Before Vancouver
Rebellion's western tour — WWO's newest brand — sent ripples through more than a few places.
WWO coming out west was a rare event. Twice a year at most. And even then, it was usually just a pair of cities. A two-month stay, though…
People liked to say the West had fewer fans than the East, but once you looked at the population numbers, it was hardly a small market. On top of that, there was a winner-prediction event with prizes that included cars and other merchandise.
And then Charina's commercial dropped.
The ad itself had no flashy gimmick. Daytime: a pretty but ordinary-looking woman. Nighttime: the same woman working as a pro wrestler. That was the whole concept.
"She's actually a pro wrestler?"
"Yeah. WWO. Her skill's no joke."
"Holy shit, she's gorgeous."
"I heard she's coming to LA soon."
"For real?"
It also happened to mirror the double-life setup of a recent superhero movie. Charina was beautiful by any American standard, but she hit especially hard with the Asian communities living out West — Koreans, of course, but Japanese and Chinese viewers too.
"Paul! We're sold out."
"What?"
"The Vancouver tickets. The moment pre-sales opened, they sold out in twenty minutes. All nineteen thousand of them."
It was a long enough road trip that they'd jacked the prices up by twenty percent. And still — sold out in ten minutes.
"Hmm. Have we really been away from Vancouver that long?"
"Kind of, yeah. Last time was 2024."
Paul flipped through the paperwork. San Diego and LA had been visited in '25, but San Francisco's last stop dated all the way back to 2019.
"Maybe we send Smash Down out next year."
"Rotating one brand a year doesn't sound bad. Even short runs…"
"Yeah. The year after next is going to be packed, though."
Paul scribbled a note and stuck it where he wouldn't forget it.
"How's Charina's commercial landing?"
"Extremely well. We didn't plan it this way, but with that superhero movie still riding high, people are treating her like a real-life hero. And she's beautiful, right? Even more so on camera."
"Good. At least I can look the sponsors in the eye now. Send Casey the proposals from Pomonai and the apparel company. Both of them waited a long time — tell her to green-light them if she can."
"Got it. I'll pass that along."
"That's all."
Once HK Motors cracked the door open, the existing companies had piled in immediately, and fresh ones were starting to take interest.
Once this western run is over, we push her for real. No sponsor sticks with a wrestler who keeps losing — no matter how pretty she is.
Paul felt the need to accelerate Charina's timeline a little further.
Mizuki Miho and Meguri Aika sat down for a meeting with the brand director and the head of the scenario team.
The scenario team lead spoke first. It was Jane Kim — a name that had carried real weight even in Japan.
"I've watched the matches you two put on at Stardust. I think both of you have a very high level of in-ring ability."
"Thank you."
"Thank you."
"Meguri Aika is a striker-based powerhouse. Mizuki is a striker-based high-flyer. Both of you have solid joint work as well."
The praise landed, but neither of them relaxed. After deciding on the move to America, both women had spoken with Asuna, Sayuri, and Miyu multiple times for advice. Every single one of them had said the same thing: Don't fall for the sugarcoating.
"I'll start with Meguri. As a powerhouse, how heavy a wrestler can you work with cleanly? Can you execute technique perfectly up to seventy-five kilos? Can you suplex someone at a hundred kilos? I need you to be honest."
This was not something you lied about. Meguri answered straight.
"Up to seventy-five kilos, I can manage to a reasonable degree. Against a hundred kilos, I can at least hoist them up and dump them."
"Good. Next — Mizuki. How far can you go with dumps — body-launching spots?"
"I'm not really the scared type, so I'll moonsault from four or five meters. Anything higher than that, I haven't tried."
Jane nodded at both answers. Then Casey finally spoke.
"Internally, our evaluation is this: your joint work isn't at Asuna's level, and your aerial game is weaker than Miyu's."
Neither Meguri nor Mizuki had any intention of measuring themselves against those two seniors. Both women were already legends back in Japan.
"What we actually want to know is — are you on Sayuri Sane's level? Or better?"
Mizuki swallowed hard at Casey's words.
"Which is why, I'm sorry, but both of you will need to take losses in the first round."
Meguri's hands started to tremble. She'd assumed that since it was their debut, they'd at least be allowed to win the debut match. Mizuki reached over and gripped her wrist — a silent settle down.
"In exchange, we'll have you win the shows after that. You'll work more matches than the wrestlers advancing through the tournament. We judged that would help the two of you far more."
Neither of them was stupid. One win meant nothing next to adapting quickly. The director's reasoning made perfect sense.
"So we can work anyone?"
Meguri — who had a bit of a firecracker streak — asked right away.
"The winners will be tough. The more losers pile up later, the wider your options get."
"What about Charina?"
"Charina won't climb that high either, but a TV show match would be difficult."
"Why?"
"Charina's worked Japanese wrestlers too many times recently. It could easily turn into a nationality or ethnic feud. As you know, the West has a lot of Japanese and Korean fans."
Meguri was disappointed. So was Mizuki.
"That's a shame. Our seniors wouldn't stop praising her. I wanted to work her as soon as possible."
"Mizuki — I said a TV show would be difficult. I didn't say it was impossible. A short match in something like a dark match is entirely doable."
"Ah!"
"Does that work for you?"
Both women nodded at Casey's words.
"Thank you for understanding."
Casey stood, extended her hand, and shook with Mizuki and Meguri in turn. With that, the two of them headed down to the practice facility.
"I figured a young woman running the brand would be full of attitude. She wasn't, though."
"Yeah. Pretty well-mannered, right?"
"Mm. She was fine. Hmm. So — think the two of us will get a match?"
"Us two? Again? I'm sick of working you."
Five or six years in the same promotion. They'd wrestled each other enough to be thoroughly bored of it.
"Come on. We've still got to get our bodies ready somehow, don't we?"
At Mizuki's words, Meguri finally gave in.
That decision became completely meaningless the moment they arrived at the practice facility.
"Hey! Partner. Let's see what you've got. Get over here."
Hailey was waiting for Mizuki up on the ring.
"Go on, Mizuki. Show her what's what."
"Yeah."
Watching Mizuki head for the ring, Meguri figured she'd just hang by the side and spectate. Then someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Aika? Meguri? What do I even call you? Anyway — I'm your opponent. Let's go."
Diane Sweeney. Meguri's sparring partner.
"Call me Meguri. Fine."
Meguri nodded and followed Diane.
Whatever hazing Miyu had described going through — there didn't seem to be a trace of it here.
Selma had a meeting of her own.
"Come on in, Selma."
"Ah — yes."
Unlike everyone else's sit-downs, Selma's meeting had an extra person in the room. Paulo Hackman.
"Selma. First of all, please don't take this too hard or too personally."
"Understood, Director."
"Selma. Honestly speaking, you should have started in NEXT. Compared to your wrestling ability, things like promos were… significantly lacking."
Selma knew that was true. She nodded.
"Charina, on the other hand, got the recognition, and…"
"Yes. I accept that, Director."
"We — the company — decided that regardless of how well or poorly Charina performed, she needed a friend she could rely on. That's why we brought you up with her."
If that didn't sting, you didn't have a pulse. Selma was not happy. She held it in anyway.
"So we figured you needed someone to shore up your weak points. That someone is Paulo Hackman."
Selma's eyes went round. She looked back and forth between Paulo and Casey.
"Wait — my promo work is already weak, and you're pairing me with Hackman?"
"Hey, Selma. Compared to Bron Lesnar, you're a genius. That guy didn't find his voice until years after he debuted."
Selma hesitated at his answer. Casey cut in with something more concrete.
"If you work with Hackman, the upside is you can grow at roughly the same pace as Charina — as her rival. The downside is you'll have to keep feuding with her, and you'll be turning heel."
"Well? Sound okay?"
Selma didn't think she could answer on the spot.
"Could I have a day?"
"Of course. Take all the time you need."
Selma left the director's office and went looking for Charina. She found her at ringside, watching the other wrestlers train.
"Rina. Can we talk for a second?"
"Hmm? Sure."
Selma and Rina found a corner and sat down.
"How do you feel about me turning heel?"
"You as a heel… Jane told you to?"
"No. The director."
Rina tilted her head.
"I thought if they tell you to, you just do it?"
"They gave me a choice."
"Huh. Unexpected. Still — I think you'd actually be better as a heel."
"Why? Because my eyes look mean?"
"Heh. Please. If you turn heel, just treat every single person like they're Alf. Not just me — try acting like Olivia is Alf too. I think you'd nail it."
Even Selma had to admit that would probably work better.
"What if the story has us feuding the whole time?"
"So if we're enemies in the ring, you're going to fight me outside it too?"
"Well, if we're keeping kayfabe…"
Charina stretched out a hand and pointed. Over where she was gesturing, Jacob and Troy were laughing and talking like nothing was wrong.
"Those two are doing just fine."
"Huh. Yeah."
"Don't overthink it. You and me — let's both lock in at least high mid-carder first, then talk. If the immersion's too hard, just come in to sleep and leave."
Charina's words made Selma think of a Korean drama she'd watched recently.
"You lunatic. Are we a couple in the middle of a divorce?"
"Heh. You could look at it that way."
"Anyway — that means you're okay with it."
"Yeah."
Selma went straight back up to the director's office and said she'd do it.
"Good. We'll go with a story where you get completely demolished by Lilac Valkyrie, then slowly turn dark. That work?"
"Yes. Of course."
"And your current style is high-flyer technician, correct?"
"Yes."
"Let's add a shooter element — kick-focused."
From Selma's perspective, there was nothing to lose. She was already using kicks like the enzuigiri anyway.
"There's someone who's been dying to take on a student. I'll have you start learning from them tomorrow."
"Thank you."
The person who showed up the next day to teach Selma was Booker K.