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The referee counted... and it was only a two! Still, Nate had hardly expected to pull off a win this early in the match, but had thought that he should at least try going for a cover, who knew he could've gotten lucky...

Freak was on his way back to his feet and while it was generally considered bad sportsmanship to kick a man while he was down, this was Professional Wrestling! Not even that, it was GWF! So Nate had no problem with aiming a big soccerball style kick to his rising opponent's gut, which would hopefuly have force Freak onto his back once again. If all went smoothly he would try and follow up with a big vertical leaping elbow drop.

Once again gaining confidence from the way things were going and also from the fans reaction to his vertical leap, Nate thought he would visit the well one more time and leapt in the again to bring down a second high elbow to Freak's chest. He could tell that his opponent was beginning to wear down somewhat and if he managed to hit this next elbow without any problems he would once again try covering his opponent for a pin...

Nate should have known that going to the well again would have its consequences. The elbow drop was a bit predictable once an opponent had seen it once, he had to admit. Another rookie mistake for the Natural. He didn't have very much time to contemplate the mistake though as Freak rolled out of the way of his falling elbow and Nate instead felt the hard impact of mat canvas, causing pain to shoot through his elbow and up his arm from the shock.

The GWF crowd, who had once begun to cheer louder upon seeing Nate leap up in the air again let out a loud "Oooooh!" as Nate crashed and burned.

"Sneaky b*****d..." he mumbled in response to Freak's weak laugh and he clutched at his elbow for a moment, rolling onto his back so he could at least keep an eye on what his wily opponent was up to.

Nate couldn't tell how much time had passed in the match so far, it may have only been five minutes or it might have been more than ten. One thing he could tell though was that both he and his opponent had taken a beating from each other already, thankfully though he still felt that he had a whole lot more left in the tank.

Freak was still using the ropes to help him stand which showed the damage Nate had managed to do to his core strength through shots to the chest and gut. Nate hadn't taken too much hurt aside from as a result of his own carelessness. Twice Freak had managed to take advantage of his inexperience and twice Nate had felt pain as a direct result. Looking at him he could tell that Freak was wondering where to come at him from next and almost before he went to grab his leg he figured that Freak's next assault would be directed at the knee he had banged earlier in the match. But knowing what his opponent was going to do was one thing, being able to do something about it was another entirely.

Lying on his back Nate presented a very vulnerable and easy target and the Manhattan Freakshow seized his right leg and started pulling at it, kicking and generally trying to make a mess of it. In his defense Nate tried kicking up at Freak with his good left leg, but only managed a few grazing hits so instead he tried to pull his leg in close to him, hopefully pulling Freak in close by doing so and he would attempt to pull the hopefully unsuspecting Freak into a Small Package pin attempt.

Once again Nate only managed to get a two count with his pin attempt, but it was a much closer count than the first time and he could tell from the shock and surprise that he was beginning to get into Freakshow's head with all these close calls. Now if only he could use that to his advantage.

Nate got to his feet as quickly as he could, hoping to be up before Freak but it seemed that they both got up at the same time and the two GWF superstars were now staring each other down intently. Not wanting to waste any time, Nate closed the gap between them and aimed a hard right hand punch to Freak's jaw, showing him that even if he was the rookie in this match he wasn't going to let up the pressure for a second.

This was another rookie mistake made by the Natural, he knew from doing his research that Freak was a brawler by nature, so why had he tried going toe-to-toe with him? He connected hard with his big right-handed punch, but after wobbling for only a brief moment the Freakshow came at him with a fast and practiced flurry of offense. Nate managed to block some of the lefts, but as many got through as didn't. Someone must have been smiling down at him though because although he was hit by a number of the left jabs, Nate managed to scout the massive incoming right hook and ducked the blow by mere millimeters. He would have surely been knocked out had the harsh temple-shot connected and that would have cost him the match. Thankfully though he had gotten off lightly for his mistake and he tried to rectify the situation by once again turning the brawling contest back into a wrestling match.

Having ducked the hard right Nate went down low with a short, stiff kick to the gut; trying to get some reward from all the work he had done over his opponent's chest and midsection. He would then attempt a simple Gutbuster move, lifting Freakshow a short distance and dropping him down across his good knee.

With his opponent double over and trying to crawl away he could tell that Freak was having some trouble catching his breath. Perfect. Now was the time to try and clinch in the submission move he had been working on. He like to call it the Nate-Jacket because of the way it restricted his opponent's movement.

With ever rising confidence Nate began to stalk Freak coming up behind him and attempting to jump onto his back. From there he would slip his right arm up underneath Freakshow's right arm and lock it behind his head as in a half-nelson; then he would bring left arm across his throat and grab hold of his own elbow to lock in the choke. Then if he could he would try to wrap his legs around Freak's midsection and apply a body-scissors before rolling them over so that Nate was on his back and his opponent was held above him in the submission maneuver.

Clearly Nate had underestimated what his opponent had left in his tank because when Freak suddenly lunged into action it caught him completely off guard. Nate felt Freak gripping at his waist and was jerked forward with a slight yelp ending in a muffled groan as he faceplanted into the middle turnbuckle. Thank goodness the covers were still on or else he wouldn't have been seeing stars he'd have been seeing the black nothing of unconsciousness!

Nate slumped against the turnbuckle as the GWF crowd looked on with mixed reactions. Some people booed Freak for taking yet another shortcut, but a few others actually applauded the simplicity and effectiveness of the much needed counter to keep this match alive. It was one hell of a contest...