Hiroko Matsumoto (D) vs Mia Yukari Wilson - Standard match

It was Mia’s fault not to expect some kind of follow-up coming from Hiroko. Just when the Mustang was almost on her feet again she was surprised by how quickly her rival managed to move keeping in mind her bigger frame. Hiroko was stepping her game up, and it showed. Mia needed to start working on her comeback or the match would start looking really bad for her.

“Ugh, let go!” said Mia as she was being dragged by her rival so she was on her feet again, but with Hiroko in control. Of course that was an empty statement since both women knew Hiroko had no intention of letting her go until she was ready to execute her move. And that move proved to be an Irish Whip that sent the Mustang against the ropes with strength and momentum.

Mia rebounded in the ropes and started her race back to Hiroko. An Irish whip was a basic move and the Mustang knew how to counter it, but there was something she was expecting and that was the momentum built by Hiroko’s strength in the whip. That made Mia unable to execute a counter. She was resigned to take the blonde’s attack now.

Conventional wisdom would likely have suggested a different route than the one Hiroko was taking now. She was quick for her size, but there was no doubt Mia was quicker. It would’ve been smarter for her to try to keep her foe grounded to prevent her from getting in any sort of position to utilize her superior speed, rather than propel her into a sprint. This was a revelation the rookie likely wouldn’t see until rewatching the bout later on. For now, she had set her course and had little choice but to stick to it.

There was, however, an unforeseen benefit to the approach she had decided on. Helping the faster girl into a running start may have been unwise, but Hiroko had whipped the girl so hard into the ropes it seemed Mia might not be able to gain control of the rapid acceleration in time to do anything with it. If that was the case, then the rookie powerhouse may have just accidentally forced an excellent opening for herself. And as Mia came back toward her, Hiroko bolted forward while lowering her shoulder, aiming to plow it right into her foe’s chest in an attempt to blast her right off her feet with a forceful shoulder block!

Quick thinking and resourcefulness were some of the qualities of a good wrestler. The fact that actually would filter winners from losers wasn’t how well their strikes hit. In fact, a wrestler who always gets things going their way turned out to be mediocre ones most of the times. Instead, it was in the ability to understand the fight and adapt when things don’t go as planned what marks the true wit and strength of a great wrestler. Hiroko may had commited a mistaky by allowing Mia to gain momentum by whipping her towards the ropes, but the blonde looked ready to adapt to that possible retaliation.

Luckily for the debutant Mia’s motion was just too quick for her to take control of her momentum and the Mustang would run straight into Hiroko’s shoulder as the blonde got in the way for a shoulder block. “Auuuuuugh!” a jolt of pain travelled from Mia’s chest as the hit proved to be nasty from the speed and momentum she had in her, sending the Mustang on her back as she would wrap her pained chest with her arms as she writhed in frustration and pain, eyes closed and completely open for any follow-up.

Boom!

Hiroko crashed into The Mustang shoulder-first, and blasted her right off her feet! The powerhouse newcomer let out a triumphant shout, but she didn’t waste time on gloating. It felt good to have the momentum on her side, and it was tempting to get carried away with that, especially for such a momentous match for her on the biggest stage she had ever competed on. But she knew she had to stay focused. It was going to take much more than a shoulder block, even one as explosive as she had just delivered, to keep Mia down.

Hoping to take advantage of her opponent’s wounded state, Hiroko hurried over to Mia’s legs and bent down, trying to hook her arms around both of the woman’s ankles. If she could secure both legs, she would then stand up and try to roll Mia onto her front. From there Hiroko would crouch to sit on her adversary’s back while wrenching on her trapped legs, seeking to apply a painful Boston Crab!

As the time passed and the match progressed it looked like Hiroko was slowly but surely getting more comfortable about her skills and chances. Nothing remained of that flustered, almost scared woman as now the blonde looked like a true pro wrestler. She was also learning about the advantages of size and weight as it showed when Hiroko crashed against Mia, sending the Mustang to the mat writhing in pain from the sudden impact.

But from there Hiroko was growing more and more confident in her skill, and that didn’t have any good prospects for the weakened and pained Mustang. Before Mia could recover she noticed her ankles being grabbed by Hiroko. The Mustang’s eyes widened in realization and she tried her best jerk of her body to get free, but Hiroko’s grip was firm and wouldn’t budge. “N-no!!” As she was flipped on her stomach Mia tried her best to get her arms to crawl her close to the ropes, but before she could do it her body was already bent in a Boston crab! Crying in despair as jolts of pain coursed through her lower back Mia tried writhing in the hold but something that weak wouldn’t make Hiroko lose her balance. The referee kneeled close to her and asked the Mustang if she would quit, the only response from Mia being clenching her teeth and denying with her head while wailing in pain.

Despite her strength advantage, powering Mia onto her front to apply the Boston Crab wasn’t an easy affair. The Mustang recognized the danger before the hold had been locked in, and put up a strong fight against her. But Hiroko was determined, and soon she was at last able to maneuver her adversary into position while bending the woman’s legs backward!

They weren’t very far from the ropes, but the rookie powerhouse felt like her heavier frame was doing well to hold Mia down like an anchor. Hiroko heard the ref asking her opponent if she surrendered. There was no audible reply, but the woman’s continued struggles and the fact that the bell had not rung told her that Mia was not ready to give up.

Hiroko couldn’t help but grin a bit, admiring her foe’s toughness. The continued thrashing about did little to disturb her balance as she held the hold, but it did make it difficult to maintain her grip on both of Mia’s legs. Eventually one leg started to come loose in her clutches, forcing her to quickly decide between abandoning that leg and applying a single leg crab instead, or fix her grip on the current hold. As well as the Boston Crab had worked out so far, Hiroko didn’t want to give up on it yet. So she briefly let go of the leg that she had been losing her grip on, taking a few seconds to try to pull it back up and wrap her arm around it again. But those were precious seconds where she wasn’t able to apply maximum pressure to her hold. It gave Mia a small window of opportunity, and if she moved right away she just might’ve been able to reach the ropes before Hiroko could fully re-apply her hold.

Mia had been pushed to dire situations all along her career, but the ones she always thought were challenging to the point her resistance would quickly drain were the submission moves. There was something about limb stretching moves that got the worst of the Mustang and made her wail in agony to the point her fuel reserve depletes real fast. Despite all of Mia’s thrashing and clawing at the mat in an attempt to move closer to the ropes Hiroko’s grip was strong and it looked like there was no escape from there but the one Mia would force out of Hiroko.

“Aaaauuugh Damn it!!! G-aaaah!” Mia tried to keep her crying in pain to a minimum by clenching her teeth and deny with her head, but she was in a pinch right at that moment, and the idea of tapping out wasn’t that out of the question as her lower back and legs were in severe pain and she just wanted it to stop. Luckily for the Mustang, all her thrashing had some effect in the end as it altered Hiroko’s balance, forcing the woman to release one of Mia’s legs in order to reposition and regain her footing. Seeing this as her last chance to escape, Mia mustered all her strength and jerked her free leg like crazy in a last, desperate attempt to get freed.

What happened in this brief moment likely went unnoticed by most watching. They just saw one wrestler fighting to escape a hold, and another fighting to keep it applied. But this was one of many moments Hiroko would likely come to face in her first several matches here that emphasized the importance of strong technique. If she hadn’t fumbled about while trying to re-secure Mia’s leg, she may have been able to pour on enough pressure to force a submission. But the lost time, even if only a second or two, gave her foe enough of an opening to pull the limb free instead.

“I’m not about to let you go that easy!” she said, advancing on her wounded opponent. Hiroko may have slipped up with her hold, but she wasn’t didn’t intend to just wait for Mia to take advantage of that. So she reached out to grab a hold of the woman’s ankle, seeking to begin dragging her back toward the middle of the ring, wanting to get her further away from the ropes.