Booking Glory-Chapter 107: I Have My Own Plans

Hey Folks,

Happy New Year!!!

After talking with several other writers, and discussing the issue of word count with them, I have understood a few mistakes I made and am hoping to rectify them. I am conducting an experiment for the next week to see if it affects the flow of the story much.

Kindly be patient with me. Also, let you know your thoughts in the comments.

New readers who are unaware of the issue can refer to the auxiliary Chapter for further details.

*****

"So Rob, do you want to add anything to what Dacey said to me until now?" Malora asked eagerly.

"A couple of things," Rob said looking at her. "That witch-like cackle you did while going out earlier, fine-tune it and make it more spooky. Try to end most of your promos with that cackle. It will create a sinister effect on your character."

Dacey nodded from the side hearing Rob’s suggestion. She could already envision the screen going dark with only those cackles echoing in the background. It would be really spooky.

"Speaking of spooky, you need to distort your makeup a bit. Don’t try to be beautiful. Witches are meant to be spooky and scary. Don’t rely on your beauty much," Rob said causing Malora to scowl at him.

"You can use your body more," Dacey supplied from the side. "Just make sure you have a scary face."

"Ah, alright," Malora said a little mollified causing Rob to blink in surprise.

"No girl likes being ugly, you dumbass," Dacey smacked Rob’s head causing Nelson and Malora to chuckle.

"Alright, alright," Rob said chuckling. "Apart from that, try to use fewer moves."

"What?" Malora and Dacey asked at the same time in confusion.

"You are a witch, so don’t run around and do some crazy stuff. Act like a witch. A witch is powerful. Each move she does needs to be painful and hurt her opponent a lot. All I am saying is that, don’t become a normal wrestler. Tailor your style to suit the character," Rob said explaining his idea a bit better causing Malora to sink into thought.

"Huh, it would be interesting," Dacey said mulling over Rob’s words. "But, it needs to be booked well."

"True, so don’t accept random matches. Explain the concept of being a spooky entity that haunts the wrestlers to the bookers and ask them to use you sparingly. Most of all, don’t wrestle long matches," Rob said giving some tips.

"As if," Malora snorted. "Rob, I am trying to enter the industry. I can’t put this many conditions. I can only do what they want me to do."

"But..." Rob trailed off understanding what Malora was getting at. He couldn’t fault her logic here.

"Talk with your opponent. They will accommodate most of this stuff. It will also help them," Dacey said from the side causing Malora to nod.

"Why can’t you get her into LWC? You can do a lot of things with her gimmick, right?" Dacey asked in confusion.

"I have my own plans," Rob said smiling mysteriously causing the three of them to look at him a bit oddly.

Rob was not the kind to give away great ideas like the spooky witch easily. He already had a plan in place to bring Malora into LWC. But, for that, he needed Malora to become a little bit more well-known. Hence, he was encouraging her to get her name out with other promotions.

LWC’s current standard was high. Unless there was something important or unique about someone, they wouldn’t recruit someone easily. They would rather promote one of their training camp members than recruit someone entirely new.

Moreover, the power of recruiting new wrestlers was in the hands of Robin. Rob didn’t think Robin would be open to recruiting someone and putting them on TV directly. With Rob’s say in the women’s division, Robin would probably be forced to recruit her.

But, Robin being Robin, will probably put Malora in the training camp and try to delay her debut as much as possible with his influence there. Thus, it would take too long for Malora to be useful to him.

So, Rob was planning to create some buzz with Malora first in the wrestling circle and then recruit her. That way, he could use her as soon as possible citing her popularity as a reason. This would not be too controversial and would be relatively mild.

It would also send a signal to promising talents out in the independent circle that getting recruited by LWC wouldn’t end up as a disadvantage. They could probably have a TV debut if they are the right kind of talent. It was a multipronged approach, focusing on the long term.

Rob actually had plans for Malora’s witch character. Especially, pairing her with bubbly Alanna would be a wonderful combination. The contrast between the duo would make for an enigmatic storyline.

Nelson and Malora looked at each other and communicated with their eyes after Rob said that he had his own plans. Dacey, for her part, merely shrugged and put it out of her mind.

What followed was a general discussion of things and having a good time with Nelson and Malora. After their discussion with each other, Malora and Dacey easily bonded. When Malora revealed that she was the woman whom Dacey was standing near before making the attack on Diana, Dacey couldn’t help but chuckle.

Nelson wasn’t an exception among Rob’s friends. He too made a big scene out of Dacey dating Rob and said that she was too good for him, causing Rob to scowl and Dacey to chuckle.

However, Rob didn’t mind it much as it was a must-need boost for Dacey’s ego. Especially, in light of their recent conversation, Rob felt that Dacey might appreciate that sentiment a bit more. Dacey’s insecurities were not a thing that could be solved easily and Rob was aware of that.

However, every bit of positive reinforcement mattered.

As time wore on, Malora and Nelson excused themselves to go and serve the customers for a bit. While there were other employees in the bar, Malora being their star waiter was always in demand.

Unlike other bosses, Nelson was a wrestling fan himself. So, it was very easy for him to mingle and converse with his customers. A greeting from the owner of the bar always made a good impression on the customers. And Nelson too loved discussing stuff with them.

Left alone, Rob and Dacey got comfortable. After talking about some random stuff for a bit, Dacey told Rob about the progress of her movie deal and what was the probable time she would leave to complete her part in the movie.

Rob realized that it would come right after the current PPV and was already planning for it. He had some basic plans to shift focus on Diana and Evelyn more, so as to gloss over Dacey’s absence. He wasn’t planning to take away the title as it would mean two title changes in less than three months.

While it would create more buzz, it would hurt the prestige of the title in the long run. Rob wanted to elevate the LWC Women’s Championship to the top and not just devalue it by making it change hands repeatedly.

Every reign of a champion matters in Rob’s opinion. A consistent run of more than six months with good storylines would elevate the championship to new levels constantly and make holding it a major affair.

As the prestige of the championship increases, the interest in the title match would also grow constantly. Thus, it would create a virtuous cycle where each and every aspect would feed off one another.

After a while, Nelson walked in with a frowning Todd. Seeing Rob and Dacey present he merely smiled and congratulated Rob. But, Rob couldn’t help but notice that Todd seemed to be unusually stressed today.

"What’s with the long face?" Rob said as Todd sat down.

Todd grimaced a little and shifted in his seat.

"There are some changes in my office. And I don’t think it would be good for the industry as a whole," Todd said taking a sip of his drink.

"What do you mean?" Dacey asked concerned.

"Well, to put it bluntly, Wrestle Report will no longer be an impartial newspaper. The way things are going, I am afraid that they will begin taking sides soon," Todd said frowning.

"But, Wrestle Report has been around for a long time. They are really popular among the crowd," Nelson said in confusion.

"Indeed, we do have a lot of prestige among the fans. However, I fear it is this prestige that has led to this situation," Todd said shaking his head.

"You mean, someone is trying to make Wrestle Report start reporting in their favor?" Rob asked catching on.

"Indeed," Todd said with a heavy frown. "This goes against journalistic integrity. I don’t know if I can continue working there."

"What do you mean?" Nelson asked in surprise.

"Look, I know that sometimes we tend to favor certain wrestlers or a promotion. It is individual bias. It is part and parcel of the industry. No one is going to remain completely objective in any situation," Todd said scratching his jaw.

"I understand it and I am fine with it. You can’t separate people from their likes and dislikes. It is one of the reasons a newspaper has a certain kind of audience. However, individual bias is one thing, but institutionalized bias is entirely another thing. If things progress the way they are, then we won’t be allowed to comment or critique certain individuals and will always have to sing their praises," Todd said gravely.

"I don’t see what’s the problem here. Why do you want to quit? You can just not comment about them," Nelson said as if that simplified the matter.

"It is not just that. Things go beyond that. Let me give you an example. If you and Rob are arguing, and I can’t critique Rob, who do you think I am going to critique? You. It is fine if you are in the wrong. But, what if Rob is the one committing a mistake and I have to hide it and critique you to make you look like a sinner? That is not journalism," Todd said a little passionately.

"If that bothers you, you can just not talk about it," Nelson said shrugging his shoulders.

"Ha, if only things are that simple. No, I can’t stay away for two reasons. As an influential figure, I will have to participate in the discussion. Otherwise, my influence will soon start to dwindle. Do you think the owners of Wrestle Report will allow that? No, they will force me to write against you," Todd said simply.

"What’s the other reason?" Dacey asked morbidly curious.

"Second, I will need to speak up so that I can cover for Rob and argue for his sake. Since Rob will be giving me benefits, I am duty-bound to cover for Rob no matter the circumstances," Todd said smiling sadly.

"And it won’t stop with just that, will it?"

Rob asked already having some idea who was behind this.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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