Welcome to Gaia! ::

Nuke powering off the apron sent Hiro off of him and on to his back right next door. The two wrestlers were sharing prime real-estate on the ground, both in pain but perhaps with a comradery they'd been searching for since returning at Wrestlemania. The Ethnic Enigma began to work his way to his hands and knees, huffing up a storm as he held his eyes tightly shut from the pain his whole body now was beginning to bear...a worthy feeling for a war with such a decorated opponent.

Hiro yanked on his tights to readjust them as he got to a standing position following his hands-and-knees struggle. The Cuban was reaching a point of desperation, willing to literally begin throwing himself at Nuke in an attempt to some more damage and bring them closer to a finish, despite the injuries he was now deal with. It was within seconds that Hiro noticed his opponent's new position in the corner, and a plan crossed his mind as he took off running and leaped, attempting to crush Nuke against the turnbuckle with a huge splash! The sight of several flash bulbs popping off at on e blinded folks at home for a fraction of a second as they awaited Hiro's success!

Hiro's eyes bulged out of his head as he crashed against the turnbuckle, the wind being knocked out of him entirely. The Ethnic Enigma's entire body would feel the impact, the pain shooting through his sternum right into his injured shoulder as if he'd taken a bullet straight through his body. Hiro's natural reaction would thus cause him more pain as he turned out of the turnbuckle with his eyes closed, fighting back screams of agony. It was a horrible decision, as Nuke Fusion came busting off the ropes like a god descending from his radiating throne atop a pile of plutonium -- crashing into Hiro with extreme force to his just freshly hurt ribs and lower chest with a spear. The fans were on their feet still, not given a chance to sit down and relax in this moment. They began to cheer wildly for Nuke's brazen disregard for his or Hiro's safety, with both men again sprawled out on the canvas following yet another hard hitting move.

Hiro was unmoving on the ground, anger flowing trough his bones from the amount of pain he was in. After the stress of getting that blade delivered to the locker room earlier night erased the good vibes of Blackjack heading back to prison, Hiro's body was very wound up. What would have normally just been some pain from the spear ended up being quite aggressive from a mental stand point: it felt like there was more of a struggle to breathe than there should have been. The pain in his shoulder, his abdomen...it felt like the result of a thousand fire ant bites at once, as they crawled beneath his skin -- a creeping death within.

Nuke would drape his arm over Hiro's body after another few moments passed -- but as the ref would count one, and then two, Hiro would push his arm up with some force and come to rest on his side, meaning he would not be pinned again with ease right away. It took the combined power of his legs and right arm, but lucky for him the match would go on...or at least, he thought it was lucky for him.

Hiro tried his best, in the moments after kicking out, to roll away from the action and head to ringside...but it was no good. He would not, perhaps COULD not, get the momentum going in time. Nuke had begun to spin himself on the mat and put himself in position, taking hold of Hiro's left leg and coiling around with the poise and precision of an actual constricting snake. The pressure would be followed by a sudden yanking of his ankle in the wrong direction, forcing Hiro to push up on his fists and lift his upper body from the mat with a roar. He started to scream out in fear, dropping down quickly to his elbows as the realization set in that he is either going to tap out or the miracle of getting across the ring to the ropes would have to intervene. The Cuban put his hands on his head and shoved his palms into his mouth trying to muffle what he felt were pathetic screams of a loser. Hiro clearly didn't think much of himself here, but Nuke on the other hand was without a doubt seeing him as a worthy challenger -- that's why he was going for this move now, locking it in so tight.

Hiro slammed his fists down hard and began to dig his finger nails into the mat, trying to inch his way slowly but surely the few yards it would take to get to the ropes across the ring. He slammed his loose leg up and down hoping he'd catch Nuke with an arrant strike, but it wasn't happening -- thus began a horrific tug of war between Nuke Fusion and the upper body of the Ethnic
Enigma. The rope? Hiro Shin-Mozas' left leg.

Hiro had exerted so much energy just pulling himself across the ground with Nuke in tow, his body turning red and blood beginning to trickle down his forehead once again as he was seemingly pushing blood out from his earlier wound with all the strength he was putting into crawling with his finger tips. He screamed out more and more, shouting at the ref that he was not giving up as he drew closer to the ropes, but still had to put up with the pain a little longer if he wanted to make it to the promised land. He again went kicking with his leg, hoping to catch Nuke in his arms, side, ANYTHING to cause his grip to loosen just a little bit. The Ethnic Enigma was determined to get out of this hold, the only thing yet to be seen would be how much the process of doing so would damage him.

Hiro was merely hurting his own foot slamming it down and connecting with nothing as he was forced to face the reality that, despite the fact that they both spent around the same amount of time out of the ring, Nuke Fusion would always have more experience, more strength, and more acumen than the Ethnic Enigma probably could ever dream of achieving. The fans were attempting to will on Hiro, not wanting to see the match end just yet -- but for those loyal Fusion Fanatics, they were popping off big time. Several more drops of blood would land on the mat before Hiro, coming from his forehead and now his mouth, as he'd bit so hard on his bottom lip to redirect the pain that he broke the skin. He continued to drag himself, his fingernails being bent and ravaged and small threads from the ring mat popping up from just how deep he got in there. It was a shocking moment for all as Hiro got within finger tips of the bottom rope, pushing his free leg as much into a kneeling position as he could with the way he was being held and pushed himself forward the final inches he was needing.

The crowd exploded as Hiro grabbed the bottom rope and let out several screams which translated into pleas with the ref to get Nuke off of him. He wanted to feel his leg again. HE needed to if he was going to go on in this match an longer. As the fans cheered, the ref postured over Nuke with a count to five to get him to let go.

Hiro let out several bellowing groans as he put a hand down on his hamstring, rubbing it as it was getting even more pressure put it on it than his ankle with all the dragging he'd been doing. What an opening match for No Mercy, the fans were getting it all here with two beloved veterans of the game going at it...and of course, showing no mercy to one another. Hiro would take hold of the middle ropes, and while apply practically no pressure to his left leg, he would start to climb the three rung ladder that was the ring ropes. He had to work extra hard with his left arm and right leg, the two limbs he still had that were mostly in working order -- but eventually, he would get back to a vertical base -- holding back tears as he tried to put his weight down on his left leg but needed to do so as to not give Nuke the idea that his hold truly took too much out of him. He locked eyes with his opponent once more, and readied himself against the ropes with his right arm hooked to the top rope.