Booking Glory

Rob had to take a deep breath to calm himself down after that idiotic question from the man on the left. But, damn wasn’t he startled by the question. They didn’t even know what heel or face meant. And these were wrestling promoters of this world. No wonder, pro-wrestling was in a shitty state.

Just to make sure that the man on the left was not pulling his leg, he sneaked a glance at the other two men. Confusion was etched across their faces too. Rob had to stop himself from swearing out loud. These guys truly didn’t have any idea about what a heel or face meant. It looked like he had to change the way he spoke. The only way to get his point across was to explain things as he would do to a newbie.

"Well, by heel and face, I meant good guys and bad guys. The good guys are the faces and the bad guys are the heels," Rob explained with an awkward shrug of his shoulders.

"Good guys? Bad guys? We aren’t a damn movie company. This just shows that you have no idea what pro-wrestling is. I am telling you, this guy is just here to waste our time," the one on the left grumbled irritably towards the other two.

Rob was once again flabbergasted by the reply he received.

’Wait a minute, was this guy telling me that they don’t have good guys and bad guys while booking a match. Then, that means they are treating all the wrestlers like competitors. Then it would mean that there is no storytelling at all in pro-wrestling.’

Rob felt his world spin at the mere thought of pro-wrestling existing without any kind of storytelling. It was like a burger without meat; food without salt; no matter how pretty it looked, it would taste just bland and be unpalatable. He now knew the root cause for pro-wrestling being in such a slump. This was fucking unacceptable. His determination to change pro-wrestling only became stronger after hearing this.

But, before that, he should get past this interview. With how things were currently, he knew that he had to do something drastic to even have a chance. So, he decided to press forth with his speech ignoring the interruptions of the man on the left. If his gamble paid off, he would at least enter the world of pro-wrestling. Antagonizing the man on the left was a small price to pay compared to that reward.

"That’s what I meant," Rob said raising his voice to cut off the whining of the man on the left. "I mean, we don’t have any clear-cut villains or heroes. We book everyone in the same manner. But, if we could tweak it a little and book them in such a way that the public knew who the good and bad guys are, we could create more connection with them and draw in a bigger audience."

Silence greeted his statement. Rob observed his audience to gauge their reaction to what he said. What he was proposing was something new and unheard of in this world. This wouldn’t be received with enthusiastic applause regardless of how much sense it made. So, he had to ease these people into the idea slowly.

The one in the middle had a blank face, making it difficult to ascertain how he viewed this new approach. The one on the left was visibly fuming. Whether it was from being embarrassed when Rob cut him off or he didn’t like the idea that was proposed, Rob didn’t know. However, there was a gleam of interest in the eye of the man on the right. Until now, the man hadn’t reacted much other than ask his sharp question when Rob was bullshitting.

But now, there was some interest in his eyes.