ATM: The Bonehead and the Brain – Red or Dead
Seth Rollins comes between the DX family and Brock Lesnar makes Becky Lynch an offer she can't refuse as DX fight to keep NXT away from Stephanie McMahon.
Chapter Ten – The DX Family Reunion Part 1
New Year's Day, The Sandbox, Greenwich, Connecticut
Beth Hardy's decision to Transcend the entire DX family to the Sandbox was a desperate attempt at mediation. Her Gift from God allowed her to manipulate space and time to either separate people from each other or unite people with each other. Today was a combination of the two and the Hardy girl knew that keeping Hunter away from Sasha Banks while Seth was in Clearwater with the MacKenzie family was the best course of action for the pregnant mother of the lil' big dog.
Beth, Aurora and the rest of the DX children took Sasha far away to the huge palatial pool while Hunter and Shawn talked to the Shield inside the Sandbox kitchen. Roman was much more interested in the kitchen than anything that Hunter had to say. It was huge and he fantasized about the number of meals he could prepare for his family inside it.
"Do ya'll rent this place out?" Roman asked Shawn and Hunter who shook their heads that they didn't.
"No this is for family only, but if you play your cards right Roman, you could afford a place like this for your family one day," Hunter said and Dean Ambrose rolled his eyes at the Game.
"Seriously? You're gonna dangle the money carrot in front of us? You hate us Hunter and you always have, you never wanted any of us to succeed and now you're gonna try and play us to get to Seth. Well save it because we're not buying in, right Roman?" Dean Ambrose said but Roman was in awe of the Sandbox kitchen.
Shawn couldn't help but smile at Roman's admiration of the place he had made several meals for his wife and children for years. It was a legendary family home and Roman seemed to have picked up on that right away. The Sandbox had a legacy of family that could not be denied and that resonated with a family man like Roman Reigns a lot.
Dean was not as impressed.
"Ambrose will you relax for the first time in your life?" Hunter said and he went to make everyone a cup of coffee.
"You're telling me to relax? You're the one fighting with your son," Dean Ambrose said. "If it wasn't for Beth Hardy, you'd still be fighting with him right now,"
Hayworth had gone to join his fiancé in Clearwater to make sure everything was okay with Mac's father; under the circumstances it was the best thing to do. A little separation between the two Helmsleys was a good idea. He'd be back a little later with Seth and Bianca, after which the argument was bound to resume. To circumvent that, the Shield decided to pour ice water on the situation before Seth and Hayworth arrived. It wasn't going to be easy but they were going to give it a shot. They didn't see why they should spend the first day of the New Year fighting with the man who had done so much for all of their careers.
"Can we talk about what's really bugging you Hunter?" Roman Reigns said. "Your son's getting married to a woman you don't like,"
Hunter snarled, "No we cannot talk about that, we will take about what I want to talk about and that's you Roman," the Game replied and he handed everyone a cup of coffee before resuming another rant. "Why are you defending Seth? You know what he did was wrong, you would never do what he did,"
"But I'm not mentoring Bianca Belair, he was just sticking up for her. This whole angle with Charlotte Flair is getting so personal, I know you never meant it to be but Seth's only acting in the best interest of the woman you put him in charge of," Roman said.
"Getting in the face of a rookie from NXT on New Year's Eve is not how you mentor a future Legend like Bianca Belair. The last thing I wanted was for Bianca to think that she's a bigger star than she is. That's where I went wrong with Sasha and look how she turned out? A spoiled, over-confident, immoral liability to everyone else in that locker room. Look at the trouble she's caused for you and your family? Look at the trouble she's caused for her own husband and now she wants to instigate a fight between Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair that has nothing to do with the storyline being told on RAW. The woman has become such a headache I had no choice but to terminate her contract. I don't want to lose Seth but I have no choice because of who he had decided to associate himself with,"
Hunter looked at Roman earnestly, "Do you know how much this hurts me? I mentored Seth for years, I was grooming him for great things and then he goes and marries the worst person a dude like Seth could ever marry and its cost him his dream job. I know everyone respects Seth, from the locker room, to my own family to the church folk in Clearwater but, I can't let that influence my decision. Because of decisions that he made, Steph lost her hotel in New York and Bianca Belair and Montez Ford are at odds with each other. I can't take this company into the next quarter with all these fires getting started by two people who should know a helluva lot better by now. They are setting a bad example for the newbies like the Street Profits and as soon as Seth gets here, I am relieving him of his mentorship of Bianca Belair," Hunter said and Roman laughed. "Do you think I'm kidding?"
"No, I think you're crazy if you think you're going to separate the Braid from the Architect. You can't undo what God did with those two. If you even try to end the mentorship, Bianca will rebel. Her marriage depends on it, if you get involved, she'll be lost and worse off than ever. Seth is the only thing that's keeping Bianca sane right now," Roman said and Dean nodded.
"That's what I'm afraid of Roman," Hunter said seriously, "I don't want anyone to have a dependency on Seth, that includes you and Ambrose. Somehow once again, Seth has weaselled his way into my business; my talent is now acting like they only wanna hear what he has to say but I'm the boss, not Seth and they should be listening to me or Shawn. I know God has gifted Seth and he is operating in that Gift, the same way that Shawn and Amy do and the rest of ATM and the DX kids do. That's fine, the thing is they don't work for me, Seth does and I can't have him leading and influencing people he is not responsible for. I'm responsible for all of y'alls success, if I leave, you would have nothing to show for all of your years of hard work. If Seth leaves, I'm still the one taking care of you all. God will continue to use him outside of DX Inc and we will all be fine without him,"
Roman looked at Shawn, "How do you feel about all of this? Hunter's trying to make it sound like Seth's got some kind of agenda to take over DX Inc but that's not True,"
"I know Seth's just operating in his Gift, a Gift that Hunter doesn't have or understand," Shawn said and it was clear to the Shield that Hunter and Shawn were not on the same page regarding Seth Rollins. "Having said that, getting into a fight with a fresh NXT call up in the middle of Times Square on New Year's Eve is not something I want to see happen at this stage in any of your careers. I don't think that Seth should be terminated for that, I just think he needs to be given a bit more responsibility,"
Hunter sighed, he knew what Shawn was going to say and he didn't want to hear it again.
"I am not giving Seth more power, there's no way I'm going to sign off on that. The last thing our company needs Shawn, is another freakin' Paul Heyman," Hunter said and Shawn shrugged.
"So we'll make sure he doesn't become another freakin Paul Heyman. I think we should bring Seth into a higher rank of power," he said and Dean and Roman exchanged glances. "I think we should give Seth a shot at being an Executive, along with Roman and Dean and Sasha Banks,"
The Shield's mouths dropped; Shawn wanted to promote them and Sasha to the C-Suite of DX Inc. Dean felt his heart racing and Hunter could see them both getting excited and something about that caused him to smile.
"I have no problem promoting you two guys to the C-Suite, but not Seth and Sasha. I just don't want to send that message to the rest of the locker room," Hunter said.
"What message? That talented and Gifted people can't climb the corporate ladder, is that the message you want to send all the men and women that climb in and out of the ring for us on a regular basis? Hunter you're being such a Bonehead, you aren't seeing things clearly right now. Promoting the Shield and Sasha Banks to the Executive level is, to coin a phrase, what's best for business. It did wonders for us didn't it?" Shawn said but Hunter still wasn't convinced. The jubilation in Roman and Dean's faces was hard for the Game to dislike.
"I'm all about opportunity Shawn, for those who deserve it. I just don't think those two do," Hunter said simply and Shawn sighed, "you two on the other hand, the job is yours if you want it,"
Dean and Roman hugged each other but their enthusiasm was stifled by Seth not being included in the promotion, "We'll take the promotion boss, on one condition: you reverse your decision to terminate Seth and Sasha's contracts and you hire them as Head of Talent Relations for DX Inc," Dean Ambrose said.
"But we're Head of Talent Relations," Shawn said. "you want us to step down so Seth and Sasha can have our jobs?"
"No, we want them to join you, then the two of you can see for yourselves just how Gifted Seth and Sasha really are," Dean Ambrose said and Amy, Trish and Randy Orton entered the Sandbox kitchen to join the conversation.
Amy squeezed her husband's waist and gave him a kiss, "I like that idea Shawn, I like it a lot," Amy said.
"So we'd be shadowing them, I.e, keeping an eye on them?" Shawn said and the Shield nodded. "I don't see why we couldn't give it a go. Whad'ya say Hunter, should we give them a trial run in Talent Relations?"
"So you want to give two of the biggest trouble-makers in the locker room even more influence over the talent?" Hunter said and Amy smiled.
"Sounds just like you doesn't it?" she asked Hunter and the Game realised she was right.
"I guess it is. Okay Shawn, let's do it. As soon as Seth gets here, we'll offer him and his wife a job in Talent Relations after Wrestlemania," Hunter said and the Shield shook DX's hands, hugged Amy and then ran off to tell Sasha the good news.
Shawn looked at his wife proudly, "I don't think this could have worked out better. Now we don't have to lose two of our most talented wrestlers and Stephanie McMahon won't be able to get her talons on them. Thank God we didn't send out that press release yet," Shawn said and Hunter gave him a bemused look.
"I sent it out this morning," Hunter said and Shawn's mouth dropped.
"You sent out the press release before we had a chance to talk to them?!" Shawn said horrified. "Well that's great Hunter, now Steph can legally go after them!"
"Why do you think we're here?" Trish Stratus said pointing to herself and Randy Orton. "Stephanie and the Rock made Seth and Sasha and offer to work for them and they said yes. You're going to have to get them to change their minds and given who they've decided to work for, you boys are going to have your work cut out for you,"
Shawn slapped the island counter furiously. "You really are a Bonehead you know that?" he snapped at Hunter and he walked off to go find the Shield and Sasha and tell them what happened.
Randy looked at Hunter who didn't seem bothered at all by what he'd done, "You don't care if Seth and Sasha leave at all do you?" he asked the Game who nodded that Randy was right.
"Shawn's a natural peacemaker but I've been to war over this company. I have no problem going to war with Steph again, whether Seth and Sasha are on my side or not, as long as Steph loses, I really don't care who stays and who goes," Hunter said and Randy nodded.
"Well you know I'm always up for a fight, I don't like Sasha but Seth is not a man you wanna lose to Stephanie McMahon. He's way too good, if I were you, I'd encourage him to stay with DX Inc. If that means keeping Sasha on payroll, that might just have to be the price you pay to keep your Architect happy," Randy said.
"If I re-hire Seth Rollins, the only person he should be concerned about keeping happy, is me," Hunter said. "After everything that's happened over the last year, do you think that he's capable of keeping me happy Randy?"
Randy Orton rubbed the back of his head silently before walking away without answering the Game's question, "That's what I thought," Hunter said and he finished his coffee resigned to his former position on Seth and Sasha. As far as he was concerned sending the press release was the right decision to make, even if he was the only one who thought that was the case.