L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

Standard Match
Match may be won via pinfall or submission

Diana wasn’t sure if this was a very good decision for her PR; pro wrestling was a very mixed bag, where so many styles and personalities existed, and while it was regulated to an extent, it could very easily delve beyond what’s written in the rules. Especially in LAW, where lewdness and extremities often joined hands.

Yet she signed anyway. She was a fan, and knew of the talent that resided here, and knew she had to give it a chance. And already, she knew she was going to enjoy herself.

Diana’s gold medal was often listed in her accolades, but in her time since fighting and wrestling, she didn’t encounter anyone on such a caliber—until now. Carmen Rodriguez was her first opponent, and aside from her pro wrestling skill, she was also an Olympic-level boxer who won the silver medal and came very close to gold.

And while she had her experience with training bags and the occasional spar, Diana had never fought a boxer before, let alone one of such skill. While others may find it daunting, she personally found it exciting and it only reinforced her decision to sign on.

Making her entrance first, Diana took one deep breath before stepping through the curtain, becoming…

Themis, the Wonder Woman!

Spoiler

The crowd roared as red, blue, and yellow spotlights shown on the entranceway, stars littered the titantron with video of Themis’s photoshoot in her attire. “Wonder Woman” was a nickname given to her by fans and the media of her philanthropism, and thus she only found it fitting to embrace the nickname and make an attire fitting for it too. Flashy and somewhat revealing, but Themis enjoyed it, walking down the ring, high-fiving fans and flashing a smile.

Eventually reaching the ring, and walking up the steps before jumping over the top rope, Themis waved to her adoring public, and stood in the center of the ring with her bracelets crossed. Letting the cameras flash to capture the sight, before stepping back and looking towards the stage to witness her opponent coming out.

An Olympic medalist fighting a Greek woman. Someone on the booking committee thought they were being clever.

It didn’t make much difference to Carmen, really - Greece, Italy, Russia, who cared, she had fought women on every continent, every race. That alone didn’t pique her interest. She was more interested in the woman herself.

Themis. ‘Wonder Woman’.

It was quite a name to go by, she would give her that, and one that her fans seemed to relish in giving her. She’d heard nothing but good things about the woman, her philanthropy, her charity, and she seemed good…almost too good. In Carmen’s experience people like that were always trying to hide something.

She supposed it didn't matter, but it made for an interesting thought. One of many.

Carmen’s own

played a moment later and the woman herself promptly came through the curtain, dressed in her wrestling outfit - her

, dug out of the closet for this occasion. The crowd was receptive, as usual, but noticeably not quite as much as they had been when Diana came through - it was clear to see who was the favorite here. She wasn’t going to let that break her stride, wrestling wasn’t a popular contest despite what some people seemed to think. But it was worth noting.

She made her way down the ramp, up the stairs, and promptly brought her attention to the woman herself - tall, muscular, fit, perfect frame. If she had to guess, the two of them were about the same height and weight - maybe they’d put their muscle towards different things, but they’d both gotten amazing results.

Most importantly, though, was that look in her eyes. That was the look of a woman who was ready.

Carmen wasn’t much for overt displays of sportsmanship, but this time, she was feeling an exception. She made her way to the center of the ring and extended her fist. ”Let’s have a good match.”

And then out came Carmen.

Themis watched as she came down for her entrance, the crowd paying their respect, but the Greek noticed numerous fans still glued to her in the ring. It made sense, given her fame, but she did wish it wasn’t at the expense of her opponent who was very accomplished and eye-catching in her own right. Maybe this match would be what she needed to make sure eyes didn’t leave her.

Once they were in the ring together, Themis stepped forward to meet her opponent. Evenly matched in terms of size, and with similar experience levels and peaks, the only thing that was going to separate the two was sheer skill and determination. Wasn’t always the case in wrestling, Diana noticed, with the variety of sizes and experience levels often creating lopsided matches. But here? This should be tight.

Just what she wanted.

And when Carmen offered her fist to Themis, the Amazon(or so some call her) smiled and raised her own to bump in a show of respect. “Let’s.” Before backing up, allowing the referee to step between the two, checking in with them to assure they were ready, before signaling for the bell.

DING DING DING!

With Themis’s debut underway, a few goosebumps grew over her arms, but she tried to not let it get to her. With the two’s difference in styles, their traditional openings of jabs and waistlocks weren’t likely to mesh well. So, she stepped forward, hands raised and legs spread, eyes inviting Carmen in. Challenging her to a test of strength, where brawn was all that was needed. A worthy opener for a clash of the two.

No trash-talking. No complications. No big chain of events that led them to where they were.

Just two strong fighters meeting in the ring, nothing more or less. The fist bump confirmed that, and Carmen couldn't have been happier. As much as she loved wrestling, maybe even more than boxing at times, she didn’t miss the way matches could get overly complicated sometimes, the high school silly antics that could get tied into things. She had learned to navigate that world well enough, but it was nice that she didn’t need to today.

Carmen stepped back, planted her feet, and moved into her fighting stance - arms up, fists tight, feet planted, eyes forward.

Ding, ding, ding.

Carmen’s typical approach with someone like this - a grappler, more traditional - was to rush in and start with a blitz. While that was a bad idea in boxing, most wrestlers, even the best strikers, weren’t that accustomed to heavy striking offense off the bat, and it tended to work out well for her, at least in the short term. Sometimes, ‘short term’ was all you needed.

But not today, and not out of mercy. Something about Diana’s approach gave her pause. Maybe the steely demeanor, maybe those thick, trained arms, but she felt something a little more nuanced was in order.

So she came in for the test of strength. One hand locked, then the other, followed by her planting down and pushing forward, pressing into the test with more and more power by the second. While she wasn’t exactly known for raw strength, she had more than enough power to surprise her foes sometimes, and she was banking on this being another such instance.

As much as Themis did enjoy the spectacle of wrestling, how it invited so many styles, and how its characters had so much variety to them that allowed everyone their own charm… it was nice her first contracted match was as straight forward as could be. Her opponent respectful and traditional, it gave her a sense of welcome to things that was almost comfortable.

Of course, she knew she wasn’t going to feel physically comfortable in this match. But she wouldn’t want that either. She wanted to be tested, not screwed over or to run over someone. And Carmen seemed perfect.

Seemed being the key word, as while her attitude initially seemed nice and her accolades were strong, you never really knew someone, Diana had learned in her time in both charity and politics. You just had to have faith.

And upon feeling their hands interlock, Themis’s eyes met Carmen’s, and challenged her. Give me what you got, they said.

And boy, did Carmen pack the strength she was hoping so.

Themis’s feet were solid against the canvas, but as the test of strength began, one boot quickly began to slide backward. A grunt came from the Amazon as she attempted to meet this power, but the boxer didn’t budge so easily.

Seconds passed and it seemed the debutee was going to be pushed back. Feet skidding and arms shaking ever so slightly.

Then she stopped, as though her legs suddenly anchored themselves.

“You’re strong, sister,” Themis complimented her opponent, a cocky edge to her smile now. “Now, feel my strength.”

With that, a harder flex ran through her arms and legs, and she pushed herself forward to make Carmen back up. Her raw power now being felt, with the intention of pushing the boxer backward back to where they began, and even further. The goal being all the way to the ropes, but there was still a lot of space to use to get out of the predicament, if there was any counter to the Amazon’s flood of force.

Hm. That went better than Carmen was expected.

Too well, in fact.

She drove hard into Diana and had surprising success, forcing the Greekwoman back one step, then another, then another, with the squeak of her boots echoing after each step. It was invigorating, and she could only imagine what it looked like from the outside. A strong, dominating start.

Right up until the moment it wasn’t.

What startled Carmen wasn’t that Diana stopped her momentum, but how she did. With most opponents, they would bring her to a slow crawl, ease on the brakes before they came to a total stop. Even some of her strongest opponents couldn't stop her full right away. Hell, her brother couldn't do that, and he was built like a bull.

But Diana could. And did. And that wasn’t all.

Carmen’s eyes shot wide as the woman began her forward march, and there wasn’t much she could do about it. She tried, mind you - planted her feet hard, surged forward, put her all into the effort. But she was a roadblock in front of a runaway truck - she could slow her down, but stop her? No. Not like this.

”You’re not half bad yourself…” She spoke as best she could with teeth clenched. ”...sister.”

Thankfully, she did have options. With the ropes closing, Carmen stopped pushing and started pulling, dragging Diana towards her as she fell backward. She brought up her foot, planted it against her foe’s stomach, pushed off, and tried to send her off with a Monkey Flip, hoping it would be to dislodge the test of strength in the process.

Closer they got, closer it seemed Themis would secure the first… moral victory, she supposed, by winning the test of strength and pinning Carmen against the ropes. Her power was certainly being felt now, forcing the boxer to backpedal and lose all the advantage she had. Wasn’t so much that she was going easy to start, more she was testing her and seeing just what level of strength she was on.

And while Themis would personally say she was stronger, it was at least a fair competition. And there were many other aspects to a wrestling match than pure brawn.

As Carmen was about to show her.

“Woa—” Themis felt that boot against her stomach and couldn’t react in time as her arms was pulled in, and her strength was used against her, pushing leading only to further momentum for the monkey flip to send her flying for a split second!

Yet while shocked, the Greek woman still had her instinct, prompting her to use her hands to brace herself and roll upon landing, spinning around and ending on a knee, looking at her opponent.

“Sneaky. You plan on using any more of those devious tactics?” Themis said, before standing back up and dusting herself off. Her jesting tone making it clear she was joking, even if she did feel ever so slightly robbed of that moral victory.

One of the things that Carmen loved most about wrestling was the way you could weave different styles into your gameplan, how varied your offense and defense could be. Boxing wasn't as straightforward as most people thought, but wrestling had taught her to dip into so many disciplines, taking a little from each. Karate, jiujitsu, even a little lucha libre. She was a far more complete combatant than she would have been otherwise.

A simple move like the monkey flip would’ve been beyond her when she started wrestling, but now it came quick, fluid, easy, and she used it to send Diana flying. That was the perfect way to make an opening.

Carmen kipped up to her feet, spun about, and prepared to-

”Oh.”

Diana was up and ready, already prepared for more offense, and the sight of that was enough to make Carmen halt in her tracks. She kept her distance as the woman rose and threw a little taunt her way. It was enough to make a rare mid-match smile come across her face. ”I might just.”

Carmen came at her again, fists raised, looking as if she was about to take the woman head on again and take her head on. Instead, she dipped down, slipped around the woman, and tried to catch her from behind with a waistlock, looking to control her from the rear.

Themis certainly didn’t expect a boxer to pull out a monkey flip, but thankfully her reflexes kicked in to save her from a hard landing on her back. Leading to a roll into a superhero pose that prompted the audience to applaud the opening so far. Impressed so far by the two, even if the Greek woman gathered more of the attention.

Standing back up, she noticed Carmen was in a boxer’s stance, and decided to match her, her own fists up. As much as she could try and dart in and get the legs of her opponent for a takedown, she wasn’t aware of how fast her opponent was yet, and the danger of whiffing into getting caught with a hook prompted Themis to at least feel out her opponent’s striking prowess. Her speed, her power, see if there was any holes in her guard to exploit.

Of course, as she did so, Carmen caught her off guard in the blink of an eye, arms wrapped around her waist and her body pressed against her back.

Foolish Diana…

“Ah, more trickery…” she grunted. At least this was a domain she was more familiar with, though she did give up the advantageous position due to being deceived.

Pinning her hands down against the wrists of Carmen’s, Themis also began to squat downward, both maneuvers to try and make it difficult for the boxer to maintain the lock. While also hoping to get her head to stick out just be enough for her arm to come up and wrap around it and secure her opponent in a side headlock.

It was no guarantee to work, but Themis could only do her best to try and make the strong position difficult and even reverse her way out of it before Carmen capitalized further.

Yup, more tricks. Tricks for days.

That was another good thing about Carmen bringing her boxing style to the ring - people expected it, she knew people expected it, and she could use that against them and take the advantage. Her opponents would wait for the punches to come and get their guards up, and that would make them easier to grapple with - this was a shining example.

Carmen would be trading strikes with Diana before this was through she was sure of that, but in the meantime she could work around her, get the jump on her. The ‘trickery’ worked like a charm, putting her back to back with her foe, getting her in a tight waistlock.

To Diana’s credit, she handled it exceedingly well. In a true expert fashion, she dipped down, spread her base, forced Carmen to come forward, and used that opportunity to wrap her head up tight. Basic wrestling stuff, but she’d seen a lot of modern pro wresters forget about the basics. The Greekwoman was well trained.

But how well trained?

Carmen pulled back, bounced off the ropes, then used their momentum to push Diana away, making her run towards the opposite side of the ring. As soon as she was away, she came charging after her, squared, and prepared to ram her shoulder into her opponent’s when she came running back, hoping to floor her with an old-fashioned shoulder tackle.