Showcase, Part 2
To Tina, an active wrestler herself, this match was on a level beyond anything she was qualified to judge.
She may never have made it to WWO, but years spent grinding through the indie circuit and bouncing between smaller promotions had given her a considerable wealth of firsthand experience. And the in-ring ability of that girl Rina? It wouldn't have looked out of place against any of the female Superstars headlining WWO main events.
And her looks? She could have passed for a K-pop idol without anyone batting an eye.
Unlike Tina, who was stuck as a mid-carder even at TPA, that kid looked like a surefire success story the moment she set foot in WWO.
—One—
—Two—
While the referee was counting, someone vaulted into the ring at full speed.
"Kyaaah!"
The intruding man stomped on Rina's back again and again.
"What the hell!"
"Whoa—why is James interfering?"
"Wasn't this supposed to be a showcase?"
What was this? An outsider crashing a showcase match?
"Is he here to save Alf?"
"No DQ today, then?"
So the man who'd just run in—James—must have been that Alf guy's partner.
"How dare trash like you mess with Alf?"
James bellowed the line and hauled Rina up, planting her with a Pedigree—a double underhook facebuster.
—CRASH—
A brutal impact rang out as Rina's face was driven straight into the mat. She lay there like a corpse. As far as anyone could tell, she was completely out of the match.
James helped Alf to his feet and gathered him tenderly into his arms.
"Alf! My darling! Did it hurt that much?"
The trainees—and Tina right along with them—were stunned speechless.
"What the…."
"Did he just say my darling?"
"Oh my eyes! What did I just witness?"
"Those lunatics!"
James held Alf like a Pietà sculpture, tears streaming down his face. Crying in a wrestling ring? Tina had seen people cry from pain before—but a man weeping out of love? That was a first. With acting like that, he could sell any promo he wanted.
"Holy shit…."
"Is he actually crying?"
"Fuck, what even is this!"
"Pfft—hahaha. This is hilarious. It's BL!"
"This is great. So those two are gay. Hahahaha!"
The surrounding trainees clearly hadn't seen any of this coming either. Curses and laughter erupted from every direction.
Then someone else slipped into the ring behind James—a woman with a steel chair in one hand. The second she was through the ropes, she smashed it across James's back.
—BANG—
The steel plate rang out and James crumpled forward. Selma had hit him so hard the chair was already bent out of shape.
"It's Selma."
"Selma's in it too."
"Of course. No way Selma was going to sit through a scene like that."
"A little sister needs her big sister looking out for her."
The woman they called Selma beat James down several more times, then shoved him out of the ring. Her gaze swung to Rina. With a look of genuine pity, she approached the girl who appeared to be unconscious and pulled her upright.
Tina assumed she was going to help her out of the ring. Once again, the expectation was completely wrong.
Selma draped Rina across both shoulders and hurled her straight at James, who was still sprawled outside the ring. Rina landed squarely on top of him.
"Hah!"
"What now?"
"What is going on today?"
"Hey! This is a showcase, you maniacs!"
"Whoa—hahaha. Twist after twist. Hah!"
The trainees were in an uproar as one impossible turn piled onto the next. Selma glared down at the two of them outside the ring and roared at the top of her lungs.
"You two don't know your place! Going after my Alf? Alf is mine! He's mine!"
So one of them was running a gay gimmick, and this one was running a brother-complex gimmick? Tina even found herself wondering, half-seriously, whether Rina was supposed to be a lesbian gimmick too.
"This is insane."
"A love square over Alf? Damn, this is wild. Hahaha!"
"I'm so speechless I can't even talk anymore."
Behind Selma, Alf was already back on his feet, the crumpled chair she'd thrown still in his hands. The moment she turned around, he cracked it across her skull.
—CLANG—
Selma went down in one shot. Alf glanced at her once, muttered a single "Fuck you!," and walked out of the ring.
It was the most unhinged match of the most unhinged matches. Who on earth had written a scenario like that? Probably Bibi Dudley.
—Clap, clap, clap, clap—
Someone started applauding, and the rest of the room followed, clapping and cheering. Getting that kind of reaction from fellow trainees—not even regular fans—meant they had been completely locked in.
"The story was weird, but it was awesome."
"Nice work, Selma."
"Good game."
"That was cool."
The moment the match was officially over, the wrestlers who'd been lying dead on the mat and outside the ring got right back up as if nothing had happened. Rina went one better—she kicked up to her feet. Her striking had been flawless. Her selling and her ability to take moves had been flawless. And the exhaustion she'd sold? That had been acting too. She still had gas left in the tank.
"Ha. If those kids ever come over to TPA, it's going to be chaos."
Alf's technique and his ability to receive moves had been excellent. James's acting had been outstanding. Selma had roared like she was genuinely possessed. And Rina—Tina hadn't seen her mic work, but she'd heard Jane Kim herself had gotten heated by one of Rina's promos. So her acting was clearly no joke either.
As for raw ability? She'd tried to hoist a male wrestler for a powerbomb. Then there was the Eclipse, and the Shooting Star Press—those beautiful arcs were still burned into Tina's eyes. Aerial moves so gorgeous she couldn't even imagine attempting them herself. And shining brighter than all of that was her face. With looks like that, it was almost a mystery why she hadn't gone straight to WWO.
Ha. I'll have that mystery solved soon enough.
The trainees had called it a trash-fire match. Harry and Jane saw something different.
The whole story had simply been compressed into about twenty minutes, which made it look messy. Stretch the same arc out over two or three months of booking, and it would have been a perfectly workable—and entertaining—storyline.
"If they'd woven in a plot where Rina has a crush on Alf, it would've been perfect. That Alf kid should change his nickname to 'Alpha Male.'"
"Bibi, I didn't know you had this kind of talent. Ever think about working on the creative side?"
Bibi had heard the rough outline of the story, but all he'd really been told was which moves would be used at which points, and when James and Selma would come in and what they'd do. He had never imagined a gay angle and a brother complex would show up.
"Ha. I didn't write that."
"Huh?"
"I said I didn't write it! You think I'd write dirty BL crap like that? What do you take me for?"
Bibi's anger made it clear enough for Harry and Jane.
"Then… did The Bon write it?"
"The Bon is a devout Christian!"
"Ah. Right."
At that very moment, The Bon was beaming as he clapped Rina, Alf, and the others on the shoulders. He was famous enough as a Christian that he'd even run a preacher gimmick in the past. There was no way a man of faith like that had written a scenario featuring homosexuality.
"So who wrote it, then?"
"Hell if I know. One of those kids, probably."
"This interview's going to have a lot of questions. Bibi—tell them to clean up and get out here."
"What are you waiting for? Go!"
Harry and Jane Kim were practically vibrating with impatience as they shoved Bibi toward the door.
"I got it, I got it. I'm going."
Bibi sent the four who'd just put on such a hell of a match off to wash up.
"Give us thirty minutes."
"Let's head to the conference room. We can grab coffee while we wait."
The Bon and the other coaches joined them, and the group relocated to the meeting room.
"The Shooting Star Press I can almost buy. But how did you teach them the Eclipse? Does anyone here even know how to do that?"
"Did you teach them chair shots too? And how did a body that skinny manage to lift Alf?"
The questions started pouring the second they walked into the room.
"I did teach them TLC matches, yeah. For everything else, ask Coach McCarthy over there."
Jane and Harry's eyes locked onto Donald.
"The way you're all staring at me, I guess I taught them pretty well."
"Those kids are urgent, but Donald—we might need to take you first."
"Coach McCarthy. How did you teach them?"
Donald had been burned by Harry enough times that he'd planned to string him along a little longer. Then he changed his mind. This wasn't his stage to star on—there was no point dragging it out.
"Rina can copy just about any move after watching it two or three times. Everything except one."
"Two or three times and she can copy it? That's impossible. And one? Which one? Why can't she do that one?"
Harry slammed his palm on the table, unable to believe it. Seeing him worked up, Donald glanced at Jane Kim as he answered.
"The dropkick. She's got so much power she can't control it, so she ends up just shoving instead. Curtis Axel even looked at it over video call and still couldn't fix it. It's going to take time."
"Too much power? How strong is she?"
"She hits four-fifty on the big three lifts."
"That's insane."
Tina, who'd been sitting in on the meeting, blurted it out. When every eye in the room swung toward her, she clapped a hand over her mouth and ducked her head.
"We wouldn't lie about something like this. There's a weight room right next door."
"She deadlifted me in one go too. I weigh over two hundred and eighty pounds…."
"She finished the Miami full-course marathon in the three-hour-twenty range. That's an official, unfakeable record."
"Her flexibility is ridiculous too. Most submission holds that crank the waist or neck probably don't even hurt her. That's why we had Selma put her in a figure-four leglock—that one doesn't care about flexibility."
"Promos? Jane actually got heated by one of hers, right? Doesn't that settle it?"
The coaches kept stacking claims that the people from TPA could barely process.
"I can't not believe it, but believing it is absurd."
"It just doesn't match her looks."
"You'd better come prepared with a fat finder's fee. Given our history, I'd rather send her to TPA if I can—but if the offer's too cheap, I'll ship her straight to WWO."
"That kid could walk out as my sidekick tomorrow and handle the spot. She could hit a Shooting Star Press onto a table in my place and still have room to spare. Fragile-looking face, steel heart. No fear in her at all."
Bibi was openly dangling WWO as a threat. The Bon went further, describing the exact spots he'd give her as a sidekick.
"Goddammit!"
TPA's money troubles were known only to Harry and a tiny handful of others. Even Jane Kim didn't know. These were wrestlers who would succeed the moment they debuted—guaranteed. If WWO saw today's showcase footage, they'd be drooling. Just thinking about the budget made one side of Harry's head throb.
"Save that talk for later. What gimmicks did you give them? What styles?"
"Ask them yourself when they get here. Even if we explain it, you'll just ask again anyway."
Bibi cut Harry off with a shrug.
"The Bon! When did Bibi get this smart?"
The Bon only shrugged, as if he had no idea either. Following Bibi's lead, the other coaches clammed up, so the group killed time asking about the level of the remaining trainees—everyone except those four.
—Knock, knock—
"Come in."
The four of them appeared before the thirty minutes were even up, freshly showered. Rina looked even prettier cleaned up, but the other three held up well under close inspection too. Once the cameras started closing in on their faces on TV, they'd pick up a solid fan base without much trouble.
"Hello, I'm James Hol—"
"No need for introductions. I'll just ask what I want to know. Sit down."
"Yes, sir."
The four found empty seats. The moment they sat, Jane opened her mouth.
"First—who wrote today's scenario?"
At Jane's question, Rina raised her hand.
"I built the basic framework, and my partners helped fill in the rest."
"Gay angle, brother complex—and you were the one with the crush on Alf?"
"Yes. That was the original plan, but we didn't do a pre-match promo, so I never got to play it."
"How did a trash-fire story like this even come about?"
Rina hesitated, then spoke.
"Material like this is pretty common in Korean dramas."
"What? I watch Korean dramas sometimes, but other than secret-birth plots, I don't see much of that."
"Morning dramas have way more than that. A mother-in-law and her son-in-law fall for each other. They set a wedding date and then find out they were siblings separated as kids. A boyfriend falls for his girlfriend's older brother…."
"Holy—"
"Korean dramas are like that?"
"America can't even compete. That's wildly open."
The people listening to Rina looked dumbfounded. A few of them actually shuddered, as if their imaginations had gone somewhere they regretted.
"Haa. Anyway—the scenario was excellent. Good enough that I wanted to put it on TV immediately. You and I are clearly going to have a lot to talk about, so let me speak with the others first."
"Yes."
The second Rina answered, Bibi jumped in as if he'd been waiting for the opening.
"Jane. Don't talk to her so cold. You're her role model, you know."
"What?"
"She was headed for the WWO Performance Center, but she came here because she wanted to meet you."
"Hey! Then why were you talking to her like that a second ago?"
"She's met you now, hasn't she? And even if you're her role model, that doesn't mean she signs a cheap, half-assed contract. Right, Rina?"
"Coach. Even so—if she's my role model, there should be a discount."
"Hahaha. Fair enough."