Post by hawkeye on Nov 9, 2020 2:38:02 GMT
With this year’s anthology of anguish almost finished, the Basement Dwellers broke into chorus of vitriolic disdain when the infamous crashing chords of 'The World is Not Enough' from Garbage coursed through the subterranean confines . Those fans not already looking in the direction turn to the upper stage to curse the vile, villainous veteran and her recently golden charge.
“I know how to hurt. I know how to heal. I know what to show and what to conceal.”
“I know when to talk. And I know when to touch. No one ever died from wanting too much…”
The crowd lets their hatred grow all the louder, burying the Filipino Phenom and her Manhattanite manager in boos
A long streak of white light shot from the rafters as Shirley Manson pronounced “The World Is Not Enough”. At the end of the beam, the infamous strawberry blonde patrician smirked surreptitiously, reveling in the loathing radiating from the concealed hordes.
PORTIA OPHELIA VANBUREN THE FOURTH:
ALEXIS SUGUITAN:
Fortune’s Favorite was flawless in her immaculate, white tennis togs, namely a form-fitting, Louis Vuitton tank top and short skirt with white socks and thousand-dollar tennies. Her right hand was empty, though the careful observer noted it twitched for a moment, Portia presumably haunted by the ghosts of Precious Past.
At her right shoulder stood the Thrilla from Manila herself, the former Associate and current Gold Standard looking as good as her tandem namesake positioned beside the first ballot Hall of Famer. Curiously, Suguitan was not decked out in the gleaming metallic numbers she’d favored since joining forces with Singh and VanBuren. Tonight she wore a blast from her sartorial past, a gleaming white two piece that almost seemed to glow against the mellow copper of her complexion. The ivory trappings continued with matching knee-pads and shin-high boots, the former adorned with a golden $ quite reminiscent of her manager‘s favorite sigil. And of course one couldn’t overlook the voluminous sleeveless mink coat, an accessory that seemed far more appropriate for a Hollywood premiere or a Paris runway than the dim recesses of Harrenhal’s basement.
A smattering of appreciative whistles confirmed she’d made an impression on those assembled, though Portia seemed a bit dubious, the blonde throwing some subtle albeit noticeable side eye at her charge as Suguitan started down the ramp.
Noting their approach, the Announcer called out, “Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is a STRAP MATCH scheduled for one fall and it is for the FAWN World Championship! This match is no count out, no disqualification and the competitors are free to use the strap however they see fit! Introducing first, accompanied by her manager Portia Ophelia VanBuren the Fourth, hailing from Manila, the Philippines, she stands at five feet eight inches tall and weighs in tonight at one hundred and thirty-four pounds, she is the challenger and the Penthouse Panther, this is ALEXIS SUGUITAN!”
Alexis sprang onto the apron at the sound of her name, the brunette stunner spreading her arms wide to bask in the hate for a good five seconds before dipping through the ropes. Making a point to swish the hem of her coat at Senior Official Nick Castle, Suguitan strapped an invisible belt around her svelte waist, then doffed the coat and tossed it over the zebra, thus forcing him to hand it off to a waiting tech before he could offer her one looped end of the heavy leather strap. Alexis slipped it around her wrist with no hesitation but stopped short of letting Nick inspect her pads and boots, choosing instead to make him hurry along in her wake when she strutted to the far corner for a last second strategy session with POV.
“And introducing their opponent! Hailing from Denver, Colorado she stands at five feet eight inches tall and weighs in tonight at one hundred and forty-three pounds. They call her the Peacekeeper, the BFG and the Camouflage Crusher! Tonight she is YOUR REIGNING AND DEFENDING FAWN WORLD CHAMPION, this is BECKY CLAYTON!”
‘White Flag’ grumbled through the speakers, meaning the FAWNatics had no reason to return to their seats just yet.
WHITE FLAG:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWzZeA2GMsk
Take a hit, shoot me down, shoot me down
I won't ever hit the ground, hit the ground
Playing dead, I'll never do
Gotta keep an eye on you
Patience is wearing thin, paper thin
Promises broke again, what a sin
But it only feeds my energy
So don't expect no sympathy
Smoke, fire, it's all going up
Don't you know I ain't afraid to shed a little blood?
Smoke, fire, flares are going up, flares are going up!
BECKY CLAYTON:
The chorus started in time with Clayton’s arrival, the hardbody blonde marching through the creaky doors to claim the spotlight at the center of the stage with FAWN’s biggest prize strapped tight around her waist. Saluting her Howling Commandos and the other Creatures of the Night with a double bicep flex that wasn’t so much tickets to the gun show as it was a display of overwhelming firepower, the Peacekeeper reached behind her back one-handed, undid the snaps and hoisted it overhead. “I tend to think of myself as an ass kicker, more often than not.” Becky admitted as the camera drew in for a closer shot of the gold. “Tonight though, I will be more than happy to WHIP THAT ASS.”
Eager to get to it, Clayton draped the belt over her right shoulder and headed for the squared circle. For tonight’s battle with the more mercurial half of the Gold Standard, the One Woman Army wore a black & orange camouflage two-piece with tie-sided bottoms and an impossible to ignore ladder / double helix of lycra that ran from the top of her waistband all the way to the southern border of her low-cut sports bra. The gear was completed with flat black pads and boots and few wraps of bright orange wrist-tape.
Taking her time to zig-zag across the aisle so she could swat each and every outstretched hand, Clayton made a sharp right when she reached the base of the ramp just to repeat the process for everyone at ringside. With the troops properly rallied Becky stomped up the steel steps and leapt over the top rope in one effortless burst of kinetic energy. Coming to a stop in the center of the ring, she spun toward the hard camera, then raised the title with one hand and snapped off that trademark salute with the other. Still holding the gold high, she pointed herself at Alexis to see if the brunette wanted to forego the opening bell.
Suguitan did step forward, but ultimately returned to her corner when Portia laid a clamp on her shoulder. Snorting, the challenger gave the strap a shake and mouthed, ‘Soon.’
“Sooner than you’d like, honeybunch.”
Becky tossed the belt to Castle, who gave her the other end of the strap in exchange. Slipping it around her wrist, she backed into the far corner to wait out the last moments of peace she’d know for quite some time.
Finishing her consultation with Fortune’s Favorite in time with the CLANG of the starting bell, Alexis Suguitan rounded on the powerhouse World Champion and stomped her way toward the center of the ring with a length of strap gripped in one hand so she could smack it against her palm. “Come on out here and take your medicine, bytch.” Alexis said it loudly enough to raise an ‘ooooooohhh’ from those Basement Dwellers in the first half dozen rows. “It’s high time you learned that camouflage just doesn’t measure up to the Gold Standard!”
Clayton’s eyes narrowed slightly, though she didn’t rise to the challenger’s bait. Instead she spared VanBuren a glance, the Peacekeeper well aware of how dangerous the blonde could be even in nothing more than a managerial role. Baby met her eyes with a cool, malicious smile, but she made no move from her place on the outside, so Bex turned her attention to the Penthouse Panther and strolled forth. “You really want to bet on gold over camouflage, ‘Lex?” Clayton asked Suguitan. “I mean, we both went into ‘Mania as champions,” she stopped a few inches shy of Alexis and made a show of looking her up and down, “but you came into this match a little light. Wonder how Amara feels about you getting a World Title shot after tapping away the NGH!”
Suguitan slapped the ever lovin’ taste out of Clayton’s mouth, followed that with a rough shove and finally chested in on the Destroyer so she could funnel a steady stream of trash talk directly into Becky’s ear. “That was a f*cking fluke and EVERYONE knows it!” she sneered. “Amara already proved it beating Stipanovic tonight and we’ll have the Tag Titles back before you know it. And when we do, I’ll come in with the World Title strapped around my HUUUFFFGHH!”
Becky’d heard enough and so terminated the interview with a huge two-handed shove that put Suguitan on her butt with a loud PLOP! “No one to tag tonight, pretty girl!” Clayton teased her wide-eyed opponent with a bit of brawny posing that had the crowd chanting ‘Welcome to… THE GUN SHOW!’
“You want MY gold? You’re gonna have to win it all by yourself. And if you lose? Well, I can give you the spanking Portia should’ve dished out after ‘Mania!”
Mood shifting from incredulous to incendiary in the blink of an eye, Suguitan sprang to boot-leather and threw herself into a clench with Clayton that knocked the big blonde back a few steps. Shifting from the traditional ‘collar’ grip to a fish-face that dug her nails into the other woman’s cheeks, Suguitan twined her other hand in Bex’s hair and tugged until her eyes started to water.
“You’ve got a f*ck ton of nerve calling out my record.” Alexis wrenched and tore at each grip, though she didn’t make much progress in marching the champ toward one corner or another. “You may be on a lucky streak but everyone in the locker room knows you’re the greatest CHOKE ARTIST of the last decWHOOAANNGGHH!”
Becky smashed those hooks aside with a brusque Forearm Smash to the chest, then caught a Goozle in one hand, an armpit in the other and bore down hard on both. Holding eye contact just long enough to ensure Alexis knew what was coming, Clayton took two giant steps backward, then twisted her hips and tossed the Penthouse Panther into the shadow of the corner the champ had so recently vacated, Suguitan coming down flat on her back with a resounding THWHAP!
Alexis groaned but didn’t lose her wind, so she’d made it to one knee in a matter of heartbeats. She didn’t rise to her full height though, choosing instead to keep a hand on the second rope while she regarded Clayton with wide, hating eyes. “You’re gonna want to watch your mouth around me, Lex.” Becky said without humor. “Because if Portia won’t wash it out I’m more than happy to wire it shut.”
“Don’t listen to her, Alexis!” VanBuren called from the Gold Standard’s side of the ring. “You’re faster than her, you’re smarter than her, your conditioning blows hers out of the water. So get your head in the game and--”
Some front row fans swore they heard the ‘clack’ of Portia’s jaw snapping shut when her charge stood tall and raised a hand overhead, thus challenging the One Woman Army to a Test of Strength.
Noting Alexis’ proximity to the corner, Becky took a few steps back before she mirrored the challenger’s pose. “You want to lock hands, Lex?” the blonde asked. “Then step up and lets--”
CRAAACK!
Suguitan stepped into the breach and laid that leather lash across her foe’s washboard midsection! Clayton doubled over in gut-shot surprise, an involuntary reaction she immediately regretted when Alexis went up on tiptoe and CRAAACKED the strap across her shoulders!
“GAAAAHHHNNNGGGGHHH!” The Camouflage Crusher straightened up and took a Toe Kick for her troubles, then found herself in a Front Facelock that Alexis used to deliver the crown of her noggin unto the thinly-sheathed plywood courtesy a sick DDT! Becky rolled through the landing to finish in a slumped seat that got a whole lot more horizontal when Suguitan stretched her out flat and splashed down in a ridiculously aggressive Crossbody.
“Hook the leg! Hook the LEG!” Baby barked at her charge, the FAWN original shaking the bottom rope for emphasis as Castle and the rest of the All Hallows Evil’ers counted off…
ONE…
TWO…
Alexis had hooked the leg just as Portia demanded, but it didn’t stop Clayton from kicking out simultaneous with ‘TWO!’ Swinging her way to one knee immediately thereafter, Bex-- “NNGGGGHH!”
Suguitan caught a double handful of hair and thumped her white-sheathed hips into the champ’s face to keep the powerhouse a penitent for at least a few more seconds because that’s all she needed. Positioned in front of and slightly to the right of the blonde, Alexis grabbed Becky’s right wrist in her left hand and stretched that arm out at shoulder level half a heartbeat before she brought her right leg up and over the champ’s head. With the back of Clayton’s head resting in the pit of her knee, Suguitan crooked her right arm for a sturdy bicep flex then flattened that hand into a paddle and slapped the veteran’s face half a dozen times!
“Talk shyt now! C’mon bytch, talk shyt now!” The Penthouse Panther curled her slappin’ hand into a talon and raaaaaaaaaaked it across Becky’s face half a dozen times before she turned it into a temple crushin’ Iron Claw. “Tell me how that nasty camouflage is gonna stand against the Gold StanF*CK!”
Becky couldn’t do much about the claw on her face, so she grabbed a length of the strap in her left hand and lashed it across the bronzed meat of her challenger’s left thigh. Alexis’ leg trembled violently, but she maintained verticality by clenching her right leg tight around the champ’s noggin.
“Don’t screw around with her, Alexis! She’s too strong for that!” VanBuren exclaimed from the Gold Standard corner. “Hurt her, then put her down!”
Suguitan sneered, either at the advice or the champion was unknown. Smart money was on the latter, as the Filipino Phenom abruptly snap-dropped to a seat on her butt that THWHONKED Becky’s forehead on the deck with another nasty DDT! More orders from Baby, the brilliant veteran urging double time for Suguitan as she shot the Half Nelson and rolled Clayton onto her stomach for another snug…
LEG DROP DDT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=13RYCZcfXcs
ONE…
TWO…
Becky kicked out again, a little later than before, though not late enough to call it a near-fall.
“C’mon bytch. C’mon bytch. C’mon BYTCH!” Alexis punctuated each demand with a stinging SLAP to the back of her opponent’s head. “Get your overrated ass up, otherwise I’ll start using the goddamned straPUUGGGHH!”
Becky reared back on her knees and fired a straight right hand into the pit of Suguitan’s stomach, forcing the challenger to cede a couple steps. The punch landed flush but it didn’t halt Alexis for more than a couple seconds. Just like that she was back on the penitent champion, grabbing a huge handful of blonde hair to better expose Clayton’s forehead for a heavy series of leather-wrapped fists delivered directly to the hairline.
“Yes, that’s it! Keep on her! Keep on her!” Portia slapped the apron for emphasis as her charge switched from fists to elbows, Suguitan going up on tiptoe to better deliver that bony dagger to the bridge of her foe’s nose. A set of three put Becky on all fours, so Alexis turned away and raised both arms high in a showy ‘V’.
“GOLD STANDARD, BABY!” the Penthouse Panther bellowed to all that would listen. “MANIA WAS A F*CKING FLUKE AND WE’RE GONNA HAVE ALL THE HARDWARE BACK BEFORE YOU CAN BLINK!”
“Taunt the idiots later, Alexis.” VanBuren advised. “The meat rack is starting to recover.”
Indeed Clayton had made it back to her knees and she pounded a couple more punches into Suguitan’s bronzed belly when the challenger strode over and CRACK! “That all you got?!” Alexis demanded after her Bytch Slap put Becky’s head on a swivel. “What the hell Clayton, I thought you were supposed to be the strongest bytch in FAWN and here I am working you like a part-time joBNGH!”
Becky answered with a sawed-off Uppercut to the pit of the brunette’s stomach that sent her stumbling away on wobbly legs.
“Dammit Alexis, I told you not to play with her! She’s dangerous, remember?” The last word was still on VanBuren’s lips when the Filipino Phenom stormed back into the breach and THWHUNKED a Basement Big Boot into the champ’s forehead.
BASEMENT BIG BOOT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5hHks0Ends
Bex plopped to her butt, rolled to all fours and might’ve returned to full verticality if Alexis hadn’t snatched both hands in Greco-Roman Knucklelocks and bore down in a severely handicapped Test of Strength! Clayton cried out and pushed back at once (as evidenced by the shredded musculature in her shoulders and arms) though she made no discernible progress due to the challenger’s elevated position. “C’mon champ, that the best you got?” Alexis continued to rain trash talk down on her struggling foe. “You eat too much candy last night? Still coming down off that ‘Mania hangover? Or maybe you’re just not good enough to compete against the Gold StandOOFFFFHHH!”
The Peacekeeper whipped her noggin forward, burying it Suguitan’s flat waist. Alexis gaped, then growled when Becky used the distraction to make it to one knee.
“Keep the pressure on, Alexis!” Portia’s tone was sharper than it’d been a moment prior. “If you let up you’re going to--”
“I’VE GOT THIS!” Suguitan snapped after she’d regained her footing. “Bytch isn’t gonna do anything except tire herself out lookin’ at the next waist to wear the World TitNNGH! Bytch, don’t even think about shytTEERRRGGGGHHH!”
Clayton landed another heavy Headbutt, then surged to boot-leather on a roar of applause. The Test was even for half a heartbeat or so before the Camouflage Crusher swept their locked hands from midnight to six and forced Suguitan’s hands backward over her own wrists! “You want to know what I’m gonna do, Lex?” Clayton grumbled in the midst of getting the brunette up on tiptoe. “I’m gonna give you the beating Portia never could.” Bex punctuated this threat by THWHUMPING a third Headbutt into her challenger’s sternum. That put Suguitan’s feet flat on the mat, so Clayton wrenched her hands again, then leaned in to whisper, “And I’d bet good money that she’s going to enjoy every SECOND of it.”
“Scr-screw you.” Alexis huffed. “The Gold Standard is ride or--”
Becky broke the Test of Strength only to trap the brunette in a tight Waistlock that flowed perfectly into the Belly to Belly Suplex that planted Suguitan on the thinly-sheathed plywood! Their landing put Clayton in great position for a Crossbody, but she made no effort to put Suguitan away. Instead she maintained the Waistlock, using it to haul the white-clad warrior to her feet immediately following the first Suplex.
“Break those hooks, Alexis!” Baby shouted from the outside. “You can’t let her throw you around like--” Portia broke off in disgust when Clayton popped her hips and THWHAMMED Suguitan to the mat via the second Belly to Belly in less than ten seconds.
Two was unquestionably better than one in this case, yet Becky Clayton knew that three was even better than two, so it came as no surprise to anyone (save maybe Alexis) when the One Woman Army dragged her upright with the Waistlock still intact. When it came to the end of her Hat Trick, Becky Clayton often favored an Overhead Belly to Belly Suplex, but tonight was All Hallows Evil, which meant the normal rules didn’t apply. Reveling in this freedom, Becky finished her set with an identical Belly to Belly, the resurgent champion making a point to land with every bit of her hundred and forty-so pounds squarely atop Suguitan’s heaving chest.
HAT TRICK:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdGUdOiqDLs
She claimed the far leg as soon as she’d released her hands, Clayton rolling into an equally heavy Back Press that pointed Alexis’s ass toward the Madhouse ceiling while the Basement Dwellers counted out…
ONE…
TWO…
Suguitan wrenched that leg loose and flopped to one side, keeping the Gold Standard’s championship redemption arc alive for at least another three seconds. Becky didn’t mind the continuation of hostilities, she simply smoothed her hair back and made a couple minor adjustments to her togs before returning her attention to the Thrilla from Manila.
“You are a terrible listener, you know that Alexis?” Clayton pulled Suguitan onto her back, slid down into place by her feet and took an ankle in each hand. “I won’t lie, Portia’s a colossal pain in the ass and lord knows I’d hate to have her screaming in my ear for the whole match, but I haven’t heard her give you any bad advice tonight.” Becky got to her feet, stretched the challenger’s legs wide, then folded the right shin under the left knee to craft a quick figure-four. Tucking the knotted lower limbs beneath her right arm, the BFG slipped her left hand through the negative space so she could lace her fingers tight across the meat of Suguitan’s right left thigh.
Portia, having suffered this particular torture on more than one occasion throughout the course of her career, pounded the canvas with one balled fist and shouted, “Follow my voice, Alexis! I mean it, dammit! Get to the ropes before she--” Clayton muscled Suguitan up and started to turn her over, but the brunette planted her left hand like a kickstand to keep the other woman from rolling her onto her stomach.
“Get the f*ck off me!” Alexis wanted to do nothing more than lash the strap across her opponent’s back over and over again, alas her position was awful and her leverage nonexistent. At the moment she could do nothing more than fight to free herself from this predicament. “I mean it, Clayton! Let go before you really start to piss me NGH! NGH! NGH!”
Becky kicked the challenger once, twice, three times, the Camouflage Crusher focusing the toe of her boot on the small of Suguitan’s back. The blows finally broke through Alexis’s defenses and both she and Portia groaned for similar reasons when Becky stepped over and sat down, the Peacekeeper kinking her opponent’s spine with the same Texas Cloverleaf that’d helped dismiss Celia Blassenville from ‘Mania last month.
TEXAS CLOVERLEAF:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKP6lRSllbk
“AAAAARRRRGGGHHH SHYT!” Alexis buried her hands in her hair, then braced them on the canvas and pushed up enough to raise her tummy from the mat by a couple of inches.
“Tell me something, Alexis.” Nick Castle said after several seconds of insensible suffering. “Do I need to call for the bell?”
“Don’t you dare!” Portia warned. “She just needs to get to the ropes and that’s what she’s going to do, right Alexis?”
Suguitan nodded agreement and started in the direction of her manager, the Filipino Phenom showing some Destroyer-class strength of her own in dragging the combined weight of champion and challenger toward the strands.
While VanBuren maintained a steady stream of (demanding) encouragement and Suguitan cursed away each of Castle’s subsequent submission inquiries, Clayton held her tongue in favor of bouncing and jostling the Cloverleaf. Didn’t mean she wasn’t paying attention though, in fact the blonde’s attention was locked on the video screen over the entryway to better monitor Alexis’s progress. Waiting until the brunette was a hands breadth or two from freedom, Bex abruptly stood up and marched the both of ‘em back to the center of the squared circle!
“NO!” Portia lunged under the bottom rope in an attempt to grab Alexis’s hands to no avail. “That was a break, Castle! She was in the ropes!”
“The hell she was, Portia.” the official answered with a brief backward glance. “Now get out of the ring!”
Suguitan wasn’t taking the situation much better, having thrown one arm over the back of her head while her other hand raked at the canvas. “Ask her.” Bex said after an exceptionally prolonged tug earned a loud wail from the Penthouse Panther.
“What do you say, Alexis? Still hanging in--”
“Of course she is!” Portia barked. “She’s no Jersey quitter!”
“What do you say, Alexis?” Castle repeated without acknowledging Baby’s interjection.
“I’m fine.” she growled through clenched teeth. “Just shut the f*ck up and leave me RRRRGGGGGGHHHH!”
Clayton slammed her butt into the small of Alexis’s back and put even more pressure on the agonizing Cloverleaf. The ‘TAP!’ chants swelled in time with Suguitan’s shrieking, but the Gold Standard wouldn’t acquiesce to the demands of the Basement Dwellers. Instead she smecked her palms against the mat and puuuuuuuuuuuushed up high enough to tuck her chin against her chest and swing / skid through the champ’s legs to end up flat on her back in front of a startled Becky.
Of course her legs were still in the blonde’s clutches not that it proved any hindrance to her letting loose with a furious flurry of CRAAACKS with that heavy leather strap! Clayton soaked up more of that slashing volley than was probably wise, abandoning the Cloverleaf only after Alexis laid the lash across her chest. Growling in anger, she caught hold of the challenger’s wrist and dropped to one knee, pinning the joint against Suguitan’s sternum to hold her in place for a few rough open-handed slaps to the brunette’s face!
“On your feet, ‘Lex.” Becky plunged a hand into Alexis’ hair and used it to bring her to boot-leather despite (or perhaps in spite of) Baby’s increasingly strident protestations. “Wanna tag in, Portia?” Clayton called to Fortune’s Favorite after she’d traded her hair pull for a Front Facelock. “You seem to have a really strong game-plan, maybe you’d like to put it to the test?”
VanBuren favored her with an acidic sneer. “You’re just lucky I’m retired, Jersey.”
“Stay that way. You’ll live longer.” The One Woman Army slung Alexis’ near arm across her shoulders, caught a stern handful of white briefs, then dipped her knees and muscled the bronzed brunette directly overhead for a Vertical Suplex. Or at least it would be when the champ decided to put her burden down. At the moment it looked like Bex wanted Alexis to ‘hang around a while’ so she held her footing while the AHE crowd began to count her off. ‘ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! FIVE! SIX! SEVEN! EIGHT! NINE!--’ CRACK!
Alexis caught hold of the strap in the breath between ‘NINE’ and ‘TEN’ and she made the most of it by laying the leather across the champ’s lower back and buttocks almost half a dozen times before Clayton lost her balance and-- Suguitan drew her legs in close, kicked ‘em out and swung back the way she’d came to lay out flat and THWHUNK Becky’s skull against the deck with another thunderous DDT!
“PIN HER! PIN HER!” All of Portia’s previous frustration was swept away in a flood of ebullient avarice, Fortune’s Favorite eager to add FAWN’s biggest prize to her managerial portfolio.
And Alexis followed her orders to the letter, the brunette casting aside her aches and pains to pounce atop Clayton in a north-south pin that allowed her to hook the right leg while Castle and the crowd counted off…
ONE…
TWO…
Becky twisted to the left, breaking the Gold Standard’s pin with a full second to spare. ‘Stay on her!’ was forming on VanBuren’s lips but proceeded no farther because Suguitan did so without prompting, the brunette yanking Clayton to a seat so she could post a knee between her shoulders for an aggressive Chinlock.
“GIVE UP!” Alexis slipped her index fingers into the corners of Bex’s mouth and yanked back in an effort to give her opponent a Jack-O-Lantern grin. Clayton’s capitulation proved less than instantaneous, meaning it was entirely too long for the Filipino Phenom. “I SAID GIVE UP, SHYTBAG!” Suguitan sank the Fishhooks a little deeper, then added to Becky’s problems by grinding the point of her chin into the other wrestler’s forehead.
“Ask her again!” Portia demanded from outside the squared circle. “Everyone knows Clayton’s a perpetual quitter!”
“What do you say, Bex?” Nick asked the champ. “Need me to--”
“Alexis needs to step her damn game up.” the Camouflage Crusher mumbled from around those encroaching fingers. “She’s never gonna win the World Title with a Chinlock. Or escape Portia’s shadow, for that mattNNNGGGHH!”
The Penthouse Panther moved her claws from Becky’s cheeks to her shoulders to hold her steady while she went up on one knee and dropped back down, just JAMMING the bony joint between the champ’s shoulders! That was hardly the end though, not when Alexis had a heavy leather strap at her disposal. Snatching hold of a length that was perhaps two and a half feet long, Alexis wrapped it around the Destroyer’s head and began to craaaaaaank back as hard as she could!
“WHAT WAS THAT?” Suguitan shrieked in Clayton’s ear as she tried to scrape the blonde’s mouth and nose right off her face. “WHO CAN’T BEAT YOU? WHO CAN’T MAKE YOU F*CKING SCREAM?”
“Excellent work, Alexis! Excellent, excellent work!” Portia offered the brunette a golf clap that was almost lost amidst the wails of champ and challenger, not to mention the jeers of the Basement Dwellers.
Quick to pile on now that she had a chance to make Clayton suffer, Alexis leaned in, opened wide and offered an homage to the newly returned Adelaide Brewster by gnawing on the blonde’s forehead! Fighting hard against the unwanted leather mask as well as Suguitan’s toothy torment, Becky couldn’t fight her way to one knee, but she could and did grab a huge handful of Alexis’s dark hair. This didn’t stop the biting or the tugging, it just held the brunette’s noggin steady while she PWAAAKED a nasty open-handed slap against her right ear!
Alexis broke her grip to tend to her ringing noggin, which gave Clayton enough time to make it to one knee. Any further progress was curtailed when the Gold Standard caught a quick Front Facelock and thwap-thwhap-thwhap-THWHAPPED a quartet of Overhand Forearm Smashes across the big blonde’s upper back. “You wanna stand, tuff girl? C’mon then, let’s get you up!” Suguitan yoked up on the Facelock to make Becky clamber to her feet, then pumped a Kneelift into her navel to ensure the Peacekeeper was too busy sucking wind to stop Alexis from catching a wrist in each hand. Crossing Becky’s arms across her exposed throat, Suguitan twisted around so the ladies were standing back to back before the Filipino Phenom kicked a leg forward and laid out flat to THAWHAM Becky on the back of her head and shoulders compliments of a Straightjacket Neckbreaker!
Baby called for a cover, as you might’ve suspected, but Alexis had other ideas, as you also might’ve suspected. However this deviation from the veteran’s proscribed strategy wasn’t met with the irritated sighs heard earlier in the match, indeed the former FAWN World Champion nodded genuine approval when Suguitan used that snug grip to roll both wrestlers onto their stomachs, then somersaulted over into a high bridge that yanked the champ’s arms back across her own throat in a Straightjacket Chancery!
STRAIGHTJACKET NECKBREAKER & FLIPPING CHANCERY:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aZKYjAwR0o
“GIVE UP BEEYOTCH!” Alexis was balanced on tiptoes and the crown of her skull, yet somehow managed to shriek her demand into the blonde’s ear. “ALEXIS IS GOOD AS GOLD, LEMME HEAR YOU SAY IT!”
Clayton did not oblige the challenger, though she made sure to shake her head ‘no’ when Castle made a much more diplomatic inquiry along similar lines. “Don’t waste your breath on her, Alexis.” Portia called from the edge. “Just work that hold and she’ll beg soon enough!”
“Damned right she will!” Suguitan jostled the straightjacket up and down and side to side, any which way but loose, really. “She’s gonna BEG to strap the Big Belt around my wai--hey, where do you think you’re going?”
Bex didn’t answer for the second time in less than a minute, though her scuttling backward progress made her destination obvious. She was inching her way toward the ropes and easing the pressure on the Chancery all in a single stroke. Alexis realized this half a heartbeat after Portia and did her best to move along with the retreating Destroyer, however the lack of a solid base made the hold little more than an inconvenience and it wasn’t too much longer before Becky slipped her boot over the bottom rope. “Break!” she huffed. “Break, I’m in the--”
“I don’t think so, Jersey.” Portia swatted Clayton’s boot aside, then grabbed that strand in both hands and tugged it out of the champion’s reach.
“What do you think you’re doing, Portia?” Castle called from above his tangled charges. “Let go of that rope or I’ll--”
“You’ll what? Disqualify Alexis in a Strap Match? Write me a strongly worded e-mail? C’mon idiot, let’s hear it!”
“I’ll pull your manager’s license, first.” Nick countered. “Then I’ll tack on a sixty day suspension, maybe ninety if you insist on being a brat about it.”
VanBuren regarded him coldly. “ The hell you wiNNNNNGGGHHH!” Becky, who’d continued to slide backward during this exchange, slammed a boot into Baby’s chest that sent her backpedaling across the narrow aisle to ‘bwang’ against the steel guardrail.
Just as important, it set the bottom rope to rights, allowing the Peacekeeper to hook both legs around the rubber-coated steel. “Unhook her, Alexis.” Castle told the brunette. “Right now, please.”
Suguitan gave the stretch a final yank, then let loose and rolled to one knee thus ensuring she was on her feet well before Becky even made it to all fou--CRAAACK! “AAAAAHHHHH GAHD!” Becky reared back on her haunches when the strap licked her shoulders only to pay an even steeper price once the Thrilla from Manila lashed her across the stomach!
“FEEL THAT?” Alexis bellowed as she swatted and slashed away at every bit of the blonde she could lay the strap to. “THAT’S WHAT DOMINATION FEELS LIKE, CLAYTON! DREAM COULDN’T! BLASSENVILLE COULDN’T! BURLINGAME COULDN’T! BUT ALEXIS F*CKING SUGUITAN (CRACK!) DAMN! (CRACK!) SURE! (CRACK!) CAN!(CRACK!)”
The merciless mauling forced Clayton to duck and cover as best she could, a strategy that Alexis didn’t appreciate in the slightest. Calling a halt to her shelling to snatch a double handful of hair instead, she yanked the blonde up high enough to reel her into a Standing Headscissors, then hooked her left arm around Bex’s waist while the right passed through the blonde’s thighs to lock in a Double Axehandle pressed tight against her belly. The Basement Dwellers let out a worried groan as Suguitan upended Clayton in a Cradled Piledriver stall and indeed their trepidation was well founded because the white-clad brunette from Cradle to Half Waistlock so her right hand was free to ‘SMECK’ down on the underside of her victim’s camouflage briefs!
“GIVE!” Alexis sounded furious and weary in equal measure, presumably winded by her efforts to claim FAWN’s biggest prize over these last several minutes. Clayton refused to say the magic words, so Suguitan released her grip and slapped Becky trunks no less than a dozen times before resuming her previous white-knuckle torture. “Give, I said! Before I go under your trunks, shytbag!”
“What did I tell you about threats?” Portia sounded crankier than ever in the aftermath of peeling herself free of the barricade. “Don’t tell, SHOW! Show her why you’re the next World Champion, Alexis!”
Suguitan answered with a grudging nod, then broke the clamp again so she could slip three fingers beneath--“HEY! STOP THAT!”
Becky began to kick her legs wildly which forced the Filipino Phenom to reapply her original Cradle to keep Clayton suspended in place. Even this wasn’t as effective as prior and after a few seconds Alexis hopped up and fell forward onto her knees, all the better to THAWHAM Bex down flat on her face, chest and belly. Galvanized by the ring-wide shiver of her rival’s landing, Suguitan shot the Half Nelson, shoveled Clayton onto her back and sidled into a Reverse Face Sit that could’ve graduated to a Portia 9-11 if the challenger had grabbed another handful of trunks. Instead Alexis treated the crowd to a brawny double bicep flex and Becky to a cheeky hands-free pinch while Nick counted out…
NEUTRALIZER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hPqTewxZYg
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Becky kicked her legs up and backward, hooking them beneath Alexis’s armpits so that the Gold Standard was tugged forward out of her seat to wind up flat with Clayton suddenly seated above her head. This abrupt reversal of fortunes was punctuated by a PWAK-PWAK-PWAK-THWHUMP!’ as Bex unloaded on her foe’s tummy with a left-right-left combination immediately followed by a vengeful Double Axehandle, each and every one of those shots landing flush on the Filipino’s tummy!
Alexis startled gasping had the Howling Commandos roaring for a little callipygian karma but their heroine was in no mood for sitting so she scrambled to verticality and bounced into the ropes to come out in a flat run. Actually ‘run’ was a bit generous, it was really no more than two or three long strides before the One Woman Army sprang into the air and came down with both boots SPIKING the pit of Alexis’s stomach!
DOUBLE STOMP:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V8R5pajBd8
The Double Stomp sat Suguitan up and dropped Clayton to all fours, meaning they were on the same level when Bex clamped her hands down on the challenger’s shoulders and dug that E-Tool in deep!
“NNGGGAAAAAHHHHH!” Alexis grabbed at the blonde’s wrists and scuffed her heels against the mat, the Penthouse Panther desperate to escape the gouging agony of her opponent’s dual claw. Her situation grew all the more untenable when Clayton got to her feet and leaaaaaaaaaaaned in, the Destroyer putting every bit of her weight down on those suffering shoulders.
“Hurts, right?” Becky flipped hair off her face and gave the Commandos a bright smile before refocusing her attention on the struggling catfighter. “And I’m not even using the strap, ‘Lex. Imagine how it’s gonna feel if I decide to take it to your pampered, undeserving ass!”
“Don’t listen to her, Alexis!” Portia countered. “She knows she’s got nothing left, that’s why she’s running her mou--”
“AAAAAAAAWWWWWW FAAAAAAAAAHK!” Suguitan wailed in agony when Clayton shifted her footing out and back, the resurgent champion earning impressed cheers from the crowd as she settled into a sort of forty-five degree push-up position to put even more pressure on Alexis’ cramping shoulders.
“Get out of there, Alexis!” VanBuren still sounded confident, but there was an undeniable undercurrent of concern in her tone. “You’ve got the strap, lash the hell out of her, dammit!”
Suguitan didn’t respond with words, but she did manage to grab hold of the leather and draw back for a “RRRRGGGGGHHHH!” Alexis’s hands popped open, clenched shut and opened wide again, the brunette clawing at nothing as Clayton actually busted out half a dozen push-ups, the force of them slowly but surely shoving Suguitan’s forehead toward the canvas, which in turn put a great deal of strain on her lower back. It was a new version of the E-Tool as far as Castle knew, which was why he didn’t waste time checking Suguitan’s condition.
“What do you say, Alexis? Hanging in there?”
“F*cking fine, obviously.” the Penthouse Panther had her palms mashed to the mat in an valiant effort to hold her ground. “Now stop wasting my tiMOOOOWWWW!”
Behind her, Clayton popped back to her usual seat and dug in with such ferocious enthusiasm that Alexis had to bury both hands in her hair to spread out the hurt. “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, ALEXIS!” Baby warned when she felt her charge’s will beginning to waver. “You are the Gold Standard! So quit your whining and--YES! YES! JUST LIKE THAT!”
Suguitan abandoned the hair-hold to clamp down on Bex’s forearms and push back with everything she had left. While it didn’t break the E-Tool it gave the white-clad wrestler enough freedom to twist from her butt to one knee. Clayton moved with Suguitan, keeping the pressure steady even as the Filipino Phenom started a slow, torturous return to boot-leath--“NNGGGHH!” Becky released the Nerve Claw and slipped her hands under those trembling biceps to secure a Full Nelson that stuffed Alexis’s chin into her sternum, thus ensuring the brunette’s arms were quite neutralized when Clayton hauled ‘em upright.
“Dog-faced bytch.” Suguitan groaned. “Get your f*cking hands offa--” The Peacekeeper muscled her opponent high into the air, then broke the Nelson and laid out on her stomach to THA-WHAM Alexis down flat on the back of her head and shoulders! Suguitan slopped onto her stomach, so Becky rolled her right back and slid into an aggressive Crossbody, the powerhouse blonde strengthening the mount by cradling Alexis’s far leg nice and tight while Nick and the Basement Dwellers counted out…
FULL NELSON SLAM:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=okn8pZobPb0
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Alexis twisted free at two and seven-eighths, the Gold Standard winding up on her belly for the second time in as many min--‘OOOHHHHH!’ from the crowd and sputtering rage from POV when Clayton climbed into a seat on the small of Suguitan’s back and quickly trapped her arms to complete the Camel Clutch! Hands laced under Alexis’s chin, Bex jostled her rival’s head from side to side for a few seconds before she craaaaaaaaanked back on the spine-wrenching hold. “Gotcha in the middle of the ring, ‘Lex.” Clayton noted as the crowd’s initial surprise gave way to an enthusiastic ‘TAP!’ chant. “What’re ya gonna do? Tap out? Or hold on until Portia does it for--”
CAMEL CLUTCH:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax59L56q85k
“F*CK YOU!” “I’M GONNA BREAK THIS HOLD AND SPANK YOUR FAT ASSSAAAAAAAWWWWWW GAAAAAAWWD!”
Becky cast serious doubts on those plans by pouring on enough pressure to tilt Alexis’s suffering mug toward the basement ceiling. “What’re you gonna do, bad girl?” the blonde asked. “Tell me again, what’re you gonna--”
“Ignore her, Alexis!” Portia barked. “Ignore her, ignore the pain, ignore everything but the gold! It’s yours so just reach out and take it!”
Clayton shook her head, the BFG clearly not interested in Portia’s bill of goods. “Easy for her to say, she’s not in here taking these shots. When was the last time someone ever put her in a Camel Clutch, Alexis? Has to be years at this point, doesn’t it?”
Eyes clenched tight, Suguitan kicked her feet and dragged her nails down the blonde’s thighs, but all it earned her was another powerful yank on that damnable Chinlock. “Shhhuuu… she’s not your problem, I’m your problemNNNGGHH!” the challenger’s answering growl descended into an insensate moan of pain when Clayton bounced her butt in the small of Suguitan’s back.
“Wrong, Alexis.” Becky was forcing eye contact now, the Peacekeeper refusing to let Alexis look anywhere save her own grim features. “I’m YOUR problem. Now are you going to do something about it? Or are you gonna quit like ya did at--”
“Enough screwing around!” Portia barked from her corner of the ring. “Get out of there and put her DOWN, Al--”
“SHUT UP, DAMMIT!” Suguitan shrieked at her manager / mentor. “I’M F*CKING TRYHHRRRGGGHHH!”
Bex traded the Chinlock for a hair-hold so she could drive the brunette’s forehead into the canvas-sheathed plywood! On her feet immediately thereafter, she ran the ropes to Alexis’ left and came back with a full head of steam she used for a gorgeous vertical leap that culminated with the World Champ THWHAMMING every bit of her hundred and forty-three pounds down across Suguitan’s devastated back! The Penthouse Panther pushed up on one hand, the other held tight to the small of her back until the tension gave out and she stretched out full length with her forehead pressed against the canvas.
STANDING SPLASH:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQGdJHcP734
Somewhere high overhead, Becky Clayton looked to Portia, then scanned the Madhouse basement in search of Amara Singh. The Camouflage Crusher would’ve bet good money on Amara lurking in the shadows, but Alexis’s partner was nowhere to be seen. A second sweep produced no sign of the Empress (or even a peep from VanBuren) so Clayton bent down, grabbed a double handful of dark hair and scraped Suguitan off the mat in stages.
Give Alexis credit, she lurched into Bex in search of a clench, unfortunately for her the blonde simply shrugged it off before she slipped an arm through the challenger’s thighs and scooped her onto her right shoulder. A roar from the FAWNatics was little more than a distraction for Clayton to block out as she helped herself to Suguitan’s biceps and lifted her into a face-first Crucifix. Attention trained on Portia, Becky held her position in the middle of the ring either to let Alexis think about what was coming or to dare Baby to do something about it.
Rooted to her spot on the outside, Fortune’s Favorite considered her options carefully before ultimately flicking her hands at the blonde in a disgusted ‘get on with it’ sort of gesture. Not that she stuck around to watch, mind you. She turned her back as soon as the edict was issued, the FAWN Original stalking away from the ring and up the aisle. Becky swung to watch her go and when Portia glanced up at the overhead screen the champ tossed Suguitan into the air and caught her in a Three Quarters Facelock to PLANT the Gold Standard on the deck with a colossal SNAFU!
SNAFU:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVO2lW92ozk
Alexis hit hard, bounced a good six inches and landed face up only to suffer a final indignity when the domineering Destroyer planted those seasonally-sheathed glutes directly atop Suguitan’s upturned features! With ‘Lex plunged deep into that callipygian camouflage, Becky sent the AHE revelers home with a final treat in the form brawny double bicep flex that lasted long after the…
ONE…
TWO…
THREE!
Offering up a nod and a smile as the bell sounded, the champ set her hands on her hips but made no effort to relinquish her perch when the Announcer confirmed, “Ladies and gentlemen, your winner via pin-fall and STILL the FAWN World Champion… BECKY CLAYTON!”
A slap to Alexis’ tummy produced nothing more than a muffled whimper, so the Peacekeeper got to her feet and promptly placed one atop Suguitan’s heaving chest. Raising the strap overhead as soon as Castle handed it to her, Becky looked like she was about to say something before ultimately settling on silence, the victorious World Champion choosing to let the lingering shot of a beaten, slumbering Alexis Suguitan do the talking for her.
“I know how to hurt. I know how to heal. I know what to show and what to conceal.”
“I know when to talk. And I know when to touch. No one ever died from wanting too much…”
The crowd lets their hatred grow all the louder, burying the Filipino Phenom and her Manhattanite manager in boos
A long streak of white light shot from the rafters as Shirley Manson pronounced “The World Is Not Enough”. At the end of the beam, the infamous strawberry blonde patrician smirked surreptitiously, reveling in the loathing radiating from the concealed hordes.
PORTIA OPHELIA VANBUREN THE FOURTH:
ALEXIS SUGUITAN:
Fortune’s Favorite was flawless in her immaculate, white tennis togs, namely a form-fitting, Louis Vuitton tank top and short skirt with white socks and thousand-dollar tennies. Her right hand was empty, though the careful observer noted it twitched for a moment, Portia presumably haunted by the ghosts of Precious Past.
At her right shoulder stood the Thrilla from Manila herself, the former Associate and current Gold Standard looking as good as her tandem namesake positioned beside the first ballot Hall of Famer. Curiously, Suguitan was not decked out in the gleaming metallic numbers she’d favored since joining forces with Singh and VanBuren. Tonight she wore a blast from her sartorial past, a gleaming white two piece that almost seemed to glow against the mellow copper of her complexion. The ivory trappings continued with matching knee-pads and shin-high boots, the former adorned with a golden $ quite reminiscent of her manager‘s favorite sigil. And of course one couldn’t overlook the voluminous sleeveless mink coat, an accessory that seemed far more appropriate for a Hollywood premiere or a Paris runway than the dim recesses of Harrenhal’s basement.
A smattering of appreciative whistles confirmed she’d made an impression on those assembled, though Portia seemed a bit dubious, the blonde throwing some subtle albeit noticeable side eye at her charge as Suguitan started down the ramp.
Noting their approach, the Announcer called out, “Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is a STRAP MATCH scheduled for one fall and it is for the FAWN World Championship! This match is no count out, no disqualification and the competitors are free to use the strap however they see fit! Introducing first, accompanied by her manager Portia Ophelia VanBuren the Fourth, hailing from Manila, the Philippines, she stands at five feet eight inches tall and weighs in tonight at one hundred and thirty-four pounds, she is the challenger and the Penthouse Panther, this is ALEXIS SUGUITAN!”
Alexis sprang onto the apron at the sound of her name, the brunette stunner spreading her arms wide to bask in the hate for a good five seconds before dipping through the ropes. Making a point to swish the hem of her coat at Senior Official Nick Castle, Suguitan strapped an invisible belt around her svelte waist, then doffed the coat and tossed it over the zebra, thus forcing him to hand it off to a waiting tech before he could offer her one looped end of the heavy leather strap. Alexis slipped it around her wrist with no hesitation but stopped short of letting Nick inspect her pads and boots, choosing instead to make him hurry along in her wake when she strutted to the far corner for a last second strategy session with POV.
“And introducing their opponent! Hailing from Denver, Colorado she stands at five feet eight inches tall and weighs in tonight at one hundred and forty-three pounds. They call her the Peacekeeper, the BFG and the Camouflage Crusher! Tonight she is YOUR REIGNING AND DEFENDING FAWN WORLD CHAMPION, this is BECKY CLAYTON!”
‘White Flag’ grumbled through the speakers, meaning the FAWNatics had no reason to return to their seats just yet.
WHITE FLAG:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWzZeA2GMsk
Take a hit, shoot me down, shoot me down
I won't ever hit the ground, hit the ground
Playing dead, I'll never do
Gotta keep an eye on you
Patience is wearing thin, paper thin
Promises broke again, what a sin
But it only feeds my energy
So don't expect no sympathy
Smoke, fire, it's all going up
Don't you know I ain't afraid to shed a little blood?
Smoke, fire, flares are going up, flares are going up!
BECKY CLAYTON:
The chorus started in time with Clayton’s arrival, the hardbody blonde marching through the creaky doors to claim the spotlight at the center of the stage with FAWN’s biggest prize strapped tight around her waist. Saluting her Howling Commandos and the other Creatures of the Night with a double bicep flex that wasn’t so much tickets to the gun show as it was a display of overwhelming firepower, the Peacekeeper reached behind her back one-handed, undid the snaps and hoisted it overhead. “I tend to think of myself as an ass kicker, more often than not.” Becky admitted as the camera drew in for a closer shot of the gold. “Tonight though, I will be more than happy to WHIP THAT ASS.”
Eager to get to it, Clayton draped the belt over her right shoulder and headed for the squared circle. For tonight’s battle with the more mercurial half of the Gold Standard, the One Woman Army wore a black & orange camouflage two-piece with tie-sided bottoms and an impossible to ignore ladder / double helix of lycra that ran from the top of her waistband all the way to the southern border of her low-cut sports bra. The gear was completed with flat black pads and boots and few wraps of bright orange wrist-tape.
Taking her time to zig-zag across the aisle so she could swat each and every outstretched hand, Clayton made a sharp right when she reached the base of the ramp just to repeat the process for everyone at ringside. With the troops properly rallied Becky stomped up the steel steps and leapt over the top rope in one effortless burst of kinetic energy. Coming to a stop in the center of the ring, she spun toward the hard camera, then raised the title with one hand and snapped off that trademark salute with the other. Still holding the gold high, she pointed herself at Alexis to see if the brunette wanted to forego the opening bell.
Suguitan did step forward, but ultimately returned to her corner when Portia laid a clamp on her shoulder. Snorting, the challenger gave the strap a shake and mouthed, ‘Soon.’
“Sooner than you’d like, honeybunch.”
Becky tossed the belt to Castle, who gave her the other end of the strap in exchange. Slipping it around her wrist, she backed into the far corner to wait out the last moments of peace she’d know for quite some time.
Finishing her consultation with Fortune’s Favorite in time with the CLANG of the starting bell, Alexis Suguitan rounded on the powerhouse World Champion and stomped her way toward the center of the ring with a length of strap gripped in one hand so she could smack it against her palm. “Come on out here and take your medicine, bytch.” Alexis said it loudly enough to raise an ‘ooooooohhh’ from those Basement Dwellers in the first half dozen rows. “It’s high time you learned that camouflage just doesn’t measure up to the Gold Standard!”
Clayton’s eyes narrowed slightly, though she didn’t rise to the challenger’s bait. Instead she spared VanBuren a glance, the Peacekeeper well aware of how dangerous the blonde could be even in nothing more than a managerial role. Baby met her eyes with a cool, malicious smile, but she made no move from her place on the outside, so Bex turned her attention to the Penthouse Panther and strolled forth. “You really want to bet on gold over camouflage, ‘Lex?” Clayton asked Suguitan. “I mean, we both went into ‘Mania as champions,” she stopped a few inches shy of Alexis and made a show of looking her up and down, “but you came into this match a little light. Wonder how Amara feels about you getting a World Title shot after tapping away the NGH!”
Suguitan slapped the ever lovin’ taste out of Clayton’s mouth, followed that with a rough shove and finally chested in on the Destroyer so she could funnel a steady stream of trash talk directly into Becky’s ear. “That was a f*cking fluke and EVERYONE knows it!” she sneered. “Amara already proved it beating Stipanovic tonight and we’ll have the Tag Titles back before you know it. And when we do, I’ll come in with the World Title strapped around my HUUUFFFGHH!”
Becky’d heard enough and so terminated the interview with a huge two-handed shove that put Suguitan on her butt with a loud PLOP! “No one to tag tonight, pretty girl!” Clayton teased her wide-eyed opponent with a bit of brawny posing that had the crowd chanting ‘Welcome to… THE GUN SHOW!’
“You want MY gold? You’re gonna have to win it all by yourself. And if you lose? Well, I can give you the spanking Portia should’ve dished out after ‘Mania!”
Mood shifting from incredulous to incendiary in the blink of an eye, Suguitan sprang to boot-leather and threw herself into a clench with Clayton that knocked the big blonde back a few steps. Shifting from the traditional ‘collar’ grip to a fish-face that dug her nails into the other woman’s cheeks, Suguitan twined her other hand in Bex’s hair and tugged until her eyes started to water.
“You’ve got a f*ck ton of nerve calling out my record.” Alexis wrenched and tore at each grip, though she didn’t make much progress in marching the champ toward one corner or another. “You may be on a lucky streak but everyone in the locker room knows you’re the greatest CHOKE ARTIST of the last decWHOOAANNGGHH!”
Becky smashed those hooks aside with a brusque Forearm Smash to the chest, then caught a Goozle in one hand, an armpit in the other and bore down hard on both. Holding eye contact just long enough to ensure Alexis knew what was coming, Clayton took two giant steps backward, then twisted her hips and tossed the Penthouse Panther into the shadow of the corner the champ had so recently vacated, Suguitan coming down flat on her back with a resounding THWHAP!
Alexis groaned but didn’t lose her wind, so she’d made it to one knee in a matter of heartbeats. She didn’t rise to her full height though, choosing instead to keep a hand on the second rope while she regarded Clayton with wide, hating eyes. “You’re gonna want to watch your mouth around me, Lex.” Becky said without humor. “Because if Portia won’t wash it out I’m more than happy to wire it shut.”
“Don’t listen to her, Alexis!” VanBuren called from the Gold Standard’s side of the ring. “You’re faster than her, you’re smarter than her, your conditioning blows hers out of the water. So get your head in the game and--”
Some front row fans swore they heard the ‘clack’ of Portia’s jaw snapping shut when her charge stood tall and raised a hand overhead, thus challenging the One Woman Army to a Test of Strength.
Noting Alexis’ proximity to the corner, Becky took a few steps back before she mirrored the challenger’s pose. “You want to lock hands, Lex?” the blonde asked. “Then step up and lets--”
CRAAACK!
Suguitan stepped into the breach and laid that leather lash across her foe’s washboard midsection! Clayton doubled over in gut-shot surprise, an involuntary reaction she immediately regretted when Alexis went up on tiptoe and CRAAACKED the strap across her shoulders!
“GAAAAHHHNNNGGGGHHH!” The Camouflage Crusher straightened up and took a Toe Kick for her troubles, then found herself in a Front Facelock that Alexis used to deliver the crown of her noggin unto the thinly-sheathed plywood courtesy a sick DDT! Becky rolled through the landing to finish in a slumped seat that got a whole lot more horizontal when Suguitan stretched her out flat and splashed down in a ridiculously aggressive Crossbody.
“Hook the leg! Hook the LEG!” Baby barked at her charge, the FAWN original shaking the bottom rope for emphasis as Castle and the rest of the All Hallows Evil’ers counted off…
ONE…
TWO…
Alexis had hooked the leg just as Portia demanded, but it didn’t stop Clayton from kicking out simultaneous with ‘TWO!’ Swinging her way to one knee immediately thereafter, Bex-- “NNGGGGHH!”
Suguitan caught a double handful of hair and thumped her white-sheathed hips into the champ’s face to keep the powerhouse a penitent for at least a few more seconds because that’s all she needed. Positioned in front of and slightly to the right of the blonde, Alexis grabbed Becky’s right wrist in her left hand and stretched that arm out at shoulder level half a heartbeat before she brought her right leg up and over the champ’s head. With the back of Clayton’s head resting in the pit of her knee, Suguitan crooked her right arm for a sturdy bicep flex then flattened that hand into a paddle and slapped the veteran’s face half a dozen times!
“Talk shyt now! C’mon bytch, talk shyt now!” The Penthouse Panther curled her slappin’ hand into a talon and raaaaaaaaaaked it across Becky’s face half a dozen times before she turned it into a temple crushin’ Iron Claw. “Tell me how that nasty camouflage is gonna stand against the Gold StanF*CK!”
Becky couldn’t do much about the claw on her face, so she grabbed a length of the strap in her left hand and lashed it across the bronzed meat of her challenger’s left thigh. Alexis’ leg trembled violently, but she maintained verticality by clenching her right leg tight around the champ’s noggin.
“Don’t screw around with her, Alexis! She’s too strong for that!” VanBuren exclaimed from the Gold Standard corner. “Hurt her, then put her down!”
Suguitan sneered, either at the advice or the champion was unknown. Smart money was on the latter, as the Filipino Phenom abruptly snap-dropped to a seat on her butt that THWHONKED Becky’s forehead on the deck with another nasty DDT! More orders from Baby, the brilliant veteran urging double time for Suguitan as she shot the Half Nelson and rolled Clayton onto her stomach for another snug…
LEG DROP DDT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=13RYCZcfXcs
ONE…
TWO…
Becky kicked out again, a little later than before, though not late enough to call it a near-fall.
“C’mon bytch. C’mon bytch. C’mon BYTCH!” Alexis punctuated each demand with a stinging SLAP to the back of her opponent’s head. “Get your overrated ass up, otherwise I’ll start using the goddamned straPUUGGGHH!”
Becky reared back on her knees and fired a straight right hand into the pit of Suguitan’s stomach, forcing the challenger to cede a couple steps. The punch landed flush but it didn’t halt Alexis for more than a couple seconds. Just like that she was back on the penitent champion, grabbing a huge handful of blonde hair to better expose Clayton’s forehead for a heavy series of leather-wrapped fists delivered directly to the hairline.
“Yes, that’s it! Keep on her! Keep on her!” Portia slapped the apron for emphasis as her charge switched from fists to elbows, Suguitan going up on tiptoe to better deliver that bony dagger to the bridge of her foe’s nose. A set of three put Becky on all fours, so Alexis turned away and raised both arms high in a showy ‘V’.
“GOLD STANDARD, BABY!” the Penthouse Panther bellowed to all that would listen. “MANIA WAS A F*CKING FLUKE AND WE’RE GONNA HAVE ALL THE HARDWARE BACK BEFORE YOU CAN BLINK!”
“Taunt the idiots later, Alexis.” VanBuren advised. “The meat rack is starting to recover.”
Indeed Clayton had made it back to her knees and she pounded a couple more punches into Suguitan’s bronzed belly when the challenger strode over and CRACK! “That all you got?!” Alexis demanded after her Bytch Slap put Becky’s head on a swivel. “What the hell Clayton, I thought you were supposed to be the strongest bytch in FAWN and here I am working you like a part-time joBNGH!”
Becky answered with a sawed-off Uppercut to the pit of the brunette’s stomach that sent her stumbling away on wobbly legs.
“Dammit Alexis, I told you not to play with her! She’s dangerous, remember?” The last word was still on VanBuren’s lips when the Filipino Phenom stormed back into the breach and THWHUNKED a Basement Big Boot into the champ’s forehead.
BASEMENT BIG BOOT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5hHks0Ends
Bex plopped to her butt, rolled to all fours and might’ve returned to full verticality if Alexis hadn’t snatched both hands in Greco-Roman Knucklelocks and bore down in a severely handicapped Test of Strength! Clayton cried out and pushed back at once (as evidenced by the shredded musculature in her shoulders and arms) though she made no discernible progress due to the challenger’s elevated position. “C’mon champ, that the best you got?” Alexis continued to rain trash talk down on her struggling foe. “You eat too much candy last night? Still coming down off that ‘Mania hangover? Or maybe you’re just not good enough to compete against the Gold StandOOFFFFHHH!”
The Peacekeeper whipped her noggin forward, burying it Suguitan’s flat waist. Alexis gaped, then growled when Becky used the distraction to make it to one knee.
“Keep the pressure on, Alexis!” Portia’s tone was sharper than it’d been a moment prior. “If you let up you’re going to--”
“I’VE GOT THIS!” Suguitan snapped after she’d regained her footing. “Bytch isn’t gonna do anything except tire herself out lookin’ at the next waist to wear the World TitNNGH! Bytch, don’t even think about shytTEERRRGGGGHHH!”
Clayton landed another heavy Headbutt, then surged to boot-leather on a roar of applause. The Test was even for half a heartbeat or so before the Camouflage Crusher swept their locked hands from midnight to six and forced Suguitan’s hands backward over her own wrists! “You want to know what I’m gonna do, Lex?” Clayton grumbled in the midst of getting the brunette up on tiptoe. “I’m gonna give you the beating Portia never could.” Bex punctuated this threat by THWHUMPING a third Headbutt into her challenger’s sternum. That put Suguitan’s feet flat on the mat, so Clayton wrenched her hands again, then leaned in to whisper, “And I’d bet good money that she’s going to enjoy every SECOND of it.”
“Scr-screw you.” Alexis huffed. “The Gold Standard is ride or--”
Becky broke the Test of Strength only to trap the brunette in a tight Waistlock that flowed perfectly into the Belly to Belly Suplex that planted Suguitan on the thinly-sheathed plywood! Their landing put Clayton in great position for a Crossbody, but she made no effort to put Suguitan away. Instead she maintained the Waistlock, using it to haul the white-clad warrior to her feet immediately following the first Suplex.
“Break those hooks, Alexis!” Baby shouted from the outside. “You can’t let her throw you around like--” Portia broke off in disgust when Clayton popped her hips and THWHAMMED Suguitan to the mat via the second Belly to Belly in less than ten seconds.
Two was unquestionably better than one in this case, yet Becky Clayton knew that three was even better than two, so it came as no surprise to anyone (save maybe Alexis) when the One Woman Army dragged her upright with the Waistlock still intact. When it came to the end of her Hat Trick, Becky Clayton often favored an Overhead Belly to Belly Suplex, but tonight was All Hallows Evil, which meant the normal rules didn’t apply. Reveling in this freedom, Becky finished her set with an identical Belly to Belly, the resurgent champion making a point to land with every bit of her hundred and forty-so pounds squarely atop Suguitan’s heaving chest.
HAT TRICK:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdGUdOiqDLs
She claimed the far leg as soon as she’d released her hands, Clayton rolling into an equally heavy Back Press that pointed Alexis’s ass toward the Madhouse ceiling while the Basement Dwellers counted out…
ONE…
TWO…
Suguitan wrenched that leg loose and flopped to one side, keeping the Gold Standard’s championship redemption arc alive for at least another three seconds. Becky didn’t mind the continuation of hostilities, she simply smoothed her hair back and made a couple minor adjustments to her togs before returning her attention to the Thrilla from Manila.
“You are a terrible listener, you know that Alexis?” Clayton pulled Suguitan onto her back, slid down into place by her feet and took an ankle in each hand. “I won’t lie, Portia’s a colossal pain in the ass and lord knows I’d hate to have her screaming in my ear for the whole match, but I haven’t heard her give you any bad advice tonight.” Becky got to her feet, stretched the challenger’s legs wide, then folded the right shin under the left knee to craft a quick figure-four. Tucking the knotted lower limbs beneath her right arm, the BFG slipped her left hand through the negative space so she could lace her fingers tight across the meat of Suguitan’s right left thigh.
Portia, having suffered this particular torture on more than one occasion throughout the course of her career, pounded the canvas with one balled fist and shouted, “Follow my voice, Alexis! I mean it, dammit! Get to the ropes before she--” Clayton muscled Suguitan up and started to turn her over, but the brunette planted her left hand like a kickstand to keep the other woman from rolling her onto her stomach.
“Get the f*ck off me!” Alexis wanted to do nothing more than lash the strap across her opponent’s back over and over again, alas her position was awful and her leverage nonexistent. At the moment she could do nothing more than fight to free herself from this predicament. “I mean it, Clayton! Let go before you really start to piss me NGH! NGH! NGH!”
Becky kicked the challenger once, twice, three times, the Camouflage Crusher focusing the toe of her boot on the small of Suguitan’s back. The blows finally broke through Alexis’s defenses and both she and Portia groaned for similar reasons when Becky stepped over and sat down, the Peacekeeper kinking her opponent’s spine with the same Texas Cloverleaf that’d helped dismiss Celia Blassenville from ‘Mania last month.
TEXAS CLOVERLEAF:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKP6lRSllbk
“AAAAARRRRGGGHHH SHYT!” Alexis buried her hands in her hair, then braced them on the canvas and pushed up enough to raise her tummy from the mat by a couple of inches.
“Tell me something, Alexis.” Nick Castle said after several seconds of insensible suffering. “Do I need to call for the bell?”
“Don’t you dare!” Portia warned. “She just needs to get to the ropes and that’s what she’s going to do, right Alexis?”
Suguitan nodded agreement and started in the direction of her manager, the Filipino Phenom showing some Destroyer-class strength of her own in dragging the combined weight of champion and challenger toward the strands.
While VanBuren maintained a steady stream of (demanding) encouragement and Suguitan cursed away each of Castle’s subsequent submission inquiries, Clayton held her tongue in favor of bouncing and jostling the Cloverleaf. Didn’t mean she wasn’t paying attention though, in fact the blonde’s attention was locked on the video screen over the entryway to better monitor Alexis’s progress. Waiting until the brunette was a hands breadth or two from freedom, Bex abruptly stood up and marched the both of ‘em back to the center of the squared circle!
“NO!” Portia lunged under the bottom rope in an attempt to grab Alexis’s hands to no avail. “That was a break, Castle! She was in the ropes!”
“The hell she was, Portia.” the official answered with a brief backward glance. “Now get out of the ring!”
Suguitan wasn’t taking the situation much better, having thrown one arm over the back of her head while her other hand raked at the canvas. “Ask her.” Bex said after an exceptionally prolonged tug earned a loud wail from the Penthouse Panther.
“What do you say, Alexis? Still hanging in--”
“Of course she is!” Portia barked. “She’s no Jersey quitter!”
“What do you say, Alexis?” Castle repeated without acknowledging Baby’s interjection.
“I’m fine.” she growled through clenched teeth. “Just shut the f*ck up and leave me RRRRGGGGGGHHHH!”
Clayton slammed her butt into the small of Alexis’s back and put even more pressure on the agonizing Cloverleaf. The ‘TAP!’ chants swelled in time with Suguitan’s shrieking, but the Gold Standard wouldn’t acquiesce to the demands of the Basement Dwellers. Instead she smecked her palms against the mat and puuuuuuuuuuuushed up high enough to tuck her chin against her chest and swing / skid through the champ’s legs to end up flat on her back in front of a startled Becky.
Of course her legs were still in the blonde’s clutches not that it proved any hindrance to her letting loose with a furious flurry of CRAAACKS with that heavy leather strap! Clayton soaked up more of that slashing volley than was probably wise, abandoning the Cloverleaf only after Alexis laid the lash across her chest. Growling in anger, she caught hold of the challenger’s wrist and dropped to one knee, pinning the joint against Suguitan’s sternum to hold her in place for a few rough open-handed slaps to the brunette’s face!
“On your feet, ‘Lex.” Becky plunged a hand into Alexis’ hair and used it to bring her to boot-leather despite (or perhaps in spite of) Baby’s increasingly strident protestations. “Wanna tag in, Portia?” Clayton called to Fortune’s Favorite after she’d traded her hair pull for a Front Facelock. “You seem to have a really strong game-plan, maybe you’d like to put it to the test?”
VanBuren favored her with an acidic sneer. “You’re just lucky I’m retired, Jersey.”
“Stay that way. You’ll live longer.” The One Woman Army slung Alexis’ near arm across her shoulders, caught a stern handful of white briefs, then dipped her knees and muscled the bronzed brunette directly overhead for a Vertical Suplex. Or at least it would be when the champ decided to put her burden down. At the moment it looked like Bex wanted Alexis to ‘hang around a while’ so she held her footing while the AHE crowd began to count her off. ‘ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! FIVE! SIX! SEVEN! EIGHT! NINE!--’ CRACK!
Alexis caught hold of the strap in the breath between ‘NINE’ and ‘TEN’ and she made the most of it by laying the leather across the champ’s lower back and buttocks almost half a dozen times before Clayton lost her balance and-- Suguitan drew her legs in close, kicked ‘em out and swung back the way she’d came to lay out flat and THWHUNK Becky’s skull against the deck with another thunderous DDT!
“PIN HER! PIN HER!” All of Portia’s previous frustration was swept away in a flood of ebullient avarice, Fortune’s Favorite eager to add FAWN’s biggest prize to her managerial portfolio.
And Alexis followed her orders to the letter, the brunette casting aside her aches and pains to pounce atop Clayton in a north-south pin that allowed her to hook the right leg while Castle and the crowd counted off…
ONE…
TWO…
Becky twisted to the left, breaking the Gold Standard’s pin with a full second to spare. ‘Stay on her!’ was forming on VanBuren’s lips but proceeded no farther because Suguitan did so without prompting, the brunette yanking Clayton to a seat so she could post a knee between her shoulders for an aggressive Chinlock.
“GIVE UP!” Alexis slipped her index fingers into the corners of Bex’s mouth and yanked back in an effort to give her opponent a Jack-O-Lantern grin. Clayton’s capitulation proved less than instantaneous, meaning it was entirely too long for the Filipino Phenom. “I SAID GIVE UP, SHYTBAG!” Suguitan sank the Fishhooks a little deeper, then added to Becky’s problems by grinding the point of her chin into the other wrestler’s forehead.
“Ask her again!” Portia demanded from outside the squared circle. “Everyone knows Clayton’s a perpetual quitter!”
“What do you say, Bex?” Nick asked the champ. “Need me to--”
“Alexis needs to step her damn game up.” the Camouflage Crusher mumbled from around those encroaching fingers. “She’s never gonna win the World Title with a Chinlock. Or escape Portia’s shadow, for that mattNNNGGGHH!”
The Penthouse Panther moved her claws from Becky’s cheeks to her shoulders to hold her steady while she went up on one knee and dropped back down, just JAMMING the bony joint between the champ’s shoulders! That was hardly the end though, not when Alexis had a heavy leather strap at her disposal. Snatching hold of a length that was perhaps two and a half feet long, Alexis wrapped it around the Destroyer’s head and began to craaaaaaank back as hard as she could!
“WHAT WAS THAT?” Suguitan shrieked in Clayton’s ear as she tried to scrape the blonde’s mouth and nose right off her face. “WHO CAN’T BEAT YOU? WHO CAN’T MAKE YOU F*CKING SCREAM?”
“Excellent work, Alexis! Excellent, excellent work!” Portia offered the brunette a golf clap that was almost lost amidst the wails of champ and challenger, not to mention the jeers of the Basement Dwellers.
Quick to pile on now that she had a chance to make Clayton suffer, Alexis leaned in, opened wide and offered an homage to the newly returned Adelaide Brewster by gnawing on the blonde’s forehead! Fighting hard against the unwanted leather mask as well as Suguitan’s toothy torment, Becky couldn’t fight her way to one knee, but she could and did grab a huge handful of Alexis’s dark hair. This didn’t stop the biting or the tugging, it just held the brunette’s noggin steady while she PWAAAKED a nasty open-handed slap against her right ear!
Alexis broke her grip to tend to her ringing noggin, which gave Clayton enough time to make it to one knee. Any further progress was curtailed when the Gold Standard caught a quick Front Facelock and thwap-thwhap-thwhap-THWHAPPED a quartet of Overhand Forearm Smashes across the big blonde’s upper back. “You wanna stand, tuff girl? C’mon then, let’s get you up!” Suguitan yoked up on the Facelock to make Becky clamber to her feet, then pumped a Kneelift into her navel to ensure the Peacekeeper was too busy sucking wind to stop Alexis from catching a wrist in each hand. Crossing Becky’s arms across her exposed throat, Suguitan twisted around so the ladies were standing back to back before the Filipino Phenom kicked a leg forward and laid out flat to THAWHAM Becky on the back of her head and shoulders compliments of a Straightjacket Neckbreaker!
Baby called for a cover, as you might’ve suspected, but Alexis had other ideas, as you also might’ve suspected. However this deviation from the veteran’s proscribed strategy wasn’t met with the irritated sighs heard earlier in the match, indeed the former FAWN World Champion nodded genuine approval when Suguitan used that snug grip to roll both wrestlers onto their stomachs, then somersaulted over into a high bridge that yanked the champ’s arms back across her own throat in a Straightjacket Chancery!
STRAIGHTJACKET NECKBREAKER & FLIPPING CHANCERY:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aZKYjAwR0o
“GIVE UP BEEYOTCH!” Alexis was balanced on tiptoes and the crown of her skull, yet somehow managed to shriek her demand into the blonde’s ear. “ALEXIS IS GOOD AS GOLD, LEMME HEAR YOU SAY IT!”
Clayton did not oblige the challenger, though she made sure to shake her head ‘no’ when Castle made a much more diplomatic inquiry along similar lines. “Don’t waste your breath on her, Alexis.” Portia called from the edge. “Just work that hold and she’ll beg soon enough!”
“Damned right she will!” Suguitan jostled the straightjacket up and down and side to side, any which way but loose, really. “She’s gonna BEG to strap the Big Belt around my wai--hey, where do you think you’re going?”
Bex didn’t answer for the second time in less than a minute, though her scuttling backward progress made her destination obvious. She was inching her way toward the ropes and easing the pressure on the Chancery all in a single stroke. Alexis realized this half a heartbeat after Portia and did her best to move along with the retreating Destroyer, however the lack of a solid base made the hold little more than an inconvenience and it wasn’t too much longer before Becky slipped her boot over the bottom rope. “Break!” she huffed. “Break, I’m in the--”
“I don’t think so, Jersey.” Portia swatted Clayton’s boot aside, then grabbed that strand in both hands and tugged it out of the champion’s reach.
“What do you think you’re doing, Portia?” Castle called from above his tangled charges. “Let go of that rope or I’ll--”
“You’ll what? Disqualify Alexis in a Strap Match? Write me a strongly worded e-mail? C’mon idiot, let’s hear it!”
“I’ll pull your manager’s license, first.” Nick countered. “Then I’ll tack on a sixty day suspension, maybe ninety if you insist on being a brat about it.”
VanBuren regarded him coldly. “ The hell you wiNNNNNGGGHHH!” Becky, who’d continued to slide backward during this exchange, slammed a boot into Baby’s chest that sent her backpedaling across the narrow aisle to ‘bwang’ against the steel guardrail.
Just as important, it set the bottom rope to rights, allowing the Peacekeeper to hook both legs around the rubber-coated steel. “Unhook her, Alexis.” Castle told the brunette. “Right now, please.”
Suguitan gave the stretch a final yank, then let loose and rolled to one knee thus ensuring she was on her feet well before Becky even made it to all fou--CRAAACK! “AAAAAHHHHH GAHD!” Becky reared back on her haunches when the strap licked her shoulders only to pay an even steeper price once the Thrilla from Manila lashed her across the stomach!
“FEEL THAT?” Alexis bellowed as she swatted and slashed away at every bit of the blonde she could lay the strap to. “THAT’S WHAT DOMINATION FEELS LIKE, CLAYTON! DREAM COULDN’T! BLASSENVILLE COULDN’T! BURLINGAME COULDN’T! BUT ALEXIS F*CKING SUGUITAN (CRACK!) DAMN! (CRACK!) SURE! (CRACK!) CAN!(CRACK!)”
The merciless mauling forced Clayton to duck and cover as best she could, a strategy that Alexis didn’t appreciate in the slightest. Calling a halt to her shelling to snatch a double handful of hair instead, she yanked the blonde up high enough to reel her into a Standing Headscissors, then hooked her left arm around Bex’s waist while the right passed through the blonde’s thighs to lock in a Double Axehandle pressed tight against her belly. The Basement Dwellers let out a worried groan as Suguitan upended Clayton in a Cradled Piledriver stall and indeed their trepidation was well founded because the white-clad brunette from Cradle to Half Waistlock so her right hand was free to ‘SMECK’ down on the underside of her victim’s camouflage briefs!
“GIVE!” Alexis sounded furious and weary in equal measure, presumably winded by her efforts to claim FAWN’s biggest prize over these last several minutes. Clayton refused to say the magic words, so Suguitan released her grip and slapped Becky trunks no less than a dozen times before resuming her previous white-knuckle torture. “Give, I said! Before I go under your trunks, shytbag!”
“What did I tell you about threats?” Portia sounded crankier than ever in the aftermath of peeling herself free of the barricade. “Don’t tell, SHOW! Show her why you’re the next World Champion, Alexis!”
Suguitan answered with a grudging nod, then broke the clamp again so she could slip three fingers beneath--“HEY! STOP THAT!”
Becky began to kick her legs wildly which forced the Filipino Phenom to reapply her original Cradle to keep Clayton suspended in place. Even this wasn’t as effective as prior and after a few seconds Alexis hopped up and fell forward onto her knees, all the better to THAWHAM Bex down flat on her face, chest and belly. Galvanized by the ring-wide shiver of her rival’s landing, Suguitan shot the Half Nelson, shoveled Clayton onto her back and sidled into a Reverse Face Sit that could’ve graduated to a Portia 9-11 if the challenger had grabbed another handful of trunks. Instead Alexis treated the crowd to a brawny double bicep flex and Becky to a cheeky hands-free pinch while Nick counted out…
NEUTRALIZER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hPqTewxZYg
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Becky kicked her legs up and backward, hooking them beneath Alexis’s armpits so that the Gold Standard was tugged forward out of her seat to wind up flat with Clayton suddenly seated above her head. This abrupt reversal of fortunes was punctuated by a PWAK-PWAK-PWAK-THWHUMP!’ as Bex unloaded on her foe’s tummy with a left-right-left combination immediately followed by a vengeful Double Axehandle, each and every one of those shots landing flush on the Filipino’s tummy!
Alexis startled gasping had the Howling Commandos roaring for a little callipygian karma but their heroine was in no mood for sitting so she scrambled to verticality and bounced into the ropes to come out in a flat run. Actually ‘run’ was a bit generous, it was really no more than two or three long strides before the One Woman Army sprang into the air and came down with both boots SPIKING the pit of Alexis’s stomach!
DOUBLE STOMP:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V8R5pajBd8
The Double Stomp sat Suguitan up and dropped Clayton to all fours, meaning they were on the same level when Bex clamped her hands down on the challenger’s shoulders and dug that E-Tool in deep!
“NNGGGAAAAAHHHHH!” Alexis grabbed at the blonde’s wrists and scuffed her heels against the mat, the Penthouse Panther desperate to escape the gouging agony of her opponent’s dual claw. Her situation grew all the more untenable when Clayton got to her feet and leaaaaaaaaaaaned in, the Destroyer putting every bit of her weight down on those suffering shoulders.
“Hurts, right?” Becky flipped hair off her face and gave the Commandos a bright smile before refocusing her attention on the struggling catfighter. “And I’m not even using the strap, ‘Lex. Imagine how it’s gonna feel if I decide to take it to your pampered, undeserving ass!”
“Don’t listen to her, Alexis!” Portia countered. “She knows she’s got nothing left, that’s why she’s running her mou--”
“AAAAAAAAWWWWWW FAAAAAAAAAHK!” Suguitan wailed in agony when Clayton shifted her footing out and back, the resurgent champion earning impressed cheers from the crowd as she settled into a sort of forty-five degree push-up position to put even more pressure on Alexis’ cramping shoulders.
“Get out of there, Alexis!” VanBuren still sounded confident, but there was an undeniable undercurrent of concern in her tone. “You’ve got the strap, lash the hell out of her, dammit!”
Suguitan didn’t respond with words, but she did manage to grab hold of the leather and draw back for a “RRRRGGGGGHHHH!” Alexis’s hands popped open, clenched shut and opened wide again, the brunette clawing at nothing as Clayton actually busted out half a dozen push-ups, the force of them slowly but surely shoving Suguitan’s forehead toward the canvas, which in turn put a great deal of strain on her lower back. It was a new version of the E-Tool as far as Castle knew, which was why he didn’t waste time checking Suguitan’s condition.
“What do you say, Alexis? Hanging in there?”
“F*cking fine, obviously.” the Penthouse Panther had her palms mashed to the mat in an valiant effort to hold her ground. “Now stop wasting my tiMOOOOWWWW!”
Behind her, Clayton popped back to her usual seat and dug in with such ferocious enthusiasm that Alexis had to bury both hands in her hair to spread out the hurt. “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, ALEXIS!” Baby warned when she felt her charge’s will beginning to waver. “You are the Gold Standard! So quit your whining and--YES! YES! JUST LIKE THAT!”
Suguitan abandoned the hair-hold to clamp down on Bex’s forearms and push back with everything she had left. While it didn’t break the E-Tool it gave the white-clad wrestler enough freedom to twist from her butt to one knee. Clayton moved with Suguitan, keeping the pressure steady even as the Filipino Phenom started a slow, torturous return to boot-leath--“NNGGGHH!” Becky released the Nerve Claw and slipped her hands under those trembling biceps to secure a Full Nelson that stuffed Alexis’s chin into her sternum, thus ensuring the brunette’s arms were quite neutralized when Clayton hauled ‘em upright.
“Dog-faced bytch.” Suguitan groaned. “Get your f*cking hands offa--” The Peacekeeper muscled her opponent high into the air, then broke the Nelson and laid out on her stomach to THA-WHAM Alexis down flat on the back of her head and shoulders! Suguitan slopped onto her stomach, so Becky rolled her right back and slid into an aggressive Crossbody, the powerhouse blonde strengthening the mount by cradling Alexis’s far leg nice and tight while Nick and the Basement Dwellers counted out…
FULL NELSON SLAM:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=okn8pZobPb0
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Alexis twisted free at two and seven-eighths, the Gold Standard winding up on her belly for the second time in as many min--‘OOOHHHHH!’ from the crowd and sputtering rage from POV when Clayton climbed into a seat on the small of Suguitan’s back and quickly trapped her arms to complete the Camel Clutch! Hands laced under Alexis’s chin, Bex jostled her rival’s head from side to side for a few seconds before she craaaaaaaaanked back on the spine-wrenching hold. “Gotcha in the middle of the ring, ‘Lex.” Clayton noted as the crowd’s initial surprise gave way to an enthusiastic ‘TAP!’ chant. “What’re ya gonna do? Tap out? Or hold on until Portia does it for--”
CAMEL CLUTCH:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax59L56q85k
“F*CK YOU!” “I’M GONNA BREAK THIS HOLD AND SPANK YOUR FAT ASSSAAAAAAAWWWWWW GAAAAAAWWD!”
Becky cast serious doubts on those plans by pouring on enough pressure to tilt Alexis’s suffering mug toward the basement ceiling. “What’re you gonna do, bad girl?” the blonde asked. “Tell me again, what’re you gonna--”
“Ignore her, Alexis!” Portia barked. “Ignore her, ignore the pain, ignore everything but the gold! It’s yours so just reach out and take it!”
Clayton shook her head, the BFG clearly not interested in Portia’s bill of goods. “Easy for her to say, she’s not in here taking these shots. When was the last time someone ever put her in a Camel Clutch, Alexis? Has to be years at this point, doesn’t it?”
Eyes clenched tight, Suguitan kicked her feet and dragged her nails down the blonde’s thighs, but all it earned her was another powerful yank on that damnable Chinlock. “Shhhuuu… she’s not your problem, I’m your problemNNNGGHH!” the challenger’s answering growl descended into an insensate moan of pain when Clayton bounced her butt in the small of Suguitan’s back.
“Wrong, Alexis.” Becky was forcing eye contact now, the Peacekeeper refusing to let Alexis look anywhere save her own grim features. “I’m YOUR problem. Now are you going to do something about it? Or are you gonna quit like ya did at--”
“Enough screwing around!” Portia barked from her corner of the ring. “Get out of there and put her DOWN, Al--”
“SHUT UP, DAMMIT!” Suguitan shrieked at her manager / mentor. “I’M F*CKING TRYHHRRRGGGHHH!”
Bex traded the Chinlock for a hair-hold so she could drive the brunette’s forehead into the canvas-sheathed plywood! On her feet immediately thereafter, she ran the ropes to Alexis’ left and came back with a full head of steam she used for a gorgeous vertical leap that culminated with the World Champ THWHAMMING every bit of her hundred and forty-three pounds down across Suguitan’s devastated back! The Penthouse Panther pushed up on one hand, the other held tight to the small of her back until the tension gave out and she stretched out full length with her forehead pressed against the canvas.
STANDING SPLASH:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQGdJHcP734
Somewhere high overhead, Becky Clayton looked to Portia, then scanned the Madhouse basement in search of Amara Singh. The Camouflage Crusher would’ve bet good money on Amara lurking in the shadows, but Alexis’s partner was nowhere to be seen. A second sweep produced no sign of the Empress (or even a peep from VanBuren) so Clayton bent down, grabbed a double handful of dark hair and scraped Suguitan off the mat in stages.
Give Alexis credit, she lurched into Bex in search of a clench, unfortunately for her the blonde simply shrugged it off before she slipped an arm through the challenger’s thighs and scooped her onto her right shoulder. A roar from the FAWNatics was little more than a distraction for Clayton to block out as she helped herself to Suguitan’s biceps and lifted her into a face-first Crucifix. Attention trained on Portia, Becky held her position in the middle of the ring either to let Alexis think about what was coming or to dare Baby to do something about it.
Rooted to her spot on the outside, Fortune’s Favorite considered her options carefully before ultimately flicking her hands at the blonde in a disgusted ‘get on with it’ sort of gesture. Not that she stuck around to watch, mind you. She turned her back as soon as the edict was issued, the FAWN Original stalking away from the ring and up the aisle. Becky swung to watch her go and when Portia glanced up at the overhead screen the champ tossed Suguitan into the air and caught her in a Three Quarters Facelock to PLANT the Gold Standard on the deck with a colossal SNAFU!
SNAFU:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVO2lW92ozk
Alexis hit hard, bounced a good six inches and landed face up only to suffer a final indignity when the domineering Destroyer planted those seasonally-sheathed glutes directly atop Suguitan’s upturned features! With ‘Lex plunged deep into that callipygian camouflage, Becky sent the AHE revelers home with a final treat in the form brawny double bicep flex that lasted long after the…
ONE…
TWO…
THREE!
Offering up a nod and a smile as the bell sounded, the champ set her hands on her hips but made no effort to relinquish her perch when the Announcer confirmed, “Ladies and gentlemen, your winner via pin-fall and STILL the FAWN World Champion… BECKY CLAYTON!”
A slap to Alexis’ tummy produced nothing more than a muffled whimper, so the Peacekeeper got to her feet and promptly placed one atop Suguitan’s heaving chest. Raising the strap overhead as soon as Castle handed it to her, Becky looked like she was about to say something before ultimately settling on silence, the victorious World Champion choosing to let the lingering shot of a beaten, slumbering Alexis Suguitan do the talking for her.