Booking Glory-Chapter 75: Invitation

"Do you understand why Robin is hostile to you?"

Dallas asked looking at Rob questioningly.

"Moreover, I am sure you must have some crazy idea that will probably work for that extra twenty mins. So, if that succeeds, it is only natural to give you half an hour or thirty-five mins for the PPV following that," Dallas continued without waiting for Rob’s response.

"That means, the men’s division will have one less match slot available for them. It will in turn make it difficult for Robin inside the men’s locker room. So, don’t be naïve and just think about the upcoming PPV or shows. Always, think beyond that in this business," Dallas said patting Rob on the shoulders.

Rob nodded mutely digesting the information Dallas had given him. It was true. He only thought about from one PPV to the next. Only when it came to storylines did he think past that constraint in order to weave a long story.

He never even considered the business aspects, or the power structure when dealing with PPV and booking. Even though he wanted to be a powerful person in the circle, Rob was aware that he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the company when it came to politics.

"Looks like you are realizing it now," Dallas smiled at Rob. "Make no mistake kid, you entered the power game the moment you became a booker. Whether you like it or not, you are other people’s opponent. And they wouldn’t just sit back and watch you gain more influence. They would do their utmost to curb your power and keep you under them."

"You better start preparing to face more hurdles soon. After all, it is every man for himself when it comes to power and influence. I will leave you to your thoughts now. I have already said what should be said," Dallas nodded at Rob and took his leave.

Rob watched him go with a contemplative expression on his face.

*****

"Hello, this is Rob Williams," Rob said into the phone as he picked up a call from an unknown number.

"Hey Rob, this is Steven," the voice from the other end spoke making Rob confused for a few moments before he recognized who this voice belonged.

"Ah, Steven," Rob said struggling to find his words.

He hadn’t heard this voice for over eight months now. The last time he heard this was voice was when he had called back to thank Steven for recommending him to Mr. Gibson.

Ever since then, he hadn’t heard back from Steven. Rob didn’t want to disturb the old man either. He knew that someone like Steven Rush would obviously be busy, so he had refrained from calling again and imposing himself frequently.

But, things had become busy with his life soon after joining LWC, causing him to forget about this old man who had endorsed him in the first place. Now that he had been inside the business, Rob realized how precious such an endorsement was to someone who had no connections like him.

"Looks like you are surprised to hear from me, young man," Steven chuckled on the other side.

"Surprised and confused," Rob replied back. "This doesn’t look like your number."

"Ah, I recently changed my number. Looks like I forgot to send you my new number," Steven said a little apologetically. "I am sorry."

"It isn’t an issue Steven. So, tell me, hmmm.... I have to admit this is a surprise, I don’t know what to say to you," Rob spoke openly making Steven chuckle.

"Ha ha ha... don’t worry about it, young man. Anyway, I actually called to congratulate you. I didn’t expect to see you succeed in such a short time. While I always had confidence in you, I never expected this day to come so sooner," Steven sounded a little hesitant as if he didn’t know what to say either.

"Thank you, Steven. You must know how much it means to me for someone like you to say such words," Rob said a little happily.

"Ah, don’t give me that. I have been following your stuff for some time and I gotta say that your ideas have more potential than I have ever imagined. I bet Andrew is laughing in his sleep now. It is the best decision he had ever taken in his business career so far," Steven sounded more relaxed now.

"Ha ha ha, I wouldn’t say that," Rob said modestly.

"Trust me, it is. Anyway, I would like to meet you sometime this week. Do you think you can make some time for an old man like me?" Steven asked jovially.

"Steven, I will be very happy to meet with you. You don’t even need to think. You can always drop by LWC if you ever feel like it," Rob said sincerely. "I would drop by AWF, but I don’t think people there would allow me inside. It is entirely different for you. Is there any promotion that wouldn’t welcome you in?"

"Ha ha ha... flattery will get you everywhere young man, keep it up. Anyway, I don’t think meeting in LWC will be a good idea. The situation being what it is, I don’t want to bring some heat to Andy’s promotion. He would never forgive me for that," Steven said thoughtfully.

"I don’t think he would mind a visit from you," Rob said shaking his head.

"Forget that, we can meet somewhere outside. How about this evening? Are you free?"

"Yes, I can make do. As you know, work is never over for people like us. But, I don’t have anything urgent to do," Rob said looking at the piled-up documents before him.

For a moment, Rob yearned for the days when he could have just locked his laptop and left. No, now he had to keep everything in order, lest he ends up misplacing some important files.

"I think that works for me as well. I will text you the address of the bar I usually hang out in. Is that fine? Or do you want to go to a restaurant or something?" Steven asked Rob.

"A restaurant would be good. As much as I would love to have a drink with you, I think bars would be too noisy," Rob chuckled.

"No worries, they have private rooms for people like us. I know the owner, I can swing a private room for us," Steven laughed at the other end.

"Then, I have no issues," Rob replied with a smile.

"In that case, let’s chat further when we meet. I will leave you to your work now. I don’t want Andrew coming after me, now," Steven chuckled.

"Sure," Rob smiled, "let’s meet tonight."

*****

Rob sat across from Steven Rush in one of the private rooms reserved for elite customers in Steven’s usual bar. He had to admit that this particular bar wasn’t what he was expecting, to be honest.

When Steven had told him that they could meet up in a bar, he had been expecting something along the veins of Top Slam or the bar that he and Mark had gone to. However, this one was really not in the same league as them.

This bar had a very high-end atmosphere to it. The people he saw were in their suits and cocktail dresses, compared to the casual clothing that he was wearing currently.

From what little he spied off the atmosphere, Rob figured that this was a high-end bar that was only frequented by elites of the society. While Rob knew that Steven had money, he didn’t know that he had this kind of money.

The ease with which the staff greeted Steven when he had led him to the private room and the confident manner in which Steven had guided him had clued Rob in that Steven was a regular customer here.

Steven sat across him smoking a cigar calmly as he closed his eyes and listened to the music that was playing in the background. The music was light and was perfect for such an atmosphere.

Rob sat across him taking in the lavish decorations that were adorning the room. Even the sofa he was sitting on felt very comfortable and cushy for him. A bottle of single malt whiskey sat open on the luxurious table in front of him.

"So, Steven," Rob said hesitantly. "How are things at AWF?"

"Don’t need to be so careful, kid. I am not that fragile. I can take a loss," Steven snorted opening his eyes and looking at Rob with mirth in his eyes. "It is how it is. I will leave the company by the end of this month."

"It is hard to imagine an AWF without you," Rob said in reply.

"Well, you better get used to it. AWF was there long before I came in. And it will be there long after I am gone. At least, that is what the board told me," Steven chuckled.

"Did they really say that?" Rob asked disbelief coloring his voice.

"Hmmm," Steven nodded and reached out to grab his drink.

Rob waited patiently for Steven to take a sip of his drink. He knew that the old man must have called him for a reason, but he didn’t know what it was yet. So, he was sure that Steven would broach the subject sooner or later.

"The company has gone to the dogs. Greg doesn’t have a single bone of passion for the business. He sees everything in numbers. Everything is profit and loss for him," Steven said shaking his head. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Oh," Rob didn’t know how to reply to that.

"AWF is the premier wrestling promotion in this world. They don’t have any competition to speak of. This, in turn, has created the delusion that they are bigger than the business itself. They are forgetting the roots that prop up the big tree. I tried to warn them and steer them away from it, but it is of no use."

"What do you mean?" Rob asked curiously.

"People in the upper level of AWF look at it as only a money printing machine. They don’t want anything that might make a dent in their money. Ideas that might pan out great in the long term are being rejected on the sole ground that it might affect income negatively for some time."

"Take what you have done in LWC for example. When you said your ideas to us during that interview, no one expected them to pan out well. Even I was skeptical of it at the beginning. Curious, but skeptical. I was curious enough to give it a go but skeptical whether it would succeed."

"But, you have proved with your program with Dacey and Diana that it works. Now, LWC is raking in more money because of that. If it was AWF, they wouldn’t even allow you to test new ideas because the old ones are already making money. They don’t need new ideas that might impact revenue in the short term. They are content with raking in money from following the old route," Steven smiled ruefully at Rob.

"But... that is not progressing, is it?" Rob asked in confusion.

"Aren’t you listening kid, they don’t care about pro wrestling at all, let alone progressing it. They are content to remain stagnant and rake in the money," Steven shook his head a little disappointedly.

"But, that means, there is nothing that could be considered new. It would make pro wrestling dull in the long run and drive off fans. It will kill the business," Rob said frowning.

"Like I said, they don’t care about pro wrestling at all. They only look at this as a form of business. Their motto is if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But, what they don’t understand is that if you don’t break something down, you can’t build something better to replace it."

Rob nodded agreeing with that statement.

"Let’s not talk more about those morons. Just talking about them makes me mad. You gotta know that AWF has been my home for a long time. I am just sad to see them turning into such an abomination," Steven said shaking his head.

Rob could feel his genuine sorrow when he said that. It was in the way his voice lowered slightly and his face sported a complicated expression. Rob felt a little bad for Steven at that moment. He didn’t know how to console him.

As Rob watched, Steven poured and downed a large glass of whiskey in one go. He looked up at Rob and gave a wan smile. Rob merely smiled back in reassurance.

"Don’t just sit there, come on drink," Steven said motioning for Rob to pick up his glass. "You are acting like it was a pity party that was thrown for my benefit. No need for that. I have survived far worse than this."

Rob smiled and picked up his glass of whiskey. He rotated it slowly and took a sip savoring the flavor. It had been a long time since he had drunk such costly alcohol.

Ever since he had transmigrated, Rob had been living frugally in order to accumulate more money to invest in opportunities that his knowledge of the future identified. So, he hadn’t spent much on frivolous things like quality whiskey, when a normal beer was enough to give the buzz he needed to unwind.

"Speaking of companies, how is LWC treating you? I didn’t expect Andrew to give you a booker position this soon. I was genuinely surprised when he did that. I thought it would take at least a year for you to graduate from being a backstage helper," Steven asked curiously.

"Initially, that was the plan," Rob said sipping his whiskey a little. "However, things changed. Breeze TV wasn’t satisfied with the ratings. They were putting pressure on Mr. Gibson to increase them. So, he decided to give me a chance and see how it panned out."

"And you grabbed that opportunity with both hands," Steven said staring at Rob intensely.

Steven’s gaze made Rob a little uncomfortable. However, he couldn’t find anything wrong with that statement, so he merely nodded.

"Good for you," Steven smiled brightly and patted Rob’s thigh.

Rob felt the uncomfortable feeling inside him increasing a bit more. While Steven was smiling, his eyes weren’t. They didn’t look as if they meant that statement. And the way Steven patted him on the thigh felt a little condescending. It was as if an old lady patting a child and saying they had done well.

While it would have been fine coming from an old lady, neither was Steven that old nor was he a kid. But, Rob thought about how much more experienced in the industry Steven was compared to him. If one thought about that, then Steven’s attitude might have some basis for it. So, he didn’t think much about it.

However, it didn’t stop Rob from firming up his opinion to become a behemoth in this industry in the future, so that no one talked to him again like this. Rob hid his discomfort and smiled at Steven politely.

"I gotta say, I wouldn’t have gone about some things like you did, but things worked out for you," Steven smiled a little as he poured a little more whiskey and sipped it.

Rob felt like asking what he meant by things worked out for him. The program was receiving rave responses from the crowd and every segment he put out was garnering top ratings for the show. He had made both Dacey and Diana bigger and more popular than they were.

And Steven was telling that things worked out for him.

Things didn’t just work out in Rob’s opinion. They were great. He had hit it out of the park in every way that mattered to him. Once more, Rob felt like Steven was looking down on him.

Rob frowned a little, but still managed to keep his tongue from asking any questions. It was clear that Steven and he weren’t agreeing on many things. He didn’t want to sour their relations much.

"So, Steven, now that you are going to step out of AWF, what are you going to do next?" Rob asked trying to change the topic.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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