Booking Glory-Chapter 36: Selling Like Hot Cakes

Rob sat backstage trying to relax after the hectic workload the weekly show brought to the table. While he wasn’t a backstage worker or supervisor anymore, he wasn’t having an easier time either.

Being on commentary meant, Rob had to pay attention to the show throughout the 90 minutes without any break. He has to be ready to jump in when something goes wrong inside the ring and take away the audience’s attention from the mistake.

Luckily, the new way of commentary by Dallas and Rob did help in this a lot.

Typically, when the live broadcast was happening, it was neither the crowd in front of whom they were wrestling nor the personnel that was overseeing who saw the mistake first.

It would be the audience watching at home. Being given a close seat to the going ons inside the ring, they would be the first to pick up on a botch or call out the mistake.

That was why the commentary team and Control Pit were equipped with monitors to see the action just like the audience at home would see. This way, they would be able to spot the mistake sooner and take necessary action.

The new form of commentary had an added bonus in that it always split the audience’s concentration between watching the wrestling and hearing the on-air rivalry between Dallas and Rob.

As their concentration was already split, either Dallas or Rob could initiate a small spat to tunnel the audience to focus on them particularly and not mind the botch. This was a good advantage to have. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

This meant, Rob had an important role to play even when he was off-screen. So, he had to be able to focus for the entire show to do his job when needed. That, in turn, meant he had no leisure time to cool down after a segment. He was constantly at work for the entire 90 minutes.

Now that his first weekly show as a color commentator was over, Rob was able to relax a little and let himself go a bit.

Till now, he wasn’t able to find time to analyze this week’s show from a booker’s perspective. As he went over the women’s segment in the show mentally, Rob had to admit that today’s broadcast was a great success when it came to the women’s division.

The first segment featuring Evelyn and Selena had done its job. It had stoked the fire that was simmering in the audience and now they were eager to see them gear off.

Next came the match between Alanna and Joselyn. From what he had seen, the match was decent enough that it wouldn’t bring in negative feedback. Alanna proved herself to be a veteran in the ring by carrying over a very green Joselyn.

Speaking of Joselyn, Rob had some ideas regarding her. But, the finicky thing about it was to find the right way to book her. Obviously, she needed as much ring time as possible to gain some experience.

But, she couldn’t become the main focal point of his push either. Rob already had plans for several female wrestlers on the roster and adding Joselyn to the list would only give him more headache.

Despite that, Rob saw potential in her. She could work as a jobber now and once she had enough experience, Rob could put her in a storyline. Whether it would be as a heel or face, would depend on the situation at that time.

And the final women’s division segment for the night was Dacey’s. Rob had to admit that Dallas was right. Dacey hit this off the park. It was a textbook heel performance and Rob didn’t know if he would do anything different.

Dacey had owned the crowd literally for the entire duration she was out there. She was drawing eyes and keeping them on her for the entire segment. This was a brilliant move on Dacey’s part.

And she did use the advantage of her body to the best. Her sexy strut and rebellious attitude meshed well with her disrespectful way of speaking. And if Rob was a betting man, he would be betting now that the T-shirt will be selling off pretty quickly.

He had confidence in the crowd that the more they hated her, the more they will be amenable to buying a T-shirt that would probably annoy her. Provided, the merchandise sales would still be lining Dacey’s pockets, the most important thing was to generate a trend. Her promo had done exactly that.

And having an interaction with the fan, albeit the fact that he was a plant, Rob knew that Dacey’s character will be getting even more attention this week. This was good in Rob’s opinion.

The more attention Dacey earned, the more it will be easier to sell tickets with her name. And when Fiona returns, the audience will be happy to see their hero return to shut up the nagging hag that was in the ring.

"Well, well, well, look at you," Dallas’s playful voice sounded from behind Duncan. "All tired after doing just a single show. Who would have thought you would be such a weak man? The mighty booker Rob Williams sweating bullets after a single show."

"Shut up, Dallas," Rob groaned turning around to look at him. Dallas was chuckling at him with a mug of hot coffee in both hands. Rob took the offered cup of hot coffee and took a sip.

"Ah, that hit the spot," Rob moaned, "how do you do this on a regular basis? I did it one time and already my mind is too tired to think of anything else."

"Practice kid," Dallas said taking a sip himself. "By the time you are doing your fifth show, you will get used to it. Right now you are doing something you aren’t that comfortable with. One month in, it will feel like a regular workload."

"I don’t know if I will be able to do it," Rob grunted. "I need to be on my toes for the entire show. It is really tiring."

"It will come with practice kid, don’t sweat it," Dallas said patting Rob’s back.

"So, what’s the verdict?"

"Well, it was good. Good enough that Andy has told us to continue doing our shit. Irvin is very grateful for that, by the way."

Rob looked up in confusion.

"Irvin is the one doing the play-by-play. Until now, he had to do both play-by-play and color commentary with me. With you in, he could relax a little."

"God, I didn’t even think about what Irvin does."

Dallas smiled understandingly.

"It is tough kid," Dallas said taking another sip of his coffee. "Wrestlers go out there and wrestle for 15 to 20 minutes based on their card and status. I am not disrespecting them or anything. But, it is just 20 mins tops."

"We, on the other hand, need to do the full 90 mins. Because, without it, the audience at home will feel stranded. Provided, what the wrestlers do is really physical and what we do is both physical and mental."

"It is tough to be a wrestler. It is even tougher to be a commentator. You haven’t seen shit. The real trouble comes from going two hours straight or having someone barking in your ear telling you what to do."

"Luckily, Andy is a hands-off guy. But, don’t expect other promotions to be the same."

"So, you are telling me this is tougher than wrestling?" Rob asked in confusion.

"Not exactly a comparison kid," Dallas grunted. "Everyone has their own difficulties. And every job has its own challenges. I am just saying don’t discount the work you are doing. Not everyone has the talent to be a commentator."

Rob nodded accepting that statement. It kind of made more sense to him. While he still felt that wrestling would be harder, he understood Dallas’s point of view. The problems commentators face don’t vanish just because a wrestler has his own problems. They are mutually exclusive.

"I will tell you some good news though," Dallas said smirking. "Your idea worked out. Those T-shirts are selling like hotcakes. We are actually sold out."

"What?" Rob said looking at Dallas sharply.

"Well, Andy had an order of 500 T-shirts. From what I heard, they managed to sell around 70 T-shirts before the show. A few were given away as gifts. However, after the show, a lot of people lined up to buy that T-shirt. It’s all sold out."

Rob couldn’t believe what he was hearing. While he had some hope for merchandise sales, he didn’t hope for selling out the entire stock. This meant that at least 50% of the audience have bought that shirt.

"Holy fuck!" Rob exclaimed in disbelief.

"You better believe it. Andy has sent an urgent order request to the manufacturers. We might even see the entire arena wearing that shirt at this rate."

"You are kidding!" Rob said knowing full well it wasn’t possible.

"Who knows," Dallas shrugged. "Never say never in this business kid. It has a way of surprising people."

Rob nodded in agreement to that.

"Anyway, Robin is not happy though," Dallas whispered lowering his voice. "The sales of other merchandise have taken a hit. He is responsible for those things."

"Shouldn’t he be happy that we sold so much?" Rob asked back in a whisper.

Dallas looked at him for a long time before replying.

"LWC being happy and Robin being happy are two different things kid. Understand it. This is one of the basics of the business. There will come a day that you will be angry or disgruntled while LWC is happy. It is a fact of life," Dallas said in a serious tone causing Rob to nod unconsciously.

"Don’t worry, he will get over his tiff soon. Andy is pretty happy though. He already sees this netting some decent profit. So, congratulations kid. Your idea worked," Dallas said patting Rob’s back.

Rob merely smiled at that and mumbled thanks.

*****

"Our ratings have seen a huge increase this week," Mr. Gibson said with a huge smile on his face. "The opening segment and the match that followed had good ratings. And there has been an overall increase in the average viewers tuning in to see our show."

"The biggest increase in the ratings was the segment where Dacey cut her promo. Compared to last week, Dacey’s segment had double the ratings. And that merchandise idea you gave is really doing wonders, Rob."

"Thank you, Mr. Gibson," Rob said with a genuine heartfelt smile.

They were currently in the weekly meeting that was usually held in LWC the next day after the show aired. The overall atmosphere was really good and everyone was sporting a huge smile, including Robin.

"Whatever you are working with her, it is working. Keep it up," Mr. Gibson replied with a smile. "We rode the knock-on effect of the segment till the main event. Our ratings for the main event have also increased a bit. Overall, we have a 20% increase in ratings compared to last week."

"This is huge for a promotion like LWC," Mr. Wolfe added from the side. "We can safely say that we are a mid-tier league now. If we see these constant increases in the upcoming weeks, then we will be one of the few mid-tier leagues doing this kind of ratings."

"The Breeze TV officials are very happy with the turnaround in our program ratings. They have congratulated us and assured us that if we maintain these ratings, maintain not increase, then they will definitely extend our contract," Robin said causing Mr. Gibson to laugh out loud in joy.

"Brilliant, brilliant," Mr. Gibson said joyfully.

"However," Robin said a little hesitantly. "They are not a fan of Dacey flipping the crowd off. They feel that it would reduce the ratings in the long run."

"Bah, let them say what they want," Mr. Gibson shook his head. "It is working. And working very well. The merchandise sales are proof of that. Already several outlets are hounding me regarding the new orders."

"It is making us good money. No need to sweat this small stuff, Robin. We will cross the bridge when the time comes. Rob, whatever shit you are doing with Dacey, keep doing it. Don’t change it for anything or anyone. You have my full support on this."

"Thank you, Mr. Gibson. But, I will try to take Robin’s information into account as well. I will tone it down once Dacey’s personality is established," Rob said looking at Robin.

Robin nodded at that in a pleased manner.

"If it ain’t broke, why fix it?" Mr. Gibson snorted. "Anyways moving on, I saw that Dacey has only a backstage segment next week. Why don’t you let her go out there and do a promo or something."

"Next week, I have a match for Evelyn and Selena scheduled. It will take a large chunk of time to tell the story I want to tell. And I am also worried about overexposing Dacey."

"Don’t worry about it," Mr. Gibson said shaking his head. "She is hot. Like super hot with the crowd. They couldn’t get enough of her. So, there is no need to think about overexposing Dacey."

"Still, I don’t have enough time. I am trying to manage it as much as possible. Don’t worry, I do have something better planned for the week after that."

"Isn’t that the week Diana is scheduled to return?" Mr. Wolfe asked sharply.

"Yes, there will be a confrontation of sorts involving them," Rob said nodding.

The others nodded in acceptance and the meeting moved on.

"Anyways, Robin. What is the status of signing some veterans? Have you found anyone?" Mr. Gibson asked Robin.

"Yeah, I convinced Marshal "The Headsmasher" Jones to come in for a program. He will be returning next week to challenge the champion. I am still working on how to go about it," Robin said furrowing his brows.

"Marshal Jones, that idiot?" Mr. Wolfe scowled.

"He is a headache, to be honest," Mr. Gibson said tapping his chin.

"Yeah, but he is the one available now," Robin said in explanation. "Most of them are not in proper shape. Even if they are willing, their body isn’t in great shape."

"Whatever, he does have some good crowd response. Let’s see what it does and will decide what to do for the next PPV based on it," Mr. Gibson said sighing.

"Hmmm alright," Mr. Wolfe said nodding along. "Jones may be an idiot. But, we will need to sell him well. The viewers should feel that he is a legitimate threat to Mark Weathers, our champion."

"It will be hard," Robin said shaking his head. "Weathers is built like a beast. Jones may be in good shape, but he isn’t that spry now. And even in his heyday, Jones didn’t get any championship shot for a reason."

"One of the reasons he agreed to come back was that I offered him a title shot," Robin grunted. "He was even willing to sign a better contract if we agree to put the title on him."

"It will derail a lot of our plans," Rob commented from the side. "And from what I see, Weathers is good. He is able to carry the belt with no issues. He has good charisma."

"The immediate effect of a championship change would be great. Especially if we are putting it on a veteran like this Marshal Jones, but he wouldn’t be able to wrestle week in and week out. That would make the title lose its prestige."

"And he doesn’t have the natural charisma to pull off wrestling once or twice a month and still keep the prestige," Mr. Wolfe grunted acquising to Rob’s point.

"We have five more weeks left before <Last Stand>. If Marshall is able to wrestle three matches, then it is fine. Use him however you want, but make it clear that he isn’t going over. The title stays with Weathers," Mr. Gibson said looking at Robin.

Robin nodded with a thoughtful look on his face.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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