Rules: Victory by pinfall, submission, or knockout. Wrestlers are connected via two collars with a chain attached to them, and will periodically receive electric shocks.
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It hadn't been long since Astrid Ostberg first took on the Harbingers - just a few weeks ago, she had faced Annabelle Valentine in a hentai match. The Norsewoman had no experience whatsoever when it came to hentai wrestling, and, for the Harbingers, that had been by design - they wanted to force Astrid into a match that was well outside of her comfort zone in order to claim the advantage over her. This would be much the same - Candice was notorious for her experience with deathmatch wrestling, a sector of the wrestling world that Astrid had disparaged and regarded as beneath her. Even when Astrid had held the WOWW Hardcore Championship on the indies, she had refused to partake in any actual hardcore tactics, claiming that they were no substitute for natural talent.In fact, that was exactly why Candice was so dead-set on facing Astrid here - because for Candice, it was deeply personal. Candice had been one of Astrid's challengers for the Hardcore Championship back during her WOWW run, and Astrid had judged her for her reliance on weapons and gimmicky match types the whole way through. When Astrid managed to beat her without using any of Candice's tactics against her, it had left the green-haired girl with a grudge she wasn't soon to forget. And now that the Harbingers had set Astrid in their sights, Candice saw this as the perfect opportunity to have her vengeance.
Astrid didn't want to admit it, not even to herself - but this time, the tables had turned. She wasn't a champion taking on a challenger any more. In fact, Astrid's run as Heavyweight Champion was behind her now, and she found herself struggling to hold onto the relevance she once had. When the Harbingers were making such a high-profile challenge as this, Astrid simply didn't have the option to turn them down - to do so would be an admission of cowardice; of lack of confidence. And that was something Astrid couldn't afford to show the world. If she needed people to believe she was still relevant, she had to accept this challenge - whether she liked it or not.
"Coming first to the ring, from Stavanger, Norway! At 6'1, weighing 188 pounds!! AAAAASTRIIIID OSTBERG!!"
Spoiler
