MW Championship Part 1 RyanCarrWeber

In TW, the case can easily be made that, of the three weight divisions, Middleweight is the hardest class to contend in, as its range is greater, on average, than either of the other classes. Also, in middleweight, wrestlers face big differences in muscle definition from 155 to 200, so that two wrestlers of approximately the same weight could, because of their ages and experience levels, be physically very different. Middleweights also face the challenge of being the "middle child" in TW - not young, fresh and scrappy as the lightweights, and not as hard-hitting and spectacular in the ring as the heavyweights. As the league, in the months since its inception, became more and more focused on the headliner matches between usually senior heavyweights, and the big brawl-ish matches of the tag teams, the lighter wrestlers began to feel a bit lost, and especially the middleweights, some of whom have not much more time left in the league than the heavyweights do.

Jerred and Frank, however, to whom came the ultimate middleweight match - the Middleweight Championship - had no such frustrations. Sure, they felt they got less attention than the bigger guys. But by them, that was just fine, so long as they still got the matches they sought. Both had tried to stay out of making too many alliances, and were mostly successful, even as Kevin's mere presence polarized many of TW's wrestlers. Until Jerred's match with Brett the previous week which had ended so painfully for him, he hadn't had any interaction with either side at all. And Frank still hadn't. Nonetheless, the brutal beating Jerred had received at the hands of six of Kevin's posse after his defeat of Brett would surely affect his performance in this match.

Jerred was still sore all over from the massacre, and too humiliated to meet the eyes of any of his attackers, but he did his best to present the most confident face possible, even as he knew he was going sore into a match against a wrestler with more muscle, less fatigue, and 18 pounds on him, at 173. The amateur champion knew he could still win if he employed his freestyle skills to the fullest extent. But he didn't yet know how much the beating he'd taken last week would affect his performance. He wanted to postpone, but that would mean telling what had happened, and he didn't want it to happen again. So, he showed up, pulled on his singlet, and bounded to the ring when his name was announced.

"And his opponent, weighing in at 173 pounds, another original member of Teens Wrestling, Frank!" The audience applauded loudly for the muscleteen, Frank's freshman brother Chaz among them. The older middleweight stepped through the ropes and met Jerred at ring center, immediately noticing a fatigue which he had never before seen in the usually tenacious amateur. He made note of this, as well as of the way Jerred's movement suggested some soreness. Frank was curious, but smiled nonetheless. Jerred listened to the referee's spiel on the rules, and then he and Frank went to their corners.

The bell rang, and Frank came out with his fists up. Jerred, aware of his need to conserve his energy, waited, just a few feet from his corner, for the bigger teen to approach. When Frank, moving cautiously, got close enough, Jerred dove, cinching in a tight single-leg hook. He lifted Frank off the mat, and completed the takedown, as Frank instinctually rolled to his stomach to avoid a pin that wouldn't have meant anything anyway. This is what Jerred wanted, and he sat quickly on Frank's lower back, grabbing an ankle and pulling for all he was worth to stretch Frank's groin with a single-leg crab.

Frank cursed himself for his carelessness, and tried crawling to the ropes, as his crotch and back were both stretched painfully. Jerred pulled back as hard as he could, but Frank still managed, slowly, to pull himself on his elbows to the closest bottom rope. The ref made Jerred break, which he did, and stood waiting for Frank. The muscleteen had no sooner stood up than his legs went out from under him due to a Russian leg sweep. Jerred pounced again, grabbing Frank's strong arm as he rolled and twisting it into a tight armbar. Frank felt his muscle strained, the muscle he had hoped would win him the match, and tried to reverse the hold. Jerred, however, leveraged Frank onto his side and got the arm tight behind him.

Frank struggled in the hold, though he didn't have to for long as Jerred soon laid his arm flat and slammed a knee down into the muscelteen's bicep. Frank grunted, and Jerred repeated the move. He pulled Frank to his feet by the sore arm and whipped him into the ropes. Frank ducked a clothesline only to be flattened by a high kick from the amateur. Jerred was on a roll and once more twisted Frank's hurt arm into an armbar, wrenching the limb hard. Frank again pulled himself to the ropes. The amateur gave a clean break, but Frank did not, kicking Jerred hard in the abdomen as soon as was possible.

Jerred winced - his entire torso was still sore and battered from the beating he'd taken the week before - and doubled over, immediately holding his abs. Frank smiled, pleased to have found the amateur's weakness. He got up and blocked an attempted armdrag from Jerred by sidestepping and plowing his right fist into the lighter wrestler's gut. Jerred again doubled, and Frank capitalized with a swinging neckbreaker. Jerred now held his aching neck as he lay on the mat and Frank took the opportunity to drop to his knees on Jerred - one knee on the teen's chest, and one plunging deep into the battered abs. Jerred grunted as Frank fell, and rolled into a ball when the muscleteen got up.

Frank pulled Jerred to his feet and irish whipped him into a corner. The amateur tried to kick Frank as he followed, but Frank easily dodged the weak kick and rammed a shoulderblock to Jerred's chest. Taking the middle rope in hand, Frank rammed his shoulder into the boy's gut. Jerred doubled, leaning forward onto Frank who continued thrusting shots into the teen's bruised abs. Jerred resolved then and there, as he cursed Kevin, that no matter how Frank took advantage of the help last week's beating had afforded him, Jerred would simply not submit, but would wait for an opportunity to get a quick submission out of Frank.

The muscleteen was moderately surprised at the lack of effort Jerred seemed to be putting into the match - wasn't he interested in winning the championship jacket? Frank peeled Jerred from the corner and picked him up, slamming him in the center of the ring. Jerred just watched as the muscleteen bounced off the ropes to gain momentum for a deep fist to the tender gut of the amateur. Jerred coiled up, and Frank flattened him back out to apply what had become the most popular submission hold in the league - an ab claw. Frank dug his fingers into Jerred's gut, squeezing the already brutalized muscles there. He had no idea, given what he'd already seen, how Jerred kept refusing the ref's pleas that he submit to the hold. After two minutes, Frank gave up, pulling Jerred to his feet. The heavier teen stood behind Jerred, lifting him from behind, slam-style, for a gutbuster accross his knee.

Jerred wailed as he struck, and grunted as Frank unloaded a succession of forearms to his lower back, driving the gut harder against Frank's knee and thigh. Frank muscled Jerred back to his feet and maneuvered him into an abdominal stretch, pulling Jerred's abs against the direction their pain was taking them. Jerred wanted to give, and almost did when Frank added a single-handed ab claw to the stretch, but he held on, making himself dead weight so Frank really had to work for the hold. Because of this, the muscular teen soon tired of the ab stretch and dropped the amateur, pondering how the hell to get this kid to submit. Frank yanked Jerred to his feet and backed him into the corner, pulling down the straps of his singlet to reveal the teen's well-toned chest and abs. These, Frank began to beat at, chopping time after time until the amateur's pecs were a bright pink and stinging like a bee.

Jerred was suplexed to ring center, and Frank sat hard on his abs, remaining there to try a pec claw. Jerred was aching, and knew that this would be his submission if he did not get out soon. He saw his option, and took it, driving an unexpected fist to Frank's amply-filled speedo. Frank fell off to the side, holding his crotch, and Jerred used what energy he had left to pull himself over to the ropes and up to his feet by them. Frank soon got up, mad as hell, and bound toward Jerred, who was wating with a kick to the tender area assaulted a moment ago. Seeing it this time, the ref warned Jerred, but it was no use as the amateur DDT'd Frank to the mat. Frank ended face-down, moving only a little until Jerred grabbed his ankles and turned him over into a textbook perfect Boston Crab. Frank wailed in pain... he had barely warmed up in this match, and now his back was being stretched too far... something had to give...

Frank didn't know whether to be grateful or baleful as he saw, from the corner of his eye, Rusty emerge from beneath the ring. Franks vision being everything behind Jerred, the amateur was clueless as to the heavyweight's presence until he saw two infuriated officials pointing and then immediately felt the heavyweight's forarm smack accross his back. The bell rang the DQ as Rusty pulled Jerred up from the mat and slammed him into a backbreaker over his knee. The officials were conferring with the ref about what to do now momentarily, and Rusty took the moment to powerslam Jerred to the mat. Bouncing off the ropes, a double-knee was dropped into Jerred's gut, and then Rusty ended his assault with butt-stomp to Jerred's chest. Frank wasn't sure what was going on, but knew he had just been saved and Jerred knew exactly what had happened, and he was livid.

The announcer explained to the crowd that the DQ meant that, following a five minute break, the match would begin again from scratch. Jerred wanted more than anything to attack Rusty, but knew that it would be far more effective to hit Kevin's team where it hurts most - the MW Championship jacket. So Jerred sat in his corner, resting against the bottom turnbuckle, and waited, collecting himself as he slowly recovered from the heavyweight's assault to his sore abs and chest.

Frank was glad that he was still in the match, to be sure, but not happy about how this had been accomplished. Any win he would get now would be tainted by the assistance from Rusty. Also, he had never approved of Kevin's gang. TW, in Frank's mind, should be more about the wrestling, for fun, and less about the personal disputes resulting from inflated egos like Kevin's. As Frank leaned against the ropes, cooling down and preparing for the next round, he considered, 'maybe Kevin's ego needs a little deflation..." Frank knew that Kevin's boys obviously had a keen interest in Jerred's downfall -- that was obvious given the display a few moments ago. He also knew, much as he hated to admit it to himself, that Jerred had had him beat. Maybe, Frank thought, the right thing to do would be to throw the match to the kid. That thought left his mind quickly as his eyes landed on the championship jacket sitting on the announcer's table. Fair or unfair, it suddenly looked very much to Frank like the jacket was meant to be his.... and hey, everything happens for a reason, right?

The bell rang, pulling both wrestlers out of their reveries and back to the center of the ring. The ref motioned for them to engage, and the two circled, both obviously refreshed but still tired from the hard match already fought. A lockup produced no results for several moments, until Frank saw an opening and went for it, sinking an uppercut into Jerred's still-aching abs. The amateur broke the collar and elbow, doubling over, and Frank pulled him into a front-facelock under his left arm. Holding Jerred, Frank lifted three knees into the teen's abs, assaulting his aching gut even as Jerred tried to cover it. Holding the front-facelock, Frank fell back in a DDT which laid his opponent out on the mat. Jerred's blue singlet was soaked with sweat, and he was getting a headache to accompany his exhaustion as the muscleboy dropped an elbow to his gut.

Part of Jerred hoped for it to end, but part of him could not give in, even as Frank lifted him up for a gutbuster across the knee. Jerred rolled off of his opponent's knee, his abs on fire from all the blows to his gut. Frank approached, dodging an attempted kick by Jerred, and dropped a knee to the teen's lower back. Jerred was now trapped under Frank, and the muscleteen sat on his back, lacing his fingers under Jerred's chin. The amateur was pulled back into a camel clutch, his taut chest and abs stretched as Frank's weight pushed them down into the mat. The pain was intense, but Jerred knew he had to hold out. Frank cranked on the hold, sitting full-weight to aggravate the abs. He knew he was capitalizing on Kevin's earlier work.... but the officials and fans didn't have to.

Jerred struggled under Frank, feeling the heavier teen above him, bending him back, stretching his abs, and he felt almost helpless to escape. He considered tapping out, but held on, hoping Frank would get frustrated and give up on the hold. Frank, however, only stretched Jerred back further, till the amateur's head was over his bum. Jerred's stomach was stretched, the pain inflicted over the past week searing his abs and pecs. But giving in was not an option, at least not yet... he could take this. And he did, until finally Frank released it. Frank pulled Jerred to his feet and kneed him in the gut, flipping the boy to the mat over his knee. An elbow to the sore gut got a grunt from Jerred, and Frank, also showing wear from the long match, ascended to the top turnbuckle for a leaping people's elbow to the gut.

Frank missed, as Jerred mustered the werewithal to get out of the way, and cursed himself for even trying the move - high-flying was not his thing. Submission was Frank's thing, and as he got up, this was what he had in mind to do. Jerred, however, had recovered some from the gut torture, and rebuffed Frank's plans for domination with a lowblow to the muscleboy's ample crotch. Frank doubled over, and Jerred executed a near-perfect swinging neckbreaker, laying the heavier teen out on the mat. Getting a new rush of adrenaline, and drawing from the energy of the ebullient crowd, Jerred dropped to his knees next to Frank and pulled him sitting.

Jerred placed one hand on the back of Frank's head, and gripped his chin with the other, twisting his head in a painful neckbreaker, as he drove his knee into Jerred's back. Frank was still weak, but strong enough to hold on, and as the hold lasted, his strength returned. Frank struggled, but every way he moved put him in more pain. So the pain in his neck grew steadily as Jerred got his wind back, until the amateur switched, quickly falling back and pulling Frank into a nelson with his legs.

Jerred's thighs held Frank's arms painfully behind him as his ankles locked behind the mucleteen's head and his calves bent Frank painfully forward. Frank was astonished - how had he gotten here - as he considered submission, for the second time in this match. Jerred smiled, knowing that he'd finally made his amateur skill work for him the way it should. Frank was trapped, and he knew it. The only way out of this hold was submission, although the hold didn't hurt very much.... but it was restricting his breathing, and he was beginning to feel the drowsiness. He did his best to stay awake, and it paid off, as Jerred let go, the hold having completed its intended job - to give Jerred time to recover and to tire Frank out.

Frank got up to by tossed into the ropes by a waiting Jerred, and met on return with an arm-drag takedown which Jerred held and pulled into a tight armbar behind a sitting Frank. The muscleteen winced and grunted as his arm was twisted and stretched behind him, trying his best to angle himself to minimize the pain. Jerred cranked on the armbar, pulling frank to his feet by the hold. Frank got to the ropes, and the ref forced a break. Frank went for a clothesline, but Jerred ducked and spun around with one of his own. Frank's back smacked the mat hard, but he got up before being stomped and ducked another clothesline attempt. Jerred caught an arm and threw Frank into the ropes again.

Another clothesline was attempted by Jerred, but Frank ducked, spinning behind the amateur and pulling him back into a sleeper. Jerred flailed, tried to get to the ropes, but the muscleteen's arms just squeezed tighter around him, and Jerred slowly felt the energy draining from him. He fell to a knee, and Frank's leverage only improved, allowing the muscleteen to pull Jerred the rest of the way down, till he was laying on his side with Frank behind him. Frank wrapped his legs around Jerred's midsection, locking his right knee over his left ankle for a figure-four waistlock. This held Jerred right against Frank's body and in perfect position for the continuing sleeper.

Jerred tried his damndest to stay conscious, but the slowed airflow was taking its toll -- not to mention that Frank was pretty comfortable. The ref lifted Jerred's arm once - twice - the third time, it stayed up, but that was all Jerred was able to do... all he'd taken was just too much, and Frank was so strong.... his muscular arms around Jerred's neck and chin and his powerful legs constricting the amateur's waist were sapping the teen's energy. The ref tried again, and found Jerred had been put out. Frank held the hold only a moment after the bell rang. He got up and raised his arms in victory with a broad smile accross his face.

  ** The Middleweight Champion Takes His Title**

Chaz, Frank's younger brother, entered the ring to congratulate his brother and hand him the Middleweight Championship Jacket. The brothers embraced, and Chaz raised Frank's arm again in victory. Frank had chosen Hole's "Gold Dust Woman" as his victory music, and it played loudly from the PA system. Jerred soon came to as the brothers were still basking in the praise for Frank. Chaz noticed first and yanked him to his feet and into a full nelson. Jerred was too out of it to resist, but Frank admonished his brother, "hey, Chaz, let him go..."

The lightweight obeyed, and Frank moved to Jerred, who still leaned on Chaz for support. The middleweights shook hands, and Frank smiled at Jerred, "I don't feel totally right about this... not with what Rusty did."

Jerred shook his head, "Don't worry about it, Frank... you don't know the half of it. Congratulations."

Frank looked confused, but went on, "no, I'm serious. I'll take this for now, but I want a rematch.... I won't win this cheaply." Chaz looked befuddled by the display of honor, but kept quiet as Jerred and Frank shook hands and Jerred left for the changing area.

After a few more moments of basking, the brothers returned to their lockers in the changing area and got dressed. Tonight, they would celebrate. Frank was the Teens Wrestling Middleweight Champion.

Unbeknownst to Frank, his brother had quiet plans for a challenge - wouldn't it be neat to be the first lightweight MW champ?

Jerred licked his wounds, and decided that some revenge was in order... but he didn't want to look like he was seeking it. He would wait for one of Kevin's to seek him out - hell, he'd even take Rusty on, even if only to show he wasn't afraid of Kevin's posse. He wanted a shot at any of them.