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Special Report
Shiai Mata fills us in on the Nikki/Tsunami match July 15...
A NIGHT OF THUNDER
Nikki Roxx vs Tsunami
It’s Friday the 15th of July, and the furious summer storm outside mirrored the raging action within the Lucha Libre Femenil arena’s walls on this night, as battle was waged and history was made!
In the main event of an action-packed card, Tsunami was challenging for both pride and glory. On the line was the LLF Juvenil Championship…or so everyone thought. But perhaps even more important to the masked ruda than the belt was her honor; at the International Title tournament just seven days before, during Tsunami’s match against Mistica, a second Tsunami rushed to the ring to counter the masked luchadora’s ceaseless rulebreaking. That unexpected interference cost Tsunami the match, and the woman beneath that hood was none other than Nikki Roxx!
You must be made to realize, reader, that in Mexican Lucha Libre, the mask is more than just a mere piece of garb. It is a source of dignity and self-respect for a wrestler. To lose one’s mask in defeat is to be shamed. But to have one’s mask stolen and worn by the thief calls for only one response: REVENGE!
Knowing that Nikki had taken her spare mask from her locker and worn in a subterfuge against the ruda herself filled Tsunami with rage, and she demanded a match against “La Gringa” at the very next card. If the LLF did not book it, she ominously warned, she would not wait for a formal match…she would attack Roxx at the first opportunity, be in in the locker room or on the street!
Realizing the inevitable, the LLF did indeed book the match for the very next card. Furthermore, they announced that it would be a best-of-three title match…but did not specify the title. Tsunami and most fans assumed it would be for the Juvenil (‘Young Blood‘) belt, as they did not expect Roxx to be willing to put her newly-won International crown on the line against an opponent who was not the top-ranked challenger. Frankly, Tsunami didn’t care all that much. It would be fine to have a title belt around her waist, but more important would be getting vengeance against the Boston Blond!
But in accepting this match, Tsunami also had to accept a stipulation: Should she lose, she would have to surrender her mask to Nikki!
As the two women stood in opposite corners of the ring, they stared daggers at one another. Nikki knew that taking Tsunami’s mask and donning it was a shocking action, but she also believed that the ruda’s actions warranted such an extreme act. Tsunami had been riding roughshod over much of the competition in the LLF for months, going out of her way to not only beat her opponents, but to seriously injure and humiliate them as well. During her tourney match with Mistica, Tsunami was pulling every dirty trick out of her bag, and thanks to a complacent referee, things looked bleak for Mistica. Unable to stand backstage and watch the carnage any longer, Roxx had the sudden brainstorm of using Tsunami’s spare mask; she knew full well that if she tried to run out to the ring as herself, the other rulebreakers backstage would stop her before she got anywhere near the ring. But, by cloaking herself as “Tsunami II,” she managed to outwit the rudas long enough to get to the ring and help Mistica.
Tsunami could care less about how noble Nikki’s reasons were. All she knew was that she had been disgraced by the blond, and she was not going to rest until she had her pound of flesh in return.
The echo of the opening bell had barely faded before Tsunami threw herself at Roxx, hammering away at her foe with a fury that was terrifying to behold! So great was the masked woman’s attack, fans began to fear that Nikki was not only destined to lose this fall…they grew afraid that she may be crippled for life from the onslaught!
But Nikki Roxx has not proven herself a champion in two hemispheres by accident. She weathered the storm, knowing that at some point, her over-confident adversary would make a mistake. And it was in that brief moment when the blond would put her skill and experience to work and seize the advantage. And that moment did come; before Tsunami realized what was happening, Roxx rolled her up for the pin and won the first round!
Now the ruda was literally breathing fire! The match, her mask and her honor were all on the line in the next fall, and she could afford no further mistakes. The bell sounded, and the two women went on the attack. This time, Nikki fought just as ferociously as her foe, and the advantage swung back and forth between them. The ring could not contain them as they fell between the ropes and waged their war throughout the arena, using whatever they could get their hands on as weapons to batter the other. Ordinarily, such brawling would favor the larger, more powerful Tsunami. But Nikki was like a woman possessed, and she threw back at her opponent everything which the masked woman gave her!
And, amazingly, the Bostonian overcame Tsunami’s wave of destruction and scored the second and deciding fall to win the match! But…
The referee, Mulato (who is infamous for favoring the rudas in the LLF), declared that he had good cause to disqualify Nikki for the second fall, claiming that she had attacked him (to be fair to Nikki, Mulato often finds himself embroiled in the action, often because he suddenly finds reason to step in whenever a luchadora has the advantage over a rulebreaker). Therefore, he reversed the decision and awarded the second fall to Tsunami!
Roxx was enraged, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it. What she could…and fully intended…to do was to beat Tsunami so thoroughly in the third and deciding fall, there could be no question as to who the winner of the match was.
Again, the action was wild, as control of the battle seesawed between the two wrestlers. For a time, it looked as if Tsunami was destined for victory as she staggered Nikki again and again with sledgehammer-like punches and forearm smashes to the chest and back. But Roxx roared back, and soon had Tsunami in a Crucifix, and the masked ruda seemed on the verge of screaming her pained submission.
But salvation for Tsunami sudden arrived in the form of Chacala, who ran into to the ring and broke the hold! Roxx and Chacala…in a bit of a replay from their International Title match the week before…then began slugging it out. La Gringa managed to eject Chacala from the ring, but in so doing, she also inadvertently struck the referee, badly stunning him!
Chacala’s illegal interference gave Tsunami the precious seconds she needed to gather her strength, and she surprised Nikki from behind. Then, honoring the help she just received from her friend, Tsunami hit Roxx with a devastating Chacala Bomb! The blond hit the canvas with such force, for a heartbeat it seemed as if the whole ring might collapse! So great was the impact that Nikki was instantly rendered unconscious and helpless.
Helping the dazed official up, Tsunami covered her prone foe for the three count…Mulato could have counted to twenty, and Nikki would never have been able to break the pin…and suddenly the LLF had a new Juvenil Champion!
Or… did it?
When she was sufficiently recovered to speak, Nikki demanded a microphone. She declared that the belt she had brought that night was in fact the International Title, and that was the belt which she was surrendering to Tsunami!
It was a stunning revelation for the fans! The woman who was one of the most hated rulebreakers in the league, and who had not been able to advance in the tournament the week before was now, a mere seven days later, possessor of the premier championship belt in Lucha Libre Femenil! Tsunami herself seemed stunned by the knowledge at first, but she quickly recovered and reveled in having the title belt wrapped around her waist.
Perhaps this, in a way, was Nikki’s little act of revenge against Tsunami. The Boston Blond had already proven that she could win the sport’s most preeminent championships, so there would be nothing much to prove by retaining the International belt now. Besides, she was already plenty busy making plans to defend the Juvenil title, not to mention her PGWA crown, so one more belt was perhaps one too many.
And now, Tsunami wears that belt…and has all of the responsibilities and headaches which come with being a champion. No longer will the ruda be able to plot when and where she will strike. Now, she must adhere to a strict schedule of defenses demanded by the contenders and dictated by the LLF. It may well be more than she ever bargained for.
Meanwhile, the storm outside seemed to abate, as nature’s fury ebbed. But there were still dark clouds on the horizon…