When Triple H flew down to Long Island, New York to get back into ring shape, the last person he expected to meet, let alone train him, was Mick Foley.
Mick Foley is a WWE Hall of Famer. Inducted years ago, Mick had ended his professional wrestling career quietly and wrote children's books exclusively. Since he and Mick did not keep in contact, it was a huge surprise to know that Foley had opened up his own wrestling school.
"Hey Hunter, Long time no see." Mick said plainly.
"Hey Mick…so um, how are you?" Triple said, still slightly at a loss of words.
"Fine. Shawn told me about your plan. You wanna talk about it?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Said Triple H, sitting down.
Hunter told Mick all about what happened at Backlash and how he felt that he could still contribute to the industry. Mick listened attentively whilst eating an Oreo cookie. After a while, Mick spoke.
"You know Hunter, a lot has changed in the past four years, whether you realize it or not. You're gonna have your hands full when you return and let me remind you that you're not as healthy as you used to be."
Hunter sighed, showing his frustration at Mick's remark.
"Take this guy for example." Mick said pointing to a photo of him and some big, muscular Latino man.
"This man's name is Enrique Riveral. I met him while doing an autograph signing for my last book. He knew I train people, so he hired me to train him. You know what happened to him?"
"No, what?"
"Well, about a month later, he had his first practice match and he was phenomenal. After he graduated he became a star in the local Indy promotion of his hometown. After a while, he got called up by WWE."
"Isn't that a good thing? One of your students made it to the big time."
Mick raised his finger at him. "Wait a minute. Don't interrupt. He got the call and went down to one of WWE's developmental territories. One night, he was at RAW in a dark match with one of the regular talent. Apparently, that guy wasn't too happy that he was only going up against some jobroni, so he grabbed Enrique and piledrove him into the mat, but not before taking the fight to ringside."
"Holy shit, so the guy-"
"-Got piledrived into the concrete floor yes."
"What happened to him?"
"He ended up paralyzed and the wrestler who did him in was unpunished because according to the rule book, nothing he did was illegal."
"So the Mexican dude never got compensated for his injury?"
"Nope. He attempted to sue the company but he was broke and couldn't hire a lawyer. To this day, he remains at a Hospital in El Paso, completely paralyzed without hope for a cure."
"And you never tried to help him, did you?" Triple H asked accusingly.
Mick got up and turned away from Hunter. He seemed like he was deep in thought. He looked back at Hunter before turning away again. Mick stared at the photo intensely before speaking again, not taking his eyes off it.
"Many times." He said sadly. "But the locker rooms these days are impossible to control; the GMs can't do a damn thing except sign their checks. I don't know how Stephanie does it week in and week out."
He caught Hunter eye with that statement and added, "Oh, um, congratulations on winning her back…Sorry I couldn't make in time for the wedding."
"It was a private ceremony."
"So I guess you're not disappointed about me missing it then." Said Mick with a smile.
Hunter couldn't help but smile back. Mick sat down again and looked into Hunter's eyes. Hunter couldn't be sure as to what was going on in Mick's mind. Mick's smile reappeared and he leaned on his chair.
"Hunter, I know you. You don't need to retrain. You're skills are still intact. What you have is severe ring-rust. I'll tell you what, I got a friend who runs this promotion and they're gonna be in town for a couple of weeks. I'll schedule a match between you and his top guy next week."
"No, I wanna wrestle now."
"Do you think you're in proper shape?"
"No."
"Then you're not ready."
"I'll take that risk."
Mick looked amazed at Hunter's determination. He stared at him for a while before picking up his phone. Once he started talking, he left the room, leaving Hunter all alone. After a while he returned.
"Ok, I just spoke with my friend. He says your match is in one hour. He already has a show running and thanks to your decision to wrestle, has just changed his main event. Before that happens, I wanna go over some things with you." With that remark, Mick grabbed Hunter and nearly suplexed him off his shoes. For the next several minutes, Hunter practiced with Mick, going over several moves and warming up. Afterwards, the two got in Mick's car and drove to the arena where a promotion called the PWA was running a show.
Hunter went backstage with Mick. The feeling of being in a locker room again was exciting. Hunter got dressed in a small locker room and barely had five minutes before the main event was announced. To warm up, Hunter shadow-boxed and did push-ups and sit-ups and stretched some more. When the time came for him to make his entrance, he was met by Mick Foley and the promoter, ex-WWE and ex-TNA superstar Booker T. Booker looked like he had gone through hell because not only was he the promoter, he was wrestling too.
"You ready?" Booker asked.
"Yeah,"
"Go out there then…sucka."
Hunter got out and the crowd was silent as hell. It's been a while since they had seen Triple H in match and PWA was the last place they thought he'd make a comeback. Hunter's opponent was already in the ring and at 5'11 and 235 lbs was definitely at a size disadvantage. The bell rang and the two locked up. Hunter shoved the guy and he came back running, but when Hunter shoved him down two more times, the guy's facial expression changed from hostile and daring to fearful and cautious. The two grappled some more and traded punches. The match didn't last very long, but Hunter was obviously given a tough opponent to beat. At one point, Hunter was superplexed, arm-dragged thrice in a row, and was on the receiving end of a vicious DDT. Despite the hard time the guy gave Hunter, Hunter was able to hit his signature spinebuster and the Pedigree for the win.
When the ref raised his hand in victory, the crowd was at a state of disbelief. After a while, a massive cheer erupted and the fans started chanting "Triple H! Triple H!" something Hunter hadn't heard in a long, long time. When he got back to the locker room, Mick and Booker was waiting for him.
"Not bad Hunter. Not bad at all." Said Mick.
"You did all right, I guess." Said Booker.
After Booker left, Mick smiled approvingly and said, "Even though he doesn't seem to like you that much, you gotta admit, a praise from Booker T is already a lot considering he hates you. Come see me at my house tomorrow so we can begin to help you back into wrestling shape, although in my opinion, you don't really need it as much as you think."
Mick left Hunter to change. Despite what others have said, Hunter proved something that night. He proved he wasn't done yet. He was back. And he's still that damn good.