Dark Match, Part 2
Olivia was a warm, easygoing person despite her somewhat rough-looking face—much like her figure itself.
And she was thoroughly satisfied with my selling.
"Man, I wish I could wrestle you all year long."
"Selma's good too. She just lacks the power, but her selling is every bit as solid as mine."
"Yeah? Then next time I'll have to try a match with Selma too."
What should have been a short practice session after a few run-throughs stretched on and on because of how pleased Olivia was, and the two of us ended up spending a considerable amount of time together.
It was in that state that our match began.
Olivia entered first, and then I stepped out.
Whoa—
The distance between the ring and the invited fans was barely five to seven meters. The way their eyes went wide and their mouths fell open at the sight of me was genuinely entertaining.
I probably would have reacted the same way if our positions were reversed.
A girl-group center doing pro wrestling?
Who could resist that?
After climbing onto the apron, I spread both arms, gripped the top rope, and flipped myself into the ring like a reverse turn on a horizontal bar.
"Rina, let's put on a good show."
"Looking forward to it, Olivia."
We exchanged a quiet greeting and faced each other.
Ding, ding, ding—
The moment the ring bell sounded, I threw the first punch, but Olivia's counterattack came right away.
She crushed my head down with her fist.
It felt a lot like the way I threw my dropkicks—a little off, a little strange.
Why didn't Olivia go to WWO? She easily could have made it…
Actually, I tried to go to WWO seven years ago. I even passed the Performance Center tryouts.
What? Then what happened?
I must have gotten too excited and tense during the final test. What was supposed to be a hammering turned into a real shoot. The other person's nose got shattered, and I got cut.
Why didn't you try again later?
I guess it became a trauma. I'm fine in practice, but the second I step into a real match, my hammering goes weird. It's so crude it sticks out a mile. A big man, a brawler, a powerhouse with a sloppy, awkward hammering? There's no way WWO would take me.
Compared to the men, female powerhouses and big women were genuinely rare. Most of the women stayed under seventy kilos and leaned toward technician styles.
So that was the reason Olivia, with that solid frame of hers, was still stuck at TPA.
Her hammering was off?
But that was something you could work with, depending on who was taking it.
My dropkicks were weird too, so I could take hers just fine. Selma, who'd practiced against me, would be able to take them as well.
When Olivia pressed down on my head, I dropped to one knee as if crushed by the force.
This was a spot we hadn't practiced together.
Olivia's eyes flickered for a second, but she was a veteran. She immediately drove a big boot into my head.
"Augh!"
I flopped over. She hauled me up and slammed me into the mat.
Thud—
"Kyaaah!"
I screamed and clutched my back with both hands.
"See that? I knew it would go like this."
"The size difference looks like three to one. This match is a total mismatch."
"Still, that scream is sexy. Easy on the ears."
"Heh heh. You're right. Pure ear candy."
The seats were so close that the fans' conversations carried as if they were standing right beside me.
I hadn't wanted to scream like that either! Harry-whatever and Sophia had kept pushing for it, so I'd had no choice!
Olivia whipped me off the ropes. I came back with a crossbody, turning my body horizontal to crash into her—only to get caught and end up cradled in her arms like a child.
She dropped me straight down, driving a knee into my side, then bounced off the ropes and hit a splash.
Crude striking. That massive body landed square on top of me.
Boom—
For a second my breath locked up completely.
"Sorry. You okay?"
"K-keep going."
The referee's count.
One—
Two—
I twisted my shoulder free of the cover.
Olivia grabbed me by the hair, hauled me up, and started lifting me for a powerbomb. I hooked my legs around her neck and dumped her with a head-scissors whip.
That was the start of the second spot.
I waited behind her for Olivia to get up. The moment she rose, clutching the back of her neck, I locked onto her waist from behind and snapped her over in a clean German suplex. Olivia took the bump cleanly.
Thud—
"Ooooh!"
"Wow!"
After the German, I did a little performance of scanning the crowd with my eyes.
Their faces said, How did that tiny waist just throw her?
Once I'd looked around, I quickly stepped onto the bottom rope, spun a full one-eighty, and dropped chest-first onto Olivia. At the last second she stretched out an arm and caught me perfectly.
Honestly, even if she hadn't caught me, given her frame and my weight I doubted it would have hurt much. Whatever else you said about her, that body and that strength were the real deal.
I went to the corner, jumped, and climbed straight to the top rope in one go.
I could feel the eyes of the fans, the general manager, and the other wrestlers on me.
Some of them had seen my showcase video, but only a tiny handful. They knew I was absurdly strong for my size, but almost no one knew how well I could actually work. Most of the wrestlers had seen it, but the regular staff, camera operators, and ring announcers hadn't.
So I needed to drive the point home for good.
Olivia had already agreed to play along.
From up there I raised both hands high and clapped.
Clap, clap, clap, clap—
The fans and some of the staff clapped back.
Clap, clap, clap, clap—
At the sound of the applause, Olivia got to her feet. She looked around for me, then turned her back.
That was my cue. I jumped, twisted my body slightly, snagged her neck, and dropped.
"Whoa, that was beautiful. That's the Eclipse."
"Eclipse? Emma Moon's Eclipse?"
"Yeah, that one."
"Whoa! Good!"
"Nice!"
I went straight into the cover.
One—
Two—
Just as the referee was about to call three, Olivia shoved me hard with both arms. I flew at least forty or fifty centimeters into the air before crashing down.
She hoisted Victoria onto her shoulders and fell backward into a Samoan drop, then hit a suplex. I tried a Lionsault again, but Olivia simply lifted a foot and blocked it cleanly. My stomach landed square on her boot.
"Uuuaaagh."
I rolled around clutching my midsection. Olivia stepped on my stomach once as she walked past.
With that, the heat was back on me.
She hauled me up, shoved me into the corner, charged in and slammed her chest into me, then sat her full weight down on my face while I was crumpled from the impact. When she tried to mash my face with her rear a second time, I slipped free and the momentum swung back to me.
If Olivia's offense had been a little more varied or a little faster, we could have traded heat the way I did with Selma, but this was about as good as it got.
"Huff, huff."
"Haa… haa…"
I was selling, but Olivia was genuinely starting to tire.
I crashed into her while she was leaning against the corner post. Then I stepped up onto the bottom rope and hammered her head with a series of blows while talking to her.
"You okay?"
"Still manageable."
She said that, but Olivia was drenched in sweat and her breathing was rough. She looked pretty worn out.
I kept her trapped in the corner with the continuous hammering until the referee came over to give a warning.
"Nancy. How many minutes?"
"Just past eleven."
"Olivia. One more turn. You can do it, right?"
"Yeah."
"I'm going for the crossbody."
"Got it."
Olivia shoved me hard with both hands. I tumbled far enough to do a full backward roll. She picked me up, slammed me, then whipped me into the ropes again.
I came back with another crossbody—only this time I put spin on my horizontal body. Because of the rotation Olivia couldn't catch me, and I crashed into her back-first.
"Whoa, this kid does everything."
"Ohhh. I've seen that in Japanese matches. Spinning crossbody."
"No, she spun more than three-sixty. That's a corkscrew crossbody."
"Same difference."
Hardcore fans of ten-plus years, huh? The fact that they could call the move told me the crowd level here was seriously high.
I pulled Olivia up, locked her head between my thighs, and hoisted her high over my head.
"Here we go."
The words left my mouth as I dropped into a sit-down powerbomb.
Thud—
Feeling the stunned stares around me, I climbed the ropes one by one again.
"Huff! Huff!"
I wasn't actually tired, but I made sure to let my body sway as if I were exhausted. Once I reached the top, I acted like I was catching my breath and looked around the ring.
I could see the general manager and the producer's faces, Jane's and Sophia's. The smiles spreading across them told me they were satisfied with the flow and the quality of the match so far.
The fans, expecting another Eclipse, started clapping with anticipation.
Clap, clap, clap, clap—
But I reset my stance and launched myself, flipping toward Olivia.
Shooting star press!
Camera flashes went off in rapid succession. Those weren't fans—those had to be staff.
Olivia rolled sideways just in time and avoided it.
"Aaaaaagh!"
I hit the mat chest-first, screaming and clutching my chest and stomach. Olivia drove a soccer kick into my head.
Thwack—
She must have pulled the power at the end, but her weight was still behind it. It hurt. My nose stung.
I sprawled out as if I'd been knocked cold. Olivia hauled me up and drove me into the mat with a chokeslam, then jumped in place and crashed down chest-first on top of me.
Cover.
One—
Two—
Three—
The referee hit the final count, the ring bell rang ding-ding-ding, and the match was over.
There had been applause after Selma and Alf's match too, but this one seemed a little louder.
"Rina. You okay?"
"Charina. Are you all right?"
Olivia and the referee asked one after the other. I smiled and sat up.
"Of course. I'm fine."
I took the hand Olivia offered and stood.
"Rina, good work. Come on—let's acknowledge them."
"Yes."
We bowed to the fans and the staff.
That was the end of the dark match. Afterward, the kids, Olivia, and I signed for the fans who had come to see us.
"No photos yet."
"What? It's a dark match and there's no photo service…?"
"That's harsh. This is a debut match—it'll go down in history."
"It's still not public. Take your pictures at the house show."
The fans wanted photos, but the staff managed to soothe them.
"Charina! That delicate little body of yours just lifted Olivia! That was incredible. I'm your fan starting today."
"Thank you."
"The Eclipse was great, but I never expected a woman to hit a shooting star press."
"Mm. Next time, please call them the Dark Fall and the K-Star Press."
"Got it."
"Charina was amazing, but so were Selma and the Inquisitors. Once you all debut for real, you're going to explode. Every single person I've ever marked has made it big."
"I'll spread the word hard."
"Today was pure eye candy. Best match I've seen."
There were only thirty-five fans, but each of them was worth a hundred. They poured out encouragement and support.
And then—
"Taina! Why were you hiding that kind of work rate? I thought I was watching someone else."
"Olivia. Is the hammering trauma gone? You looked solid today."
"Thunder Storms. You two look better as heels. That cheap style is exactly my type."
Even the partners who had worked with us got their share of praise. Thunder Storms, who had been the only ones playing jobbers, seemed to fall into deep thought after hearing compliments about their heel turn.
Olivia's expression was good, but Taina in particular looked even more moved and proud.
After we finished greeting the fans, we sat down for feedback with the coaches, writers, and producers.
Selma and Taina were advised to add more power moves for the house shows. The Inquisitors and Thunder Storms were told they needed a few more tag switches and heat exchanges.
"Hmm. Olivia could throw a few more strikes. Rina's taking was excellent."
"Yeah, I noticed. The kid's selling is really good."
"And the exchanges are solid, but they're a little too fast. It might help to drop in a simple submission in the middle so Olivia has a chance to breathe."
"Yes, sir."
And all three matches shared one common assignment.
"At the house shows, try to draw more crowd reaction. Pay attention to the acting side too."
"Understood."
Whew. The debut that wasn't a debut had come to an end.
And though I'd half expected it, the completion message for the main quest Debut as a Pro Wrestler never appeared.
The system didn't seem to count a match like this as a real debut.