Animalia's "coliseum" was full of activity as Beth and Elizabeth made their way toward the "ring" that was established. Though, unlike the pro-wrestling events that Lizzie had followed on television, this was limited to a large padded mat with a ring marking the boundary of the "combat" area. In this, it was more akin to classical Grecco-Roman wrestling which was the backbone of wrestling at the high school and collegiate levels. Lizzie, did, however know this to, as she'd been able to be a sort of "manager" when she was in high school, though this was more limited to getting drinks for the wrestling coach and keeping track of the schedules than anything directly related to the sport. It did, however, give her plenty of opportunities to observe and with the IAC she'd finally gotten the opportunity to actually practice. Especially when Beth urged her to try.
"You'll do fine," Beth said to her, "and IAC has added the rules for Animalians to include no biting, clawing, or tail pulling."
"Ironically the things that dogs and cats do naturally when they wrestle," Lizzie answered and glanced at the gathered crowd to watch her opening match.
Beth only shrugged. A lot of those sorts of things was never something that she really paid attention to, even after becoming an Animalian. Learning some things from Lizzie was nice, but her real purposes were more to root for Lizzie in her opening match.
"All the same, you'll do fine," Beth told her, "and even if not... you're still a champ to me."
Lizzie smiled, "Thanks."
There was a silence for a few moments as Beth looked at the gathered crowd. She soon noticed that it was rather sparse. It wasn't empty, but it did seem to be a smaller crowd than what Beth had expected, especially with the first wrestling matches. Lizzie did notice the frown on Beth's face.
"Something wrong?" Lizzie asked.
"There's fewer people here than I would have expected," Beth commented, "this is Grecco-Roman Wrestling. It doesn't have the perceived violent aggression of literally trying to hurt someone that is often seen in boxing or MMA. That would attract more people to it, I'd think."
"It doesn't matter," Lizzie answered, "and besides the big wrestling match will be in the heavy-weight division with one of the tigers from the zoo and one of the lions having the potential to see each other at some point... with the whole "king of beasts" at stake. But in the end... for me... this is just for fun and actually be part of things that I could only watch growing up."
"I'd hoped there would be more there to see how awesome you are," Beth commented as licked Lizzie's cheek. Lizzie returned Beth's show of affection with a hug and a purr and then moved toward the mat and where her coach was waiting.
"She a fan?" her coach asked, who looked to her in a friendly way.
"And more," Lizzie nodded.
"Okay... you ready?" her couch nodded and glanced out across the mat to where Jamie and her coach were going over a few last minute things of their own. One of the refs that normally did the high school wrestling tournaments for Lyre stood between the two groups.
"Yeah," Lizzie answered.
"Okay then," her coach spoke, "remember to work more with leverage. In terms of raw strength that she-wolf will be stronger, but raw strength isn't everything. You're quicker. Use that to your advantage."
Lizzie nodded. She then made her way out onto the mat and met with Jamie. The female wolf Animalian looked to her with a fairly friendly smile.
"A shame they had us matched up for the first match," Jamie commented as they shook hands.
"Yeah, but we weren't put in change of making the match-ups, were we?" Lizzie gave a chuckle, "Good luck."
"And the same to you," Jamie nodded as the referee for the match came forward.
"Okay, I want a good clean match, no claws, no biting, no pulling of tails, understand?" the ref spoke. Jamie and Lizzie both nodded.
In the stands, Beth sat as quietly as she watched Lizzie and Jamie's match. While those coordinating the IAC felt that the bet over the match couldn't be worked with, even though no one was exchanging money on it, she was grateful that no one was disqualified from participation in the games. The match did go back and forth, and Beth cheered every time Lizzie scored a point, though she had to admit that Jamie proved to have picked up on sport's rules and moves as well. Beth also found herself nervous at a few times in the match.
The matches were set up based on weight classes, just as all wrestling matches were, though on some level there were some things that would make a lot of people confused on a match between a House Cat Animalian vs. a Gray Wolf Animalian. This was another thing that Beth had learned from Lizzie when Lizzie first learned from the match-up. In nature, the Gray Wolf averaged around 90 pounds or so. The largest breed of House Cat reached around 20 pounds or so and many not familiar with Animalia might be confused over that. And at times, Jamie did put her greater strength to good use, actually pinning Lizzie in one round. But Animalians had a somewhat different weight bracket as many mega-fauna lost some size while uplifted small animals gained size. That put Lizzie and Jamie in the same weight bracket, though Jamie was on the upper end and Lizzie on the lower end, and Lizzie did put her quickness to good use and limiting what Jamie could do with her greater strength.
Though, in the end, Jamie won the match, though only by one point and set up by the one round where Jamie managed to pin Lizzie. Beth watched as Jamie and Lizzie both shook hands again after the match. With the match over, Beth made her way down as Jamie and Lizzie left the mat. The three did meet together and Beth was a bit surprised to see Lizzie smiling.
"Well, that was fun," Lizzie stated, "If the IAC becomes something they do every summer, I'd love to do it..."
"And you were pretty good," Jamie commented, "If I hadn't gotten that one pin... you probably would have won the match."
"I probably gambled a bit to much in that round," Lizzie admitted, "And you caught me..."
"Yeah, but I'd still think that was more luck than anything else," Jamie answered, "On the whole, I'd think you outdid me."
Beth wanted to nod when two male voices called out to Jamie.
"Yeah, but you won!" came the cheer from Trevor and Riley as they approached and came up to Jamie. Their voices weren't in perfect unison, but their happiness at seeing Jamie win was obvious. Trevor's tail was visibly wagging behind him.
"So, when is the next match?" Riley then asked.
"The next round is later this afternoon," Jamie answered, "as the first round is beg and they have a few weight classes to go through. Similar to the boxing tournament."
"But that isn't scheduled to start until after the wrestling tournament is over," Riley commented.
"So, you have time for lunch?" Beth asked.
"A quick one, sure," Jamie nodded, "If you don't mind the company."
"Just so long as they keep their pants on," Beth said firmly, though more aimed at Trevor and Riley.
Both wanted to argue, but a warning growl from Jamie got both to back down.
"We'll be good," Riley spoke with Trevor nodding beside him.