Prologue

A manager. A manager. Just the thought of having someone dictate his moves and try to tell him what to do is beyond infuriating, but Tyler isn't sure he knows how to get out of his arrangement. It's not even an arrangement he made, much less one he wants to go through with. No, if it was up to him—and he notes it's not despite it being his manager—he would refuse this offer. The fact Regal accepted on his behalf just pisses him off further, but he does feel like Regal likes him, so maybe the older man just thinks he's doing Tyler a favor by giving him a manager.

But it doesn't matter. Not at all. Because the Gorgeous One does not need a manager, thank you.

He's come all this way on his own, beating Sami Zayn and he just knows he would have beaten Adrian if not for Tyson stepping in and fucking all of that up for him. The fact he has to beat three opponents for the championship that rightfully belongs to him is a fucking cosmic joke the universe is playing on him, but so be it. He'll just beat them all. If he has to go through hell and back to get his time in the limelight, he will, and he'll do it with perfect hair and gorgeous pants besides. But why he needs a manager is beyond him since the only wrestlers with managers—Rusev and Kidd, for instance—really aren't benefiting from them like people think they do.

But if he has to entertain some random asshole trying to ride his coattails and get in on the action by claiming Tyler's win at Takeover is all on him, then Tyler will simply hit him with the Beauty Shot and continue on with his belt. He doesn't need anyone and he never has; all that he needs is the proper hair products, his cell phone so he never misses a shot of himself, and his viciousness.

He resists the urge to rake his fingers through his hair since he spent half the morning getting it up into a proper ponytail and he doesn't want to muss it now when he doesn't have additional time to fix the damage. But honestly, he needs a way to work this frustration out and he doesn't have one—which means he really just needs to beat the hell out of someone. It's quickly become his favorite way of dealing with his emotions, and the fans seem to enjoy it as much as he does if not more. And if he gets to get his hands on all three of the men stopping him on his pathway to the top, then he'll get his hands on all three of them and leave them in unconscious heaps.

But a manager. Why? What's the point? He hasn't had a manager up until this point and he's done just fine clawing his way to the top from the bottom and all the way into the championship picture. He even beat Sami Zayn to get there, and he shouldn't have had to do that since he clearly was the last one to hit the floor in the battle royal and should therefore have simply been awarded his spot from the beginning. Instead, he'd had to wrestle both Zayn and Kidd and that had just been highly unfair when he won in the first place. Fucking Triple H making his life difficult for no reason, and really, he just needs to butt out and let Tyler have his moment. So does Regal. Everyone just needs to get out of his way and stop weighing him down.

When he reaches Regal's office, he does his best to compose himself before knocking on the door and waiting for an answer. He needs to get this situation taken care of as soon as possible so he can go work out, make sure his perfectly sculpted body stays just as flawless as ever, and then spend some time pampering himself in preparation for Takeover once again. Why isn't Regal just tacking a manager onto the Ascension or something? Or CJ Parker? God knows that dirty, slimy, disgusting hippie needs to never touch a microphone lest Tyler have to touch it, too.

It takes a few minutes for Regal to answer and Tyler is honestly considering just walking away because this is uncalled for, really. He takes time out of his busy day to come to Regal's office so he can have some stupid manager who thinks he's going to do the talking for Tyler or try to negotiate his booking or something stupid like that, and it's just not going to happen. Ever.

The door swings open, revealing Regal himself. "Ah, Tyler, you're early. Come right in."

"Does that mean my manager isn't here yet?" Tyler asks as he steps inside the immaculate office; it's much neater with JBL gone. No obscene Texan stupidity to be found. "This is unacceptable."

"I'm aware. But he's not exactly the punctual type," Regal says as he takes his seat once again.

Tyler wrinkles his nose. "Ugh, that's not going to work. I have a very strict schedule that I must complete just the way I've set it up. Why do I even need a manager? I work alone. You know—"

"I know." Regal smiles thinly. "The orders came from higher up, I'm afraid. Not from me."

"Why does Hunter feel the need to overcomplicate my life with hangers-on when he knows I'm fully capable of handling myself?" Tyler demands. This manager has five seconds or I swear—

Regal just shakes his head. "I don't know. I don't tend to question him too closely, but most of his decisions seem to pan out. Hopefully your new manager will be here rather shortly."

As if on cue, the door swings open behind Tyler and had his hair not been back in a ponytail, it might have blown out around his face. Also unacceptable. Sighing, he turns around so he can assess what he'll have to do to make this manager somewhat more… Tolerable since he's going to be the one putting up with the idiot for God only knows how long. Hopefully, the gimmick just doesn't work out and he can go back to working solo without any attachments left.

Then his brain processes who's standing in the doorway. Dirty jeans, dark red leather jacket, black t-shirt underneath, black beanie. He doesn't need to see the hair underneath to know what color it is, just like he doesn't need to be close to know those dark eyes are already glazed over with disinterest. Looks like they did find something backstage for this man to do after his injury.

Which means there's no way for Tyler to get rid of him; the fans love Corey Graves too much.

A/N: I like Corey and I'm pissed he might not wrestle again, but he has killer mic skills so they've been trying to find a non-wrestling role for him or some shit and I decided he can be Tyler's manager because they are absolutely an odd couple. Tell me what you guys think.