Chapter 6: Preparations
Brrriiinnnggg! Brrriiinnnggg! Brrriiinnnggg!
Rob woke up to the sound of his alarm clock going off and groggily turned it down. It took him a few minutes to gather himself. He walked into the restroom to freshen up and came upon the sight of his 20-year-old figure.
Even though three weeks have passed since he came to this world, it was still jarring for him to look in the mirror. Every time the young visage of his current body was reflected in the mirror, he felt surreal. Rob spent a few minutes looking at the mirror before resuming his daily activities.
Objectively speaking, the new body he occupied was far more handsome than his previous figure. It had a sharp chin with a strong jawline that made it look much more manly than his previous face. He knew that in five or more years when he matured further, he could flaunt his rugged look as much as he wished. It somehow made up for the dissonance he often felt when looking at his current figure.
As he fixed his breakfast, Rob thought about yesterday’s meeting with Mr. Gibson. He had to admit that it had gone far better than his interview with AWF. While he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the outcome, it was far better than what he had hoped. For a brief moment in the meeting, he had felt that he could immediately begin changing the landscape of pro-wrestling in this world.
But, even he knew that it was unrealistic. Despite clearly knowing that things don’t change drastically in real life, he had hoped that he would be given that golden chance like those protagonists of the novels he had read. So, when Mr. Gibson had provided him with his offer he had hesitated a little.
There was this small nagging voice telling him to reject it and take his ideas elsewhere. It was like a devil’s whisper - telling him seductive tales of glory, power, and money. It reassured him that he was a genius and could succeed anywhere on his own and he didn’t need to take this handout.
But, Rob ruthlessly crushed it down. He knew that it was his ego that was saying such things. What Mr. Gibson offered was far more than anything that people would offer a newbie. His previous life experience told him that his chances of successfully impressing other promoters would be abysmally low - that is even if he got the chance to meet them in the first place.
And there was also the fact that if he went trumpeting his ideas to everyone, someone out there might just use his ideas and claim them to be his own. The world wasn’t just filled with knights in shining armor. There are crooks and villains present out there too.
So, he did the sensible thing after a slight bit of hesitation. He agreed to Mr. Gibson’s conditions and accepted his offer. This way, he at least had a job to do every day and a promise of bigger things after one year. Rob also knew that his actual knowledge of the pro-wrestling industry was strictly limited to what he had learned from the internet and interviews with pro-wrestlers.
To be frank, he hadn’t paid much attention to the interviews with bookers or known anything about how the backstage personnel worked in a pro-wrestling promotion. Not to mention the fact that his meager knowledge of the industry would not be entirely true even on earth, let alone in this new world.
So, working for one year and learning stuff about how pro-wrestling functioned in this world was not a bad idea. This way, even if Mr. Gibson didn’t keep his promise, he can use this experience and go to some other promotion. It would also help him to find some stability in his life.