Eka Guramishvili vs. Vanessa York - Generation Gap [FWC]

Match Type: Standard
Victory Conditions: Victory by pinfall, Submission, or Knockout.


Vanessa stood in the guerilla position, waiting for the commercial break to end so she could be called out for her next match. There she stood, looking in the mirror, making sure her tie was adjusted just right. Not that it would really matter, since it would inevitably be unstraightened the moment the fight started. But it was just a little thing she did when she got nervous. And, right now, she was damn nervous.

It wasn’t the match itself that was bugging her. That she was ready for. More than ready for, really, and that was the whole problem - it was only her second match since joining up. She won her first, sure, but things had dried up since then. Some house shows bouts, and that was it. Nothing big. Nothing live.  

It wouldn’t have been a big deal if she was just wrestling for herself, since she made enough money to keep her head above water. But she had a child back home. She had to send money to her. She had to provide. The only way to do that was to make the extra money, get the good matches, pick up the wins and maybe, just maybe, get her hands on a belt someday. This whole Friction World Cup was a good opportunity for that, and she planned to start seizing it with this bout. More matches, more recognition, more money. Whoever this was, whoever she was about to face, she had to run over them. Period.

”Vanessa?” One of the stagehands popped her head into the room. ”You’re up.”

”Right.” Vanessa gave her cheeks a quick slap and pummeled her palm, getting the satisfying snap of leather against leather. ”Ready.”

The crowd gave her a decent pop as her music began and she came out. A good sign - even though it had been awhile since her last big match, enough of them remembered her that she could get a good reaction. She rode that wave of goodwill all the way down to the ring, bouncing along with the beat until she slid into the ring.

More than eager to begin, she started to shadow box, throwing out jabs and crosses and hooks in quick succession as she danced about the ring. She almost felt sorry for whoever her opponent was today. Some poor woman was about to go home with a black eye, bare minimum.

There were fewer than 4 million people in the country of Georgia. People had emigrated from the small mountainous country of course, but Georgia was not a big country in terms of size or population. Eka had been born on a one of the many mountains that dot the country, and she considered herself very lucky for that. Her family had moved when she was very young, and she was a dual citizen. She loved America and called it home, but there were older laws that she knew she had to follow. In Tokyo, the Friction World Cup was underway, and she was going to do her birth country proud. Even if she had to hold down the whole country by herself.

Eka took a deep breath in and thought about the raven haired girl looking back at her in the mirror. Her career had not gone exactly as she intended it to, but she reckoned she was on the way to getting it back on track. She turned her head to the side that she may see the left side of her face a little bit better. One of the makeup people was nice enough to paint a small red cross of St. George under her left eye, as well as the name "Georgia" in the Kartvelian alphabet down her right arm. As if anyone with the name Guramishvili could be anything other than Georgian. Still, she adjusted her black bikini top one last time before she made her way out of the door. More than her career was on the line tonight. Eka would be carrying the weight of all of the mountains of Georgia on her shoulders tonight, and this was going to be an affair of pride.

She fluffed her long dark hair as she made her way to the staging area. Her leather pants made swishing noises to portend her arrival, and the AFW staff dutifully got out of the way. The swelling strings of her entrance music began to play over the loudspeakers, but Eka waited. Just when the low brass blared, Eka stepped into the arena to the roar of the crowd.

She raised her hand and shouted "Saqartvelo!" She doubted that anyone in the audience knew what that meant. Hell, she found it unbelievable that more than one tenth of the folks here could find Georgia on a map, but Eka was going to have a good time out here. She was fresh off a win over Silver Abreu, and a smaller victory over her international relations test. The Georgian girl marched down to the ring with her head high and hope in her heart. She slid under the bottom rope, and walked towards her opponent.

She walked right up to her opponent and extended her right arm. "I am Eka. We are going to have a good match together, yes?"

When Eka’s music began and the Georgian came out, looking all happy and wide-eyed, Vanessa let out a long sigh. She was a bit disappointed, really. She’d been hoping her opponent would be an asshole.

It might have been a little strange, but Vanessa would’ve preferred it if her opponent was a jerk, like her last one was. Those were always the easiest people to beatdown - they got in her face, tried her, completely deserved to have their faces bashed in. The crowd loved it, she loved doing it.

But no. Her opponent seemed bright and happy, proud to represent her nation. She even offered a handshake, something Vanessa hadn’t expected to see often in the AFW.

”Oh, right.” Vanessa stopped bouncing about and extended her own arm, giving Eka a firm handshake and a little smile. She was young, so young, and she seemed to have this weird radiance about her. It was sort of thing a less scrupulous woman would have been targeting for exploitation. ”Keeping it nice and clean, right?”

She gave Eka a nod and moved back, as the referee came between, falling back into her stance as she waited for the bell to ring. Shame, this one seemed like a really sweet kid, the kind of girl Vanessa hoped her own daughter would grow into someday...but it wouldn’t stop her from beating Eka around the ring.

"Yes, always nice and clean." Eka looked into Vanessa's eyes as she responded, trying to get the full measure of the woman. It seemed as if there was a sense of fair play to her as the shout out to the high virtues of wrestling and the smile seemed to indicate, but Eka had some reservations about that handshake. It was a hint of how much power she had. Eka smiled back though, and took a few steps back.

This is not going to be an easy fight, she thought. They very rarely are. Eka balled her fists to hearten herself. If the fights were getting harder, that meant that she was competing at a higher level. It was the Friction World Cup after all. Few people would be slouches here.

Eka narrowed her eyes to gauge what sort of wrestler her opponent was. She looked trim and fit, and ready to take on the world. Hungry, even. Her knees bent slightly, and she stuck her hands forward that she may be ready for whatever came her way. The bell rung, and the raven haired girl stalked forward, almost cautiously.

Then she threw caution to the wind, sprinting forward at full speed, and trying to grab Vanessa in a lock-up. It did not matter what sort of wrestler this redheaded woman was. Spots like these is where she flourished.

Left, right, left, right, left right…

Vanessa stayed bouncing, solid in her orthodox stance, even after the bell rang. Normally, she would’ve rushed in right from the start and gone to work, but she was feeling something different from her opponent this time. She didn’t know what sort of style Eka was rolling with. Judging by the way she had her arms raised and the pose she struck, she was getting a grappler vibe, but you could never be too sure. Wrestling attracted all types. Like a fighting potluck.

Left, right, left, right, left right…

Eka was a cautious one, coming in slow, inching her way in. Vanessa didn’t move forward, but she didn’t retreat, either. Waiting for just the right moment. A little more. A little closer. Step by step by step.

In a flash, Eka was suddenly moving forward, looking come at Vanessa with a lockup. Not a bad idea for most opponents, but she wasn’t ‘most’ by any measure. She had a strategy, and there was no way she was risking a grapplefest with her skinny arms.

So, instead, she jumped forward and threw a sharp left jab in between Eka’s arms, looking to smack her directly in the face, with another one following after it in the next instant. Just an appetizer before she started serving the main course.

Eka thought she had it. She was mere inches away from Vanessa, and ready to grab her and find some clever way to twist her down to the mat. But that was not meant to be, apparently. Eka saw a flash, and then felt an explosion of pain in her face. She blinked for a second, not quite sure what had just transpired. Her eyes were wide open as she saw the next blow coming in, but it came in far too fast for her to do anything about it.

This one came in stronger, and made her head jerk back. She fell on her butt for a second and looked up at the woman, still not entirely confident that jabs could come in that fast. The Georgian girl stood right back up, and lunged forward once more, desperate to get on top of the woman before she could launch another strike at her.

Eka tried to get their bodies pressed together before she got hit again. She would attempt to wrap her arms around the woman and judo toss her to the mat. The raven haired girl usually had a height advantage, and subsequently a reach advantage, over her opponents, but Vanessa's size meant she would have to be doing this match up close and personal.

Vanessa would give Eka credit for this much, at the minimum: the woman didn’t have a glass jaw.

If this were a boxing match, she would’ve scored a knockdown right then and there, but the referee wouldn’t have had time for a single count. Eka was up a moment later - flustered and stunned, sure, but up, and more ready for the fight than she was a second ago. She would probably be thinking so, anyway. It was Vanessa’s job to prove her wrong.

Before she could do that, she had to deal with the return fire. Eka wasn’t a walking punching bag as it turned out. She had moves, and was fairly quick on top of them. Quick enough to recover in a heartbeat, move in, and grab Vanessa before she could move away.

She went tumbling, and her only recourse was to try and grab Eka by the neck as she fell, hoping to make them both go down in a heap. It wouldn’t be pretty, but at least she had a size and weight advantage on the floor. In theory, she could overpower the Georgian...in theory.

Eka felt their two bodies pressed together, and enjoyed it for a second. It meant that Eka could feel how the redhead's weight shifted with Eka's arms around her, which in turn indicated that she was on her way to successfully bringing the larger woman down. Her dark hair flew everywhere as the flurry of motion started plummeting downward, and Eka was already planning her next few moves when she felt a disturbance.

Before she could really do anything, Eka recognized that she was going down as well. Her footwork was fine, as it usually was, which left the redhead as the only culprit for Eka's rapidly worsening situation. She tried to move so that she could stay up, but the duo's momentum proved too much for the Georgian girl to handle. Subsequently, Eka crashed down to the mat right next to Vanessa.

Dismayed but not totally disheartened, Eka went to work. She adjusted and pulled her head from the impromptu headlock in quick fashion. The Georgian girl had already tasted the strength of Vanessa, and was not particularly eager to feel that again. Plus, a choke was a good way to end this match in short order, and not in her favor.

Eka moved some more so she could get her arms between Vanessa's legs, and used her entire body to lift. A crotch lift was a core move in Greco-Roman wrestling, and she got to dump Vanessa on the ground beside her to some pain for the redhead and control for Eka. If Vanessa wanted Eka on the ground, she could get her. But it was sure as hell not going to be fun for her.

Vanessa wasn’t big on plans, and when she’d grabbed Eka on her way to the mat, she hadn’t been thinking too far ahead. Really, her main concern was just keeping herself from winding up in the most vulnerable position. In that, she’d succeeded.

She’d managed to get the Georgian down and hold on to her, but bringing her to the floor and keeping her there proved to be two wildly different things. She’d only enjoyed the hold for a moment before Eka managed to slip free of her grasp, turning the advantage against her in a heartbeat. All of the sudden, mat wrestling and throwing her weight around became much less appealing strategies.

Eka lifted her up, grabbing hold between Vanessa’s slim legs and showing some impressive power, but she didn’t keep her up for too long before reintroducing her to the mat in painful fashion. The crash hurt, but not so much that Vanessa forgot her basics. She needed to make some distance and get to her feet, and do so before Eka could start going for pins and submission holds. This Greco-Roman shit was just not her bag.

Only a second passed before Vanessa started to rapidly roll away from Eka, trying to flop towards the ropes as quick as she could. Not only could she use them to get back up, but they’d be a great way to stop her opponent from getting too crazy with the ground wrestling. A reset button she could hit whenever things got too crazy.

Eka felt good. Ever since she caught the two jabs and went down, there was a flurry of activity. Their bodies were almost as one, and a flurry of motion saw quite a few interesting things happen, the last of which was a quick and impressive slam into the mat. She felt the thrill of wrestling in a major way, and Eka was primed and ready for more. What a shame that Vanessa was not equally prepared to tango.

The redhead rolled away from her before she really had the opportunity to get things going. Eka was ready to reach out and grab her and start bending her all sorts of ways, and lunged at her opponent in vain. A hand reached the ropes, which was a no go, and Eka knew that. The raven haired girl rose just as her opponent did, and hunkered down into her stance.

Eka inched forward once more. Unlike last time, she did not rush forward at the end. A lack of caution allowed Vanessa to get some sick jabs in, and that was not something Eka could afford again. Still, she had to get some offense in. A mountain glacier was slow, but it could push a lot of things out of the way. Her hands were forward, and her eyes were wide open, looking for oncoming attacks that she could counter.