The Cowgirl Rides Again! Julia Rogers vs Suzumi Ishikawa

Julia clung tightly to Suzumi, legs holding down her shoulders while her arms hugged around the Tsunami’s waist. She grit her teeth and held on as strongly as she could, praying for the three count to come, but it wasn’t to be. After the count of two Suzumi threw her shoulder up and kicked out! With a groan Julia flopped back, and for a brief moment the two ladies were sprawled out in a tangled mess on the mat. The ref was just about to start another double knockout count when the masked blonde at last pulled herself away and rolled over onto her hands and knees.

What to do now? Julia’s brain urgently screamed in her head to keep on the pressure. Suzumi was down now, but the longer the cowgirl took to capitalize, the more she risked losing her window of opportunity. But, still aching and tired, her options were fairly limited here.

After a moment of thought she rolled toward the nearest set of ropes and went under, then grabbed the ropes to pull herself to her feet on the apron. Taking a few deep, calming breaths, she took aim, waiting for Suzumi to start picking herself up as well. And once the former Angel was back to her feet Julia would immediately leap up onto the top rope and spring forward off it! Twisting through the air, she’d swing her right leg around, looking to crack Suzumi right in the head with her signature Pistol Whip if her foe failed to see it coming in time!

Suzumi was down but she had an eye on Julia. She was gasping for breath as she saw Julia jump up to the top rope and the tsunami knew what was coming. As soon as Julia began to jump Suzumi would roll away leaving Julia to come crashing down to the mat!

Suzumi knew she had to push herself to her feet and do more than let Julia crash to the mat. Suzumi got up and pulled Julia up as well, dragging her by the hair towards the corner. Suzumi let out a scream as she reared back to smash Julia in the face with a trio of forearm smashes before grabbing hold in order to lift her up to a sitting position on the top rope. "I think you need to realize you aren't the only one who can fly, I do more than submission holds...." Suzumi said as she climbed up standing in front of Julia as she attempted to wrap her legs around Julia's head in order to send her crashing to the mat with a top rope hurricanrana!

By the time Julia realized she’d made a huge mistake it was too late to do anything about it. She had just started twisting her body to throw her kick when she saw Suzumi moving out of harm’s way, leaving the luchadora with nothing to crash into but the unforgiving canvas. She landed hard on her side, pain flaring up through her body once more at the intense impact. And Suzumi was right on her like a shark that smelled blood in the water, not sparing Julia any breathing room.

The dazed and wounded cowgirl offered no resistance as she was picked up and cornered against the turnbuckles. Her arms draped limply over the ropes on either side of her. Seeing and hearing the intensity in Suzumi’s expression and her wild scream, she knew this wasn’t about to feel good. A forearm blasted right into her masked face once, twice, and a third time, leaving the luchadora so loopy in the corner she almost didn’t register Suzumi’s words, and even once she did she couldn’t muster a response.

She felt herself being raised up to the top rope. Normally this was comfortable space for her. But with Suzumi climbing up there with her, it definitely wouldn’t be this time, especially considering the vulnerable state Julia was in. Suddenly her foe’s thighs were wrapped nice and tight around the cowgirl’s head and neck, and Julia was sent flipping off the top rope, coming down onto her back with a thunderous crash! The blonde cried out and arched her back, her mask doing nothing to hide her agony from her expression.

Suzumi adjust herself after landing, still fighting through the pain coursing through her body as she moved to cover Julia for the pin, struggling to reach down and hook a leg!

"ONE!"

Suzumi held her breath trying to put as much pressure as possible on Julia trying to complete an upset victory for the tsunami!

Feeling Suzumi’s weight bear down on her, and hearing the referee starting to count, Julia wasn’t sure she had it in her to kick out. It was hard to breathe, and everything in her vision that wasn’t blurry seemed to spin around her. And her body felt so weak…

“TWO!”

The ref’s hand raised up once more and began to descend. It was no or never. With a shout the cowgirl threw her leg out and forced a shoulder up off the mat, only a split second before the ref’s hand could strike the mat for the final count! Julia didn’t know how much further she could go on what little gas she had left in the tank. But she’d kept her chances alive, and that was all that mattered right now...

"Come on..... COME ON!" Suzumi cried as she felt Julia kick out at the last second. Suzumi knew one thing that would surely work and had to pull Julia up to a sitting position.

Suzumi wanted to get behind her and wrap her legs around Julia's waist from behind and pull her head back to lock in her finisher the tsunami sleeper a modified dragon sleeper! Suzumi knew there was nothing Julia could do to resist the two pronged submission hold.

Julia was running on fumes, and Suzumi clearly knew it too. The frustration and excitement in her voice as she called out, along with the urgent, quick reactions of her body after the cowgirl’s narrow kickout made that clear. Pushed into a sitting position, Julia felt an arm coil around the back of her neck and pair of legs snaking around her midsection, and immediately the proverbial alarm bells were sounding in her head.

Eyes suddenly wide with panic, she grabbed at Suzumi’s arm with both hands and forced herself into a sideways roll to avoid being caught in the leg clutch just before it could trap her in place. The Tsunami Sleeper was as an efficient a finishing hold as there was, which was likely why so many wrestlers in this league used their own variations of it. If Suzumi locked that one in, this match was finished. Julia didn’t have the strength to fight out of something like that right now, nor the energy to roll or drag herself to the ropes. She’d fended off the body scissor portion of the hold, but now she had to worry about the sleeper.

This was it. The next five to ten seconds were about to decide the outcome. Julia had enough left in her to go for one last ditch effort. Whatever she did now had to both free her from the dragon sleeper AND put Suzumi away. If she failed, the cowgirl would be a sitting duck with no strength left to prevent the Tsunami’s deadly hold from catching her.

Getting a leg under her, she raised up just enough to allow herself an attempt to twist through underneath Suzumi’s arm, which she hoped would slip her head free of it’s hold while she still clung to her foe’s wrist. If it worked, she’d immediately pull Suzumi toward her while moving the arm between her foe’s own legs, then reach around her leg to grab her hand to trap the limb in place. Then Julia’s other arm would try to secure a headlock on Suzumi while her legs would wrap around the Tsunami’s, before the luchadora would then roll over in an attempt to pull the hopefully tied up Suzumi over and onto her back for a sudden pin attempt! This intricate maneuvering into a flash rollup pin, all of which would be executed in a mere second or two, was a technique Julia called the Perfect Lasso! It was meant as a final resort used only in moments of desperation, and in Julia’s entire career as a wrestler no one caught by it had ever kicked out.

If Julia’s effort to escape the sleeper and execute her intricate rollup were successful, then it would be her one and only remaining chance to secure victory tonight! If her desperate plan failed, however, then all hope was lost for the returning luchadora.

Suzumi was confident she had Julia right where she wanted her, and that once she had her tsunami sleeper locked in she would have a submission or a knock out against Julia in short order! Suzumi was wrong.

As she was about to fully lock in her submission finisher she felt Julia spring to life moving and manipulating Suzumi into a position and falling back, and now Suzumi was stuck with her shoulders on the mat! She tried to flail and move her limbs but she had no movement available, and no way to really thrash about at all! She was stuck!

"ONE!"

"TWO!"

"NO! NO! I had you! Not like this! NOOOOO!" Suzumi shouted as she tried to just push and thrust with whatever parts of her body that she could to power her way out of the pin! She couldn't let a huge win... the biggest of her AFW career.... slip away because of a surprise trap pin!

"THREE!"

....Or she could. Suzumi let out a dejected sigh, crumpling to the mat in a heap. She laid on her back bringing her hands up to her face while she shook her head. She still couldn't believe that for all her technical and submission skill she had let herself get caught!

Julia couldn’t remember a time in her life when she felt as much relief as she did when the three count hit just now.

Immediately letting go of Suzumi, the masked cowgirl rolled over and sprawled out on her back right next to her foe, limbs resting flat on the mat. That was it. That move had been the last card in Julia’s hand, and it had been just enough. Her music once more filled the arena, but Julia was too tired and in too much pain to even attempt to get up and celebrate. She was still, except for the rising and falling of her chest while she fought to catch her breath. If Julia hadn’t managed to escape Suzumi’s hold, or if she hadn’t been able to secure the Perfect Lasso, she wouldn’t have had a shot in hell of winning this one. But she had. Somehow, she’d done it.

When at last Julia found the strength to start moving, she rolled onto her front and shakily pushed herself up to her hands and knees. And, looking toward Suzumi, she extended a hand to her foe, while staying on her knees and bowing her head low. Suzumi was the better wrestler tonight, and Julia had only survived on a miracle. That was what the cowgirl wanted to say. But, too out of breath to even speak the words, she hoped her humble gesture would convey her thoughts and feelings well enough.

Suzumi slapped the mat in frustration and shook her head as she looked up at the lights. She had Julia right where she wanted her but had things reversed! Suzumi groaned and rolled over to her side, seeing Julia kneeling nearby. Suzumi bit her lip and reached out to shake her hand once she was on her knees as well. "I see why people hold you in such high regard now, I didn't think you had a chance of escape yet here we are." Suzumi said as she bowed her head to Julia.