on it, being put on an armbar hold instead, her arm twisted by Layla as she was forced to bent over forward by the hold. "Argh!"

The hold hurt like hell, and it would only get worse, given that Erika knew this type of hold was prime material from transitioning into harsher, more deadly holds or slams. So she needed to find a way to get out of this armbar and get out fast. The position she was put in made it very uncomfortable and difficult to just power out of it like she always did with most other submissions holds, so she had to resort back to technique instead of brute strength.

Going back to her wrestling classes with her dad and brother, chain wrestling was one of the first things she was taught. After all, it was the bread & butter of most match starts, and as Layla was demonstrating at the moment, if you know your business, you can out-wrestle someone that's way bigger than you. And as she remembered those classes, the solution to her problem came to her mind, the german arching backward slightly before rolling frontwards on the ground to counteract the twisting, before getting up and grabbing the arm of her opponent which was holding her wrist with both hands and twisting, trying to reverse the hold into a armbar of her own. "Didn't expect a big girl like me to do something like that, did you?" If she succeeded, she would not let her opponent have the chance to do the same, and would attempt to go for a hammerlock with the grabbed arm.

[arktriumph]

Layla managed to successfully catch her bigger opponent off guard as she locked in the armbar, bending Erika forward and pushing hard to keep the pressure up. She could feel Erika straining to get free and it took all of Layla's strength just to keep the hold locked in. A pang of worry shot through her when she realised that Erika definitely had her outmatched in sheer power. She would need to use her speed to keep her opponent off balance if she wanted to win this match.

However, she was totally unprepared for Erika's sudden display of agility as her powerful opponent suddenly threw herself into a forward roll to relieve the tension on her arm. Before Layla could react, she found the tables turned as Erika came smoothly to her feet, wrenching Layla into an arm bar of her own, before quickly pivoting into a hammerlock.

"Nnngh!" Layla groaned as she was suddenly trapped with Erika behind her, her arm pulled high up against her back. She gritted her teeth against the pain, caught totally off guard as she tried to think of a way out. For the moment, however, she was stuck in the hammerlock, struggling to pull herself free from Erika's iron grip.

[Aphrodi]

Erika kept the hammerlock locked in tight for a few moments, making sure to crank that arm as much as she could. But as she was putting in the effort to maximize the damage on Layla's arm, she was thinking about how she would proceed. It was visible that Layla was struggling to get out of the hold, but she would eventually find a way out, so Erika couldn't just hold onto it forever. There weren't many slams she knew from that position and the fact that she had to keep her opponent's arm locked really limited her options. But then, she finally came up with an idea

If a slam wasn't going to work, why not use her prized and most reliable tools, her limbs! She gave Layla's arm a few last cranks, before placing her hand on the shoulder on the opposite side of the locked arm and pushed her opponent forwards, still keeping the iron grip on the locked arm so that Layla would turn around once her arm got extended. Erika would then pull on the arm as to pull Layla towards her, making use of the momentum Layla had when going back towards Erika to deliver a nasty strike as she launches her left knee towards the black-haired wrestler's stomach. "Hruah!" She roared as her knee flew towards Layla, somewhat hoping that would make her knee hit harder.

[arktriumph]

The pain in her arm was getting worse - Layla knew she needed to get free sooner rather than later and she wracked her brain, trying to come up with a way to twist herself out of Erika's grasp.

Before she got the chance, however, she found herself pushed forward, though the German wrestler kept a firm grip on her locked arm. Layla twisted, turning around and unwinding her arm from the hammerlock as she was pushed away from her opponent. There was a brief moment of relief as the pain in her arm subsided, not longer trapped in the hold, but it didn't last long. With Erika still holding onto her arm, Layla found herself yanked forward with surprising force, and Erika's knee swung up into her stomach.

"UNNGH!" Layla yelped as her opponent's knee slammed into her midriff, instantly doubling the black-haired wrestler over as the wind was knocked out of her. She tried to suck in deep breaths to try and recover before Erika could follow up on her vulnerable position.

[Aphrodi]

'BAM! Right in the belly button!" She thought. Erika couldn't help herself against feeling just a eeny bit proud at the strike she had just unleashed at Layla. It looked and felt like it hurt like all seven hells, and Layla was still vulnerable after it. However, she knew that her window of opportunity could slip out of her hands if she went for anything too fancy since the match had just begun, and past losses had given her hard lessons on why maintaining a steady offense was so important.

Making use of the fact that her opponent was naturally bending forwards due to the strike to her abdomen and wrapped her left arm around Layla's neck, putting the black-haired wrestler in a front facelock. Quickly after, she would grab Layla's left arm and put it over her own head, before her free arm went towards Layla's shorts and grabbed them for extra grip.

Erika would then squat down slightly while still maintaining the hold on Layla, before suddenly elevating herself and using both the momentum and her strength to lift Layla of the ground! "Umpf!" This would be followed by Erika quickly sending her opponent crashing down on her back afterward with a Snap Suplex! The choice, although throwing away the potential damage a standard vertical suplex with more height added to it could bring, was faster and left fewer gaps for reversing, which was exactly what the german wrestler needed at this point in the bout.