Lacey Whitman [D] vs. Reiko Masuda

[CaptainL]

Match Type: Standard Match
Rules: Victory by pinfall, submission, or knockout

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This was it - it was time for Lacey's first official match in LAW! While she had competed as part of a jointly promoted house show with WFPW in the past, this was the real deal - she would be on TV, taking on a member of the LAW roster. As she sat on a bench in the locker room tying on her boots, she grinned to herself, kicking her legs in the air excitedly. This was a big moment for her career. Not only did it mean she was working for a bigger promotion than she ever had before, it was also her first international show, bringing her talents to audiences overseas. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't a little bit intimidated. She had never been out of the country before, and with only a Japanese language class (and her watching some anime here and there when she was younger...hey, it counted!) to prepare herself before the big move, there were still a lot of things she had to adjust to, and a lot of things she assumed would make more sense later. She knew that her opponent was a Young Lioness, but she hadn't quite settled into LAW well enough to know what that meant. Presumably, this Reiko was still learning the ropes. But there were times when Lacey herself felt like she was still learning the ropes, so as far as she was concerned, they were on even footing. Regardless, she was committed to doing as she always did - she would go out there and do her best, and make sure that everyone went home happy!

"Coming first to the ring...and making her official LAW debut! At 5'6, weighing 145 pounds, from Oklaholma City, Oklaholma...please welcome LACEY WHITMAN!!"

Spoiler

Entrance Music

This was Lacey's first match, so it meant it was her chance to make a first impression. When she was all about pleasing her fans, that was more important to her than ever! She stepped out from the curtains with a smile on her face, skipping down the ramp and waving her hands in the air. She slapped some high-fives on her way down past the barricades, before stopping to hug a few younger fans in the front row. But the real show would begin as she came to the ring - where she climbed up the apron, coming to the top rope, and doing a backflip into the ring! With the poise of a well-practiced gymnast - which, in fact, she was - she stuck the landing on two feet, taking a bow to the eagerly cheering crowd. "Thank you, everybody!! Thank you!" she cheered. "I'm gonna win this for you, okay?" Then, she took the time to do some stretches before settling into her corner, awaiting when her opponent would arrive.

[Kookio]

Deep breaths Reiko, deep breaths. After being absolutely humiliated in her first match against a woman named Raynare, she was extremely excited to see what her second match would be like. She had spent all her time between now and the last match remembering everything Raynare had done to her while looking through her notes on wrestling and figuring out some ideas on what her finishers should be. The extroverted girl's hand was shaking still, but not from excitement. While it was nice to learn from one of the Veterans how wrestling really was here, the woman was also quite rude and disrespectful. This scary introduction left the newbie wrestler with a lot of fears about what this new opponent would be like. From backstage, she was performing some quick exercises while awaiting her queue to get a move onto her entrance. "One two three, one two three, one two three!" she said to herself. Once her queue was called, she smacked both of her cheeks to hype herself up while she ran on stage.

"And her opponent, a Young Lioness here for her second ever match! The Flexible Flier, REIKOO MASUUUDAA!!

Spoiler

Spoiler

Reiko cheerfully ran onto the entrance stage, immediately performing a forwards running back flip and also landing it. Similarly to Lacey, she had also taken gymnastics which is why she is aptly named "The Flexible Flier". Reiko cheerfully ran down the walkway, giving as many high fives as she possibly could to the fans she had created which there was clearly not as much as the amount of Fans Lacey had, but Reiko didn't let that bother her just like the other things. Once at the ring, she would not climb up the ropes. Instead, she prompted to jump and slide into the ring, performing a kip up to get back to her feet. Now that she was in the ring, this was the first time she would get a look at her opponent. She seemed nice at least. Before she could talk to her though, she needed to finish appealing to the crowd. She hyperactively waved towards the crowd, sometimes getting onto the top rope to do so. The entire time, she had kept her smile towards everyone. Only once she was done appealing to them would she turn to face her opponent.

"Hi there, I'm Reiko Masuda- Wait, I guess you already knew that cause of the announcer. Oh well!~" she greeted, giving Lacey an infectious cheerful smile while she waited for the bell to ring.

[CaptainL]

Up until this moment, Lacey didn't know what she had to expect from her opponent. But as soon as Reiko descended on the ring, she could see what she was like - and she was all the more excited for it! It didn't take long for the green-haired girl to realize she had a kindred spirit in her opponent. Reiko seemed just as energetic, enthusiastic, and personable as she was - not to mention she showed the same acrobatic grace, and she was just as eager to show it off. That meant they were on the same wavelength, and that could only bide good things to come. Reiko even mimicked her backflip into the ring - which, in her case, happened after she got into the ring! When Lacey saw that, her face went red, and she held her hand to her mouth to hold in a gasp. "Oh, gosh-!" Did she inspire Reiko to do that? Was she already making so much of an impact that in her first match, she had set the bar for how Reiko was going to approach things; telling her that she would need to go the extra mile to meet Lacey's example? The thought of it was a little overwhelming to her at first. But she supposed Reiko, being a rookie, would likely want to take after a more experienced wrestler anyway, even if Lacey was only barely more experienced than her. Either way, it told her that she had managed not only to impress her fans, but her opponent as well - and she could live with that!

Lacey giggled to Reiko as she introduced herself. Even if she had slipped up with introducing herself when the announcer had already, Lacey couldn't be mad at her. She didn't think anyone could be mad at that face! As Reiko smiled to her, Lacey's own grin grew a little wider to match, and she leaned in closer to wave to her opponent. "Noooo problemo, Reiko! It's nice to meet'cha!" Even when she sank into a stance, clapping her hands together and bending at the knees, the smile didn't fall from Lacey's face. She was sure she had a match worth remembering ahead of her. And it seemed like both of them were keen on making sure the fans would enjoy it, too!

*DING DING DING*

"Let's give 'em a good match, okay?" Lacey began to circle around Reiko, leaning in forward with her arms outstretched to be ready to grapple with her. As friendly as Reiko was, she wasn't going to let her guard down. She still had to be ready!

[Kookio]

"Yeah!" she replied after hearing the bell ring. She needed to take one last deep breath before getting herself into the right headspace for wrestling. Things didn't exactly go her way last time, but that was no reason for her to not keep going with the same vigor and energy as before. She had fans to entertain. Fans that were also rooting for her to win! With a reinvigorated fire in her belly, she leaned forwards somewhat and walked over to her opponent with the same amount of care as her opponent.

She hadn't exactly thought of a way to approach this girl. From what she had heard, both of them had a very similar fighting style, so it became apparent to Reiko that Lacey could predict what Reiko planned to do a lot. Eh. When in doubt, strength contest! Instead of attempting any sort of grapple, Reiko would attempt to just grab onto Lacey's hands, interlacing their fingers and would attempt to just push the other girl back into her turnbuckle. A very simple start for a very simple-minded and straight-forward girl.

[CaptainL]

With the match underway, Lacey leaned in to face her opponent, bending forward with her hands resting on her knees. She was excited to see what Reiko could do, especially after her impressively flashy entrance, and she was eager to give the fans what she was sure would be an unforgettable bout. But she was still on her guard. The flip Reiko had made into the ring had been a teaser of what she was capable of, and it told Lacey that she could easily rival her when it came to high-flying prowess. And that had only been the tip of the iceberg - she didn't know what Reiko was fully capable of, so she had to be ready for anything!

The Young Lioness was the first to make her move, leaning in closer to take Lacey by the hands as she entered a lockup. Lacey grit her teeth, leaning in closer and locking her eyes onto Reiko's own with a purposeful glare. She tried to shove with her back and her shoulders, attempting to narrow the distance between them and counteract the force Reiko was putting up against her, but for now, the two of them seemed evenly matched; unsurprising, given their similar build and style. Every movement one made was met with equal resistance by the other. In fact, it was Reiko who seemed to be ganing the upper hand, weighing back at Lacey, and little by little the green-haired girl was being forced back, stepping into the corner. Lacey glanced back over her shoulder a moment, seeing where her opponent was taking her. But she wasn't going to let Reiko claim the advantage without a fight! Just then, she would change things up - kicking her knee up off the ground as she attempted to land a rising strike against the trainee's chest!

"Haaaah-!!"

[Kookio]

Reiko's muscles tensed up as the two similarly built girls clashed like rhinos in a strength contest, their hands gripping each other in a strength contest. It was extremely close, but Reiko could feel that she was gaining ground. But her lack of experience would become prominent in this situation because she would attempt to push the girl into the corner while Lacey had other plans that Reiko did not think of. This resulted Reiko spontaneously feeling pain rush through her abdomen.

"GYAK!"

she grunted loudly in pain. She would instantly give up on the strength contest to try and clutch her stomach and stumble and turn away from her opponent, seemingly giving her a free opportunity to follow up on it. But Reiko had an idea and would attempt to perform a powerful roundhouse kick to the side of the more experienced girl's head if she were to attempt to follow up on the initial kick. With the way they were attacking each other, it was clear that this fight could go in either one of their favors.

[CaptainL]

Reiko was off to a strong start - even if she was new to the ring, she still made every move with boldness and confidence, and it worked to her favor; she had steered her opponent back toward the corner, taking control of the situation right out of the gate! However, Lacey wasn't going to let her guard down so easily. She knew that Reiko was still in training, and she might not have been fully prepared for the upsets that could happen to shake up the flow of a match's momentum. Her next move could well catch her off guard. Sure enough, as Lacey was being boxed in, she swung a knee strike upward - and her blow rang true, landing with a resounding thump against Reiko's stomach!

As the Young Lioness backed away clutching her gut, Lacey hopped back to her full height, throwing a fist in the air to cheer on her own success. "Yeaaah!!" From there, she looked back on Reiko with a smile - she was proud of her efforts, and she was ready to take them to the next level, as she took a few strides forward to close in on her foe! However, Reiko would be ready for her. Now, it was her time to counter - as she threw a roundhouse kick that hit Lacey in the head!

She was already closing into range, and she didn't even have time to gasp before Reiko's foot came whipping back around toward her. A loud crack rang out, swiftly followed by a cry of pain as Lacey dropped to the mat, clutching her temples and kicking her legs. A few fans in the crowd winced, imagining how hard it had hit. But Lacey wasn't going to let that keep her down for too long! She threw her weight over to the side to send herself rolling across the mat, getting a safe distance away from her opponent before Reiko could follow up. If she could make it to the ropes, she'd grab onto the bottom rope and start to pull herself back up - and she would also stick her thumb up to signal to the crowd that she wasn't giving up yet! "I'm okay!"

[Kookio]

At first, Reiko would be proud that she managed to counter her opponent’s continued offensive. But it would soon become apparent to her where her foot actually hit since Reiko was not looking where she was throwing her leg. Seeing the girl writhing in pain, she couldn’t help but freeze, her newbie instincts making her wonder if she had did something really bad for a second. She was stuck between continuing the match and running over to see if she were okay. She looked out at the fans and could see even some of them were wincing, solidifying in Reiko’s mind that she took attacking a step too far.

”U-um… Are you okay? Did I take things too-“ Reiko watched with awe as the girl managed to somehow bounce back from the attack and roll a safe distance away before reassuring everyone that she was okay. Reiko didn’t know if that were the truth or not, but she was happy that the girl could still stand. Not that she should be, this is a wrestling match after all. She had every opportunity to continue the offensive, but chose to let her opponent recover instead. “Phew…” she sighed in relief, also believing that she would be okay.

It would only be when her worries went away did Reiko remember that they were in an actual match. Thus, she ran forwards in the attempt to feint a tackle, only to slip behind her opponent and climb up and leap off the ropes to leap up and try to catch her opponent off guard with a agile hurricanrana!

[CaptainL]

For as bold as Reiko had been, and how willing she was to keep her momentum moving forward, when she saw that Lacey had gone down hard from her roundhouse kick, it had caused her to freeze - particularly as the green-haired girl kicked her legs and struggled to shake the painful sensation out of her head. Still, Lacey was able to roll her way to safety, grabbing the ropes to lift herself back up, and she quickly flashed a thumbs-up not just to reassure her fans, but her opponent as well. She was immediately greeted by a fearful look on Reiko's face as she wondered if her opponent had been seriously hurt - but Lacey shrugged that off. When she saw that Reiko looked more alarmed than anyone, she flashed the girl a smile and a wave, hoping that would be enough to defuse any remaining tensions. "Hey, don't hold back there!" she said with a grin. "You're doing great!" Indeed, Reiko was keeping this match to a fever pitch, forcing Lacey to think on her feet. For a Young Lioness, she was demonstrating herself to be an opponent well worthy of her time! It was proving to be an exciting bout, and Lacey wanted to see more from where that came from!

And sure enough, it wasn't long before Reiko was ready to throw herself back into the action! She took off toward Lacey, causing the newcomer to drop down into a stance and raise her arms to try and defend herself from an incoming tackle. But that tackle never came - as Reiko slipped behind her, going for the ropes instead! At first, Lacey let out a gasp, looking back over her shoulders to see that Reiko had clumbed up the ropes, and was prepared to hurl herself right back in her direction! The fans let out a cheer at what looked to be a daring upset from Reiko - especially as she sprung herself toward Lacey, her feet snapping shut around her head to perform a hurricanrana. But she wasn't the only one who knew her way around counters. And Lacey could play that game, too!

Lacey was a high-flyer herself, and she knew plenty about the hurricanrana. She had been in Reiko's position herself before, and she knew what to anticipate; what would soon happen to her! When the blonde's legs came down against her shoulders, she began to bend backward, sagging lower to the ground from the added weight bearing down on her. When she felt Reiko's thighs clench around her temples, she knew it would only be a matter of time before she was bowled off her feet - and soon enough, she felt her opponent tip toward the side, trying to drag her down. She had to act fast! But she would try and pull off a quick spin around, aiming to hurl Reiko into the mat instead before she could bring her off her feet!

[Kookio]

Reiko’s smiled a little when her feint had worked. She managed to leap off of the ropes and wrap her thighs around the opponent’s temple. Something wasn’t right though. When Reiko tried to lean back to turn her opponent’s body, she did not feel like she was in control of the turning part. It would become clear when her opponent managed to slip their head from her thighs’ grasp and slam Reiko onto the mat with a very audible “SLAM!” followed by the mat itself vibrating a little from how hard the high flier had hit the ground. Reiko gasped out and attempted to cry out in pain, but no sound left her mouth, her back arching upwards in pain as she had landed flat on her back while she tried to roll onto all fours so that she could more properly favor her back with her hand.

A difference between Reiko’s writhing and her opponent’s was that Reiko would simply collapse a few moments after writhing in pain. Thankfully, the girl was still conscious, but she was panting on the ground. She wasn’t entirely used to falling properly when countered which only added to how bad it was for her to be countered after performing any of her high-flying moves. This mistake of hers, would lead to Lacey finally getting first advantage in the match. Reiko was in no position to counter or get back up for a little bit after such a fall.