All Good Things
by Vicky
Story: Hunter and Shawn have a conversation, HBK wants to disband DX and go solo for the rest of his career...
Time Period: December 2006 or January 2007. Basically winter time...
Disclaimer: I don't own - and am not affiliated with - WWE or it's wrestlers. But if I owned Shawn Michaels...um...let's move on before I get carted away with my fantasies...
Shawn Michaels sat in his navy blue rental car staring at the arena he'd soon be performing in. He rested his arms on the steering wheel; his head propped up against them. He always spent a few minutes in the car alone before walking inside the noisy hallways. It was here that he'd usually say a prayer, thanking the Lord for the little things a well as the big things. As he prayed, he made sure his voice was just as silent as the winter sky above him. It was on days like this where he was thankful to be blessed with a loving wife who understood his love for wrestling and his kids who always found a way to put a smile on his face. He smiled at the thought. Cameron and Cheyenne were wonders to behold. He recalled various passages in the Bible where children were praised for their innocence and sweetness.
"Such kids must be a gift from God," he softly spoke to himself, "Pretty soon, all of this will be over. No more photoshoots or interviews, no more crowd noise to ring in my ears and no more in-ring work," He let in some air and breathed it back out, "Yeah, you gotta call it quits somehow."
That last thought hit him in the head. For weeks, he had this one simple thought that he wanted to share with his best friend Hunter, but he wasn't so sure how he'd react. So many nights, he pondered over this simple thought that he knew in his heart was right. He had temporarily forgotten this worry on the ride to work. He was thankful that he did, too. Shawn had better things to do with his time than spend it worrying about what he wanted to share with Hunter.
After staring aimlessly at the night sky above him for a few more moments, he shut off the ignition, put on his brown coat, followed by his brown scarf, gloves, and hat, grabbed his gym bag, and hopped out of the car. He looked around to get a sense of his surroundings and shuffled some snow under his matching brown boots. Rebecca sure had a way of preparing him for the winter season every year. Shawn was always clumsy about things like that. He'd as soon as leave the house with a leather jacket and some sneakers and call it a day. That's just how he was. Thankfully, Rebecca wasn't like that.
"Boy, what would I do without her?" he said to himself.
With that thought, he looked towards the arena and started towards the entrance.
In his and Shawn's locker room, Hunter Hearst Helmsley sat comfortably in a black steel chair taping up his wrists. Through the years, he had grown accustomed to such seats. He had also grown accustomed to whacking people in the head with them, too, not a claim many others could relate to. He knew that his buddy Shawn would walk through the door at any minute. The next Raw show was about to begin and he knew that Shawn was always one to show up on time. Ever since that incident where he got fined fifty bucks for not being present backstage during a show, he not only arrives at the scene, he makes sure he's there early. Hunter thought to himself that with the money both he and Shawn earned these days, that that fifty dollar fine was chump change.
In those days, though, Shawn was just staring out in the business and was only earning forty to sixty dollars per night, Hunter thought to himself. Back then, we'd be fools to call that kind of money chump change compared to the little money we were getting to support ourselves and feed our families. We really have come a long way.
Hunter had begun to reach inside his gymbag next to him on the floor when Shawn opened the door and stepped inside.
"Hey Shawn, how you doing?" Hunter said with a wide grin on his face. Shawn was one of the few people who could get that kind of reaction out of him by just simply walking through the door.
"I'm doing great, Hunter. The day has been going along pretty well. How are you?" Shawn replied in his well-known Texan drawl, his eyes beaming with just as much delight in his friend as Hunter was with his smile. Shawn began to take off his winter gear and get comfortable.
"I'm feeling pretty much the same way myself."
"That's good. That's real good." replied Shawn as he watched Hunter take his black boots out of his bag. On this episode of Raw, he and Hunter didn't have to worry about preparing for any in-ring action as every segment with them was only going to be promos and backstage skits. On days like this, they always settled for their wrestling boots, jeans, and illustrated DX shirts.
"You know we have a huge segment at the beginning of the show, right?" Hunter said as he slipped on each boot and began to tie his left one.
"Yeah, but which one are we doing first?"
"We're starting off by impersonating Edge and Orton much like they impersonated us." Hunter said matter-of-factly as he switched to his right boot.
"Oh, yeah. I remember. I'm supposed to be Orton and you're supposed to be Edge."
"Yep. The audience will love it and definitely see it as payback."
"You got that right."
Hunter pulled the ends of his pant legs over his boots and sat back with his arms raised over his head. He stretched his legs out on the floor and allowed his body to rest lazily. "You know, it's times like this where I'm glad DX is back in full force."
At that instant, Shawn remembered what he wanted to tell his friend. He grabbed a similar steel chair that sat open across from Hunter and brought it close to where Hunter was sitting. He placed his gym bag on the floor next to him and sat down slowly. He looked at his friend.
"Uh, yeah and there's something I want to say about that."
"Well, what is it, Shawn? Just spill it."
Shawn sighed before he spoke. "Hunter, I think we need to call it quits."
Hunter sat up and looked Shawn in the eye. "Call what quits? This DX reunion?"
"Yeah."
"But why? I mean, merchandise sales are increasing and so much positive buzz is going around saying that we're bringing laughter back into the show."
"I'm very well aware of that but I want us to stop while the buzz is still there. I don't want anyone saying that we didn't know when to draw the line. After all, it is better off to go out on top."
"Uh-huh" said Hunter as his way of telling Shawn to continue.
"And besides, I've got five more years with this company and I want to spend the rest of it as a singles competitor. More important than that, I still need surgery on my knee."
Hunter turned his gaze away from Shawn. He looked at the floor and pondered his friend's position. Moments later, Shawn did the same thing. Deep down, he knew Shawn had a point. Hunter continued to look at the floor.
"I see where you're coming from, Shawn."
Shawn looked up. "You do?"
Hunter looked at Shawn. "Well, yeah, You've brought up some good points. You do have some more five-star matches left in you and next thing you know, those five years will be over. And yeah, you do need that surgery. But look at the bright side. You don't have to suffer like I did with my quad. That required immediate attention. I have to admit, you've been blessed, my friend. You don't have that problem."
"Yeah, I guess so, huh?"
"Yeah. And face it, Shawn, we only signed on to this gig for a short time. But deep down, I think we all know that DX was going to last longer than the summer."
"I think we all thought that, too, Hunter. I have to admit, I had a feeling we'd at least last for the rest of the year. I mean, it's been nearly ten years since the original DX formed. And the crowd reaction we received the night we had the mock reunion said it all."
"Yeah, but no matter how you slice it, we've had some great moments as DX."
"We did. It was a great career move."
"It certainly got the crowd involved in not only us, but the business as a whole. The history books and the numbers will prove that."
Shawn looked away and nodded, a small smile forming on his face.
"But how will we do it? How will we pull it off?"
"Pull what off?" Shawn asked.
"The departure? How would we do it? Do you want me to backstab you again?"
Shawn shrugged. "The fans have already seen that. They'll get bored easily. What's left for us to do in that department?"
"You're right. But what if you backstab me this time?"
"Now, Hunter, you know that that heel turn was a one time only deal with Hulk Hogan."
"Yeah, yeah, but it was pretty funny to see you dressing up like him and stuff."
"But it was for a good cause!" Shawn all of a sudden got defensive. It still angered him a year later to know that Hogan was not as supportive of him as Shawn had been to him. "I mean, we were scheduled to have more than one match! You know all about it!"
"Of course! It's a shame how he was allowed to beat you. Heck, you freakin' carried him the whole match!" Hunter found himself just as worked up as his fellow degenerate. "I mean, what does it look like to have a sixty year old man beat a forty year old? How insane is that? And look at how he beat you -- a legdrop? A freakin' legdrop? And how is it that once he found out that you were supposed to beat him in the next match that all of a sudden his knee started bugging him? Bugging him my --"
"Whoa, Hunter! Relax, man! You're more upset than I am. The point of the matter is that it's over and that's that."
They were both silent for a minute and drifted their gaze back to the floor.
"You know, I heard that Hogan might sign a twenty year deal here." said Hunter.
"I hope not! That means he'll be in his eighties by the time the contract expires. As much as I love the business, Hunter, I couldn't see myself under contract at that age."
Hunter didn't respond but kept his gaze on the floor, his right hand stroking his chin. Just then, he began to laugh. Shawn felt out of place.
"What's so funny, Hunter?"
"It's just that I got an image of you at eighty years old walking down the ramp and attempting to gyrate your hips," Hunter began to laugh even harder. "And on top of that, you'd be coming out with that "Sexy Boy" song playing in the background," He was laughing so hard at that thought that his stomach began to hurt. "I mean, who's ever heard of an eighty year old Sexy Boy, anyway?"
Hunter began to slap his knees furiously as he put the pictures together in his mind. After a while, he glanced over and saw Shawn show signs of cracking up himself.
"C'mon, Shawn. You know that's funny!"
"A little embarrassing, too, if you ask me!"
Hunter was too busy laughing to respond. Shawn began to laugh just as hard as he was. For about a minute, the laughter began to die down and they both started to wipe the tears away from their eyes. Hunter spoke first.
"Oh, that was a good one."
"Yeah, it was pretty funny."
"Let's just hope that by the time you get inducted into the Hall of Fame that you won't have to suffer that fate."
Shawn simply raised his eyebrows briefly and then smirked. Hunter continued.
"I mean, you're practically screwed since your song has a time frame. Songs like 'Real American' and 'American Dream' still stand a chance," Hunter poked Shawn in the ribs with his elbow. "You better change your theme song while you've still got time, Shawn."
Shawn didn't say anything. He just kept his eyes on the floor.
"Oh, Shawn, I was only kidding. I didn't mean to offend --"
"Nah, you didn't offend me. It's all in fun. I'm just thinking about this whole DX thing."
"Yeah, we kinda got off topic, huh?"
"Yeah, we sure did."
"Well, everyone already knows you need surgery so why not have somebody take you out?"
"Gosh, Hunter, you make it seem like we're planning a mafia hit or something."
They both had to laugh at Hunter's wording. Shawn continued.
"You know, Hunter. Writing me off the show like that is not original. Remember how the same thing kept happening to The Rock just so he could make movies? It's old now. We need to do something that's not as predictable."
"Like what? You haven't suggested anything since you brought it up. What's your idea?"
"We need to end this mutually. As friends."
"Uh-huh..."
"DX is something that's special to the WWE fans, much like The Four Horsemen were to WCW. It shouldn't end like everything else."
"Yeah, but do you think we'll be able to pull it off?"
Shawn gave Hunter his trademark smirk. "Of course, Hunter. We're D-Generation X. We always pull it off."
Just then, a knock was heard on their locker room door.
"Come in." said Hunter.
The door opened as Stephanie McMahon stepped in and gave both me a heartwarming smile. "Hey, boys. The show's about to start and you guys are up first."
"All right," said Hunter, "We'll be on the set shortly." He ended the statement with a special wink for his wife, who in turn gave him one right back.
"Yeah, we're just passing by the minutes until the show starts, Steph. We won't be long." said Shawn, who considered Stephanie to be like a sister to him.
"That's great to hear, guys. If you need me, you'll know where to find me."
"Okay, Steph." said both men as Stephanie walked out of the room and shut the door behind her.
Hunter looked at Shawn. "So, you want to tell Vince about this idea of yours?"
"Nah, I'm in no hurry. I say we stick around until WrestleMania and then go from there."
"Well, if that's what you want, Shawn, then I'm all for it."
Shawn swapped his winter boots for his wrestling boots, reached for the athletic tape in his bag, and began to tape his wrists. Hunter got out of his chair and walked to their icebox at the corner of the room. He grabbed himself a fresh cold bottle of water and took a sip as he walked towards the door. As Shawn rose out of his seat, Hunter opened the door and glanced back mischeviously at his longtime friend. "Are you Ready?"
Shawn chuckled at the pun as he walked through the door. "I'm ready if you are."
Hunter followed him out and closed the door. He chuckled, "An eighty year old Sexy Boy..."
Shawn mockingly rolled his eyes and smirked again. "You and your imagination."
As they walked down the hall towards the Gorilla Position to get their props for their impersonation, Hunter put an arm around Shawn's neck and squeezed tightly. "Well, what's a friend without a little joke to brighten the day?"
Shawn chuckled. "All good things must come to an end, they say, but not our friendship."
"You've got that right, buddy. Now let's go out there and raise some!"
Just then, the Raw theme song began to play as both friends prepared themselves for another live event.