Booking Glory-Chapter 79: News Blowout

"Listen, is it true that you met with Steven Rush and Willy Wagner?"

Rob felt a foreboding feeling occupy him as he heard that question. The uneasy feeling, that wasn’t letting him sleep till now, amplified hearing Todd’s question. Rob’s frown grew as he processed Todd’s question and wondered what was happening.

"Why do you ask?" Rob asked suspiciously.

"So, you did it meet them," Todd said excitedly. "You did meet them, right?"

"I never said that," Rob said defensively.

"Come on, you can tell me. Anyway, it is not going to be much of a secret for long. I mean, the story is going to break out tomorrow morning. So, it is no use hiding from me. You don’t need to worry about me blabbing about something I shouldn’t. You can trust me," Todd spoke.

"Wait, wait, wait," Rob cut in hastily. "What story? Todd, what are you even talking about?" Rob asked in confusion.

"Huh, don’t need to play coy, Rob. I always knew that you had great potential. How about giving me an exclusive? Just do a favor for a friend here. You wouldn’t regret it. I would make you look like a million dollars in my article," Todd spoke not really answering Rob’s question.

"Todd, Todd, Todd! Can you explain things first? What story are you talking about?" Rob said in exasperation.

"What story I am talking about? You gotta be kidding me, Rob. Come on, by now most people in the circle have heard about it. It is going to be all over the papers tomorrow," Todd said a little testily.

"Todd, I don’t really know what you are talking about," Rob said massaging his brows. "A little clarification would be nice here."

"So, you didn’t meet Steven Rush and Willy Wagner?"

"I didn’t say that either. Look, can you calm down for a second and tell me what you are all about? I have no clue," Rob said sighing.

"Ok, since you asked, I will tell you. I don’t know why I am even telling you this. Fine, there has been a rumor circulating a lot amongst us wrestling journalists lately. Apparently, Steven Rush and Willy Wagner are joining hands to create a new promotion to rival AWF," Todd sounded a bit irritated now.

Rob felt the uneasy feeling totally engulf him completely. He immediately understood what Todd was talking about it. Now that he thought about it, how could such a thing be kept under wraps for long? Surely, someone must have sniffed things out by now.

And it looked like someone indeed did. Despite Steven and Mr. Wagner moving in shadows, the clues were there for anyone who wanted to look further. And with Steven’s imminent departure from AWF, a lot of spotlight will be focused on him currently.

Rob felt like kicking himself for being so naïve. The old fox had played him brilliantly. The call, the meeting, and the offer have all been planned out. Now, he was also going to be in the eye of the storm. The old fox was driving him to a dead end with this hand.

When news came out that he met with the duo on the eve of the papers breaking it, a lot of attention is going to be focused on him. This would make it hard for him to answer other people’s questions and cast suspicions on his loyalty towards LWC.

Rob scowled as he realized that he had been used as a scapegoat by the duo to divert some attention away from their actions. With the news of his meeting them breaking out, a bit of limelight will be shone on him as well. If no one knew about him previously, then now, people would start taking a close look at him and his body of work.

This was the kind of attention and scrutiny that Rob didn’t need in his life currently. Rob cursed the old fox under his breath and thought furiously about how to get out of this mess. On the other end, Todd kept talking excitedly about the possibility of a new promotion at the level of AWF coming up.

Just then, something in Todd’s words made him pause. His mind worked furiously and he found a glimmer of hope to extricate himself from the attention that was sure to follow this.

"Wait, Todd, are you telling me that Steven and Mr. Wagner have been meeting other people apart from me as well?" Rob asked in a hurry.

"Yeah, as of now, several of the top stars from other promotions have been linked to this story. However, none of them are making any comments. Can you throw a bone for your pal here?" Todd asked eagerly.

"So, there will be other stars that will be mentioned alongside me," Rob asked once again to make things clear.

"Yes, and it is big news. I heard that even mainstream media is covering this because of Wagner. In fact, they are the ones that are going to break the story. We will only be doing follow-up reports," Todd said with complicated emotions in his voice.

"Even mainstream media, huh?" Rob said scratching his chin a bit. "Looks like this is going to make a big splash tomorrow."

"You betcha. So, can you throw a bone for your pal?" Todd asked once again.

"Frankly Todd, I don’t know what I can give to you. I met Steven out of respect. There was no offer involved there. You should know that Steven was the one who recommended me to Mr. Gibson, right?" Rob downplayed his meeting as much as possible.

"Oh, didn’t they offer you anything?" Todd asked a little subdued.

"Nah, they didn’t offer me anything related to booking if that is what you are asking. I am going to be in LWC for a long time," Rob chuckled.

"Oh..."

"Look Todd, I know some things in regards to the story. Maybe, I can help you out there," Rob said suddenly coming up with an idea.

"What is it?" Todd asked eagerly.

"For starters, I can confirm they indeed have an idea regarding establishing a promotion to compete against AWF. Their goal is to create a top-tier promotion. So, if I were you, I would concentrate on ferreting out things from the talents in top-tier promotions. Concentrating on me or others like me who are barely in the industry will be a waste of time," Rob said gently guiding Todd’s attention away from him.

"Did Steven tell you that?" Todd asked eagerly.

"Not in those exact words, but I can read between the lines," Rob said smiling a little.

"Well, that is not much to go on," Todd sounded deflated.

"On the contrary, I think there is a lot of potential there to dig. I mean, as a reporter, one of your goals is to hook readers into reading your article right?" Rob asked.

"Yeah, you can say that," Todd replied.

"Then, instead of focusing on who you think will be interesting, like me for example, focus on people who the readers will find interesting. Your average reader isn’t going to care about me or any other booker they talk to unless the person is someone like Steven Rush."

"Instead, you can concentrate on the stars that have met with them. Dig and see if there is any truth to those rumors. You can check out their current contract status, their relationship with their promotions, who they have heat in the backstage, and stuff like that. I guarantee you that you will sell more if you follow that approach," Rob said taking a page out of twentieth-century clickbait writers’ playbook.

"But, wouldn’t that compromise journalistic integrity? I mean, a good journalist always tries to gather facts from all angles," Todd sounded reluctant.

Rob rolled his eyes upon hearing that statement. He had seen how low the level of journalistic integrity could go once the internet came into use in his old world. He didn’t have any moral burdens in setting Todd off in that direction right now.

"True, but it doesn’t make your integrity lower if choose to focus on the most popular aspect first. You can always add a few lines here and there about the unpopular stuff in your article if you want. That way you get both the readers and the truth out as well," Rob said toning his manipulation down a little.

"Hmmm, that makes sense," Todd said humming. "You always know how to sell stuff, don’t you?"

Rob didn’t acknowledge that question with a comment of his own. Frankly, after going through the advertisement baptism of the twentieth century, it was very easy for him to say some random techniques that are commonly known and come off as an expert in this day and age.

But, it didn’t make him a marketing genius. Rob knew his limits very well. It would be very dangerous if he started indulging himself in such delusions. While it may profit in the short term, it would hurt him in the long run. Who knows what kind of changes will occur because of his introduction of things earlier in this world?

"Anyway, are you fine with me quoting you on your statement?" Todd asked.

"What statement?"

"The one where you said that your meeting with Steven and Wagner was out of respect and no business talks were involved," Todd asked.

Rob thought about it for a moment and found it agreeable. He knew that distancing himself from the turmoil that is going to engulf the industry was pivotal to his career. And he must do it soon as well. So, putting it out there would be a good thing to do.

"No issues with that," Rob said agreeing. "You can even lead it into your other points like how they are most likely to target top-tier talent than someone who is new to the industry like me." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Ah, excellent point! This would nicely tie into the narrative of them looking to go head to head with AWF," Todd said excitedly.

Robb smiled hearing Todd’s excitement. He knew now that Todd would pursue the path he had laid out for him sincerely. This would also help him for some time. Unless someone once more deliberately dragged him in, he wouldn’t be under scrutiny for much.

"If that is all Todd, I am gonna end this call right now. You do realize I don’t get to sleep in like you do, don’t you?" Rob said deliberately.

"No issues," Todd chuckled. "Anyway, thanks for the talk man. You have at least given me something solid to work on," Todd said.

"Anything to help out a friend," Rob chuckled back. "Goodnight, Todd."

"Goodnight Rob."

Rob cut the call and let out a huge sigh of relief. Luckily, he had Todd as a friend. If not, he would have been blindsided by the news tomorrow. It would have put him at a disadvantage when dealing with this issue.

Now that he had set out his own narrative out there, things will be much easier to navigate. All he had to maintain was his stance not receiving an offer from the duo. It is not as if there was any evidence of it.

If he maintained the narrative that he was way too young and inexperienced for the duo to pay attention to him, he would have successfully avoided this upcoming turmoil. If he played his cards right, he could capitalize on it as well.

As for how things pan out for Steven and Mr. Wagnar, Rob didn’t worry about it much. While it is true that he had set off hounds in their direction by directing Todd to concentrate on big stars, it is not as if they wouldn’t know how to handle it, is it?

Furthermore, he wasn’t feeling any sympathy for the duo. He had a nagging suspicion that they both had purposefully lured him into this. As for their reason, Rob had no clue.

The thing that worried him now was Steven’s influence in the circle. He didn’t know if he was being purposefully lured into this turmoil by Steven or if it was a genuine accident.

If it was the latter, then everything was fine. However, if it was the former, he should be careful when dealing with someone like Steven Rush. He didn’t know why Steven would turn against him all of a sudden. The man had been the one to recommend him to Mr. Gibson. So, it didn’t make much sense, to be honest.

That meant, the likelihood of this one being an accident was greater than the likelihood of a deliberate setup. But, the nagging feeling when he thought about his interaction with Steven made Rob pause in his thinking for a moment.

"You know what, always assume the worst. That way if something bad happens you wouldn’t be surprised much," Rob mumbled to himself as he chugged the remaining beer in the can in one gulp.

*****

Rob felt a little uncomfortable as he walked into his office in LWC the next morning.

It wasn’t that he was feeling guilty for meeting Steven Rush or something like that. No, the uncomfortable feeling was the result of all the odd looks and whisperings behind his back he encountered while he walked into LWC this morning.

He knew why such looks were thrown his way as well. By now, he was sure that the news would have been broken by the media. It was likely a byproduct of it. He knew that things would remain in that vein for some time. So, he wasn’t bothered about it much.

He had already put his own narrative out there. By next week, the newspapers and other media outlets would have moved on from him. So, it wasn’t that big of an issue. He would likely have to endure these stares and whispers for some time. But, it was fine with him.

In a way, it also made his stock rise in the company. If he was someone who didn’t have anywhere else to go, then his stay here wouldn’t impact people much. But, if they thought he had other potential offers as well, then things would be a little easier for him.

No one would pick a fight with him for just the heck of it like Marshal Jones did one month ago. It would also add more weight to his words in the meetings as well. This was a win-win for him to be honest.

This way, he would have turned a crisis into an opportunity and increased his standing in the industry. It was a smart move if Rob had to say so himself. This would make him a must-have in LWC, as this was a marketing strategy in itself.

Rob put this issue out of his mind and concentrated on his work more. The next week was pivotal for multiple reasons. This was the juncture where Diana’s transformation was going to be finalized.

Also, Evelyn and Selena were going to go one on one against each other in a brutal fashion. If things went as planned, from next week he would be featuring other females in a prominent manner.

So, all in all, things were poised to shift to the next level in the women’s division.

Just as he was beginning to truly get into his work, Rob heard a knock on his door. Rob looked up from his desk with a frown as he didn’t have any meetings scheduled for the day.

However, before he could react, the door opened and Mr. Gibson peeped in with a straight face. Rob felt as if there was something wrong with Mr. Gibson when he saw him.

"Rob, can we meet in my office for a quick chat?" Mr. Gibson asked in a tight voice.

"Sure, Mr. Gibson. I will be right along," Rob said rising from his chair.

Before Rob could move away from his desk, Mr. Gibson turned back and walked away. Mr. Gibson’s attitude made Rob feel like there was something wrong. He hoped it had nothing to do with his meeting with Steven and the story that broke out today.

Steeling his heart, Rob walked into Mr. Gibson’s office and closed the door smartly. Mr. Gibson looked up from what he was pursuing and stared at Rob long and hard for a few moments.

"Rob, I think I have been very generous with you. No other owner would have allowed a newbie like you to have such an important position in his promotion. Hell, I even gave you the entire women’s division to manage. Is this how you repay me?" Mr. Gibson asked in a hard tone.

"Mr. Gibson, I really don’t know what you are talking about. Can you explain what the issue is here first?" Rob asked knowing full well that this must be related to his meeting with Steven.

"Don’t act as if you aren’t aware," Mr. Gibson snorted angrily and threw a newspaper toward him. "Here."

Rob looked down at the page that Mr. Gibson had conveniently opened for him and found himself taken aback by what was shown there. The worst part was that it wasn’t just any other newspaper. It was the Daily Herald, the newspaper with a high rate of approval and large circulation throughout the country. A true blue mainstream newspaper.

Right at the top of their sports page was a photo of Rob, Mr. Wagner, and Steven. The photo angle was taken just right. It showcased him shaking hands with Mr. Wagner, as Steven had a hand on his shoulder and smiled as if he was introducing Rob to Mr. Wagner.

Rob felt a bad feeling coming from that picture.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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