Booking Glory-Chapter 124: Backstage Politics

<Nov 6, Longham Wrestling Arena, Longham City>

One hour before the show begins...

Rob stood in the women’s locker room and surveyed the wrestlers present. There was a subtle tension present in the room that hadn’t been there prior to this. He could feel it disrupting the atmosphere already.

"Ladies," Rob smiled, trying to act as if he didn’t feel the elephant in the room, "today, we have a tag match scheduled for 15 mins. And we have a segment featuring Dacey and Diana for the remaining 5 mins of the allocated time for us."

Rob was met with cautious stares in response. He could keenly feel the tension present in everyone. There was a subtle atmosphere that he couldn’t exactly grasp.

"Today, we have Evelyn and Leia taking on Alanna and Marie in a tag match. There is 15 mins allocated for it at the middle of the show. Being in the middle is hard. You will have to follow up whatever the men who come before you put out. And a solid 15 min chunk will most likely be turned into a bathroom break, if we don’t deliver out there," Rob spoke.

"That’s why, we will be changing things up a bit to keep the crowd hooked. This wouldn’t be like a usual tag match. I want some changes out there. So, listen carefully."

Rob slowly explained to Evelyn, Marie, Leia and Alanna about how to stage a dysfunctional duo dynamic for each team. He also gave them some tips on how to spread it out through the match so that the crowd would be invested in the match. By the time he explained the ending, there was a strange look in the eyes of the four.

"So, none of us are going over?" Leia asked in a peculiar tone, shooting a glance at Marie.

"There is no use in a traditional booking here. It doesn’t match our needs," Rob shook his head. "The story we are trying to tell here is that all four of you want a title shot. So, anyone who gets pinned would lose momentum. I don’t want that." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Rather than that, let’s have a chaotic double count out. With you all brawling outside, too busy to pay attention to the referee. This way, we will pave the way for next week’s announcement."

Rob’s words were met with understanding nods from everyone.

"Wait, I thought the announcement was this week," Diana asked from the side.

"Change of plans. Mr. Gibson wants to make sure of some things before he announces," Rob said, giving a meaningful look towards Marie. "Still, it works out well for us. This way, we keep the interest up."

No one spoke. Everyone understood Rob’s hint - Mr. Gibson didn’t want to commit to things before getting some assurances.

Marie didn’t reply. Her face was blank. Others looked at her sideways. The atmosphere in the room became awkward once more.

"Ahem, moving on," Rob forcefully changed the subject, not ready to address the elephant in the room yet, "Dacey and Diana’s backstage segment will be at the start this week. So, you guys get ready. I think you both know what you need to do, right?"

"No problems, we got this," Dacey assured, a little too enthusiastically.

Rob’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t comment on it. He knew that until Marie’s contract issue had a clear solution, things would remain awkward in the locker room when he was present. Sometimes, your butt determines your position.

Rob looked at the locker room one more time before giving them a nod and walking away. Normally, he would stay around for some more time before meeting up with Dallas and Irvin. But, he knew that his presence wasn’t welcome in the locker room currently. So, he decided to take a walk before returning to his duties.

As Rob walked the hallways, he could feel the subtle tension present in the air. While the backstage personnel were currently busy with show preparations, the wrestlers mostly kept to themselves without interacting with others much.

Conversations paused as he walked by. Heads turned to look at him vigilantly. Conversations only resumed after he was some distance away. Rob felt a little awkward walking the hallways in such a situation.

So, he decided to cut it short and walked directly towards the Control Pit where he usually met up with Dallas and Irvin. As he neared the Pit, he saw that the veterans hadn’t arrived yet and decided to wait.

A little further to where he waited, he saw Mr. Gibson in a tense discussion with Mark Weathers, Marshall Jones, and Rictor Swole. Marshall Jones was shaking his head vigorously while Mr. Gibson tried to explain something to him.

As Rob watched, Marshall became increasingly agitated as time passed. He kept shaking his head as if he was becoming dissatisfied. Even Mark looked a bit put off by whatever Mr. Gibson was telling them. Hector merely acted as a background board.

Their positions indicated their stances quite clearly. Mr. Gibson stood to one side, while Mark and Marshall stood directly opposite to him. Rictor stood in the middle, however he stood a little distance away from the group as if he was just accompanying them.

It was an interesting dynamic to note.

Just then, a frustrated Mark turned away and tried to take a deep breath. His eyes met Rob’s after he did that. They both stared at each other for a moment. Then, Mark turned and said something to Mr. Gibson, pointing at Rob’s direction.

Rob saw Mr. Gibson turn and look at him. The next moment Mr. Gibson waved at him to come over with a tense face. Rob felt bewildered for a moment. He didn’t expect that he would be asked to join while he spectated from a distance.

A perplexed Rob immediately made his way over, while their discussion continued. Rob arrived near the group and stood silently near Mr. Gibson, listening to their discussion.

"... I am telling you, Andy. This is for an extreme match. I need to come off strongly. My entire persona is based on being a tough guy. I can’t be weak heading into the match," Marshall Jones spoke agitatedly.

"Come on, Marshall. This is just for this week. Next week, I will book you strong. We need to bring Rictor into the storyline this week," Mr. Gibson said in a displeased tone.

"Fuck!" Rob raised an eyebrow hearing Marshall curse. "Last week Robin asked me to practically beg Mark for a title shot only for him to walk away. If Rictor beats me this week, I will lose momentum completely," Marshall acted as if Mr. Gibson’s words were hot water poured on him.

"Well, we can’t let Rictor lose two weeks in a row to you, can we? Then adding him into the match would make no sense," Mr. Gibson countered angrily as well.

"Then figure out something else," Marshall threw his hand up in the air in exasperation. "I just can’t come off as weak this week as well. That’s my bottomline."

"Marshall..."

"Andy, why don’t we ask Rob here? After all, the Triple Threat match was something he cooked up, right?" Mark interrupted and gestured towards Rob.

The atmosphere shifted slightly at that. Marshall Jones looked at Rob sideways as if gauging him. Mark acted as if he had said something pretty common. Rictor shuffled his feet slightly as well. Mr. Gibson, for his part, merely narrowed his eyes.

Rob’s eyebrows arched hearing Mark’s words. Interfering in another booker’s program was just not done. Mark was pushing him onto the stage here. While his reasoning looked valid, Rob didn’t know how Mr. Gibson was going to react to it.

After listening to their conversation for a while, Rob had already understood the gist of the issue. But, the subtle atmosphere around the group gave him a weird feeling. Mr. Gibson looked unusually tense.

Marshall didn’t want to look weak for two weeks straight, while Mr. Gibson wanted Rictor to go over tonight to smoothly bring him into the story. Rob had plenty of ways to accomplish both needs.

But, that didn’t mean Rob should voice them out. As the one booking this program, Mr. Gibson had the power to book this however he wanted. But, Marshall wasn’t doing his job. It didn’t matter what the wrestler thought, he needed to do his job as per the booker’s instructions. That was the basic principle.

As a veteran, Marshall must know this. And yet, he was playing rogue here citing some vague reasons. This was clearly a wrestler wanting to be booked more favorably. That kind of thing was pretty common when influential wrestlers face new or weak bookers.

But, Mr. Gibson was neither new nor someone without influence. He was the owner of LWC. This situation was quite problematic in the first place. How can Rob be qualified to weigh in on this?

First of all, Rob would never entertain such rogue behavior. This kind of behavior should never be encouraged. It would create an unhealthy trend of wrestlers overriding the bookers. If no one was willing to lose, then this entire industry will be done with.

As for Marshall’s argument, that was pure crap in Rob’s opinion. The PPV was weeks away. So, any issue that arises this week could be made up for in the upcoming weeks. So, that excuse was very flimsy in Rob’s opinion.

Mr. Gibson predictably scowled. Mark asking Rob for advice when he wasn’t even involved with the program was severe disrespect to Mr. Gibson. It undermines Mr. Gibson’s prestige a lot.

Mr. Gibson didn’t reply immediately. He held Rob’s gaze for a moment before speaking.

"You have any ideas Rob?" Mr. Gibson asked with a blank face. "You must understand the issue by now."

Rob indicated that he understood with a terse nod. He held Mr. Gibson’s eyes for a moment, trying to discern his stance. He saw Mr. Gibson nod back tersely.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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