Exhibition Match, Part 3

The moment the exhibition match was over, Charlotte headed straight for the shower and changed clothes.

"Do you have somewhere to be? You seem to be in quite a hurry."

"Obviously. I've got to get over to Cleveland right away."

"Smash Down is in Cleveland tomorrow? Are you booked?"

"Yeah. I've only got a house show—no televised match. If I had one, I never would have come out here."

"That's a relief, then."

"Let's go."

Charlotte finished a quick touch of makeup and was already on her feet.

"Go where?"

"I came all this way. Least I can do is say hello to your general manager."

"Ah. Yes, ma'am."

I led Charlotte to Gorilla Position.

Every wrestler we passed along the way did a double take the second they saw her.

"Cha… Charlotte Flair?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Was Charlotte part of the invasion crew too?"

And then we ran into Dorothy.

"Long time no see, Dorothy."

"Charlotte? Wait—how are you even here?"

"Just dropped by."

Dorothy, completely out of character, even pulled Charlotte into a hug, clearly delighted to see her.

"You just get in?"

"No, I've been here a while. Wanted a look at this one's face."

Charlotte ruffled my hair with one hand as she said it.

"A look at her face isn't enough. You've got to wrestle Rina yourself to know what she's really worth."

"True enough."

"So where are you headed now? The ring?"

"No. Just need to see your GM, then I'm off to the airport."

Dorothy looked genuinely disappointed at the idea of Charlotte leaving so soon after arriving.

"What? At least stay for a meal."

"We've got plenty of business ahead of us now. Next time."

Charlotte paused, studying her.

"But Dorothy… you've changed a lot. The old you never would have offered dinner."

"It's been a long time. Time heals, right?"

"Maybe so… Anyway, good to see you. We'll catch up soon."

"Yeah."

Once we'd said goodbye to Dorothy, I finished escorting Charlotte the rest of the way.

"Boss. Charlotte Flair is here."

"Huh? Flair's here?"

"Hello. Charlotte Flair."

"Ah! Pleasure to meet you. Karl Overdia."

I stepped out of Gorilla Position while the two of them exchanged greetings.

Word of Charlotte's visit must have already spread, because Selma, Taina, Natasha Blancherd, and a handful of others had spilled out into the hallway.

"Rina. What the hell is going on?"

"She just dropped by, apparently."

"No—what did you do that made her just drop by?"

The second Selma asked, every set of eyes locked onto me.

"I have no idea. Felt like I saw a ghost."

"Hmph. If she came all the way out here, she should've stopped by to see me too."

I turned toward the voice. Natasha.

Same as Dorothy—Natasha had been in WWO, so of course they knew each other well.

A moment later Charlotte emerged, and Natasha immediately tried to play the old friend.

"Charlotte. Long time."

"Ah! Natasha. Yeah. Long time."

"It's been forever. Want to catch up for a bit?"

"Sorry—my flight's tight."

Charlotte turned.

"Charina! Your GM says to drive me to the airport, then go home."

"Understood."

"See you around, Natasha."

"Uh. Uh. Hey! Charlotte!"

Charlotte spun on her heel and strode out ahead of me. I fell in right behind her.

Only once we reached the parking lot did Charlotte, who'd kept her mouth shut the whole way, finally speak.

"Ha! Completely forgot that eyesore of a bitch was still here… Is she still running around barking like a rabid dog?"

"I haven't crossed paths with her myself, so I couldn't say for sure—but she doesn't seem to have many friends."

"Tsk. I was in a great mood the whole time, and she had to ruin the end of it. Piece of trash!"

Charlotte's voice dropped, sharp and serious.

"No matter what, do not get booked against her. You never know when she'll shoot on you under the cover of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a botch."

So Natasha's garbage reputation really was that well known.

"Jane Kim already warned me about that. She said there's no chance of me ever being booked with her."

"Fellow Korean, right? Jane Kim'll look after you well."

"Have you ever wrestled Jane Kim?"

"No. She's a generation above me. We just exchanged hellos once, years ago."

After that, I drove Charlotte all the way to the airport.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Today's match stays between the two of us. Our secret."

"Understood."

"See you soon. Thanks for the ride."

"Not at all. You came all this way and I couldn't even treat you to a meal. I'm sorry."

"Next time I swing through Orlando, I'll collect."

"Yes, ma'am. Call me anytime."

"Will do. And remember ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what Mick Foley told you. You've got a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long career ahead of you. At the very least, you need to stay healthy enough to wrestle until you're my age."

"Yes. I'll always be careful."

"Alright. I'm off."

"Take care."

I waited until Charlotte had fully disappeared through the gate before turning the car around and heading home.

The second I got back, I opened the quest window I hadn't been able to check earlier.

I claimed the skill and the item immediately.

"Yes!"

The Timer skill I'd been so frustrated with had finally upgraded in exactly the direction I wanted.

And then the item.

A new entry had appeared in my inventory: one unit of something called Spotlight.

An attention-magnet item, basically.

The residual afterimage probably meant people wouldn't be able to forget what they'd seen.

Where would I even use this? Halloween Battle? Or The Live?

If I'd gotten two of them, I wouldn't even be hesitating.

But did I even need to use it in a match?

Burning it during a promo wouldn't be a bad play either.

As for what I currently had in inventory: one Intermediate Scenario Revision Ticket, one Lower-Intermediate Scenario Revision Ticket, one Painkiller, and one Spotlight.

I had no idea how many kinds of items even existed in this system—but someday, maybe I'd fill the whole inventory by category.

The following evening, Smash Down went live.

Apparently convinced we'd be coming for revenge after yesterday's invasion of our show, they staged the ridiculous spectacle of one or two wrestlers standing ringside with steel chairs, waiting.

"They're wound up pretty tight out there."

"Tsk. What good does an invasion do if you just get your asses handed to you? What the hell happened to our Smash Down?"

"The peace lasted too long. Inter-wrestler invasions over personal grudges have always happened, but a full-scale invasion like this? First one in twenty years. Meanwhile, NEXT and TPA have been going at each other every two or three years—they're used to this kind of war."

"Wake up, Smash Down!"

About an hour in, during the women's tag team match, exactly what the commentators had been fretting about finally happened.

"Wh… what is that?"

"NEXT. Those are NEXT's wrestlers."

The number that suddenly appeared—just from a glance—was easily a dozen or more.

From the looks of it, most of NEXT's women's roster had shown up.

Smash Down had four women in the ring and three at ringside, but against more than double their numbers, they were overwhelmed almost instantly.

The NEXT wrestlers had clearly come prepared. They cuffed the wrists of every wrestler they subdued and hung them from the ropes.

Only then did Smash Down's remaining women charge out.

Charlotte Flair, Nadia Jackson, Tashani Strackton, Alicia Blitz, and others—about ten of them in total—but they still couldn't overcome the numbers and got beaten down one after another.

In the middle of the chaos, three wrestlers piled onto Nadia Jackson—who was even bigger than Olivia—and hit her with a powerbomb for one of the night's most memorable spots.

"Ha. We're losing again?"

"If they'd all come out together they might've won, but they got picked off one group at a time."

Once everyone was subdued, the one who grabbed the mic was NEXT's flagship women's star—Soul Luna.

With that, she hurled the microphone at Smash Down's current women's champion, Tashani Strackton.

— Thud —

— Aaaagh! —

The mic caught Tashani square in the head and the impact rang out loud through the arena.

The NEXT wrestlers laughed at the whole scene, shoved past the men's roster who couldn't even get into the ring, and walked out of the building.

I hadn't known any of these finer plot details either, so I was having a blast watching.

This was exactly the kind of chaos WWO—and pro wrestling itself—needed.

Only after the dust settled did Tashani, Charlotte, and the others start trembling with pure rage.

Law had only lost a belt to me. Outside of Brian and Yazan, the ones directly involved, the damage hadn't been that deep.

But Smash Down had taken three straight losses—two on their home turf, one on the TPA road trip.

"I don't care if it's NEXT or TPA or whoever—I'm going to kill every last one of them."

Tashani spat the words like venom.

"Calm down first, Tashani."

The one who cut her off was Paul Levesque.

"How am I supposed to calm down after this humiliation? Does that even make sense?"

"I said calm down. I didn't say swallow it."

"Shit! You playing word games with me right now? Maybe I should start by beating your ass."

From somewhere, Tashani produced the sledgehammer that had practically been Paul Levesque's personal symbol and raised it.

"Even in the middle of a war, this is too much. The only people getting hurt are the fans who came to watch."

Paul's tone shifted.

"So I've got a proposal."

"What proposal?"

"Ten days from now on Law, each brand will select seven men and seven women for a twenty-eight-person battle royal. Tashani—how about it?"

The words twenty-eight-person battle royal set the crowd on fire.

"Why Law? We could do it on Smash Down."

"Heh. Tashani—you really think you can run that on Friday and then turn around for Ring of Crown the next night? Do that and Lisa Rayple will eat you alive."

"Damn it! Damn it!"

Tashani flung the sledgehammer at Paul Levesque's feet and stormed out of the ring.

"To all of you who came out to the arena tonight, and to everyone watching at home—there's still one more major announcement left. We'll be right back."

With that, Paul left the ring as well.

Only then did the commentators find their voices again.

"A battle royal alone is already a bombshell—and there's still another announcement?"

"So much has happened tonight my head feels like it's going to explode."

"Josh! Then put the mic down."

"Excuse me? Hey! Ward Barrett!"

"Haha. Just kidding, Josh. But seriously—a multi-brand battle royal? It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"It has. We did one during the Law versus Smash Down brand match, but that was more of an individual free-for-all. The last time brands put their names on the line in a battle royal was the CEW Invasion—and that was already twenty years ago."

"Whew… In a battle royal like this, teamwork is everything. I've got to say, I'm a little worried about our Smash Down."

The show rolled on, and just like the crowd, I sat waiting for Paul to reappear.