"Let's see it then!" Natalie, or Natalya as she is called in the WWE, shouted in challenge as she climbed through the ropes of the ring with purpose, her voice echoing through the empty Performance Center.
"What are you even talking about, Natty?" Called back Natalya's tag team partner, Beth Kocianski, known on TV as Beth Phoenix.
"I heard what you said to Carano! About how you were carrying me... About how we've never had a real feud because the fans wouldn't believe I could beat you." The explanation came hot and heavy, as Natalya, clearly upset, moved to the far corner of the squared circle.
"Look... I didn..." Beth began, as she looked up from the padded floor outside the ring, shocked that her private conversation had been heard, a surprise which left her desperately trying to think of a way to explain what she had said, though no explanation seemed sufficient - not when the words spoken were so harsh and dismissive.
"Save it!" Natalya shouted from the corner, not interested in talking it out, or hearing Beth's side of the story. "Just get in this ring, NOW!"
Beth, unsure how to react or respond, rolled into the ring, stood up, and took her position in the corner opposite her upset partner.
"Ok, you know what?!" Beth's sullen face, suddenly found itself plastered with a confident smirk. "Yeah, I said that... And you know what? All of it is true, Nattie - every last bit of it. Which is why Corano agreed with me!"
Even though Natalya had heard the entire conversation, and knew that in it, Beth was saying what she really felt, hearing her admit to having said it, and then own it in such a confident way, hurt. A pain, the Hart was determined to return to her partner. "Uh huh, so let's see it, 'Glamazon'." Wearing not but a pair of short, tight, black and gray-striped gym shorts, and a tight gray and black sports bra with a zipper in the back, Natalya stepped forward, her eyes narrowed with focused.
"You keep saying that! See what?" Beth asked in confusion, as she looked at her partner's slow advance, the Glamazon wearing a near matching outfit, though all black, with no gray.
"You and me. Right now. Right here." Natalya stated flatly, her eyes never leaving Beth's.
"You want to wrestle?" Beth's eyes dramatically rolled before she asked in a dismissive tone. "What is that gonna prove?"
"A lot, because we're going to be wrestling for real, Beth. No selling. No script. Me vs. you. Natalie Neidhart versus Beth Kocianski, till one of pins the other or forces the other to submit."
The explanation took a moment to settle in, as Beth quietly walked to the center of the ring, sizing up the tone and tenor in which the challenge was made. "You're really serious?"
"Very." Natalya responded shortly, she too walking forward until she was only a few feet away from Beth.
"But you don't stand a chance against me." The Glamazon saw the statement as an offering to her partner - a last chance to take her offer back, though it did just the opposite, instead fueling Nattie's desire for a match even more. That desire was obvious to Beth, who quickly dropped into a more defensive stance, preparing herself for what was about to happen.
"AARrRGGGHHH" Natalya lunged forward, as did her partner, both locking up in the tightest clinch either had ever been in, each using all of their strength to try and overpower the other. One might assume that due to Beth's reputation for power, that she would easily win such a contest, but Natalie was one of the strongest women the division had ever seen, and was able to match the Phoenix push for push, each shove from either ending only in a deadlock. A deadlock which surprised the Glamazon to such a degree, that she found herself unprepared for Natalya's quick move to shift their clinch into a headlock. A real headlock, applied by the only female graduate of the Hart Dungeon, who knew exactly the kind of pressure such a hold could cause. Seeking to inflict as much, Natalya squeezed, and squeezed, as hard as she could, trying to cut off all the blood to her opponent's brain.
Such intentions were becoming reality, as the painful and disorienting effects of the hold began to take effect on Beth, who began to stumble, and falter. Such a staggering state made it clear to the Glamazon that she had to escape, and escape quickly, lest she find herself defeated by her opponent's first hold. Wanting to avoid such a fate, Beth wrapped her arms around Natalya, and lifted her high up into the air, only to slam her, groin first, back down on Beth's outstretched knee. Natalya grunted, but held on, hoping to tire her opponent out, before too much damage could be done. Beth, for her part, lifted Natalya up into the air again, and then again, slammed her down on her knee. Natalya, despite her strength, and masterful grip, was forced to let go, as she collapsed forward off of Beth's knee, into a kneel.
Beth, still unsure how exactly to wrestle another woman for real, went for the first move she could think of, a sleeper hold, wrapping her arm around Natalya's throat. Then, with that arm positioned, she sat down, and wrapped her thighs around the Hart's torso, before collapsing back to the mat, bringing her opponent's body with her. In reaction, Nattie began to reach out wildly, striking at Beth in anyway she could, knowing that such a hold was deadly, especially when applied by someone as strong as her opponent.
So much fire, Natalya had at first, as she threw a series of elbows back into Beth's unprotected ribs, struggling and squirming to get out of the devastating hold. But slowly, second-by-second, she began to weaken - to tire, her opponent effectively choking her out, whilst using all of her body weight and strength to keep her from escaping. The effect was obvious to Beth, who could feel that with each moment that passed, and as seconds turned into minutes, the impact from Natalya's strikes became lighter and lighter, until they could almost not be felt at all. It was then, when Beth knew how close her opponent was to passing out, that the smug Glamazon whispered into Natalya's ear: "I knew you couldn't handle me." The comment came just before Beth released her hold, and rolled away from her nearly unconscious partner.
"Come on! Get up!" Beth demanded, as she motioned for Nattie to stand, though she knew she could not. Unwilling to wait, the Glamazon grabbed Natalya's blonde and pink hair, and pulled her up to her knees, before slapping her as hard as she could across the face, a move which sent the Hart crashing back down to the mat below. "You're pathetic, Nattie." Beth mocked, as she walked back and forth in front of her grounded partner, who continued to try and push herself up from the canvas. "I can't believe all this time, I actually thought you were tough! But NO, you're just a prissy little bitch like all the rest of the Divas." As Beth continued to talk, Natalya reached out, and tried to pull herself up, by grabbing onto each of the Glamazon's powerful legs.
"Oh, you like my legs? Let's give you a closer look." Beth mocked, as she dropped down to her butt, and wrapped her mostly bare thighs around Natalya's neck, head, and throat, locking her into a brutal head scissor. "How do you like that!?" The Glamazon asked as she squeezed, again cutting off the air to Natalya's brain. The move again sent Nattie squirming, her arms punching in desperation at Beth's exposed stomach, trying to force her to release the hold so she could breath again. And though each blow hurt, and caused Beth to grunt in pain, instead of releasing the submission, she merely tightened the hold, betting that she could knock Natalya out, before any real damage to her abs was done. It was a good bet, one which Nattie knew she would lose, as her vision began to darken from lack of air. Knowing that it was then or never, Natalya used her legs to push herself up, and forward, causing Beth's body to bend into a U-shape, until the Hart had come almost to a stand, though her head was still caught between her opponent's muscle-etched thighs. Beth, for her part, clung tight, not allowing Natalya's new angle to force her to release the hold. But it was that decision Nattie counted on, as she then used all of her strength, and waning consciousness, to pick up her opponent with a loud grunt, to walk forward, and then to slam her opponent's lower back into the turnbuckle, once, and then again, and again.
The blows were painful and awkward, forcing Beth to release her scissor, as she crumpled into a ball in the corner of the ring. Exhausted and breathless, Natalya collapsed to her knees in front of her opponent, gasping for air as they both tried to recover. Beth, having had less damage done to her, came to her feet first, though only a second or two before Natalya. Once upright, and with a frustrated growl, Beth swung a wild and anger-driven fist at Natalya, who grabbed the Glamazon's wrist, ducked under, and locked in a vicious crossface chicken wing, shoving Beth's left arm up behind her back, and wrapping her own right around Beth's throat. Then, like as was done to her, Natalya dropped, pulled her opponent with her, and wrapped her thighs around the Glamazon's abdomen, locking her in a tight body scissor.
Being both a choke and a painful submission hold, Beth began to not only scream out in pain, but also suffer from the same effects that had taken such a toll on Natalya earlier. Clutched between her partner's thighs, Beth too tried to throw elbows, with her one free arm, but found that her opponent was better at angling their bodies so that such strikes would be hard or even impossible to land. Minutes passed, as Beth squirmed, trying desperately to escape the hold, though to no avail, until finally, she too began to tire, until her attempts at escape were fewer, and far between, being only barely able to move, her energy spent in Natalya's expert grasp.
The Glamazon, desperate to escape her partner's clutches, and knowing that she would soon be defeated by someone she knew to be her lesser, decided on a rather unusual attempt at escape. One which required her to lean up and forward as much as she could given the hold she found herself in, and then, once at the apex of that attempt, to reach down between their stacked legs and pelvises. Having just enough arm length, and upper-body strength to accomplish it, Beth then began to, shockingly, massage Natalya's clit, which remained hidden under only the thinnest layer of tight gym shorts. Natalya, notorious for having a phobia of even the suggestion of lesbianism, immediately released her chicken wing, and rolled away. "What the hell was that!?" Natalya shouted in interrogative outrage, as her opponent tried to pick herself up off the mat.