The Sierra Wrestling All-Stars Thread, CRITICAL Edition

Lina's turbulent upbringing and home life is another thing we've been hinting at for a long time- if you look back, you can see a reference or two during her original OG-Joshi run. It never felt right until now to really have her talk about it- she wasn't ready to unpack those feelings. El Rey's interview was about current storylines and his hatred for Samael. Lina's was about finally being ready to publicly open up about some of the more negative periods in her life. The Lina of ten years ago wanted so desperately to be loved by fans that she couldn't bring herself to show who she truly was in public, instead presenting the image of an idealized hero. That image led her to huge popularity, but also caused some big problems and heartaches along the way. Now, at 40, Lina has the perspective to look back, see her mistakes, and present herself more naturally as she really is as a person.

This match got off to a wild start when Samael came charging down the ramp during El Rey Dorado’s entrance, flattening him with a huge lariat! Roaring at fans to get out of the way, Samael picked El Rey up by the mask and hurled him off the entrance ramp and into the crowd! El Rey landed with a crash onto a pile of hastily abandoned chairs as Samael made his way to the ring, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. Samael demanded a 20-count, but referee Toby Russell told him the match couldn’t officially start until both men were in the ring. Samael’s smile twisted into a snarl, and he lunged for the official, but Toby ducked out of the way, plaintively insisting that the rules were the rules. “Fine,” Samael said, “But just know that you can only blame yourself for what happens now.”



A look of grim determination on his face, Samael returned to the outside, wading through the crowd to where he’d left the fallen El Rey Dorado, who still had not moved. When Samael went to pick his foe up, though, it became clear he’d been playing possum, as when El Rey came to his feet, a fan’s beer was in his hand, and he smashed it into Samael’s face! El Rey was quick to press the advantage, pummeling Samael through the crowd. Samael’s attempts to brawl back were defeated by El Rey’s superior crowd-brawling techniques; fans scattering everywhere as El Rey used chairs, guard rails, and anything else nearby to keep Samael under his control. El Rey dragged Samael by the hair over to the staircase, seemingly intent on bringing him back to the ring, but Samael had other plans. He grabbed at El Rey’s mask and actually partially pulled it off! El Rey scrambled to get his mask put back on, and Samael took the momentary distraction to hurl his foe down the staircase! El Rey crashed hard against the guard rail and lay very still.



Samael followed down the stairs, but as he approached where El Rey Dorado was lying, a fan in the crowd, wearing a brimmed hat and trench coat, stood up and started walking towards him. Samael hesitated, a look of uncertainty in his eyes. The fan threw off the hat, revealing it to be Cerise! El Rey Dorado had members of Los Diablos hiding in the crowd! With a dramatic flourish, Cerise produced a can of pepper spray and sprayed Samael right in the eyes with it. Her dirty deed done, Cerise took a bow and returned to her seat. El Rey was laughing now as he dragged Samael back over to the ring, and finally the bell was rung to officially start the match.



A pinfall attempt by El Rey Dorado only got him a two count, so he instead ground the heel of his boot into Samael’s face, before quickly switching to an arm bar when the referee started to admonish him. “It’s a legal hold, cabrón! Cálmete!” he shouted as he cranked on the arm bar, then immediately grabbed a split finger lock as soon as the official relaxed. Again, referee Toby Russell admonished the masked man for the illegal small-joint manipulation. El Rey got up to argue the ruling, but even as he held up his hands to protest his innocence, he delivered another sharp kick to the face of the downed Samael. El Rey went for another pinfall, but this time was bodily hurled through the ropes to the outside.



Rage written on every line of his face, Samael rolled out of the ring after El Rey. Pulling El Rey up to his feet, Samael picked him up and slammed his spine down into the ring apron, then turned and charged him into the nearby ring post. Toby Russell began the 20 count, but it didn’t seem to matter to Samael, who went rooting under the ring for a spare table and set it up at ringside. Samael lifted El Rey by his throat and dragged him over to the table, intent on a chokeslam, but the wily El Rey raked his fingers across Samael’s eyes to escape. El Rey slid back into the ring and ran across for a dive, but Samael had recovered enough to get out of the way, leaving El Rey to crash through the table!



Samael could’ve probably taken the count-out right then and there, but the enraged giant instead rolled El Rey back into the ring and started choking him, bearing his considerable weight down on his opponent’s throat. Toby Russell moved in to try to break up the illegal hold, but actually dived out of the ring in fear when Samael glared up at him. This, however, proved to be a mistake on Samael’s part, as it meant the referee wasn’t there to see the gallingly blatant low blow El Rey used to escape the hold. Standing shakily, El Rey turned out to the crowd and demanded applause, which got some cheers and applause, but also a lot of booing. El Rey seemed outraged by the mixed reaction, and turned back around to bury a fist in Samael’s midsection. With Samael doubled over, El Rey went to the top rope and delivered a diving neckbreaker. Again, El Rey demanded applause, and this time the reaction was more universally positive. Seemingly satisfied, El Rey went for a cover, but only got a two-count.



El Rey started to drag Samael to his feet by the hair, but Samael batted the hand away and punched El Rey right in the face! El Rey reeled for a moment, but responded in kind with a straight right hand of his own. Toby Russell’s warnings about closed fists were summarily ignored as the two massive men started beating each other’s faces in, going back and forth with wild punches! The strength advantage on Samael’s side became obvious, though, as El Rey’s strength swiftly waned under Samael’s relentless assault. El Rey tried to turn things around with a headbutt, but it had no apparent effect except to enrage Samael, who practically lariated El Rey right out of his boots in response. With an ugly sneer on his face, Samael ran the ropes and hit a second, even bigger lariat. El Rey just barely got a shoulder up in time to avoid the three-count.



Samael lifted an arm and adjusted his elbow pad, then held his opened hand out behind him, waiting for El Rey to get up. As the battered El Rey stumbled to his feet, Samael was ready to slap a hand across his throat, setting up a chokeslam. El Rey, however, had the presence of mind to reach out and grab for anything he could to help himself. Whether by accident or on purpose, El Rey’s hand found the referee’s collar. The terrifying strength of Samael was put on full display in that moment, as he seemingly effortlessly lifted both wrestler and referee, delivering a thunderous chokeslam to El Rey, who, for himself, somehow kept his grip on Toby’s collar. Samael went for a cover, but Toby Russell was down for the count, having been thrown clear out of the ring. Samael rolled out to retrieve the official, but on seeing Toby well and truly down and out, a lightbulb seemed to go off in his head. With an ugly smile, Samael rummaged underneath the ring again and pulled out a few spare chairs.



This is when things started to truly get out of control. As Samael went to throw a chair into the ring, Fabio Silva jumped barricade from somewhere in the crowd. Fabio grabbed the chair out of Samael’s hand, but Samael had another one in his other hand. Fabio and Samael were caught in a standoff for a long moment, before the two charged at each other, clashing chairs! Samael’s strength advantage was obvious, as he smashed the chair clear out of Fabio’s hands and into the crowd. Somewhere in the back, James Fushichou let out an audible sigh as SWA’s insurance premiums rose. Fabio, undeterred, charge at Samael, coming in under the chair to and actually picking Samael up and charging him across the ringside area to deliver a massive running spinebuster into the barricade. Seemingly satisfied with his work, Fabio turned to leave, only to walk right into a spear from Blaze, who had suddenly appeared as if from out of nowhere at ringisde! Blaze didn’t have long to appreciate his own work, however, as Cerise made her presence felt again, knocking Blaze senseless with a huge head kick! Helping Fabio up to his feet, Cerise beat a hasty retreat to the back as Toby Russell finally started to come around.



El Rey Dorado probably could’ve just put Samael back in the ring and gone for a pinfall at that point, but whether out of a desire to impress the crowd, or a desire to prove himself, he didn’t. Instead, once he had Samael back in the ring, El Rey picked him up for a massive scoop slam that shook the whole ring. With a call of “Viva Los Diablos!”, he climbed the turnbuckles, looking for a moonsault, but at that moment, Brandon Kennedy suddenly slid out from under the ring and blew green mist in El Rey’s face! El Rey fell to the mat, and Samael capitalized with a pin, but El Rey got a foot on the ropes at the last possible moment!



Samael grabbed El Rey by the throat and pulled him back up to his feet. Gesturing that this was the end, Samael threw El Rey up in to the air for the Final Judgment, but El Rey hung on! Drawing blood from Samael’s brow a few good punches right over the left eye, El Rey tapped into his lucha background with possibly the tallest hurracanrana in SWA history! Toby Russell was in perfect position to count the fall, but Samael recovered from the surprise a fraction of a second faster than El Rey needed, and managed to kick out. Undaunted, El Rey ran the ropes and hit an Axe Bomber, but Samael didn’t go down! El Rey went for another Axe Bomber, but this time Samael lariated his lariating arm! Samael ran the ropes for another one of his own lariats, but El Rey caught him with an absolutely massive spinebuster! Desperate hope written across his face, El Rey locked in the Stretch Plum. Samael tried to fight out, but El Rey delivered a series of straight downward elbows into his shoulder and neck, and locked the Stretch Plum back in.



The crowd reaction started to hit a fever pitch as Samael faded. This was it! After 9 interminable months, Samael’s reign of terror was seconds away from coming to an end! Brimming with confidence, El Rey spun Samael around into piledriver position. Tense uncertainty filled the arena – Could El Rey get Samael up for the Martinete? El Rey lifted and pulled Samael up – he could! El Rey was going to drive Samael down and win the match with the Martinete! All the enthusiasm deflated, though, when Samael managed to get his feet back down to the mat. The crowd was eerily silent as Samael threw El Rey off of him with a back body drop.



“Do not hold onto foolish hope!” Samael shouted out to the crowd as blood gushed from his forehead, coating his scalp and face, “SWA no longer belongs to you. It belongs to me, to do with as I please!” With that emphatic statement, Samael grabbed El Rey by the throat, threw him up into the air, and hit Final Judgement. Fans briefly rallied as Aguijon Tachibana appeared, leaping out of the crowd to break up the pin, but just as quickly, those cheers turned back to silence as Aaron Wolff came running in behind him. As Toby Russell counted the three, Aaron Wolff tackled Aguijon to the ground. The back of Aguijon’s head slammed into the barricade as he fell, and Augijon lie still and lifeless as Wolff rained down palm strikes on him with his left hand, the right one noticeably lying at his side, covered in a splint.



As Toby Russell raised Samael’s arm in victory, Samael laughed at the audience’s dismay. “Are you so desperate that this is your hero now? Fine. Watch as I destroy another you hold dear.” Samael tore the SWA Openweight Championship belt out of the referee’s hands, and set up to hit El Rey with it, but at that moment it was like a tide that had been held back burst through the floodgates. The rest of Los Diablos came charging out from the back assaulting Samael with fury, but the Brotherhood of Fallen Angels were close behind them. The locker room emptied out as wrestlers tried to tear the incensed factions apart, with the PPV ending on the image of a massive general brawl throughout the arena.

You wrote that so awesomely, I really had no idea who was going to win until the last second. I loved reading this. It felt like a true war unfolding in front of me and the audience.  Both guys got over huge.  No one was truly hurt by this match.  El Rey got as close as one could against the beast but managed to fall just short. I think El Rey's downfall was his own arrogance though as he had the match potentially won a few times but just needed to win decisively and Samael kept reversing when it mattered most. This could have gone either way but Samael emerged supreme after the biggest test he had - and given their history and the stakes herey, this was an epic win. I was very impressed by El Rey's ability to brawl with Samael in the crowd and throughout the match. I liked Samael lariating El Rey's lariating arm 😁

The faction warfare was brutal, especially Aaron Wolf's receipt on Augijon for what happened earlier in the night. I love how Aaron still did that damage with just one healthy arm. But Augijon got the last laugh (well, aside from El Rey losing) because he'll be out of action for less time.  Cerise was very effective too!  Even Fabio had a big contribution with a huge showing of strength and spirit.

Also - haha, you beat me to the punch on this spot. Great minds 😁



I had thought about doing something like that last week for a Wang Gom-Bu match

Seriously, one of the best SWA main events ever and I loved reading this WAR 😎

That was such a great description and I am looking forward to learning more about Lina.

It's too bad she lost to Mieko but it was a hell of a match. And, right now, it seems Lina's main challenge is her own growth and being at peace with herself rather than any specific opponent.

I love Lina's new haircut by the way!! 😀

It took me about two days to write that main event, and I'm rather proud of it, so I'm glad you liked it! Also glad you like Lina's new haircut lol. Lina is EXCITE for the chance to wrestle in OG-Joshi again.

California Assembly Bill 5 is a real thing and has been raising some important questions for a lot of freelancers and independent contractors here. Many companies are pulling back from using Californian freelancers for fear of litigation. I felt it appropriate that SWA have a response, since they do business in California, and the bill applies to "Entertainers," which professional wrestlers fall under, legally.

Ahh, that is very interesting. I think I may have heard about that Bill a few months ago in association with companies like Uber but didn't realize it also could apply to professional wrestling.