Booking Glory-Chapter 15: Reactions & Expectations

Being a city that was known for its wrestling events, it was only natural that several bars that featured the theme of wrestling popped up in the city.

Among them, Top Slam was a bar that was frequented by diehard wrestling fans quite frequently. It was said, a pro-wrestling pilgrimage will not be truly complete if one doesn’t walk into Top Slam bar.

Malora was a waitress in the Top Slam bar. There were several people like her in Longham City. Lured in by the beauty of pro-wrestling culture and given a harsh slap of reality when they arrive in Longham City.

While Longham City had wrestling shows that were put out almost on a daily basis, the opportunity for aspiring wrestlers was really not that much. Only one in a hundred can ever show set foot inside a ring in front of the crowd. And even rarer were people who could show their faces on TV.

Malora was one such young woman who desperately wanted to be a pro wrestler. However, the harsh reality of living on her own forced her to end up as a waitress in the Top Slam bar.

Being a waitress in Top Slam bar wasn’t without benefits, however. With so many diehard fans visiting regularly, sometimes other wrestlers and executives of wrestling promotions will also visit. If she could obtain a worthwhile connection from some of them and obtain an opportunity for a tryout, her dream would come true.

The business was as usual in the Top Slam bar, when she heard something that intrigued her.

"Man, did you see the brawl in today’s show?" one of the patrons exclaimed in high spirits causing others to nod.

"It was really great. I felt like running into the ring and taking part in it," another patron chortled drunkenly.

"LWC sure booked a great match this time. If only it had been for a major championship instead of the Women’s Championship," someone lamented as he drank.

"Yeah, I too think so. But, this is also good. Normally I use women’s division matches for a bathroom break when I attend a show. But, this one looks like a must-see. Not to mention that this is the first-ever Triple Threat Match in the history of professional wrestling," the first one said causing some people to tut.

"I still think they should have used this idea for the world title. Can you imagine the sort of hype it would create? LWC could have sold out the show with that," the one who lamented earlier grumbled.

"Who says that this is bad? From what I heard from Duncan, the show is close to being sold out," the first one said causing shocked whispers to erupt across the table.

"What do you mean that it is close to being sold out? This isn’t an AWF show. Goddammit, LWC shows always have tickets," another patron asked angrily.

"Don’t really know much. I asked Duncan to book tickets for me. He called in saying that only a few tickets are remaining. LWC is looking to add more seats. Even then, the show might be sold out by tomorrow," the first one said shaking his head.

"Goddammit! I haven’t bought a ticket yet!" one patron yelled agitatedly.

"Me too! I will never be able to raise my head if I don’t see the history being made with my own eyes. I want to be there in person!" another patron said aggrievedly.

"In that case, you better hurry. Word is that the tickets are selling like hot cakes," the first one advised the table.

"Damnit, I am going to buy the ticket," one patron said standing up.

"Hey! Get one for me too," another guy said from the side.

"How many of you fuckers want tickets? Just say it. We don’t have much time," the one who stood up started counting the others who said they wanted tickets.

The moment he ended the count, he left in short order causing noise to erupt in the bar. Malora was very curious as to what was happening. She had never paid much attention to LWC shows. She preferred AWF shows to be honest.

LWC only showcased talents who were young. There were not many veteran females on their roster. So, watching their show wouldn’t benefit her much as she wouldn’t be able to learn a lot from it.

But now, strangely enough, the entire bar is being riled up over LWC Women’s Championship match. This intrigued her a bit. One must know that the regulars here were diehard fans of wrestling and usually have high standards when judging whether a match is worth buying a ticket to or not.

Even though they would surely buy any tickets that go on sale, trying to get their approval would be a hard thing. And the last time she checked out the LWC show, the women’s division was not that great to cause these people to be so riled up.

Unable to hold her curiosity any longer, she tapped the first one who was gloating at his friends on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, sorry I couldn’t help but overhear, but are you talking about the LWC Women’s Championship match for their upcoming PPV?" she asked in curiosity.

"Damn right! That’s the one birdie! If you are a wrestling fan, you shouldn’t miss that match," the man replied to her boisterously.

"Forgive me, but I don’t think their matches are that good, right?" she asked in a confused tone.

"That was true two weeks ago. But, Old Gibson dropped a bomb last week. And this week those chits went crazy. I can’t wait to watch them duke it out this Sunday," the man said causing others to hoot in agreement.

"Ah! Sorry I haven’t followed them for a while. Did anything great happen in the last two weeks?"

"Ha ha ha, no wonder you are ignorant. Anyway, last week Old Gibson announced a brand new match for the Women’s Championship. This time Diana will not be just facing one opponent. There are two challengers challenging at the same time. Evelyn and Selena."

"And you know what the best part is, Diana can lose the championship even if she doesn’t get pinned or submitted. Old Gibson called this a Triple Threat Match. I really want to see what they are going to put out," the man said excitedly.

Malora’s mind reeled. Defending your title against not one but two opponents! You can lose even without getting pinned or submitted! How can such a match work?

"If it is anything like the brawl this week, I am sure that it would be awesome," another man said taking a gulp of his drink.

"Oh, what happened?" Malora asked eagerly.

"Well..."

Malora was regaled with the tale of how the three competitors started with a standoff and eventually made it into a full-blown brawl by the end of the segment. There were several admirers of Selena’s knock-out punch to Evelyn. Some even pitied Diana for being put into such a match.

"I am telling you, Selena is going to take this home," one man yelled with spittle flying across his face.

"No way Diana is going to lose. You will see. She will find a way to defend her title," another man shook his head in denial.

"Didn’t you guys see Evelyn? She looked really determined," one man said to the side.

"Not if she gets knocked down from Selena’s punch early in the match," another man chortled.

"Man, that punch was wicked. She dropped Evelyn like a sack of potatoes," another agreed.

"Don’t count out Diana. She has what it takes to win," the Diana fan from earlier still persisted in his belief.

Malora watched the table argue spiritedly. A strange sensation bubbled up inside her. She wanted to watch this match. No way was she going to miss something like this.

Making up her mind, she walked towards the bar counter and approached the owner.

"Nelson, I am taking the night off. I need to go get some tickets," she informed him already removing her apron in a hurry.

"Oh! Is that for <Break Out>?" Nelson asked as if he knew about it already.

"Yeah, everyone is going crazy over that. I can’t miss something like that," Malora said putting away her waitress shoes.

"I know!" Nelson said looking at the crowd. "But, you can wait, right? You can go and buy the tickets in the morning."

"Word is that it is close to being sold out," Malora shook her head as she checked her face in her hand mirror. "I don’t want to risk it."

"Damn, LWC really did turn around huh!" Nelson mumbled looking at her.

"Seems so," Malora said putting on her heels. "I am going out."

"Go," Nelson motioned at her, "But, you have to tell me about the show after watching."

"Sure, sure," Malora replied distractedly as she made her way out of the bar.

*****

The same thing was happening all over the city.

Being a mecca for wrestling, Longham City residents were already known for their ardent passion for wrestling. Now that a historical match was going to be performed, <Break Out> tickets were selling like hot cakes at this time.

Within a day, not having a ticket for <Break Out> was considered to be a shameful thing for the fans of wrestling in Longham City. But, the problem was that LWC can only arrange so many seats in the arena.

Initially, they never had such problems. Even if a great card was put out with extraordinary wrestlers performing, being a low-tier wrestling promotion, LWC never had that much pull with the audience.

One had to know that being a low-tier promotion meant very little stable fan base. That is the reason low-tier promotions struggle very hard to break into the mid-tier range.

Usually, it can be combatted in two ways. The first way is the most orthodox way of showcasing quality shows for a long time and cultivating fans for the long term. This slow and gradual expansion is how many mid-tier promotions came about.

The second way was to invite famous wrestlers who had their own fan base to wrestle on their shows. The problem with this way was that famous wrestlers have their own market rates for appearance. And low-tier promotions will not be usually able to offer them that much.

In the case of friendship, one or two famous wrestlers will wrestle for a PPV or two and then move on. They would have boosted the audience rate a bit by then and if the promotion could follow up with a good product or by inviting other famous wrestlers, things will turn around for them.

However, LWC tried to break out of the low-tier league using the momentum of the TV deal offered by Breeze TV. As they had never had a very large fan base, their effort was doomed from the start.

The enthusiasm they would have lit under their hardcore fans and new fans with the TV deal would have burnt out in three or four months. It would in turn plummet their audience rate to the bottom once these months pass by.

Luckily for them, a person named Rob Williams arrived.

With his unusual ideas, Rob had rekindled the enthusiasm for LWC products among the fans and also stoked their expectations to another level with his new gimmick match.

If Rob could ride this wave and give more promising content to the fans in the upcoming months, he would create a large fan base for the company easily.

At this moment, Rob sat with Mr. Gibson, Mr. Wolfe, and Robin discussing the upcoming PPV <Break Out>. The huge reaction to the brawl had exceeded their expectations and the top executives of LWC already smelled the chance to change the destiny of the company by now.

"I don’t think we need to take a chance like this, Andrew," Robin said with a serious tone looking at Mr. Gibson and Mr. Wolfe. "I normally wouldn’t have bothered to speak about this, but this time it is different. If it fails the backfire alone would ruin us."

"You have seen the enthusiasm of the fans for the match. If we book like Rob is planning to do, what if they hate the ending? Normally, we could just try to make up for it in the following weeks even if it backfires. But, this is huge. Any mistake would turn off the audience from our product for a long time."

Robin said in a worried tone causing both Mr. Gibson and Mr. Wolfe to sink into their thoughts. Rob, on the other hand, looked a bit irritated. It was clear from his posture that this discussion had been going on for a long time.

"I disagree, Mr. Gibson," Rob said shooting Robin a dark look. "It is exactly because of the fan expectations, I think that we should book the way I want it to. Just imagine the impact of the angle. It would be huge and we can milk it for months."

"No," Robin refuted vehemently, "you are only thinking about the positive impact. But, what would we do if it goes negatively?"

"I have already told you that there would be no negative impact. The way we are booking this would ensure that the audience will not be disappointed. We have already given them 20 mins of program time. It is enough to satiate the audience."

"Take another five minutes. Just don’t do what you are planning to do," Robin said with gritted teeth.

"I don’t want another five minutes. I want the audience to remember the moment," Rob fired back.

"You are taking a huge gamble," Robin roared back with anger evident on his face.

"With all due respect Mr.Robin, I am in charge of the women’s division booking," Rob said with gritted teeth.

"That’s why rookies like you shouldn’t be given such power. You will ruin this company," Robin said angrily causing Rob’s face to blacken. "It is not even two weeks and you are already disregarding our opinions like this."

"I have been trying to make you see my point. However, if you don’t want to see it, what can I do?" Rob said in exasperation.

"It is not that I am not seeing. I just feel that the way you are booking is just a needless risk. With the present expectation, as long as the match is fine, we can generate a lot of goodwill. Your idea might just stomp everything under its foot," Robin argued back relentlessly.

Rob let out a huge sigh and looked at Mr. Gibson.

"Mr. Gibson, I promised you that I will generate enough interest in the match. I have delivered it. Now, I hope the match can be booked as I imagine. I have several follow-up plans based on this. Changing this would impact my long-term plans," Rob spoke directly to Mr. Gibson looking him in the eyes.

While he had not said it outright, the meaning was clear to everyone present. He had delivered on his promise. Now, it was time for Mr. Gibson to keep his word. Rob had been promised the power to book the entire women’s division as he saw fit. And he was cashing in on that promise at this moment.

Robin’s face blackened as he heard Rob’s words. He could only grit his teeth and look at Mr. Gibson at this moment. Mr. Wolfe too looked a bit worried now, but he held his tongue. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Mr. Gibson looked at Rob with a steady gaze. He looked as if he was weighing the pros and cons of both options, but no one knew for sure what he was thinking. Whether he sided with Rob or Robin, it was unknown to anyone present in the room apart from himself.

In the end, he let out a huge sigh before speaking, "This entire thing with women’s division has been a gamble. So far, we have succeeded. The smart thing is to be happy with it and build steadily on it."

"But, I am willing to make one last desperate bid. You have done as you promised, so I will give you this," Rob brightened hearing the statement. "However..."

Mr. Gibson paused and looked Rob right in the eye.

"If you are wrong about this, you will lose your sole power over the women’s division. From then on, you will have to have all three of our approval if you want to continue with your crazy ideas."

Rob sat still for a moment but eventually nodded heavily. He knew the import of such a condition. This angle must succeed. If not, Rob will lose a lot of his powers from then on.

"Don’t worry Mr. Gibson," Rob said with a smile, "<Break Out> will forever be etched in fans’ memory."