Ryu Hiroshi vs. Valley Doll III - Smells Like Teen Spirit

[BlackAkuma]

The uppercut could’ve been done better. She was always a little lax in the swing of it. Could’ve given more power into her legs. Could’ve lunged with the blow. Needed a little more speed. Far from a perfect punch, no question.

But it got the job done. So.

The shot went in deep and folded Ryu over, knocking the wind out of him and giving her an open path to punish him as he fell to a knee. The temptation to follow up with another punch was strong, but Valerie resisted it. She wouldn’t have too many opportunities like this, so she needed to maximize them, and she had the perfect move for the job.

With Ryu down to a single knee, Valerie moved in, seized his head with a front facelock, and kicked her leg out for extra momentum as she fell onto her back and dragged him along with her, spiking his head on the canvas with a Snap DDT.

[Teenwrestler]

The strike came out of nowhere, Ryu did not expect it at all but he made a mental note to not discount his opponent's use of strikes in the future. The strike wasn't the best or cleanest version of the uppercut but due to the Dragon not ready for, it did the job fairly well. He found himself folded over in front of his opponent, gasping and coughing before falling down to a knee.

Before he could get back up though, Valerie would move in and grab his head to trap him in a front facelock. He gritted his teeth, quickly bringing his hands up to grab at her wrists and attempt to pry them off his head. He tugged at her arms and hand but found her grip to be solid, making him grunt in pain while now trying to move backwards until suddenly she would kick her leg out and fall back, driving his head to the mat for a snap DDT.

"Ughhh" he moaned in pain, clutching his head while rolling over onto his back.

[BlackAkuma]

Simple, effective, impactful - there was simply no beating a well executed DDT, and Valerie was quite proud of hers. It was one of the core moves that her mothers had made sure she could do in her sleep, and while this wasn’t the first time she’d pulled it off in a match, she couldn't remember the last time it hit with this much drive. It had an immediate effect, too, sending Ryu off and laying him out flat.

Was it enough to win the match? No.

Would she try for a pinfall, anyway? Of course.

Valerie threw her body over Ryu’s fallen body, grabbed his leg, and rolled her back onto his chest while she posted up with her leg, putting the maximum amount of pressure on his shoulders. The referee saw and was quick to slide in, starting up the count straightaway.

”1…!”

[Teenwrestler]

Slowly but surely, Valerie was starting to take control of this match. While Ryu had been largely in control of this competition, the blonde was now looking to make an impact and show the LAW crowd just why she was given this opportunity to wrestle a veteran in a dark match. After executing the DDT, Ryu was left dazed and moaning in pain while he rolled over onto his back.

His chest was heaving up and down while he breathed heavily, showing clear signs of exhaustion. Meanwhile, Valerie saw the opportunity and would throw her body on top of him, grabbing his leg while pressing her back against his chest for a pinfall. The referee would get to the count of "2..!" before he would manage to buck up, thrust his legs up in the air and bring his shoulders up off the mat to break the pinfall.

"Hah...that's not going to be enough" he said, showing a hint of frustration on his tone.

[BlackAkuma]

After a pinfall, the common wisdom was to let your opponent get up, take a moment to breathe, and reassess the situation. That was the safe thing to do, and against most opponents Valley wouild’ve stuck to that sort of tradition. Ryu, however, was already proving himself to be an especially troublesome opponent, and she wasn’t crazy on easing up and losing the progress she had only just now made.

That meant thinking outside of the box. That meant trying something a little different.

Instead of easing up after her shot up, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled it in between her legs, dragging her along as she fell to her back. She wrapped one leg around his neck, the other around his shoulder, pulled them in with a figure-four position and attempted to debut one of her favorite signature moves in LAW - her variation on her mother’s classic, which she called the Neo Valley Lock.

[Teenwrestler]

After breaking the pinfall, Ryu wanted to get some distance from his energetic opponent and head towards the rope. Rest up, catch his breath and then restart from scratch. However, Valerie had other ideas and this time she would not allow a reset. She had the veteran wrestler right where she wanted him and to let him get away would be a risk. The blonde would grab his arm and trap it between her legs and used that to drag him towards her while she fell onto her back

From there, she wrapped one leg around his neck and the other around his shoulder, trapping him in a figure-four choke with one of his arms completely trapped. Ryu was down on all fours, his face turning red while she choked him in the submission. He was starting to fade, coughing and gasping for breath while he slowly lowered himself down onto his stomach.

His free hand remained high in the air, signaling he was still conscious and not giving up. However, his hand was slowly starting to lower and lower until it fell to the mat. The referee would grab his arm, raising it high in the air before letting it go to check for a KO but it did not drop, instead he kept his hand up after the referee released it from her grip.

Ryu would groan, looking to wrap his one arm around his waist and banked on her legs around his neck and shoulder to do the rest of the work as he tried to push up onto his knees before trying to slowly rise up to his feet, carrying his opponent with him while still trapped in the submission and almost carrying her. With one last gasp, he would fall forward to slam her to the mat in a makeshift powerbomb.

[BlackAkuma]

While Valerie wasn’t out to ride on her namesake too much, you couldn't call yourself a Valley Doll if you didn’t have strong legs, and she was proud to say that hers fit the bill. They swelled around Ryu’s head, showing the results of countless squats, pulsing and squeezing and crushing away at his throat. To his credit, he held out on longer than most would’ve in this situation - she had knocked out men with this hold before.

She had a good feeling that Ryu wouldn’t be going out so easily, but he would be going out, of which she had little doubt. It was only a matter of how much he fought before that happened, and right now, all indications were showing that he had a good deal left in the tank.

She kept up the pressure, and for a while it seemed like she was getting to him, really sapping the air out of those lungs with every squeeze. She looked on in anticipation and tensed her legs as the referee dropped his hand for the final time, and for a second, a blazing instant, she thought her first match was locked up…and then he had to go and ruin it by being tenacious.

Up she went, wide eyed and disbelieving.

Down she came, crying out before she hit the canvas with a calamitous impact.

The powerbomb took all the life out of her limbs, and it was Valerie’s turn to writhe on her back, wincing and groaning at the pain coursing down her spine. Her legs were still around his head, but they were just draped over them now, with none of the crushing power she’d brought to bear only a few moments ago.

[Teenwrestler]

This was an all or nothing strategy. If Valerie had resisted his attempts to pull her up along with him or somehow brought him back down to the mats, the match would have been over. The Dragon would have been put to sleep or would have tapped out. Putting all his eggs in one basket, he pushed up and pulled his opponent along with him. It took everything he had left in the tank but it looked like it was working. Slowly but surely he had her up all the way and then suddenly, he simply threw himself forward to slam her down in a makeshift powerbomb.

The impact almost shook the ring, Valerie hit the mat hard and Ryu fell along with her. The impact did its job, although her legs were still around his head. He brought his hands up, grabbing her legs to slowly pull them off his head before crawling on all fours towards her. He was too tired, exhausted at this point. Ryu would simply lay next to Valley, with his arm laid across her chest for a desperate pinfall attempt.

The referee slid next to the two. "One.....Two...."

[BlackAkuma]

Don't panic. That was the secret. No matter what happens, no matter how desperate it looks, you cannot panic.

It was one of Valerie's most important lessons in her training. She had been in situations like this before, that seemed desperate, where she was hurt, where she got the wind knocked out of her, and as bad as it could get, she knew that half the time, it all came down to keeping your cool. One mistake didn’t end the match, one misstep was always fatal.

So, as Ryu slid over her body and went for the pinfall, she didn’t move, not at first, She simply took slow, measured breaths, kept herself calm, and waited as the referee made his count. 1, 2-

Valerie waited until the last moment, then shot her arm off the mat, getting her shoulders clear just as the referee’s hand was coming down.

[Teenwrestler]

Hopefully this would be the end of this. Ryu was running out of stamina, he had to end this match here and now. Valerie had put up a good fight but despite how much potential she showed, it would not be enough to defeat the legendary veteran. She had pushed him to the limit no doubt, but that push wasn't good enough. He laid there on his belly next to her, arm across her chest. He closed his eyes, ready to rise back up to his feet with his arm raised up in the air as the winner.

Only, it never came. Right before the referee was able to get to the three 3 count, the blonde would raise her shoulder up off the mat to break the pin. Ryu's eyes widened and he was shocked, but those expressions were hidden as his face was pressed against the mat almost. Instead of rising to his feet, he laid there on his belly thinking on what to do, what he could do.

He took a deep breath, getting near his face near hers. "You...should have stayed down" he whispered in her ear before slowly pushing up to his knees. Ryu would grab her hair, slowly pull her back up to her feet along with him while facing her back. If she was refusing to be pinned, than he was going to make her tap or knock her out. The Dragon attempted to end this, looking to wrap his arm around her neck while making her lean back towards him to trap her in his signature submission, the dragon sleeper.