I own nothing but the OC who is appearing much later in the story, hopefully.
Things were not going well for Mike.
He sat in his empty hotel room with no choice but to think about his year so far. His first thought was to earlier in the year and the absolute ballsing he got from Paul.
'How could you fail to catch Ron?'
'Paul,'
'No! No, you don't get to talk right now.' Hissed a very angry Paul.
They were not far from the gorilla and that meant not very far from curious onlookers. Mike was sorry about screwing up but quickly realized Paul wasn't in the mood for excuses or explanations and as Paul ranted Mike relived that moment out in the arena.
Her words had been rattling around in his head all night long, he managed to keep his focus on the match until Ron decided to dive out of the ring, her words surfacing long enough to keep him out of position. He tried not thinking about their most recent argument but on Paul instead, after all it was easier to handle. After what seemed like an eternity Paul finally told him to get out of his sight and Mike quickly headed off to see how Ron was. As he approached the trainers room he was headed off by one of the other wrestlers telling him to leave Ron alone, as Mike headed back to locker room to grab his gear he knew everyone was talking about what happened amongst themselves. He had to endure constant remarks and looks for the next few weeks, it had shaken him up a lot and as a result was more subdue than normal.
As Mike sat waiting in his hotel room his thoughts settled on the meeting about Wrestlemania, Vince and Paul were making it quite clear that Mike's position of favorite was no longer. Mike had realized not long after the incident that it was going to take a lot of hard work and be the go to man the company wanted to make things better. They proposed a story line to Mike about how he was going to have to beg to get a match at Wrestlemania and even then there was no promise they'd even have anything for him, he accepted it.
His relationship with his girlfriend had been on the rocks for months now and it wasn't until after this meeting that he realized why she wanted to stick around, she made it clear that he better do his damn best because she wanted to use him to promote a friends company. She only wanted to use his fame and for the time being he could live with that. After Wrestlemania he was given the movie roll and he accepted even though he knew it was only due to the Navy objecting to Randy's involvement.
Back in the hotel room Mike stood and stretched out his right leg to ease out the deep ache that was now his constant companion and he regretted once again about forgetting to pick up his prescription from the pharmacy. As he stood looking out of the window watching the city going about it's daily life he reflected on the start of all his current problems.
Things were initially going well for Mike ever since he had got back from filming, his right knee though on occasion twinged after matches and put it down to the usual wear and tear his occupation provided. His relationship had been on a knifes edge for months now and he finally told his girlfriend it was over mid August and told her to clear her things out. He had expected much drama but was relieved that she agreed wholeheartedly and left, he decided to keep their separation quiet just to give himself a chance to breath.
Mike glanced at his watch 'Another 10 minutes to wait,' he thought growing anxious, he thought about last month and having just finished his last match in Australia his knee was throbbing in pain and as he was cooling off he really wasn't in the mood for Kevin's antics. Kevin liked to play pranks and just act like a clown on occasions and tonight had been no different but Mike snapped at Kevin and although he quickly apologized realized he'd gone too far. The pain in his leg had been worrying him for a while now and just recently had begun to effect his sleep, so Kevin had inadvertently hit a nerve.