Thankfully, nothing seems to come of the tweet to RVD. The man isn't returning any time soon by what Alberto is guessing, and Ricardo says nothing about it to him. Considering how he had come to Alberto about possibly managing someone new the week prior, Alberto is pretty sure if the RVD thing is legit, Ricardo would've said something first. So he lets it go. Turns his attention to Batista's return, his rematch against Mysterio, and watching his best friend get made up for a NOH8 photo shoot. Miz isn't here tonight, still licking his wounds after the break up with AJ, and Del Rio is relieved for that. The arena immediately seems more peaceful, quiet. Sane.
As soon as the photos are taken and Ricardo is cleaned off, the tape gingerly taken off of his lips, he rejoins Alberto while wiping a wet washcloth over his face to clean the remaining stickiness off. "Did it look ok?" he asks anxiously, peering up at his former employer.
"Si, mi amigo, why wouldn't it have?" Alberto asks, resting a hand on his shoulder as they walk side by side to the locker room, Ricardo shrugging slightly. "It looked fine." As Ricardo plays with his phone after this, uploading the picture to twitter, Del Rio gets ready for his match, not looking forward to yet another match against the annoying luchador. "Ah, Ricardo?"
"Si?" the former ring announcer asks, looking up from his phone.
Alberto smiles at him, relieved that things are slowly heading towards normal for them once more- he had missed having someone to talk to, who could understand him no matter which language he spoke be it English or Spanish... "Batista returns tonight," he says, with no lack of disdain in his voice. Ricardo says nothing, watching him with wide eyes as he waits for his former employer to expound on the matter. "I have no doubt he will... address what I've been saying about him in one way or another." There's a dark look on Alberto's face as he fully turns to face his best friend. "You've been doing better in the last few weeks, helping out backstage when needed, and I'm pleased that you seem to be content with everything... so I want you to avoid him. Don't approach him, don't try anything should he confront me. Just let it all play out as it should. Si?"
Ricardo swallows, then nods. "Si, alright, Alberto. If, if that's what you want."
"I do," he mutters, squeezing his best friend's shoulder momentarily before going back to preparing. It's one less thing to worry about, at least, Ricardo possibly getting injured again trying to assist him. Which is good because after he spends a lot of the night stewing over Batista completely ignoring him and the things he's said and done over the past few weeks just to challenge Randy Orton for the WWE World Heavyweight Title, Rey gives him quite the challenge, Alberto only just managing to defeat him when- Batista's music hits. Alberto looks down upon him with disdain as he enters the ring, promptly screaming at him to get out of his ring, the tension building up within him. Fed up, he fakes like he's about to leave, just to spin around and try to attack Dave- just to fail dreadfully. He's slammed and then Batista Bombed for his trouble, the impact so thorough that he feels like his teeth are rattling around in his skull.
A referee helps him backstage but as soon as they pass the curtain, Ricardo is there and murmurs to the referee, hooking Alberto's arm over his shoulder and guiding him through the halls as he'd done so many times in the past. Alberto breathes heavily and leans into the younger man, relieved for his presence. "I'm ok," he mutters, eyes squinted shut against the pain still stabbing up his spine.
"I know," Ricardo responds quietly, not moving or relinquishing his hold on Alberto. "Here, here's the trainer's office." He pushes the door open and Alberto sighs as they walk side by side inside, Ricardo sounding as relieved as he feels once he's safely up on the cot they're directed to. As the trainer goes to work, examining his neck, spine and head, just to ensure that he doesn't have anything concussion or anything else worrisome going on, the former ring announcer sits across from him and waits patiently until the trainer finishes his initial exam. When he walks off and Del Rio opens his eyes, he looks much more stable and Ricardo smiles at him, holding his phone up so Alberto can see it.
It's on Twitter, set to a tweet that Ricardo had made just after his match and Alberto reads it, murmuring part of it aloud in Spanish. It hints back to what he had told him about not wanting help against Batista, and also contains a subtle compliment about the match he had had with Rey Mysterio and Del Rio smiles slightly, shaking his head. Only a handful of the people closest to them actual know that they're friends again, it becoming a sort of silent agreement between them that no one else needs to know. "Almost, eh?" he teases him anyway.
Ricardo shrugs. "Ay, si, well, you know the WWE Universe. If they had any idea what's happened the last few weeks, neither of us would get any peace about actually working together again. And I know you don't want that. So, it's fine."
Alberto stares at him closely, nodding slowly. "Si, mi amigo. This is true..." He tries not to let what he's feeling become too obvious on his face as the trainer finally brings him some ice and Ricardo helps him to put it into place against his neck.
By Main Event, Del Rio feels better. Even Mike on commentary doesn't stop him, his match against Sin Cara a thorough beatdown as he lays the other man out, only able to guess what Miz might be saying about him on commentary. Despite the victory, the match does him no favor with the neck and back pain that's been intermittantly dogging him since Monday. But he doesn't let it hinder him from sticking around for Smackdown as well, watching from the back with Ricardo and Alex Riley, Miz visibly stewing after his and Wade Barrett's exchange and the nonstop drama with AJ Lee.
Finally it all breaks down at the end as the two of them go chasing to the ring, joining in the rapidly growing fight on opposite sides. Eventually the show ends and order is slowly regained once most of them see the cameras are dead and fans are leaving. Alberto sneers at this, never needing cameras or eyes on him to finish a fight, but so it has been for the WWE in recent years. The two men walk side by side up the ramp and, for a wild moment, both forget the bad blood the last few months have provided them, everything going downhill so quickly once more between them after Miz had opened his mouth and insulted Ricardo, and Del Rio had done something a thousand times worse to the younger man.
Either way, he's quickly left alone as Ricardo and Alex drag Mike away for something that he suspects has to do with AJ Lee of course, but that's fine. The Rumble is in two days and he needs time. Time to get his head on straight, figure out what he wants to do with this Batista situation, and how best to win the Rumble yet again.