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A small pool of blood would form around Hiro's face as he lay on his side against the mat, his eyes barely open as stung from the sweat and blood seeping into them. He finally slipped onto his back as he was sucking in too much of that pooled blood as he breathing tried to recover from it's labored state. The match he'd had with Jamie Bader a few months ago had been an extreme affair with a ton of pain, and to this point in time, Hiro still hadn't recovered from it entirely -- but he would never let the pains and aches and injuries keep him from trying to win a match...not again. Nuke had taken his own time to recover, and when the God was satisfied, he would crawl to Hiro and toss an arm over him, going for the pin. The ref would drop down and count to two quickly, his hand coming down for three but stopping just short of the mat as Hiro popped up his shoulder without much effort. He did it slowly and dropped it back down to be propped up by his elbow, so Nuke's arm wouldn't pin him once more.

The fans cheered on, continuing to live in the moment and ignoring the fact that at some point VERY soon one of their favorites would be losing. Hiro was just in such an immeasurable amount of pain in his limbs, he had the thought creep into his mind that his neck and spine couldn't be doing well in the moment either. He and Nuke, intertwined for years, were coming undone tonight in the open of No Mercy -- what would be left behind when this match conlcuded?

Hiro couldn't believe his eyes as he looked to his right and saw Nuke kipping up to his feet to an ovation from the crowd. He was unable to fathom the fact that Nuke had any sort of energy left -- this was the power of Nuclear Fusion. A never-dying motor, Hiro could only marvel at the god from his position at his feet, but soon he would be helped up and stand on even footing...if only for a second. Nuke would push Hiro back a few steps and slap him across the chest with a massive chop that nearly dropped him right back to the mat, but Hiro planted his non-injured leg and instead merely yelped in pain. He spit out some blood and coughed up some more, but instead of complaining he'd let Nuke get a little closer to him and try to drive a huge knife-edged chop right back at his opponent with a of vitriol behind it.

Hiro was forced to eat chop after chop as he seemed to activate Nuke's trap card here -- you chop me once, I'll chop you three times! They continuously connected until Hiro finally blocked one and shoved Nuke's hand away, responding with a big European uppercut to break up the shots! The Ethnic Enigma then attempted to grab Nuke's head and throw him towards the nearby turnbuckle -- and if it would connect, he'd again try to slam into him with the same body splash he had missed earlier in the contest! Would it fail again, or would this be the moment Hiro'd been hoping to build off of?

Hiro had pulled off exactly what he had needed in the moment...except he collapsed as the splash hit, falling to the ground as his leg couldn't take being landed on with such force. He angrily slammed the mat, but tried to ride his own momentum and pushed back with his arms and working leg, getting back to a standing position. He grabbed Nuke and looked to chop him again across the chest and even him out against the turnbuckle, wanting to lift him up slowly and seat him on the top rope. He was going high risk, NOW? After everything Hiro had gone through, with how unsteady his core was...he was trying to ascended the ropes? This was a horrible idea, but perhaps doing something was crazy was exactly what the Ethnic Enigma needed right now.

Hiro used the ropes to help support his standing -- he needed all the help he could get in the moment. Nuke's chop was a nothing burger, not doing much damage but still showed the Ethnic Enigma that his opponent had something left in the tank, a fire still burning...and it had to be snuffed out. Hiro stepped to the bottom rope first with his good leg, followed by his bad leg to the other rope. He aimed another slap to the chest of Nuke to keep him from stopping Hiro's progress -- looking to take a second step to the second ropes. The fans were getting antsy, some very frightened -- this couldn't go well, it just couldn't.

Hiro would step over the top rope and get his good foot on the outter ends of the turnbuckle stepping up behind Nuke and barely keeping his balance atop the ring post and turnbuckle. He tried to slam Nuke in the back with a hard forearm and turn his body around, looking to get him standing on the top ropes as well -- he would then try to force him back into a bent over position and wrap his arms around his waist. The fans were stunned silent at the prospects of what was about to happen: Hiro was looking for his Gut Wrench Powerbomb from the top rope to try and destroy Nuke, get his revenge, and win his first match this year. Time would stop as Hiro tried to lift up Nuke, fighting through all of the pain that tried it's best to stop him.

Hiro had it all in his hands, quite literally -- all he had to was get Nuke up off the ropes and leap, driving them both down into the mat but most certainly destroying Nuke in the process. That is ALL he had to do, something so simple and so likely...but as with most moments in his life, Hiro would not be the benefactor of his own decisions. Nuke would drive a punt-like kick into Hiro's hurt leg, causing him to completely lose his balance and crotch himself across the top turn buckle, letting go of Nuke on his way down. Hiro's eyes opened wide as he froze, now in the most pain he'd been in all night by a wide margin, his boys crushed by the cold metal. A loud and collective "OOOOOOOOOOOOH" was let out from the crowd, waiting to see if Nuke could keep his own balance as Hiro was forced to deal with an unimaginable pain.

"No...No, dammit...urgh..." Hiro gritted his teeth and spoke out through the pain as Nuke began to hook him up, speaking his words of redemption, and finally his apology. Hiro tried to move, but couldn't he wanted to break it up, escape the hold, go for one more big move...but he just couldn't. The Ethnic Enigma and Nuke went crashing down to the ring from the Deific Effect, the back of Hiro's head and his neck slamming into the mat as if he'd been cracked once more with a lead pipe, just as Nuke had done seven and a half years ago...but of course, this time, it was different. Hiro knew to expect Nuke to do everything to win, to pull out all the stops; he didn't hit Hiro from behind, but instead, right in front of him. Hiro was unmoving, out cold on the mat and the ref could see it instantly, getting down to the ground and being prepared for the eventual three count that would come. The fans cheered wildly, but so many were stunned. What a moment.