; glory and gore [1]

T H I R T Y ; SUN

______We're close enough to touch the sun but the journey only just begun...

The ringing bell isn't even needed to announce the beginning of yet another war, both inside and outside the ring. While Sasha and Becky stare each other down, zero ounce of doubt resting inside of their burning souls, both of their teams are already clashing backstage.

The titantron's macabre images sadistically recall to the female warriors a clock is ticking right above their heads, the slightest second wasted in the squared circle being enough to mark the end of one's stable.

Pressure reaches its fever pitch as Sasha breathes in and out, inhaling her previous failures and falls before exhaling her upcoming successes and glory.

Banks finds herself trapped, her back to the corner, metaphorically reminding her that in the last match of the tournament this is do or die, kill or get killed. She barely avoids Becky's full speed Flying Elbow Smash, answering by a Front Dropkick before rolling her up for a two count.

Both have been fighting for over fifteen minutes and no matter how many times the referee informed them that Vince wanted the whole thing to go down quickly, none of the fighters would have obey his order.

They both have a point to get across and in that instant it's not even about the title, it runs way deeper than that. Banks' professional jealousy that has been killing her inside for so long clashes with Lynch's longing to prove once and for all who the better woman is.

Which one of the two worked harder, was willing to drop more blood, sweat and tears than the other ?

Which one sacrified more to make it to the pinnacle of her carreer and would still be able to give the few things she still has left away ?

Who's heart has been beating the most for that moment to happen, for their talent to be recognized ?

Sasha suffers the strength of the Sleeper Hold Becky is executing, her undying desire adding to its usual painful effect.

Her grip, squeezing down Sasha's chin, seems less and less hurtful as her energy slowly leaves her tiny body and she falls down to her knees.

While her vision blurs, she manages to distinguish a valuable weapon near her fingers and she immediately hits Lynch with a kendo stick, so brutally and so many times that she's forced to let go, both of them ultimately aching on the cold floor.

Banks is crawling toward the ropes, closely followed by the Irish champion who is grabbing her feet firmly. She eventually manages to get rid of her with well placed series of kicks, dragging her lifeless body to the tope rope.

Without any shade of hesitation Sasha executes a Flying Knee Drop on a floored Becky Lynch. She's so close from taking up the win and, as frustration is starting to get the best of her and her allies' cries of agony prevent her from focusing entirely on the current task, Sasha finds a brief spark of reassurance on the canvas as she's burying her face into her shaking hands.