The Cayman Islands Double Elimination Tournament

[Randomman]

Michelle Rodriguez vs. Zoe Saldana

I knew going in that this would be a rough one—possibly on par with Chiaki vs. Grace earlier that morning.

Michelle had an advantage in weight and power (and bust), but Zoe had the height and reach. These same-aged co-stars had apparently had a prior match for the hype machine for the cinematic juggernaut that is James Cameron’s Avatar. Zoe won that one with a roundhouse kick to the head and a 3 count pin. Both had some non-cat fighting training: Zoe in survival and tribal martial arts, Michelle in boxing and had been typecast as a “Tough chick” most of her career. If that don’t make you a target for fights, little does. Both were Puerto Rican/Dominican mixes too. Michelle and Zoe had worked together and got along from what I saw of them earlier, so I didn’t expect it to start out as violently as some of the other matches that morning had been.

They still came out swinging.

Zoe lead first with a powerful thrust kick, but Michelle spun around it and flattened her with a single punch. Not hard, really, off-balance and all that, but it was forceful enough to send the darker skinned Zoe rolling back. Michelle let her get back up, but the statement had been made to her opponent and future competitors: Don’t take Michelle Rodriguez lightly.

That would have set up a power vs. speed match like several before, but the thing was that Zoe was not that far behind Michelle in the strength department either. She could nail rival with power moves just about on par with Michelle. Michelle’s may have hurt more, but it didn’t make Zoe’s hurt much less. It was only in close grapples that Michelle usually took the greater advantage, like when Michelle caught Zoe in a awe inspiring bear hug—the only thing that saved Zoe was Michelle’s need to play with her victim, which earned her a nasty blow between the legs.

Towards the end of the match, Zoe locked on a nasty Sleeper and body scissors combination, but Michelle had snuck an arm through the sleeper, lessening its effectiveness. Sweat was dripped from the combatants—maintaining holds like that was no small feat and it took even more effort to endure it.

Michelle at first tried to elbow Zoe to get her off, but Zoe slid to the other side, away from the aggressive arm and pulling Michelle to the ground. Zoe pulled tight on the body scissors, arching her back and forcing a scream from Michelle. Michelle’s legs thrashed, searching for footing for scant seconds before Michelle powered herself up off the ground. It took a good deal of effort, but after she steadied herself, Michelle went on the attack. Charging at full speed, she rammed Zoe into the Turnbuckle. Once there, she rammed her into it again and again until the holds loosened.

Then rammed her there again to knock her off and leave her cringing in the corner, and made sure she stayed there with a trio of stomps.

Michelle picked Zoe up by the neck, placed her back on the turnbuckle with two more elbows and a head butt before sending 5 rapid fire punches into her stomach and followed up with a left hook to her head, rattling it greatly, but she remained trapped in the corner. Until Michelle brought her out of it by her head into the center of the ring, shoved her head between her legs, picked her legs up and held her there for a good 6 seconds in prelude for the final blow: a devastating pile driver.

Zoe held in that upturned position for a half second before falling down like a felled tree. A 10 count later and the next rounds matches were all set.

By then, it was well past noon and deep into Siesta time. And after a show like that, we could all use a siesta—but I had to make sure everyone was taken care of first, my day wasn’t over. I did get some extra Z’s between 3 and 5 when I had to get the dinner party ready for the following evening.

The next day would begin the next round of events, with both rounds taking place in the morning and following final elimination, the competitors could do open challenges amongst their eliminated piers in the evening between 7 and 9. That might seem kind off light-weight, but keep in mind the amount of punishment and excursion going on in any match, and how hard they fought earlier. No one wanted to pull an all-nighter, and no one pushed it on the girls.

I was the help. That was a different story. No hobnobbing tonight. I had work to do.

Winners Bracket Day 2:
Morena Baccarin vs. Jessica Biel
Eliza Dushku vs. Summer Glau
Christina Hendricks vs. Chiaki Kuriyama
Natalie Portman vs. Michelle Rodriguez

Losers Bracket Day 2:
Jessica Alba vs. Rosario Dawson
Lexa Doig vs. Anne Hathaway
Grace Park vs. Scarlett Johanson
Freida Pinto vs. Zoe Saldana

Free Schedule Day 2:
None