After ten straight title defences, Risa Sera’s run as the inaugural FantastICE Champion has come to an end.
At Ice Ribbon’s latest show, which also played host to the final match of Uno Matsuya, Rina Yamashita bested Sera in a Fluorescent Light Tube Deathmatch to finally lift the belt.
Though neither wrestler could be described as having been a stranger to hardcore matches, the match type certainly appeared to favour Rina, who had become accustomed to the use of light tubes through her work with the FREEDOMS promotion.
The pair went back and forth in a bloody brawl that went just shy of fifteen minutes.
In the end, Yamashita secured the victory by delivering her trademark Splash Mountain Bomb through a stack of light tubes and thus, scoring the pinfall.
The win brings their FantastICE rivalry full circle, as the two had originally met in the finals of the initial FantastICE title tournament, with Sera walking out the victor.
Yamashita, who now wears Ice Ribbon gold for the very first time, was immediately challenged post-match by Suzu Suzuki, who had completed her own series of hardcore matches earlier in the evening.
Rina was all too happy to accept and the pair will meet later in the year in what promises to be yet another brutal affair.
Photo credit to HawK.