Mike, still lost in sober thoughts about what he should do regarding AJ Lee and that whole situation, makes his return to Main Event that Wednesday. Although he's only there in a commentary role, Big Show's unending bragging about being better than the whole locker room- not to mention his actions against Ricardo Rodriguez still fresh in the Awesome One's head- causes him to leave the desk and attack him after his third match against Khali, sending him clear out of the ring, not wanting any more of the angered Superstar. Miz leans over the ropes, daring Show to come back, get some more. I'm so glad I wasn't attacked this week so I could be here for this, he thinks with a sneer as Big Show continues to retreat like the coward he is.

That fight hadn't done his shoulder any favors, but none-the-less, he works through it and wrestles against Cody Rhodes on Smackdown, picking up another victory. But instead of making him feel better, it only makes him feel worse. As he drops down next to Alex in the locker room, he presses his thumbs into his eyes. "I don't know why they keep doing that."

"Doing what, Mike?"

"Making me wrestle Rhodes," he admits. "I keep beating him, and I deserve a rematch against Cesaro, but this is what I'm left with." He sighs, staring at his hands. His still AJ-dominated thoughts are distracted slightly as they watch Del Rio compete against Wade Barrett, Mike laughing for the first time in he's not sure how long as Ricardo mocks the Brit on the outside. His laughter fades to a smirk as the Mexican champion's quick thinking saves his ring announcer when Barrett chases after him, the match going back and forth for awhile until finally Del Rio eaks out a victory.

Once the show ends, his thoughts return once more to the situation he'd put himself in. Steeling himself, he knows what he has to do. "I'm going to tell AJ," he finally speaks the words aloud despite their tasting like charcoal on his tongue. He feels Alex's uncertain stare on him and smiles mirthlessly. "About how I used her. It's time."

When he finally looks over at Alex, the younger man looks almost as uncertain as Miz feels, his teeth scraping across his lips until finally he speaks, his eyes dark with sincerity. "Whatever you need, Mike. I'm always here for you."

That is one thing Mike has never doubted. "First things first, I gotta go talk to those two," he says, nodding at the monitor which has frozen on that last shot of Alberto and Ricardo staring down at Swagger and Kolter, the Wrestlemania sign hanging in the distance as if a prelude of what's to come between the four men.

"Oh?"

"You'll see," he grins, eyes gleaming with humor as Alex rolls his eyes and punches his good shoulder lightly.

"Tease!"

Mike laughs again before leaving the room, heading off to find the two men to discuss what he was thinking of suggesting to Vickie Guerrero for Raw.

With all of the far-reaching news coming from Swagger winning Elimination Chamber and moving onto Wrestlemania, it's an easy sell to get Vickie to agree to another edition of MizTV for Raw. Although he'd been annoyed by the more recent editions of his show, this one has some meat to it. Actual current issues. After noting that, for whatever reason, the entrances for his show had all happened during commercial break, he takes it upon himself to introduce the four men appearing on his show.

He notes out of the corner of his eye that, while Del Rio has a large smile on his face, Ricardo Rodriguez looks grim, though he does relax slightly when, upon Miz introducing the ring announcer, Alberto looks over at his best friend and pokes him slightly with his microphone. All traces of good humor leaves the champion, however, when Kolter begins to talk, and they get into the politics of their disagreement. Miz stands back and lets them go at it for awhile, only interceding when he absolutely feels like he needs to, trying to keep control over what's his show no matter what Kolter and Swagger seem to think, and personally, despite his growing friendship with Ricardo, thinks he handles it as unbiasedly as possible.

But Kolter doesn't seem to agree, returning when Mike tries to leave, arguing with him that he was biased, just for Swagger to blindside Mike and lay him out against the rough steel ramp. Referees try to help him up, beseeching him to go see the trainer, but his head is aching, his shoulder is throbbing, and hatred is pooling in his veins. "NO!" he snaps at them, all of the men surrounding him scattering away as he forces himself back to his feet, one hand on his bad shoulder and the other cupping his head. "Leave me alone," he grumbles.

He returns to Vickie's office and, ignoring Brad Maddox, demands a match against Swagger from her. She examines him with a shrewd eye before granting him his match. Before the clueless former referee could try parroting her, Mike storms out of the room once more and finds Ricardo standing anxiously there, wringing his hands. Miz stops short before running right into him, grunting when his shoulder protests the sudden movement. "What are you doing here?"

He frets and bites his lip, looking up anxiously. "I guess... I just wanted to make sure you're ok. Swagger attacked you partially because of us, so, you know..."

Mike groans, shaking his head. "I get myself into enough trouble without you or Del Rio helping, don't worry about it. It's not your fault. I'm going to be fine. Especially after I kick Swagger's ass tonight." When Ricardo frowns, confused, Miz smirks. "Vickie just granted me a match against him. And, hey, do me a favor?"

"O- of course, what do you want?"

"Tell your amigo over there that I don't want him to get any ideas, I don't need help tonight. I want to handle Swagger on my own." The ring announcer turns quickly and looks over to find Del Rio standing a few feet away, keeping a watch out, as if he didn't know his employer had followed him.

"Oh," he breathes, shaking his head in surprise as he locks eyes with his best friend. "Si. Of course, I'll let him know, Mike. Um, good luck tonight." Walking off, he rejoins the older man and they leave, Del Rio's arm wrapped loosely around his shoulders as he ducks his head, listening to whatever the younger man is telling him.

But luck isn't enough, no matter how he tries, Swagger lays him out again and defeats him with the Patroit lock, his hand flailing against the mat as he taps, taps, taps, desperate to get free as his ankle throbs like hot fire. Referees once more crowd around him, helping him up, and this time he allows it as his ankle protests each movement, pain stabbing up to his thigh. Alex greets them outside of the trainer's office and sits quietly with a stewing Mike as the usual happens, his ankle poked and prodded before wrapped up in ice packs for nearly an hour. They leave shortly after the show ends, the trainer determining that his ankle should be alright as long as he takes it easy for a couple of days.

Mike agrees more just to get out of there than anything and hobbles over to the door, Alex supporting him all the way to the car. "Are you hungry? We could probably find some drive-thru that's open, or I could run in and get some carry out, or..."

"I just want to go back to the hotel and wait for AJ," Mike says, his head resting back against the carseat and eyes closed as he tries to mentally prepare himself for whatever might come.

Alex hesitates, taking in the paleness and tight lines of Mike's face. "Maybe you should wait to talk to AJ," he suggests, knowing immediately that it's the wrong thing to suggest as Miz sits up and looks right at him, blue eyes steely and full of warning. "I'm just trying to help, Mike. You're hurting, and-"

He deflates some, a little of the anger easing from his gaze, and shakes his head. "I have to do this. Just drive, Alex, please."

The former NXT rookie releases a deep breath and slowly guides the car out onto the road, keeping his thoughts and comments to himself. The ride is very quiet and tense, both men lost in their own ponderings. Despite not agreeing with this, Alex stays by his side and they watch from their car as Superstars trickle into the hotel lobby, fans lingering around inside for autographs and photo opportunities. It's obvious when Dolph, AJ and Big E. arrive, the large man scaring off fans with his steely glare. Mike's out of the car before Alex can even blink, limping to the building as quickly as he can.

"Dammit!" the younger man exclaims, quickly leaving the vehicle as well to try to help his friend. But, despite his ankle issues, Mike is tenacious and fast and Alex can't catch up with him, left in the dust all the way to the elevator. He's waiting for another car when a group of fans, some vocally complaining about Mike all but ignoring them, converges around him and distracts him, A-Ri too goodnatured to diss them, no matter how worried he is for his former mentor.

Mike hobbles through hallways, watching and listening for the trio, knowing that this is the floor they'd been on because he'd just caught sight of the floor the elevator they'd gotten on had stopped at as he'd pressed desperately for his own elevator. The hall is quiet however, so he figures that they must've already made it to their room. Frowning, he balances against the wall, his ankle pulsing in pain against the confines of his shoe even as he tries to take some of the pressure off of it. He's about to give up and go back down to the main floor, find Alex and go lay down, begrudgingly admit to AJ his weakness from minute one of their... whatever you could possibly call it... some other time, when he hears a door click open and...

"I'll be right back," the voice he'd grown so fond of over the past few months laughs as he gulps and looks around, unable to move or do anything. Sure enough a moment later, AJ Lee is walking down the hall towards him, her eyes widening when she looks up and catches sight of him. She tenses and looks away, his words from the week before fresh in her mind. She's just walked past him, a bucket for ice in her hands, when he reaches out and catches hold of her wrist, unable to stop himself. When she finally locks eyes with him, she looks truly deranged, her eyes flashing with both anger and pain. "Let me go or I will scream. And trust me, you do not want to be here when Big E. hears that."

He obliges, letting her go, but before she can rush past him, he speaks. "Can we talk for a minute? I have... I have something to tell you."

She snorts, but does stop to Mike's bitter relief. "Haven't you said enough? You don't want anything to do with me. Message received."

"You deserve the whole story," he tells her faintly. "I need to tell you."

"Then tell me and leave me alone, Mike. I have a boyfriend who really cares about me to go back to."

The words sting and he closes his eyes, knowing deep down that he deserves to have each and every one of them seared into his brain, especially with what he's about to say. "When I... I first started showing interest in you, it... It was because of your being General Manager. I wanted you to have a reason to help me get Morrison's job back. After awhile, I did honestly care about you, but at first... it was just a means to an end, for my benefit. I used you. And I just wanted to say I'm so sorry, and I hope that Dolph is everything for you that I couldn't be."

She stands still for long, scarily silent moments and he swallows, not sure what to expect. When she finally turns completely towards him, he is unsurprised by the look of angered pain in her eyes. "Do you think that I didn't suspect this? Everyone used me when I was general manager," she tells him cooly. "It should've been the best time of my life, but it honestly was the worst. Instead of being on top of the world, I had everyone after me for this, do that, be better, act saner. I tried telling myself that you were just maybe the one person there for me but it lurked in the back of my mind that maybe, maybe you were no better than the rest. So, you know, thanks for the confirmation."

Ice now forgotten, she walks past him back towards Dolph's hotel room and he stands there with his hands held into fists, listening as the door beeps open as she enters the keycard. "Babe, the ice was all melted and disgusting. I'll try again later, ok?"

Mike releases a shuddering breath when she shuts the door behind her, staring down at his aching leg. "Way to go, Mike." Uncomfortably aware that Alex is either still stuck in the lobby or looking fruitlessly for him, he stares at the elevator in consideration, but eventually walks past it to the stairs. He doesn't feel like waiting to get off of this floor and, although it's going to be murder on his ankle, he decides that the pain of walking all the way back down the stairwell to the lobby to look for his friend is the least of what he deserves right now.