Anne Misaki Erhardt [D] vs Freezer Katakura - Fire vs Ice

[Galahad]

Anne couldn’t help but love the budding dynamic between her and her rival. Freezer was now making a powerful contrast by playing coy while shamelessly pressing her body against the redhead’s in a move that didn’t push forward her options for the match but just had some sensual connotations. Soon the referee intervened and cut all that short. Freezer retreated while keeping her playful act, beckoning Anne to come back at her and try again. In some aspect she was right, Anne was going to rejoin her rival in the center of the stage, but as the Phoenix thought it would be stupid to come again with the same strategy, but some ruse was in order.

Instead of getting in another test of strength, Anne would feign interest in the test before she would quickly get a couple knife edge chops against Freezer in an attempt to get the woman with her guard down and set her up for a ddt move!

[BlackAkuma]

Freezer might’ve looked like she was offering a test of strength, but it was actually more a test of intelligence. It was readily apparent from their first exchange who had the superior power game, that the Ice Maiden would come out on top whenever muscle met muscle. By putting her in a situation where she had to engage, Anne would be forced to improvise, and improvisation could lead to mistakes, create openings, give Freezer space to lock her hooks in.

In this case, Anne passed the test, lashing out with a stiff chop to the chest as Freezer moved in for a grapple. She winced, and stepped back, but was undeterred until the second one came out and struck her square between the breasts. That had enough sting to make her cry out and stumble, leaving her wide open to get her head snagged, trapped under Anne’s arm in the beginning of a DDT.

But only the beginning. Before it could be executed, Freezer planted her feet, pulled Anne in tight, and lifted her up, clear off the canvas. She arched her back, bridged out with her legs, and attemtepd to plant her opponent hard on her back with a Northern Lights Suplex.

[Galahad]

Anne’s efforts were intended to put some pressure on Freezer after the Ice Queen would challenge the Phoenix for a second test of strength. This time the redhead would use some cunning and fool her rival by making it look like she was going to accept the challenge before throwing a couple of knife edge chops at Freezer’s upper chest. The strikes took Freezer by surprise and for a moment Anne felt a rush of adrenaline as she knew it was her moment to act, setting her rival for a DDT, one of the moves she had been practicing lately.

However, experience was on Freezer’s side and it showed when, with just a moment of hesitance coming from Anne’s part, she mounted a counterattack that ended with the Phoenix feeling the world upside down when she was struck with a Norther Lights Suplex! “Ungh, damnit!” That constituted Anne’s first time being in the receiving end of a throw in LAW and as much as she had trained before it felt different. It caught the Phoenix by surprise and got all the air out of her, taking more time than intended to roll and recover so she was open for anything while trying to regain her focus.

[BlackAkuma]

Credit where credit was due, the Phoenix was already proving to be a wily opponent. Her little trick had managed to catch her off guard, and if she hadn't been so used to the Northern Lights counter, she might very well have found herself aching on the canvas with a minor headache.

Instead, she’d turned the tables on her opponent with a thunderous suplex, and the results spoke for themselves. Freezer sat up and looked over her shoulder as her opponent rolled off, taking her first - but not last - hard hit of the match. She couldn't help but smile, a knowing hint of a smirk across her face.

Back to business.

Freezer moved after her foe as she rolled away, reaching over to catch her before she could get too far. She wrapped her arm around Anne’s head and pulled her into a tight side headlock, seeking to take control of the situation. ”Up we go.” She stood up and tried to pull her opponent up along with her, getting them both standing before she continued.

[Galahad]

The time for introductions was over. The match had started some instants ago and even if Anne showed some of her willpower in the form of some weak moves, now it was the time for her to truly prove she could take it and become a proper wrestler. Just after receiving her baptism of war when being subjected to her first proper move the Phoenix felt a little dazed. Being hit in the middle of a match wasn’t as safe as in a spar or a training and it showed: there was noise everywhere and the arena lights were a little disorienting. Yet, Anne needed to prove not only everyone but herself that she had the determination to endure that and become a true wrestler.

Anne’s first proper thought after being hit with the Northern Lights Suplex was to roll over, maybe even backwards, in order to get some distance from her rival before she retaliated and that was exactly what she sought to do, but Freezer proved being quicker in her pursue and wrapped her arm around Anne’s head in a side headlock. “Ack!” Anne protested as she was forced back on her feet but completely under her rival’s control. When seeing her freedom of movement denied, the Phoenix panicked a little and tried to use her body as leverage to force her way out of the hold, but that only got a strain on her neck. Anne needed to think things through and mount an escape, but of course Freezer wouldn’t give her the time to do so.

[BlackAkuma]

How experienced was Phoenix? Freezer had to wonder. Clearly, this was not her first time in a wrestling ring, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was some inexperience when applying her training, the sort you only see from first-timers. It was no big thing that flagged it, but rather the culmination of little ticks. The way she reacted to a hold, the way she held her stance, little moments of hesitation, being surprised by things she ought not to have been.

So, this would be a learning experience for her, then. That's good. Freezer would make it memorable.

As her foe fought and struggled beneath her, she decided to change things up in one swift move, letting go of the headlock, only to seize Phoenix’s arm before she could move away. She gripped her wrist tight, ducked down and pivoted, then came up behind her to secure a hammerlock, controlling her from behind. And that wasn’t all.

”You seem to be having trouble.” Her spare hand came across and caressed Phoenix’s cheek, while she leaned in and whispered into her ear, only an inch away from kissing it. ”Am I too much for you, little bird?”

[Galahad]

Anne’s debut wasn’t going so well for her. It was too soon to give the match an actual rating, but from the getgo Freezer had managed to show her superiority and take the Phoenix by surprise first with a suplex move and then by taking control with a side headlock. Anne panicked a little, knowing that she was completely defenseless against whatever Freezer wanted to do next. To make things worse, the redhead was wasting some precious energy in trying to force an escape that wasn’t happening.

At least Anne’s struggling would end soon as Freezer swiftly got a grip on one of Anne’s wrists. “Wh- Ow, ooooww!” The debutant didn’t have the time to process what was going on before Freezer could transition to a hammerlock, controlling Anne by twisting her arm behind her back which elicited a couple of cries of surprise and pain. To add insult to injury, Freezer decided to taunt the tame Phoenix by teasing her, getting oh so close to her ear and whispering some teasing remarks. Anne struggled with her thoughts since Freezer’s breath against her ear was something hot given how Freezer looked and acted, but the Phoenix had her pride and didn’t like her rival mocking her.

Deciding that if she was going to escape she had to outsmart her rival, Anne decided to try and fool her rival. She would lean closer to her rival and turn her face to look at her, their lips getting so close as if the Phoenix was going in for a kiss, which got the crowd’s attention as everyone held their breath, then she talked. “Well I don’t think so!” With this Anne sprung to action and tried twisting below Freezer’s hold to reverse the hammerlock and be the one in control!

[BlackAkuma]

Freezer could tell that the Phoenix didn’t lack skill, though that might’ve been hard for others to perceive. Here, she was, wrapped up by Freezer, who’d been in control of the match, more or less, from the start, and she was even toying with her, as if she didn’t consider her a real threat.

That, of course, couldn't be further from the truth. Freezer had a lot of respect for this woman, but the mind games were just a standard part of the Freezer Katakura package. It just wouldn’t be fun without a little skinship, now would it?

At first, it seemed like the Phoenix was more than a little receptive, as she languished in the hold and was all too eager to move closer, slipping closer for a kiss. Freezer would’ve been all but too happy to reciprocate, too, and she prepared for the touch…but it was not to be. The woman dipped down, spun about and reversed the hold with a deft maneuver, coming up behind her and trapping her within the same move.

”Not bad.” Freezer cooed, looking over her shoulder with a thin smile. ”But…”

Instead of reversing the hold once more, Freezer went for something more direct - she jerked around, swung her arm out, and tried to hit Phoenix in the face with a wild shot from her elbow, banking on that to throw her off guard.

[Galahad]

Anne was making her best effort to find her center and present herself with a decent debut match. Her training in wrestling was slowly paying off but that night was her true trial, the one that mattered since first impressions were pretty important in a world like wrestling, for both the crowd and her employers. So far the Phoenix had done a mildly decent job. For some times she even got to counter Freezer but despite that the overall match experience was that it was the Ice Queen the one holding all the cards, the one with the initiative being her rival for all the time.

As things were, Anne had just managed to counter Freezer’s hammerlock and secured a dominant position, but the question still loomed: From there, what now? Anne still needed some small amount of time to think of her next steps, but her rival was a proficient wrestler and wouldn’t allow that. This case, instead of going for a flashy counter Freezer went for the simplest of escape maneuvers by throwing her elbow against Anne who didn’t even see it coming. “Uugh- owww!” The Phoenix immediately released her rival while getting one of her hands to cup her pained face, feeling a little bit silly for not securing her rival’s second arm as she was now reeling in pain and exposed.

[BlackAkuma]

Sometimes, the simplest answers were the best ones.

There were many moves Freezer could’ve used to get out of this situation. There was always the headlock takedown, the classic way of countering this hold, but there was also the old toepick, reaching between the legs and sweeping her opponent off her feet. If she wanted to get fancy, she could do a roll, bring it to the ground, and reverse it spectacularly. Always a crowd pleaser.

But Freezer had been playing it soft from the start, and while there was nothing wrong with that, this wasn’t a smooth sort of match. It was time to spice things up—just a notch.

Her elbow connected clean and had the desired effect, making her foe stagger away, but Freezer wasn’t about to rest on her laurels after creating an opening like that. Instead of going straight for her foe, she ran forward and bounced off the ropes, gathering a head of steam to bring back. She reached her peak momentum just as she was coming back, leaped in the air, raised her leg and tried to hit the Phoenix with a knee to the face.