Booking Glory-Chapter 18: [Bonus - ] Steven Rush

Steven Rush was a middle-aged man with an obese body.

If one looked at him with a critical eye, they wouldn’t consider him to be a part of an athletic field like pro wrestling. He would normally be considered an affable uncle who worked in the finance or banking sector.

However, doing so might be very, very wrong.

Steven Rush is one of the most influential promoters in the business of pro wrestling. His reach was long and he could move the wind and clouds in the pro wrestling industry with just a thought.

There were many pro wrestlers who owed their rise to fame to Steven Rush. If Steven Rush wanted a particular wrestler to be taught a lesson, there would be countless veterans who would be willing to do so.

Not just wrestlers, there are several people in the management field who would be willing to do a favor for Steven Rush too. In short, in the world of pro wrestling, Steven Rush was a behemoth whose words carried a lot of weight.

When he first broke into the scene of pro wrestling, there were several people who looked down on him for his obese body. But, with diligence and cunning, Steven Rush broke through the glass ceilings one after the other and created a brand for himself.

Even after being fifteen years into the business, Steven Rush still possessed a majestic vigor that could be called undisputable. His mere name was enough to open doors and create opportunities out of nothing.

And there was a reason for this.

Steven Rush was not just any other promoter. He was a pioneer and a legend. His vision was said to be vicious and he had created countless stars in the world of pro wrestling.

Despite all this, Steven Rush came off as an affable man to the general public. His public image was impeccable and he had a great influence throughout the pro wrestling world.

There were countless wrestlers who owed their rise to fame to Steven Rush. He had created countless opportunities for up-and-coming wrestlers and veterans. This has cemented his status as a Godfather to many influential people in the business.

If one asked Steven Rush his secret to success, he would gladly tell people that it was nothing but having an active imagination. In several interviews, Steven has stressed the importance of imagination much to the disbelief of several interviewers.

To the general public, Steven Rush was like a wizard. He waved his hands and created magic in the world of pro wrestling. Several times people have thought that he would fail, but he prevailed always.

For example, when Steven introduced the concept of tag team wrestling, several pundits were skeptical of it. At that time, pro wrestling was conducted in a manner similar to boxing matches.

So, naturally, the idea of more than two people fighting in the ring at the same time was something alien to people. But, Steven persisted in his idea and booked a tag team match as the main attraction for a PPV.

The result was that it was an overwhelming success.

These days, several promotions have adopted the Tag Team Match style as a special attraction and had even booked PPVs based on that. To those people, Steven Rush had created a brand new way of showcasing pro wrestling and they were immensely grateful to him for it.

And as for the wrestlers, this was a new style of match that showcased more than two people in the main event. Thus, it created more opportunities for them to be present at the main event. This meant, their payday opportunities have also increased.

Thus, everyone was grateful to Steven Rush for it.

The same thing happened with women’s wrestling.

When Steven Rush proposed the idea of women’s wrestling, there were a lot of skeptical eyebrows were raised. No one thought women had what it takes to draw in a huge crowd.

Once more Steven proved that his vision was unique. He successfully created history and opened the doors for women to become part of the pro wrestling community.

From then on, women’s wrestling had become an integral part of the pro wrestling community. Any promotion that is worth its salt had a women’s division on its roster.

Thus, Steven once more created history and opened the door for women in the industry.

As if these weren’t enough, Steven went on to introduce several new match types like Hardcore Match, Falls Count Anywhere match, and much more.

In his two-decade-long career, Steven Rush had proved himself to be a pioneer in the field of pro wrestling. Several bookers consider him to be their idol and want to follow in his footsteps.

As a result of his illustrious career, Steven Rush also had the good fortune to unearth several great wrestlers from obscurity and made them famous throughout the country.

It is often said that earning Steven Rush’s appreciation was enough to change one’s career trajectory totally.

Even fans who are not that aware of bookers and backstage personnel generally knew who Steven Rush was. That was the level of influence Steven Rush had in the pro wrestling community.

This made his position in AWF to be unshakeable.

While AWF may be one of the foremost wrestling companies in the entire world, the name Steven Rush was also one of their top brand effects to brandish. Steven Rush was considered to be a foundational pillar of AWF in general.

The mere mention of his name was enough to create an effect both among fans and other professionals. Arenas opened their door, wrestlers changed their minds, and even fans bought tickets for the mere mention of Steven Rush’s name.

Despite all this success, Steven Rush was personally a quirky individual. His mind was always overactive and he was normally interested in things other people don’t think as worthwhile.

For months now, his new interest was an 18-year-old aspiring booker named Rob Williams.

When he first met Rob, he felt that the other party was full of bullshit. He didn’t despise the young man for it. Rather he was secretly impressed by the young man’s ability to bullshit.

The young man’s ability was so good that even he felt swayed for a moment. But, the young man had made the mistake of trying to bluff a master. He naturally saw through the ruse with a knee injury.

From years of experience, Steven knew ligament tears in the knee are really very serious injury types. Those who suffered from it usually had a slight stiffness in their knees and that made them sport an unnoticeable limp while walking.

The young man’s story was good, but his actions didn’t back it up. Steven could clearly see that the young man didn’t have any limp as he made his way to the interview panel.

But, the young man had indeed managed to fool an old fox like Roger with his bullshit.

This intrigued Steven a bit and for the first time, he wanted to see what the young man could do. Unfortunately, the young man’s views clashed fiercely with Roger’s traditionalist tendencies, causing him to suffer during the interview.

However, what he had told had intrigued Steven a lot.

Booking the program with clear-cut good and bad guys was entirely novel to how a normal booking was done. This was a unique idea that had the potential to sell big if done right.

This excited Steven Rush a little bit.

At his age, there are very few things that could excite someone like Steven Rush. Being a veteran in the industry with over two decades of experience, he had never come across such a bold young man. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

So, he lent a small hand and matchmade him with Andrew Gibson.

Initially, he thought it would take a year or two for the young man to work his way out of the complex pit that was a pro wrestling circle. After all, the young man had no prior experience in a wrestling promotion.

So, he had put the entire thing on a backburner and began to concentrate on the work at hand.

But, who knew that the crazy old coot Gibson would take such a gamble and provide the young man with an opportunity to showcase his talents this soon? He definitely didn’t expect such a turnaround in short six months.

When LWC announced the first ever Triple Threat Match, he immediately knew that this was that young man’s idea. And his gut reaction proved to be true when he dug in a little to uncover LWC’s status.

But, it wasn’t the Triple Threat Match that had his attention. No, he was looking at the way it was booked. He was dismayed when he found that LWC only allocated two weeks of promotion for such a match with huge potential.

If it was him, he would build it up for months before unveiling it to the public.

Alas, it wasn’t his to play around with. So, he could only grit and endure the waste of potential. But, he had high hopes for the match build-up as he knew that it would be the magic of the young man.

But, when the build truly happened, Steven had to admit that he was disappointed with it a lot. He was expecting the young man to showcase his brilliant ideas that piqued his interest, instead what he got was a traditional build with a brawl.

This almost curbed his enthusiasm for the match.

Luckily, he persisted and kept tabs on the situation. When reports came about LWC going to do something crazy at the PPV, his interests were once more piqued.

So, he waited patiently for the day to come and personally watched the entire PPV.

When the time came for the first ever Triple Threat Match, Steven Rush once more lamented LWC’s shortsightedness. Looking at the atmosphere in the crowd, he felt that LWC has missed out on a golden opportunity.

But, the way the match was booked really made him beam with a brilliant smile. It gave him countless inspirations. The style of two wrestlers targeting the third one and the interference play gave him countless ideas to branch out on.

So, Steven was already immensely satisfied with the match.

And the finish of the match was also perfect. Letting Diana retain the championship by creating a last-minute save and following up with her finisher was just brilliant in his opinion.

But, the real shock came after the match.

He knew the moment the hooded figure stepped inside the ring that something very important was going to happen. He even admired the young man’s courage to use such a match to pave way for future conflicts.

Normally, this would be like a double-edged sword. As the match was already perfect, a conservative booker would have been happy to just go home with it. No matter what, the crowd was already satisfied with the match.

But, overturning that happiness and turning it into an outrage was truly audacious booking. He couldn’t help but applaud the amount of bravery it took. Now, the crowd was truly angry with that lass Dacey Surestone.

Steven knew that the young man was going to use Dacey as the quintessential villain that he talked about during the interview. And the way he made her become hated was also wonderfully done.

He had never been so looking forward to a weekly show as he did now. He wanted to see how the young man was going to use Dacey moving forward. The entire thing excited him a lot.

It had been a long time since anything about wrestling excited him this much.

So, unable to hold himself any longer, he dialed Gibson’s phone hoping to get a scoop from the old man. Curiosity has been one of his irritating traits for a long time and people who knew him knew all about it.

"Gibson, I didn’t think you would be so bold," Steven laughed when the call connected.

"Steven, this is not the right time. I have some issues to take care of here," Gibson’s voice came from the other end.

From the background sound, it looked like Gibson was really busy right now. But, Steven didn’t care for it one bit. He wanted to scratch his itch right now. Still, to be polite, he pretended to care.

"Oh, I am sure you can put away a few minutes of your schedule for an old friend like me," Steven said shamelessly.

"Normally, I would. But, things are a little hectic here. The crowd seems to be a bit agitated. So, I really can’t talk shop with you now," Gibson said in a tight voice.

In the background, Steven could hear people rushing along and shouting.

"Oh, what happened?" Steven asked with concern in his voice.

"We underestimated the response for the stunt that boy you introduced pulled," Gibson chuckled goodnaturedly.

"Oh," Steven responded with curiosity, "don’t tell me that the response was bad. I assure you that move was pure genius."

"Oh, I know. I damn well know. We just didn’t expect such a strong reaction that’s all," Gibson laughed in reply. "Currently, we are making sure nothing bad happens to Dacey. The crowd is baying for her blood."

"Oh my! That’s fantastic," Steven said with surprise.

"Indeed," Gibson nodded along, "it was better than we hoped it would be. We were only hoping to disgust the audience. But, the amount of outrage was really unexpected."

"Oh!"

"Yeah, even the main event didn’t drag the attention away much. So, we are left with outraged fans shouting slogans against Dacey now. We have already sent her to safety with some bodyguards just as a precaution."

"That’s good! That’s good!" Steven laughed out loud.

As a fellow promoter, he knew that such outrage could be easily turned into interest if one played their cards right. And interest meant tickets being sold. That meant money.

"Anyway, I also called you regarding this. I just watched the entire thing. Tell me, how are you folks going to proceed," Steven asked eagerly.

"Well, we are going to open the next show with Dacey. She is going to do a promo," Gibson said happily.

"My, opening the show with her would mean your ratings will have a huge jump. That’s a good idea. However, just a promo!!! Are you sure that’s enough?" Steven asked doubtfully.

"Ha ha ha.... This isn’t a normal promo. I just reviewed the outline. I gotta say that this would send shockwaves throughout the circle," Gibson teased mysteriously.

"Come now, Gibson. We are old friends. Why don’t you tell me what the promo is about?" Steven said shamelessly.

"Ha ha ha... You have to wait for it just like others," Gibson crowed triumphantly causing Steven to have black lines over his face.

"Gibson, you know my affliction," Steven grit his teeth.

"I know. That is why I am laughing like a madman here," Gibson chortled causing Steven to curse him. "Look here old man, you will have to wait just like everybody else. But, don’t worry. It will be worth it."

"I am holding you to that, you old bastard," Steven grit his teeth in anger.

"Don’t worry," Gibson chuckled. "Even if you doubt me, you can be confident about Rob."

"Hmmm, we will see. Anyway, how is the kid?"

"Ambitious, passionate, and hungry to make a name for himself. However, he is not naïve anymore," Gibson said in a serious tone. "I actually gave him full control. But, he is smart enough to not bite more than he could chew."

"You actually gave him full control?"

"Had to. I was grasping at straws. Don’t look at how good LWC is currently. Two weeks ago, we were in a make-or-break situation. He was the gamble I was betting on."

"Looks like it paid off,"

"Indeed, it did pay off. And I have given full control over the women’s division. We will see how things pan out. If his ideas are a hit, then the results will be extremely gratifying," Gibson said in a subdued tone.

"Well, we will see. Meanwhile, I wish you all good luck. I am eagerly waiting to see what that kid pulls off after this," Steven said.

"You, me, and the whole world. I will call you back once I get free Steven. Things are hectic here."

"Sure, sure."