Keno Anderon and Mion Kiaragi vs Mariko and Yamato Ishii

Mariko's knee had connected with full force, and now she found herself staring at an excellent opportunity, if she could take advantage of it. "Come on, Mariko! Get up!" Yamato shouted from the corner, while beginning to slap the top turnbuckle repeatedly with his hand. The crowd joined along, clapping in sync with him to encourage both combatants to continue on.

Mariko slowly then began to pull herself to her feet. And as soon as she saw her dazed opponent, she moved in to strike. Closing the short distance as quickly as she could, she would then wrap one arm over Mion's shoulder and the other behind her leg, before attempting to toss her overhead and slam her onto neck and upper back with an exploder suplex.

The one problem she failed to take into account, however, was that the Vegas Quartet's corner was behind Mariko. And if her suplex connected, she might deal a significant amount of damage to the Queen of Diamonds, though it would also place her in excellent position to tag her partner in, if she was able to do so.

Mariko's exploder suplex hit with tremendous force, living fully up to the name of the move. The devastating impact sent the crowd into a frenzy, and even Yamato was practically jumping up and down on the apron in reaction to it.

But, Mariko was tired, and was too busy trying to regain her breath to go for a pin. And to make things worse, the suplex had put Mion just barely close enough to allow the Jack of Clubs to tag back in. "Mariko! Watch out!" Yamato shouted, frantically trying to warn his sister. But before she could react, Keno lunged onto Mariko and covered her for the pin, and the ref went to make the count.

"ONE!"

"TWO!"

"TH--" No! Right as the ref's hand was about to slap the mat for the three count, Mariko grunted out and kicked her legs up, forcing her shoulder up just enough to avoid the pinfall.

The crowd practically blew the roof off the arena as Mariko just barely kicked out in time. The action in this match had been electric, and the audience was ecstatic that there was still more to come. In the Ishiis' corner, Yamato started clapping his hands together while shouting, "MA-RI-KO! MA-RI-KO!" and it wasn't long before the crowd started following his lead.

Mariko wasn't the generally the type to work the crowd and feed off their energy, but fortunately Keno did give her a few extra seconds of rest by barking at the ref. And in the next few moments as Keno began to pick her up, whatever energy Mariko had managed to salvage would mean everything.

The Jack of Clubs whipped Mariko into the ropes, sending her bounding off of them and right back toward him. And as he threw his body at her, Mariko dropped down and executed a baseball slide right under his legs before pulling herself up behind him. She would then wait for him to turn around to face her before leaping up and attempting to wrap her legs around his neck, and then trying to roll back to bring the big guy down with a hurricanrana!

If the move was successful, Mariko wouldn't release his head at the end of it. Instead, she'd keep her legs clamped tightly on his head and roll right with him so that she was sitting right on his face, keeping true to her word earlier in the match. Mariko would also quickly reach back and try to pull Keno's legs forward to put him in a combination of a facesit and matchbook pin.

As Mariko came out of her counter straddling Keno's face for the pin, the ref went to start the count while she tried to grab at the Jack of Clubs' legs.

"ONE!"

"TWO!"

But that was as far as the count would get, as Keno then not only got his shoulders off the mat, but began to stand while carrying Mariko! "What the hell?!" she shouted, more than a little surprised by the impressive feat of strength.

Feeling like she was fighting for her life now, Mariko began to slam her elbow repeatedly against the top of his head as he rose, while also clamping her legs around his neck for a tight headscissor to choke the life out of him. However, in a matter of seconds Mariko was sent crashing down to the mat with a powerbomb. "Agh!"

Once again the female Ishii sibling was sprawled out on the mat. Unable to pull herself to her feet, she could only inch her way toward her corner ever so slowly where her brother was waiting to be tagged in. And she only prayed that whatever damage she'd inflicted to Keno would be enough to buy her the time she needed.

Mariko was only a matter of feet away from tagging her brother back into this match and getting some desperately needed recovery time. So close, yet so far.

But alas, Keno recovered in time to see where Mariko was headed, and wasn't about to let her make the tag so easily. Suddenly Mariko found herself being folded up with a matchbook pin underneath the Jack of Clubs. "Ugh! No!" she shouted, desperately trying to squirm her way out. But, she didn't have the strength in her to roll a shoulder up. Sensing the danger, Yamato quickly stepped through the ropes to intervene as the ref started the count.

"ONE!"

"TWO!"

But right before the third count, Yamato slid down to aim a low dropkick right at Keno's head to try to break the pin attempt. An act of desperation for sure, but one that had to be attempted to keep him and his sister alive. And if he succeeded, he would then try immediately go back into the corner and reach his hand out as far as possible. "Come on, Mariko! You can make it!"