Dean Ambrose was the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
DEAN AMBROSE. New WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
The vast majority of the fans had been shocked, if not totally supportive of Dean cashing-in his Money In The Bank Briefcase like he did…but Dean could only scoff at those people. Hadn't he repeatedly stated that he would cash-in as soon as possible? Did people not watch the Ambrose Asylum on last Monday's RAW?
Sillies.
Even better, Dean got to cash-in on Seth "Weasel Ass" Rollins to rob him of the title only two minutes after he won it. Karma truly could be cathartic!
Dean had hoped to avoid the photographers and the interviewers backstage, just wanting to sneak in to the locker room and grab his stuff. He's mostly been successful, he had to endure a few photographs (but, hey, getting to pose with HIS title belt? That was something worth getting used to!), and the only potential interviewer he ran into was…
"I am so proud of you!"
Dean couldn't help but grin at the sound of Renee Young's lilting voice, turning to see the blonde rushing towards him with a huge smile on her face.
"Hey, Renee, lookit what I got?" Dean playfully tapped the title belt on this shoulder, "Look good?"
"It looks amazing on you!" Renee clapped happily in approval, "Look, gotta warn you though, Tom's on the hunt for the first interview. You might wanna take an alternate route to the lockers."
"Cheers for the warning, luv," Dean smiled goofily, "You got some after show stuff to do still?"
"Yeah, but I won't be too long!" Renee leaned in and kissed Dean quickly on the cheek, "Now, go! I've sent Sami a text, he's getting your stuff ready in the locker room so you can make a hasty exit. I'll meet you both at the hotel… I think Enzo's already setting up a celebratory party for you!"
"Of course he is," Dean rolled his eyes good-naturedly, "Right, Operation: Hotel Escape is a go. See you soon, angel."
"So proud of you!" Renee repeated, giving Dean a quick hug before retreating back towards the pre-show panel area. Dean quickly checked the immediate area, seeing no sign of Tom Phillips or any of his broadcast colleagues in sight. With a smirk, Dean quickly made his way back to the locker room…ready to rendez-vous with Sami to make their getaway.
After pulling off some epic stealth maneuvers that would make Solid Snake blush, Dean eventually reached the locker room without incident…janitors are paid to clean up tipped-over trash cans anyway, right?
Dean grinned as he slipped open the door, immediately hearing Sami's excited voice echoing throughout the locker room. For a second he thought someone else was in there with Sami, but as he entered the room properly he saw Sami was animatedly talking to his phone.
"Didja see the end, though?!" Sami squealed excitedly, "Dean's the champion! How awesome?"
"yeah, i saw sami…" the tinny voice of Finn Bálor replied from the phone's speaker, "he did good."
"Toldja he'd cash-in on Seth right away if he won!" Sami pumped a victorious fist in the air, "Like, this is incredible! I'm so thrilled for him! This is so cool!"
"is he there yet? thought you were his getaway driver?"
"Nah, he's not…" Sami trailed off as he looked up and saw Dean standing there looking bemused, before looking back down at the phone with a huge smile on his face, "YOU'RE HERE! HE'S HERE! DEAN'S HERE! New champion in da locker room!"
Sami stood up as fast as human momentum would allow, giving the new champ a quick glance over.
"Dean! You're the champ!" Sami grinned, holding his phone in front of him. Dean could barely make out Finn's features on the phone, but he swore Finn was desperately failing to keep his composure, "Look Finn! Doesn't he look great with the belt?"
"hiya dean," Phone Finn waved, a half-smile on his face, "looks good on you, yeah. congrats."
"Thanks, dude," Dean barely managed to get his reply out before Sami had flung his arms around Dean to give the new champ a celebratory hug. For a moment, Finn's view was limited to a close-up of the side of Sami's face. Not a horrible view, by any stretch of the imagination.
"I'm so excited for you!" Sami grinned widely as he stepped back, grabbing a couple of bags from the floor, "Gosh, you must be wired to the moon right now, and here I am babbling away when you probably just want to hit the Hotel bar or something!"
"uh…should i call you back, sami?"
"Huh?" Sami looked momentarily confused, until Dean not-so-subtly nodded in the direction of the phone in his hand, "OH! Finn! Damn, dude, I'm sorry! Yeah, sorry! We gotta scoot."
"remind me just who won the championship here?" Finn chuckled, "calm down, sami. you need to drive, remember?"
"I'm fine!" Sami insisted, handing Dean his gym bag, "Aren't I fine, Deano?"
"Maybe I should call an Uber…" Dean chuckled at the offended look on Sami's face, "Nah, you're good. Say goodbye to your boyfriend and let's sneak on outta here."
"Great!" Sami looked back to the phone and blew a kiss towards Finn on the phone. Phinn? "I'll talk to you later? Gotta chaperone a bunch of party animals!"
"good luck with that," Finn waved at Sami, "goodbye, leannán."
"Why's he calling you Leanne?" Dean scrunched up his face as Finn disappeared from Sami's phone.
"It's Irish! He called me 'sweetheart'," Sami smiled bashfully as he put his phone away in his pocket, whilst trying to fish out his rental car keys from the other, "Anyway, let's sneaky-sneak on out of here. I guess Renee caught you in the halls to give you the details?"
"How'd you guess?"
Sami reached over and tapped the side of Dean's face, "Lipstick stain. You might wanna clean that off in case we get caught on the way to the car."
"Solid plan that, yes."
The stealth mission back to Sami's rental car was not actually wrought with peril, but Sami took it so seriously that Dean was afraid he'd burst into laughter and give their location away. However, they reached the rental car without incident, and soon they were hitting the road towards the hotel. Dean let out a small sigh of relief as they pulled away, happy to relax and let the mindless tunes on the radio fill the silence.
"So, when you gonna get your sideplates put in?"
Dean blinked in surprise, looking briefly at Sami before looking back at the title belt.
"Oh…yeah…Roman's are still on there…" Dean frowned, "Huh, I bet they don't even have ones ready for me…like they thought I'd ever become champ. Ha, joke's on them assbutts."
"Well, they better hurry!" Sami replied defiantly, "Not having your first appearance on RAW as champ with somebody else's hand-me-downs!"
"Hey, if it comes to it I'll just stick some doodles over 'em," Dean grinned, "I'm quite the artiste, you know."
"You draw the best stick-figures I've ever seen, certainly."
"Shut up, Zayn."
"Not likely! Any plans for RAW, besides your amazing artwork?" Sami asked.
"Eh…I'll probably hafta make some corny speech that'll be interrupted by either Rollins or Roman…probably both, really," Dean shrugged, "No way they'll let this go lyin' down."
"Huh…yeah, I guess so," Sami frowned slightly, "Guess you'll be busy fending them off for the next while…hope this means they don't suddenly have us stop teaming-up like a few months ago. That wasn't cool."
Dean nodded in agreement, "Yeah, the only thing more fun than punchin' Rollins in his stupid face is dealin' with your stupid face."
"My face is not stupid, I have a lovely face," Sami humphed playfully, "Ask anybody."
"I'll take your word for it," Dean smirked, relaxing back in his seat, "Hey Zayn? Thanks."
"What for?"
"Not being all weird that I'm champion. This could've been you if things'd gone different."
"Dean, trust me when I say that I am genuinely happy for you. You earned that belt, and deserve to have it more than just about anybody."
"Earned it?" Dean scoffed, "By whacking the side of Weasel-Face with the case?"
"No, through hard-work, determination, and years and years of crawling and scraping your way to get here," Sami smiled sincerely, "You're pretty inspirational, really. Like…people out there see someone like you make it to the top…gives 'em hope they can do the same, right?"
"I 'unno if I'm all that," Dean shrugged, "But thanks, man."
"Don't mention it, Deano," Sami grinned, "Just promise me one thing?"
"Whassat?"
"Please, please, please try not to leave the belt lying around somewhere? Like, clip it on to your wrist if you hafta, but please try not to lose the most prestigious belt in wrestling?"
"What, you think I'm gonna leave it lying in a taxi or summat?" Dean rolled his eyes, "C'mon man, give me a little credit!"
Sami groaned to himself, "Looks like it's not just the people I have to keep an eye on at the party tonight…"
Dean harrumphed to himself, "A little credit, c'mon, s'all I'm askin' for here…"