Booking Glory-Chapter 45: Gimmick

"So, we discussed how the crowd is the most important thing for a wrestler to have, right?" Rob asked sipping his beer.

He and Mark had left LWC and occupied one of the bars that were near LWC. They were currently in a private booth, as being a known wrestler was akin to being a low-level celebrity in Longham City.

Neither Rob nor Mark wanted people to disturb them when they were unwinding and discussing stuff. So, Mark had recommended this bar as it was one of the ones that wrestlers in Longham City frequented mostly.

The bar was named Sunset Flip. And it had a long history of establishment. They were a little upscale, but the benefits that came along with it like the private booth and sparse, but rich clients made up for it.

It had a nice ambiance to it and one could just relax sitting there. The food they served was also a little bit tastier compared to other bars Rob had frequented recently.

Mark Weathers nodded in reply. Mark was just shy of becoming 29. He was already aware that his days of wrestling may not be long. He had suffered several injuries during his career and they were taking their toll on his body.

While he could still move fluently, his body always protested after every match. And being the champion, he had to be in the main event mostly. Which practically meant that he had to wrestle a 20-minute long match week in, week out. Very rarely was he given breaks.

And when there are PPVs or other special events, he would always be on the card at a prominent place. His style of wrestling was also a bit faster than usual wrestlers. That made the grind and tear have more effect on his body.

As he was nearing his 30s, Mark wanted his career to move a step ahead and had been doing everything possible towards that goal. Unfortunately, little seemed to work.

He was at a level where he needed just a little push to become a prominent wrestler in the wrestling industry. He had touched the ceiling of his current level, but he was stuck there unable to break it.

Unless he broke through this ceiling, he would never be in a main-event position if he went to better companies than LWC. Not that he planned on doing it, but Mark knew that his progress has been stagnant ever since he won the championship.

He had initially been bashing his head and trying out a lot of things in an effort to break that ceiling. But, no matter what he did, things never seemed to work out. The crowd was behind him, but they didn’t like him as much as the main event talents in other promotions.

As the LWC World Champion and the top guy in LWC, this rankled Mark more than anything. He felt that it was his responsibility to carry the company forward and make more money for both of them.

However, it never seemed to work out.

Just as he was losing all hope, even wondering if he still had it, <Break Out> happened. At <Break Out>, he knew while he was the one main-evented the show, the real draw for that was the historic Triple Threat Match.

He had initially not taken notice of it because he knew such marquee matches always pulled in crowds. But, the emergence of Dacey Surestone was a true surprise for him. He watched how Dacey Surestone effortlessly obtained the kind of reaction he dreamt of.

And today seeing the reaction Diana garnered was also an eye-opener for him. Her return was truly spectacular. So, he immediately approached them trying to glean their secret to success.

They were very open about it as they didn’t think there was anything to hide. They both spoke about how they were merely following Rob’s instructions and how they had to adapt to the crowd on the fly keeping in mind the main objective.

It didn’t help him much. But, he gleamed one person behind the entire thing. Rob Williams – the booker responsible for the LWC Women’s Division. So, when he saw Rob sitting alone and listening to the discussion of others about the merchandise, he decided to take his shot.

And this led him here to this moment.

"You have to understand, the reason we are wrestling is to entertain the crowd. The results are fixed prior to itself, so we are not exactly competing out there for the win. What we are doing is entertaining people."

"Is wrestling skill important? Definitely. Without it, we can’t actually do anything out there. It is what sets us apart. So, there is no doubt regarding this. But, is wrestling skill the only important criterion? No, it is not."

"What we are basically is entertainers; just we tell a different kind of story inside the ring. So, we are similar to movie stars in a manner of speaking. For a good movie to be produced, they need good actors" Rob pointed towards Mark. "Good directors," Rob pointed towards him. "And a whole other bunch of things."

"Let’s take an actor for example," Rob pointed at Mark. "An actor can only shine if there is substance to the story he is telling. But, without acting prowess, no matter how good the story is, it will fall flat. Your wrestling skill is similar to the acting talent of an actor."

"However, there is yet another factor apart from his acting skill that determines how far the actor could reach in popularity. It is called the charisma of the actor or the character he is portraying in a certain film."

"The same could be said for a wrestler as well. It is the thing that determines how good his connection with the audience is. Know this, the audience can tell it easily if you are putting out a show. So, whatever you try to do should come from your heart," Rob said pointing at his heart.

Mark sat there mulling Rob’s statements seriously.

"So, what do you think I lack?"

"Hmmm, when it comes to you, you have the charisma to pull people. Without it, Mr. Gibson wouldn’t have put the belt on you," Rob said causing Mark to nod thoughtfully. "As for your wrestling skill, there is no need to talk about it. You are one of the better wrestlers out there."

"However, what you lack is a character that can bring out your full potential. A character that could gather the audience behind you en masse. A character that is both you and also a version that is larger than life."

"Take Dacey’s situation for example. You have interacted with her. She is very sweet and lovely to interact with. Nothing like how she portrays herself out there, right?"

Mark nodded indicating his agreement.

"So, how could Dacey portray such a character? Simple, there is always a part that is petty and elitist in everyone’s mind. When she is out there, she is just channeling that aspect of her and putting it in front of the people."

"It is both a real aspect of her personality and also larger than life. The audience likes this. Whether they like to hate it or like to love it doesn’t matter. What matters is that they like and connect to it."

Rob paused and looked at Mark to see if he was following him. Thankfully, he did.

"Now take what you are portraying out there. Your so-called character is flat. It doesn’t have any highlights or impact to it. Simply put, it isn’t interesting enough for people to invest in it."

Mark thought deeply as Rob’s words sunk into him. The more he thought, the more he realized that Rob was telling the truth. His character was indeed bland and he wouldn’t watch it if he was a viewer either.

"However, your charisma is good enough to pull it off as much as possible. But, to enter that next tire, you need an aspect of you that you are going to project out there to be both interesting and larger than life."

"People aren’t interested in normal characters. What they like to see is someone who is larger than life. What they want to cheer for is something they yearn to have, whether it is determination, hard work, personality, or any of the other things."

"Without that aspect, you would never be able to reach that next level. So, the question now you have to ask yourself is which of your aspect or which of the qualities in the character you are out there is worth making larger than life. And, how to go about it?"

Mark sipped his beer silently trying to figure out what he could do next. He could feel that Rob’s understanding of the audience was on a whole different level compared to what he had heard from other veterans in the industry.

And his words were spot on as well. He can clearly understand what Rob was hinting at. After listening to him speak, he felt as if a door had been opened in his mind. This one had countless possibilities floating around and Mark felt that any one of them might help him take his career to the next level.

"I am really not sure. Should I change my behavior similar to Dacey’s?" Mark asked in confusion after a while. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Bad idea," Rob shot it down immediately.

"You are the face of LWC. You are its champion and the poster boy for it. Have you ever seen a poster boy being as despicable as Dacey? And also the difference between Dacey and you is that Dacey didn’t have any hardcore fan base prior to this. So, it was easy for her to sculpt her character."

"Now, tell me, what would your hardcore fan base do if you started behaving like Dacey? How would they react to you acting as Dacey does? They would be disappointed and would turn their backs on you. It would take you some time to build back a similar fan base."

"And right now, I can’t afford it."

Mark frowned as he thought about what Rob said. It made sense. Dacey didn’t have a big fan base to worry about when she shifted her character. Maybe, it wasn’t the right decision for him.

In that case, he needed to think differently. From what Rob had alluded to already, it is clear that his character didn’t have much of a problem. Then, the only option is to look at the story aspect. And it wasn’t his strong suit.

"What would you recommend?" Mark asked Rob after gulping down half his beer in one shot.

"Hmmm, let’s see," Mark hummed sipping his beer. "You are the top dog in LWC. No one is questioning that. Even fans agree with that. So, your character isn’t much of an issue. As for the story aspect, I better not involve myself with it. Robin already looks at me as if I am his enemy and my relationship with Marshall Jones isn’t great either," Rob chuckled.

Mark snorted in response to it. He knew the reason behind it. Rob was rising too fast in the company and it is ruffling a few feathers. Some higher-ups were feeling too threatened by his sudden rise.

As for Marshall Jones, that man is a menace. Even Mark didn’t get along with him that well. Marshall Jones was a prickly man, one looking for a fight anyone and anywhere. So, no use trying to pretend he had a good relationship with that hothead.

"So, we have to come back to your personal aspect. You need to give something to the fans to grab on and celebrate. In that case, I would suggest a gimmick," Rob said scratching his jaw.

"A gimmick?"

"You know, like a catchphrase or an idea that is enticing enough to make things interesting."

"Can you give an example?"

"Here, you know how I keep calling Dacey the Goddess on the commentary, right? It may look corny and kinda over the top. But, trust me, the first week it will feel like that. The next week too. But, as time goes on and I keep repeating it over and over, it will become the norm. So, Dacey will become the Goddess of LWC."

"A simple epithet has now turned into a gimmick. When Dacey needs to regroup, she can simply ditch this gimmick and come out as something else. However, I warn you, if your gimmick truly becomes successful, it will cause issues if you want to change in the future. So, you need to be very careful with that."

"Do you have any ideas I can use?" Mark asked as his curiosity was piqued.

"Hmmm," Rob contemplated for a while before answering. "Let me see, you are in a program with veterans for the next few months at the least, right?"

"Yeah, that is what Robin told me. They are bringing in a few veterans to boost the ratings as a whole. They want them to challenge me one after the other. So, I guess I will be in a program with them for a while," Mark said shrugging.

"And you will be winning them all," Rob said with interest gleaming in his eyes.

He knew that for sure. He was the one who suggested not to take the belt off Mark, as it would reduce the prestige of the belt. So, if Mark could defeat all these veterans one after the other and could build a monster story for himself, then all it needed was a change in the way Mark presented himself.

"Consider this, you are going to defeat all these established veterans one after the other. So, you can go around claiming that you are proving yourself to be better than them. You can also go around claiming that they could never hang in the ring with you. No, no, that kind of sounds like an egotistical act, it would ruin the image," Rob frowned as his mind inadvertently went to a heel angle.

"You are saying that you want me to hype up me beating these veterans?" Mark asked in confusion.

"Can you portray yourself as anything more interesting than that?" Rob asked cocking his eyebrow.

Mark fell into thought for a few minutes. He really liked the idea Rob told. And it fit the storyline as well. He would be defeating veterans one after another. So, it would be ideal to hype it up as Rob said.

"You may have a point there," Mark conceded nodding.

"The problem is how to portray you in a way that you don’t come off as egotistical or arrogant. You are surely going to hype your victories over these veterans, but you have to do it in a way that makes the people get behind you instead of going against you. After all, veterans always have a place in their hearts, right?"

Rob said sending Mark into a thinking frenzy.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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