Booking Glory-Chapter 74: Diana’s Ascent - Part 4

"Dacey! Hey Dacey!"

Dacey and Mr. Gibson turned in unison to look at the large titantron at the entranceway. The titantron was showing a live feed of Diana grinning very brightly into the camera.

"I have been thinking about my loss to you for the past three days. I got to admit, you played your hand well. But, here is this thing about being smart. Your opponent could also start acting smart like you do."

"When I calmed down and thought about your actions, whether it was your attack on me on <Break Out> or your cheating victory on <Last Stand>, I realized one thing. You like to play around with loopholes in your contract and match rules. You seek to take advantage of these things."

"So, I thought to myself, why can’t I do the same? Well, cheating is not my cup of tea. I usually prefer to defeat my opponents one on one. But, I thought that you deserved some kind of a message. A message that tells you that I know your tricks now."

"So," Diana leaned back from the camera with her smile still on her face a little bit allowing the camera to slowly zoom out.

The visual showed Diana sitting inside a piece of heavy machinery. It was a bulldozer of sorts. Dacey looked confused for a moment before something dawned on her and she started pointing at Diana in disbelief.

"I see you get it, Dacey," Diana smiled. "Well, it saves me from explaining much. See you on the other side, bitch. Safe travels, tonight."

Diana waved and switched on the machine. The machine came alive with a loud rumble causing Dacey to hysterically yell at Diana from inside the ring.

"Don’t you dare do it! Don’t you dare do it! Don’t you dare do it!" Dacey yelled into the microphone.

At that moment, the camera zoomed away to show Diana driving the bulldozer toward a car in the distance. As Dacey’s screams became more and more hysterical, Diana operated the bulldozer to lift the car up and held it high. As the camera zoomed in once more, Diana looked at the screen and smiled.

"Congratulations on winning the title, Dacey. Here’s my gift," Diana said cheekily and pushed a button.

The bulldozer let go of the car. The car smashed into the ground from a high altitude and broke down. The glasses shattered and the car flipped twice before stabilizing itself.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed my gift, Dacey. I wish you safe travels on your way home. Would you look at that? It is already time for me to send back this bad boy. See you next week, Dacey. Hope your new car is at least better than this one," Diana smiled smugly and started the bulldozer once more.

Dacey watched in horrified silence as she saw Diana drive away into the distance.

*****

"This is preposterous!!" Rob blew a gasket at the commentary table as the segment came to an end. "How could she do this? She is deranged. Truly out of her mind. Who in their right mind would endorse such a behavior?"

"I have to say, Rob, this is truly hilarious to see you acting so angry. I think you should relax a bit. While what Diana did might have been too overboard, I don’t think you need to react in such a manner," Dallas said chuckling.

"This is no laughing matter, Dallas. She has committed a felony. A Felony! She has destroyed the Goddess’s car!!!" Rob screeched.

"I wouldn’t say completely destroyed, Rob. I am sure there were some parts of the car that was still salvageable. In fact, I know a good mechanic who takes in scraped cars for their parts. Do you want me to introduce them to Dacey? What do you think? Will she accept my help?" Dallas asked needling Rob further.

"Dallas, it is clear that both you and Diana Wharton are off your rockers. That isn’t a joke. For heaven’s sake, demolishing someone’s car is a felony. She should be put behind bars for that," Rob seethed.

"Likewise, cheating to win the title isn’t a joke either. Dacey is merely getting what she is due. Remember this, what goes around will always come around. There is a repercussion for every action we take. While I don’t agree with the manner Diana took care of this matter, I can hardly fault her for acting in such a manner after Dacey had screwed Diana over," Dallas said calmly.

"This isn’t funny, Dallas. Mark my words, the Goddess is going to make her pay," Rob said furiously.

"Well, she will have her opportunity next week. It looks like Diana is off for the night, tonight," Dallas chuckled once more.

"Believe it, the Goddess isn’t going to let this slide," Rob said angrily and looked away from Dallas.

"Well folks, as you have already seen, the situation between Dacey and Diana is far from over. Things look to be heating up between them. With Diana’s latest actions, we surely can expect some pushback from Dacey next week. So, don’t forget to tune in next week," Irvin plugged in calmly.

"We still have our main event to focus on tonight. Marshall Jones will go one on one with Rictor Swole tonight in our main event. Just days after failing to capture the LWC World Championship title, I am betting that Marshall will truly be in a foul mood."

"In fact, check out this clip here. We met up with Marshall Jones backstage before the show and here’s what he had to say," Irvin said taking the crowd’s attention away from the previous segment.

Following that, a video interview of Marshall Jones rolled up on the titantron.

*****

Todd walked out of the arena with a satisfied expression on his face. The follow-up show for <Last Stand> was really satisfactory to him. It was even a surprise to see Marshall Jones going over Rictor Swole in the main event.

After all, as far as he knew Marshall Jones’s contract was going to expire next week. It didn’t make any sense to put him over if he was going to be let go. Especially against an upcoming talent like Rictor Swole.

The only reason he could think of for LWC to book that was them extending the contract with Marshall Jones. If it was indeed the case, then Todd was curious as to who would fight Mark Weathers at the upcoming PPV.

He didn’t think that LWC wasn’t aware of Marshall Jones’s aging body. No matter how good his wrestling ability was, Todd was sure that Marshall just didn’t have what it took to work the main event for an extreme special PPV.

With Marshall blowing out in the middle of the match during <Last Stand>, Todd felt it was incredibly foolish to expect him to work the main event scene for an extreme rules PPV.

However, with Marshall still occupying one end of the main event scene, Todd didn’t know what to think. It is obvious that Mark Weathers will be on the other end. So, it was now becoming unpredictable for him.

And he rejoiced in it.

One of the main factors that inspired him to work in this business was the unpredictability factor. Having some mystique now and then would not be something he would be averse to.

So, overall, this was a good follow-up show after PPV by LWC.

Not just the main event, there were several spots across the show that were intriguing as well. Especially the one with Evelyn and Selena. He knew that he and a lot of other people would show up next week to see their fight. LWC had a good job of pushing those two women.

But, the biggest takeaway for him was the segment with Dacey and Diana.

As usual, the two ladies hit it out of the park with their performance. And Mr. Gibson too. He played his part to perfection. Todd felt as if this rivalry between Dacey and Diana was the best one LWC has put out so far to date.

There were so many unanswered questions in that story that Todd felt that he would be happy to follow it for months. He felt that it was a brilliant idea for Rob to include Mr. Gibson in this storyline.

Due to that, there is not only that red hot rivalry between Dacey and Diana currently, but also other aspects of the story like the animosity between Mr. Gibson and Dacey, the distrust between Diana and Mr. Gibson, and Mr. Gibson’s test of loyalty.

Todd also noticed that while Rob was building the rivalry between Dacey and Diana at the forefront, he was also laying breadcrumbs and seeds to flourish later with Dacey’s interaction with Mr. Gibson.

Dacey’s accusations against Mr. Gibson, while taken on a surface level, may look like Dacey finding excuses for her behavior, but underneath the surface level was developing into a story of its own.

The fallout between mentor and protégé; the divided loyalties Mr. Gibson was walking around with; distrust sowed between Mr. Gibson and Diana. All these things can be further developed into a story of their own.

This made the entire storyline too intriguing for him to watch.

Some days, Todd felt as if Rob was weaving a complex story with Dacey Surestone and Diana Wharton as the center. He felt as if several interconnected stories are being told currently which made it hard for him correctly identify each and every one of them.

And there was Diana’s sudden character shift.

So far, Diana has come off as someone honest, down-to-earth, and very upright person. But, what happened tonight added another shade to her character. I mean, who would have thought that Diana would become crazy enough to destroy Dacey’s car?

Todd really didn’t know how to feel about that. While his mind was telling him that what Diana did was obviously wrong, his heart kept cheering her on when she demolished Dacey’s car.

He felt that Dacey deserved such a thing happening to her. After weeks of hiding behind the rules, Dacey was, at last, getting some payback that was due to her. And it felt exhilarating to watch Diana be the one that was dishing out that payback.

After all, Diana has been Dacey’s main target so far. It was only fitting that Diana was the one to deliver the punishment to Dacey. And the way she did it was also really beautiful.

Todd knew that there must be some loophole in the rules that allowed Diana to get away with what she had done. Diana even referred to it being so. He felt as if he needed to brush up on the wrestling rulebook a bit more if Rob kept using these loopholes one after another.

There was also an obvious cause and effect surrounding this story. The chain reactions that result in developing new feuds like the one with Evelyn and Selena were just the tip of the iceberg.

Todd didn’t know what Rob’s final goal was with this story, but he wished that he would be able to see it come to a full conclusion as soon as possible. He was way too eager to see it fully play out.

With such delicious prospects being lined out, it was no wonder that he felt satisfied with tonight’s show. After all, despite his career, he was an ardent pro wrestling fan first and foremost.

And nothing is more enjoyable to a fan than interesting stuff that would blow his mind.

Todd felt that he would gladly buy a ticket if the entire show featured only the women’s division at this point. Rob’s booking was truly unique and enjoyable not to.

*****

"Did you really demolish a whole car for that segment?" Dallas cornered Rob near the coffee machine and asked rudely.

"Not exactly," Rob said sipping his coffee. "We only destroyed a car that was set to be scrapped. We just did a few odd repairs, painted it, and made it look like a brand new car from the outside."

"Still, it must have cost a lot," Dallas frowned.

"Not as much as you would think. It was really cheap. Compare it with the merchandise sales Diana would be driving today after what she did," Rob said looking sideways to see if anyone was near the vicinity. "That shit was a dirt cheap investment when compared to the numbers her T-shirt did today."

"How much?" Dallas asked curiously lowering his voice.

"She beat Dacey’s numbers with a wide margin. Even Mark came up behind her," Rob said furtively.

"Oooh, Robin must be frothing in his mouth now," Dallas chuckled.

"Ssshhh, I am trying to avoid that exact scenario," Rob said glancing around. "He has been a little hostile towards me since Monday’s meeting. I think he is getting irritated with me."

"Oh, do tell, what happened?" Dallas asked eagerly.

"Well, I argued for and got 40 mins for women’s division during the next PPV. It didn’t sit well with him. I really don’t understand what his problem is. I only asked for twenty mins from the added time," Rob rolled his eyes.

"Boy, you are still naïve if you thought he wouldn’t see you as a threat after getting that. Did you ever stop to think what LWC would do if the women perform as admirably as Dacey and Diana in the upcoming PPV? Do you think Andy and Desmond will agree to scale back the time allocated for the PPV after that if that is the case?"

Rob blinked not knowing how to answer.

"I see you are getting what I am hinting at here. If the women do a good job and get a good response, Andy and Desmond will be looking to see if giving them more time on the PPV after that will work or not. Which means, it will cut into the normal time allocated to the men’s division."

"Do I still have to explain how that might infringe on Robin’s interests? In this business, things can be easily taken away without a moment’s notice. But, if you want to increase something or put out something new, it is always hard."

"You have got the opportunity for the women. Well and good. As the person-in-charge of the women’s division, that is what you should do. However, more time for women will automatically mean less time for men. There is no sugarcoating that bit," Dallas said looking around.

"Understand this, they never expected much out of the women’s division. I mean, who would have expected Dacey and Diana to become so hot? While you can tell me that you had the confidence, that doesn’t mean shit in this business. Here, only established results speak," Duncan spoke overriding Rob’s attempt to speak.

"So, when they gave you the entire women’s division, their expectation for you was to improve it a bit. Robin may have been a little salty with your appointment at such a young age as a booker, but he wasn’t threatened by you at that time."

"However, you have exceeded their expectations. You have made Dacey and Diana as the two hottest stars in LWC. Apart from Mark, no one is comparable to them. And Mark is the LWC World Champion for a reason."

"Now, you are demanding more time for the women’s division. They can’t argue that because you have delivered so far. So, it is only natural to give you an opportunity. However, this opportunity means, you will have more ground to prove yourself," Dallas said looking at Rob seriously.

"Now, you are a growing threat to Robin. Do you understand why Robin is hostile to you?"

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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