Tournament of Fate, Round 1
Sherry Birkin vs. Star Butterfly
So originally, I was going to have this chapter be Interlude C, but I dunno, I just wasn't feeling it. So I've just decided to go ahead with the next match; it's another single-chapter bout, since it's probably going to be the least notable match of the bracket, especially given that these two characters aren't really major focuses in the saga. Don't worry, I'll try and come up with an interesting interlude for the next time around, but this probably won't be the only time I don't do an interlude between matches.
The crowd has calmed itself following the events that occurred during the previous tournament match.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, we are still prepared to carry on through the evening... we are about to start the fourth match, just about nearing the half-way point of the Tournament of Fate..." Jim Ross states over the incredibly wide camera shots of the arena.
("Make A Move" - Icon For Hire)
The song rings as unfamiliar to most of the audience, although the small collective that know the song, and the band that plays it, don't mind to cheer already.
"The following is the next first-round match, contested under Extreme Rules! Introducing first, born in Raccoon City,… Sherry Birkin!"
The government agent makes her way down the ramp, with no need to show off anything at all. To a small but still fairly warm reception. Not the biggest reception, especially compared to others, but at least she gets something.
"This match is going to be another bout between two first-time in-ring competitors." Jim Ross announces. "And from what I know about this individual, she has worked as a part of national security… so there's no doubt that she knows how it feels to head into combat of some sort."
"I haven't heard a lot myself, but what I have heard is that she's been through a lot of hell in her childhood, with all the experiments and shit..." Tazz mentions.
In the ring, Sherry takes a seat in one of the corners; she looks pretty confident with herself, becoming a part of this tournament for currently-undisclosed reasons, but internally, she must be nervous in some way, especially if she's given a much stronger, more experienced opponent.
…
("Space Unicorn" - Parry Gripp)
Space Unicorn!
Soaring through the stars!
Delivering the rainbows all around the world!
"And her opponent... from Mewni… Princess Star Butterfly!"
All of a sudden, with a song like this suddenly playing, and someone like Star cheerfully skipping out into view on the stage with her wand in hand, the sign of any threat towards Agent Birkin is almost completely diminished. At most, her reaction is, mentally, "What the fuck?"
Surprisingly, the appearance of Princess Butterfly has sparked one of the bigger reactions tonight, beating out some reactions, namely towards the Dazzlings in the last match, and almost trumping the fan reactions of competitors like Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar in the previous matches.
Even the commentators had varied reactions that were mostly humored.
"Waitaminute, waitaminute, wait..." Joey stifles his amused laughter. "I'm sorry, I think I may have missed a name when we went through the brackets before we went live..."
"Yeah, I mean, I think I saw her here earlier when Heyman brought everyone out, but, y'know, I never really figured out that she was an actual competitor." Tazz mentions. "Sorta thought she was managing someone, or somethin'..."
"Never in my days would I have expected to be about to call a match involving someone as bizarrely colorful and cheerful as this girl." Joey makes a statement, a statement he probably wasn't expecting to make in his career. "I mean, even her name is one of the most absurd things to have ever come out of even our good friend Justin Roberts' mouth!"
"I... I honestly have no words to truly describe 'Princess' Star Butterfly..." Jim Ross flatly acknowledges. "All I can say is... let's hope she lives up to the hype that she's given to the fans here tonight."
"Yeah! Let's hope this butterfly can bite!" Tazz half-jokingly proclaims.
In the ring, Star bounces over to Sherry, and immediately grips onto one of the former DSO operative's hands, greeting her with a handshake that was just slightly odd. We see Earl Hebner slide into the ring in the middle of this, as he prepares to start the match.
As Star takes a step back into the bottom left corner, setting her wand down below the turnbuckles, Hebner shrugs towards the still mildly perplexed Birkin, right before ringing the bell to signal the start of this match.
Both women start off the match by circling each other around the ring. A standard approach to the start of a competitive match, to keep a target on your adversary.
For Sherry, she's going to have to handle with a smaller and most likely faster competitor, and she has to crouch down just a bit to be able to meet down with Star, as a result of being just about a foot taller than her. However, lunging a bit forward to try and grapple proves to fail, as the princess slides under and out, causing to nearly trip and lose her footing.
Finding herself behind the blonde operative, Butterfly commits to the first strike open to her by running up and dropkicking her in the back, just below the neck. Birkin nearly plants her face into the middle turnbuckle in the bottom right corner, but she catches herself by grabbing onto the rope at both protruding sides of how the rope angles itself around the ring.
Star runs into the corner, jumping up and spinning clockwise towards the canvas, one of her legs catching Sherry in the face as she rolls up her face, and tumbles out onto the ring apron, sliding off the top rope that she holds onto to stay on her feet.
"Oof! Surprisingly, we're starting this match off at a very quick pace!" JR proclaims.
Star hops up and squats on the top turnbuckle like a stalking bird, as she clings onto her opponent's head, entering a position similar to that of a reverse DDT, or more specifically, a Diamond Dust (innovated by Japanese star Masato Tanaka).
However, as the princess makes the leap, the tide turns for her...
...as Sherry re-adjusts and sends Butterfly crashing down over her right knee, reversing into a very rough backbreaker!
Star's top speed assault quickly comes to an end, as she falls to the ground and slowly rolls off toward the ring apron. Both women are taking their time to recover from the incredibly fast pace that started this match off, with Star helping herself up to the ring apron, and Sherry sitting down near the bottom right corner.
The crowd has returned to their red-hot status from moments ago, before the end of the previous one-on-one battle, stomping, clapping and slapping the barricade in approval. If they wanted fast action, they definitely got it from the first minute or two of this match.
"Think they exhausted themselves already?" Tazz asks.
"I doubt it, especially if these two have the stamina." Joey replies.
The agent and the happy-go-lucky princess stare at each other, nodding in amusement towards their other.
As soon as Star re-enters, Sherry dashes forward, taking a short jump. She lands on the bottom rope, jumping over Star, and springs back, going for a quick snap kick (almost a Cody Rhodes-trademarked Beautiful Disaster kick).
Star dodges the kick, and ends up behind Birkin again. This time, she jumps onto Birkin's shoulders, attempting an inverted Frankensteiner, but it quickly fails as she is thrown off just as quickly as she gets on.
Sherry hops for a short dropkick that Star immediately blocks, and nearly lands face-first as she falls back down.
With Birkin in a prone position, left a bit vulnerable as she was getting up, Butterfly takes the opportunity in a mischievous way...
...and swats her with a slap right across her butt!
The noise of the swift smack sounds off across the arena, and the crowd mostly ohh's from the sharp pain, with some having a bit of a giggle with Star's mischief. (And of course, there's gotta be those few guys who actually get off on that...)
Tazz chuckles a little himself. "Whoa there, Star! Heh, never too early to be a rascal in the ring, huh?"
"A bit of a frisky strike there; can make a normal lady blush in either anger or embarrassment." JR mentions. "Sometimes, a combination of both."
Sherry holds her rear as she winces, actually feeling quite a bit of a sting from the slap. She looks back to see Star merrily skipping around the radius of the ring, not giving a single fuck.
"This young girl is clearly treating this more like a game and less like a sport," Jim Ross mentions. "I'll say I won't go against her plan of action in this match, however..."
As Star turns towards her opponent whilst skipping in circles, she is caught with a not-quite-polite jump-kick to the head, and she goes down hard. Birkin jumps in for the quick pinfall attempt.
1! 2—Star kicks out right when Hebner's hand counts two.
"Tried for a quick pin, but nothing of it." Joey comments. "Star, at this point, could prove to be an underdog hero if she continues to keep up the pace with her opponent."
Immediately following the pinfall, Birkin goes to wear down on the princess, pressing a knee into her back as she sits up, while pulling back on her small, almost noodley arms. A fairly long period (but not too long) of wearing down the competition occurs during this surfboard submission hold.
However, it's not long until Star breaks free, ultimately forcing Sherry to release her with a rough butt-bump to the chest of the government agent. Birkin bounces into the ropes off the force of the submission-breaking strike, and upon rebounding back to where she stood beforehand...
...Star springs up and comes back down with two feet stomping down into Birkin's chest, and they both fall to the ground, one significantly more hurt than the other.
"Oh! That could collapse a lung!" Joey proclaims.
Sherry writhes on the ring mat as Butterfly rolls away, heading back to the top left corner of the ring, where her wand sits.
Birkin is on her knees at the point Star stands back up with the innocent-looking pink-and-blue wand gripped tight in her right hand. Standing tall over her opponent for this moment (...vaguely ironic...), she wields the wand like a baseball bat.
She wallops Birkin right in the left temple with the wand, emitting some odd, colorful sparks upon impact, as well as a good pound of pain to the skull.
"If you thought that wand was just a toy, you'd be wrong!" Joey proclaims.
"And even if it is a toy, it'll still hurt like hell! Like steppin' on Legos." Tazz additionally mentions.
With Sherry leaning on the ropes, hoping to recover, Star points the now-glowing wand away from her opponent...
...and almost from thin air, a steel chair, oddly colored a dark violet instead of the standard pitch black that we usually see on most wrestling programs, poofs into existence and lands right next to the princess. Naturally, the crowd goes nuts.
"...Okay, yeah, no, not a toy. Toys don't do shit like dat!" Tazz proclaims. "Jesus, it feels like I'm watching a Chikara show all of a sudden!"
"Same here for Joey Styles and myself!" Jim Ross adds.
After looking at the unanimously positive reception she's being given by the crowd, Star Butterfly grins excitedly, from ear to ear, as she picks up the magically-materialized chair.
She swings it at Sherry, but the former Raccoon City resident blocks the weapon, grabbing onto it and snatching it out of Star's hands, before slamming it into her. Star manages to block some of the impact of the chair connecting to her face with her arms, but there's still enough to knock her down.
"I-I think Star got a little too overzealous with the momentum riding on her, and it may have cost her." JR states.
After standing confused for a moment, realizing the purple chair in her hands, Sherry drops the chair and picks Butterfly up, settling into a front necklock as she sets up for a vertical suplex. She lifts the princess up into the air with barely any difficulty due to being the bigger woman of the match, and, surprisingly, Star does not reverse at all, and is slammed down into the canvas with the simple suplex. Keeping things on the down-low in this match for the time being, giving it some time before going for the big finish.
She rolls back over and onto her feet, keeping Star's head clutched under her arm, as she prepares for a DDT of some sorts. Some booing can be heard in the audience among some cheers also able to be heard, as it's becoming clear that the majority of the audience prefers the magical princess in Star Butterfly over the more down-to-Earth, considerably less unique and more dull personality of the DSO operative in Sherry Birkin.
Thankfully, Star manages to keep her wand under her grasp, as she points it toward Birkin and sends her down on one knee with a magical blast right to her left leg. Butterfly has escaped from the necklock!
Birkin bends down to look down at her left leg, to survey the damage to that leg. This leaves her unable to focus on the opponent in front of her, as Star steps back, winding up...
...before punting Sherry right in the face, the point of her purple rhino-themed boots prodding her right in the center of her forehead, almost stabbing her and cutting her open.
"Good lord, what a kick!" JR exclaims as Sherry springs back from the punt to the head.
Then Star wraps her legs around the neck of Birkin, and slams her head-first into the mat with a headscissors DDT!
"And then an interesting headscissors that plants Agent Birkin right into the canvas!" Joey adds on to JR's proclaimation following the headscissors DDT.
The princess of Mewni immediately heads for the pin following that maneuver.
1! 2! Kick out!
Star Butterfly is disappointed at her failed pinfall attempt at first, but she quickly gets over it, as she gets back up and gets back to thinking through her unorthodox strategies.
She picks up Sherry from behind, but it is currently unknown what move Butterfly is going for here. It seems like it's going to stay that way...
…as Birkin thrusts a foot forward with an attempted superkick! It misses, as Butterfly bounces off the ropes in a desperate attempt to retain her momentum...
...but Birkin picks up Star and flips around, planting her back-first onto the magically-summoned steel chair with a mean powerslam!
"Hoo boy, that's gotta hurt!" Tazz quips.
Sherry goes for the cover!
1! 2! Kick out!
Frustration can be seen in the eyes of Sherry Birkin, as she pounds at the canvas, struggling to not argue against the official's count.
"Oh man, she is not feeling pleased with how this is goin' so far..." Tazz mentions.
Birkin picks Star up by the hair, beginning to make the devil-horn headband on her head look crooked above her long yellow locks of hair.
She stands tall above her opponent, the Mewman Princess's head between her legs in a powerbomb position.
"Uh oh." Jim Ross realizes. "This could potentially be the end for little Star Butterfly..."
...
...that is, until Star suddenly reverses the position, carrying her larger opponent up over her shoulders...!
"Wait—wait a minute!" JR gasps. "Star Butterfly, with a sudden burst of strength!"
"This is uncanny!" Joey shouts.
Transitioning from the Alabama Slam position, Star lifts Birkin's body up, over and behind her, in a backwards-style piledriver type of position...
...before dropping her on the top of her skull with a back-to-belly piledriver, right on top of the steel chair behind them!
"OH MAN! Shades of that fella from PWG, Trent Barretta!" Tazz shouts out loud.
"Driving her down right on her neck!" Joey winces.
Star keeps her position, forcing Sherry down by her neck and shoulders, as Earl Hebner counts the pin.
1! 2! 3!
The bell rings, and that's all she wrote!
("Space Unicorn" - Parry Gripp)
Space Unicorn!
Soaring through the stars!
"The winner of this match... Star Butterfly!"
Overcome with ecstasy over her accomplishment, Star spazzes around in surprise and amazement as her arm is raised by the referee. Her debut has certainly impressed the crowd, as they're giving her one hell of a standing ovation after that move.
"And somehow – just somehow – this small wonder gets the victory, against many odds!" Jim Ross announces.
"This is another bit of proof that size does not matter in this industry as long as you back it up in the ring!" Tazz states.
"The smallest competitor in the match, and perhaps one of the youngest in recent pro wrestling history, has advanced to the second round!" Joey Styles announces.
Star is quick to head back to the defeated Sherry, congratulating her for being such good competition with perhaps the biggest hug possible, swinging her around within her arms excitedly as she jumps and spins around.
"Hey, be careful! Too much spinning, you girls, and you might vomit!" Tazz jokes around, as Butterfly drops Birkin and heads out of the ring.
High-fiving and hugging the fans in the first few rows in front, Star is willing to milk out this celebration as much as possible without going overboard. Given her always-optimistic attitude, this could be considered only a mild celebration for the royal Mewman resident.
"Let's just hope her next opponent isn't too big for her to handle... unless she's able to lift them up just as easily," says Joey. "You never know with this girl; I mean, she's from another dimension, after all."
This bout closes out the first half of the first round; there's still eight other individuals ready to spill blood in the Tournament of Fate, while entertaining these ecstatic fans, much like Princess Star Butterfly certainly has!
Man, did it rain hard earlier today... well, guys, hope you enjoyed this match as much as the last three before it!
Until next time, always be 'hella amazeballs'!
...what?