Things turn around by Main Event. Miz watches from the commentary table as Ricardo and Alberto approach the ring for Del Rio's rematch against Big E, the ring announcer looking much calmer and even grinning happily as his employer greets him with the customary hand-clap before they head to the ring. The bucket is back in his hands since Alex had returned it to him early Tuesday, he and Mike spending what was left of Monday night looking it over and fixing the paint job where it had chipped when it met the wall. Mike has to grin as he reflects on the green streaks still staining his former protege's hair after Mike had gotten a little bored with the tedious touch up job, relieved that the red smears Alex had paid him back with had washed out easily enough.
Del Rio wins, despite AJ being out there. There are no major shenanigans, the girl barely even paying any of them mind as he watches her out of the corner of his eye, half-heartedly telling Cole he has as little to do with her as possible. It's the truth, too bad it's just on his end: the way she keeps showing up when he least expects it in the back, he wonders why, what exactly she's planning.
Between matches, he slips backstage for a moment and claps a hand on Ricardo's shoulder, grinning at him. "Doing better?"
Ricardo looks up at him, seeming a little embarrassed even as he nods in confirmation. "Si, Miz. Um, I'm sorry about that on Monday. It was just a bad couple of days..."
Mike shakes his head. "Don't worry about it, we all have them, right? Just glad you're ok now." He nods over at Del Rio as the older Mexican makes his way out of the catering area, handing over a bottle of water to his friend. "Congrats on winning the rematch, Del Rio."
"Gracias," he says simply, standing next to Ricardo and sipping inanely from his bottle.
Miz smirks a bit before nodding at the ring announcer. "I gotta get back out there, commentate this upcoming match. See you around."
"See you," Ricardo murmurs as Mike walks past to the curtain.
The next match involves 3MB and he and Cole watch on in some discomfort as Ryback comes out with his ambulance, interrupting the Usos vs 3MB match that's currently ongoing. At first Heath Slater, watching from the outside, tries to hide, but the monster spots him and shrugs off Heath's attempts at fighting back like he's nothing more than a gnat fluttering around his nose, slamming him to the floor and dragging him back up the ramp before tossing him into the ambulance, eerily similar to what he had done to Zack Ryder only a couple days earlier. "Damn," Mike mumbles in shock, shaking his head. Not many people like 3MB, especially Heath, but still... to see something like that happen twice in one week, well...
He's just glad Alex isn't here this week, choosing instead to stay in Florida for the week's NXT events. Just in case...
Alex doesn't come to Smackdown either, Alberto nor Ricardo there also, so Mike is alone to host MizTV and use his rematch clause against Wade Barrett. Which is ok, he can't complain- after all, Alex had been left to deal with all kinds of backstage ridiculousness, not to mention his own birthday, virtually alone for weeks while he filmed Christmas Bounty. Thankfully he doesn't see AJ before the show starts, but then Barrett interrupts his segment, lays into Fandango for leaving him high and dry in their tag match on Monday, and Miz's rematch begins. The dancer seems content to commentate for awhile... but that changes in a hurry when he demands his music and begins dancing with Summer Rae on the outside. Miz watches on, face crunched up like he's smelling something nasty- and that might actually be preferable to this- but it leaves him vulnerable to Wade almost getting the upperhand, Mike fighting free just to get kicked in the face by Fandango, the match going by DQ.
He stares up at the lights and shakes his head, not sure how it all happened so quickly. For a minute he wonders why Jericho hadn't done something, gone after Fandango, but then he remembers that the Canadian has his own match to worry about- against Big Show, no less. He grunts, hating that his one chance at getting the Intercontinental title- and some redemption- back had slipped through his fingers for such a stupid reason. Getting painfully to his feet, he staggers backstage and has just made it past the curtain when he hears a faint throat clearing sound, turning towards it with a frown. When he realizes that it's come from AJ, he turns back around and continues away from her, determined not to get wrapped up in her ridiculousness, not tonight.
"Aw, what's wrong, Mikey? Don't you want a dance partner too?" she calls after him, but he doesn't indulge her, relieved to leave the arena as soon as he collects his things, showers and changes out of his wrestling gear.
As hard as he wants to be his usual self, nights like tonight, frustrating and far from ending the way he'd hoped, merely serve to remind him that it's all just a facade, his confidence still low after that stupid Raw following Wrestlemania.
Alex is back on the road that weekend, talking about NXT and what he'd done there, while Miz half-heartedly listens. Not that he's not glad that his friend got to compete for the first time in awhile, but unfortunately he's still too stuck on how badly Friday had went to fully pay attention. On top of that, it's Alberto Del Rio's birthday and Ricardo had requested they watch over a box that Ricardo had bought for him, Mike feeling obligated to do so since the ring announcer had taken it upon himself to at least observe Alex's birthday while Mike had been in Canada. Well aware of how easily it is for items to get smashed into people's faces or used as weapons- and, yeah, he winces a little at that, remembering TLC a couple years back when he'd smashed a plate of he's-still-not-sure-what in poor Ricardo's face, before throwing him off the ladder about an hour later-, he keeps a very close eye on the box, glad that it gives him an excuse to be distracted.
Alex eventually falls quiet, the two men just sitting there watching the thing, when Del Rio's match finally ends and he and Ricardo return to the back, grinning at each other and discussing the match in Spanish. When Mike clears his throat, however, both stop and look up, Ricardo looking slightly guilty as he remembers. "Ah! El Patron, come," he urges his employer, leading him to the box still waiting for them, untouched. "This- this is for you," he explains as Alberto stares at the simple box with some confusion. "Gracias for keeping an eye on it for me, Mike, Alex."
"But, Ricardo, we already had a party back in Florida," Del Rio shakes his head. "Sofia, you and I-"
Ricardo smiles. "Si, El Patron, yes, but this is your real birthday, I couldn't just let it go by without making some notice of it." He laughs as Alberto shakes his head at the younger man, pulling him in to a quick hug before turning his attention back to the box. "Open it, por favor."
Nodding, Del Rio tears the flaps open, pulling the lid up enough to reveal a small, white cake with green and red borders on each corner. He laughs this time and squeezes Ricardo's neck, a fond grin on his lips. "Gracias, mi amigo." It makes four nicely sized pieces, Ricardo smiling as he hands out the decadent dessert with plastic forks he'd 'borrowed' from catering to the other three before taking his own, eyes gleaming.
"Feliz Cumpleanos," they wish the older man, Alberto nodding in thanks before they all begin digging into the layers of frosting.
Monday, Mike sees nothing mentioning him on the match board, though the Wade Barrett vs Fandango match is marked as an App Interactive match. He frowns and goes to see Vickie, curious exactly if he'll have something to do for the evening. Upon hearing from her that the App interactive choices will determine his role in the match, be it announcer, commentator, or referee, he's slightly appeased but not by much. He'd rather wrestle one or both of them, since his ruined attempt at getting the title back the Smackdown prior, but if this leads into that... well, he'll make do. As he always does.
Del Rio's rematch against Big E is early on in the evening and Mike sits next to Alex, watching as the two Mexicans approach the ring, Ricardo grinning at his employer while Alberto keeps a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Well, at least he seems to be doing better after last week," Alex says quietly, shifting next to his former pro. "I guess Main Event helped with that some, huh?"
"Yeah, seems to have," Mike nods. "Hopefully tonight goes alright too." And although AJ gets involved a bit, it does seem to go ok, the girl's distraction ultimately working against Big E and assisting Del Rio into forcing him into the exposed turnbuckle and rolling him up for a three count. After which, there seems to be some tension between the enforcer and girl, her repeating that she was only trying to help him as he leaves her behind, storming up the ramp. "Huh," he mutters, watching closely as the enforcer ignores her all the way up the ramp.
Alex purses his lips, brows furrowed as he looks from Mike to the TV screen. "Well, that was odd."
"Yeah, a bit." But they forget when Alberto and Ricardo return, talking back and forth quickly in Spanish. Alberto seems to still be favoring his ribs a little, understandably after the hard hits he'd taken in that match, but he stops when he spots Mike and Alex, standing up a bit straighter. Mike notices but says nothing, smirking at the Mexican's unbending pride. "Congrats on the win again." He nods at Ricardo before shifting over so the other two can sit down, if they want.
Ricardo does sit after a moment, glancing back at his employer who remains standing as he watches the commercial on the monitor while resting his hand on his friend's shoulder, half-listening when Mike asks Ricardo about how the paint on the bucket is holding up. "Ah, gracias," he nods. "It's fine, see?" He holds the item up so the two men can see it, and Mike grins at it for a moment. The four of them watch the show for awhile, Ricardo eventually turning to look up at Del Rio. "El Patron, por favor, sit down. You've just had a match," he beseeches his best friend, motioning to the space next to him.
Alberto hesitates, hating to seem weak, even if it's just in front of Mike and Alex, but finally sighs, nodding. "Fine, amigo. Fine." He obligingly sits down next to the younger man, some of the tension immediately leaving his face as he relaxes even a little. "Gracias," he murmurs after a moment, Ricardo smiling in response as they return to watching the show.
When Mike is alerted that it's time for him to go to prepare for the match he'll have to either officiate, announce or commentate, he waves at the other three before making his way to the door, pausing upon entering the hallway. "Well, here we go," he mumbles. He's dressed in black pants and his new shirt, smirking around at the crowd as he approaches the ring, waiting through a commercial break for people to vote on what role they want him to take.
He's more than a little glad when the voting time concludes with 85% of the votes going for him to referee the match, his grin growing as he switches out of his merch shirt and into the referee top. Relieved to leave the commentating to Main Event, and ring announcing to Ricardo, he turns and waits for Barrett and then Fandango to come to the ring. He tries to keep things clean, down the middle, but the two men in the ring make it nearly impossible. Before long, he's pushed across the ring and that does it, grabbing Wade just to hit the skull crushing finale on him. Even though this allows Fandango to get the win, he's equal opportunity on all fronts, so he dropkicks Fandango, causing Summer Rae to fall awkwardly on top of her dance partner, dazed. Laughing to himself, he counts the three and raises the girl's arm in victory before rolling out of the ring.
He's still grinning upon hitting the backstage area when he almost runs into someone, stopping short. "Sorr-" he's about to say, when he realizes that it's AJ Lee standing in his way. "Oh." Quickly turning and trying to walk past her, he's almost not surprised when the girl follows him, lips twisted in annoyance as he continues to ignore her.
"Oh, Miz," she calls out. "Do you think going into the male locker room will stop me? It never has in the past, you know. If you really want Alex and Ricardo and who knows who else to hear what I have to say to you, that's fine... I'd be glad to tell them everything-"
Finally he turns and faces her, crossing his arms over the striped shirt covering his chest. "Look, I get it. You're bored, poor ol' Ziggly is off in Arizona, trying to recover after his brains were scrambled, and Big E wants nothing to do with you after you cost him that match tonight. All of the other guys in the building know better than to look twice at you. So you think that means I'll give you a moment of my time, for you to belittle me or try to turn people against me." He takes a few steps closer and ghosts a hand in front of her face, almost touching but not quite as he sneers some. "You had weeks to do so while I was off filming Christmas Bounty, sweetheart. Ricardo and Alex are still my friends, so I'd say you've failed. How about you focus on your title opportunity against Kaitlyn, whenever that may be, trying to get Big E to come around and nursing Ziggler back to health, and leave me alone?"
She stares at him, her lips twisting thoughtfully. "As believable as your speech is, Mike," she whispers, standing on tiptoe so they're eye to eye, "...I know it's the last thing you'd want. You like this little game, even though we both know it'll never go anywhere, because it gives you the illusion that a part of me still cares even an iota about you. Me, I just like watching you fall for it over and over again." Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she turns on her heel and skips away as quickly as she'd come, Mike shaking his head as he watches.
"Dammit."