Since the Andre the Giant battle royal, Miz has moved on sufficiently from everything with Damien Sandow. He'd made his bed and would have to lie in it, no matter what that might mean. At first, Sandow had gone from mimicking one famous name to the next, growing more and more pathetic as the weeks go by. Mike figures he's found some sort of comfortable gimmick for himself when he settles into announcing himself as Macho Mandow with Curtis Axel going by the name of Axelmania. It's a dumb situation, Mike had tried to tell him back at Wrestlemania, but he'd opted to listen to Alex Riley and now look at him.
He still can't help feeling smug over it. While Sandow is lost in that nonsense, Mike continues booking more movie roles and not having to worry about his stunt double ruining the roles for him. He's on the phone with his agent, listening to the latest list of rehearsals he has to go through when he hears muffled footsteps behind him. Turning to look suspiciously, he frowns upon finding no one there, asking his agent to repeat himself. This time he focuses and catches it all, nodding. "Got it. Call you tomorrow when I'm back at home."
He's just hung up when he hears it again- shuffling, oddly familiar steps wandering just out of sight. He turns to look again and finds himself staring at blank air once more. "What the hell is going on?" he mumbles, heading back to his locker room, where he locks the door and sits down until it's time for his match.
It's not a one time thing, continues to happen whenever he looks for a bit of privacy for phone calls outside of his locker room, so he starts to just stay in his locker room. He can only imagine all of the jealous people who could possibly stalk him, hoping that it's not some freaky obsessive fan who keeps sneaking into the arena and following him around. He doesn't even have AJ by his side anymore, because she'd retired after Wrestlemania. He exhales and shuts the door behind him, locking it. Sinking down onto the couch, he closes his eyes and presses his arm over his eyes, trying not to think too hard about everything.
It happens again when he's walking to his car- the lurking footsteps and another noise mixed in with it. He freezes and turns slowly just for a sharp pain to crack against the side of his skull as he hits the ground and lays there, his vision slowly turning dark. "You're an actor," he overhears before he passes out completely. "You'll adjust."
He wakes up to incredulous arguing. He feels... weird. A little fuzzy around the edges, like something's wrong. But he can't tell what it is. His fingers curling around an item that he spots discarded a few inches away from his prone body, he lifts it and squeeches as loud as as he can, the arguing immediately stopping as he talks into the megahorn. "What the hell's wrong with you two? Can't you see I'm sleeping over here?!"
The two men turn to look at him. "Oh God," the dark haired man mutters, burying his face in his hands.
"It worked!" the other one gasps, a gleeful, evil look crossing his face.
Standing up uncoordinatedly, Mike stares at them. "Why are you looking at me like you've never seen me before? Everyone knows who the Mouth of LA, Mike Mizanin is!" Their reactions immediately intensify at this, one pleased and one horrified, and Mike frowns.
"What have you done?" the dark haired man hisses, gripping the other by the collar and shaking him. "He is more obnoxious than before!"
"Excuse me," Mike squawks, chest puffing out as he storms forward to defend his own honor. "I say, I am here to intrigue the crowds, to get them to pay attention to you two fools, I will not be disrespected in this fashion!"
"He thinks he's Jimmy Hart and probably that we're Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage," the first man groans, still hiding his face in his hands. "Oh my God, when you said you struck him to kidnap him, I didn't think... this would happen. He doesn't remember anything!"
"Sure, he does," the other shrugs. "He remembers his name... and he remembers how to be obnoxious. What more could he ask for?"
Mike frowns at them, barely following any of this. "Are you two on somethin'? What are you mumbling about over there?"
Both men straighten up and grin uncomfortably at him."No, no, Mike, we're good! So you remember us, huh?"
"Macho Mandow and Axelmania," he says, almost boredly. "What kind of manager would I be if I didn't remember you?"
Mandow grips Axelmania by the sleeve, almost tearing his shirt as he tugs him away. "Did you plan this?"
"How could I plan this?" he laughs off the suggestion, not caring enough to address the fact that he'd laid out the megahorn specially within arm's reach just for this purpose. "I did no such thing, I maybe hit him a little harder than I intended, but outside of that, there's no way I could've known how he'd react to a head injury now could I?"
"He has a wife, he has friends... people will figure this out, people will be after us," Mandow hisses, all but shaking his partner. "Why- why-"
"Why are you two still arguing like five year olds instead of out in that ring, making money for all of us like you're supposed to be," Mike intercedes, pushing between the two of them as they glare at each other. "I ask myself that very thing every day." Planting a hand on their shoulders, he pushes. "Now go!"
They wrestle, they go back to the locker room, they shower, dress, ignore the whispers and the stares, the general confusion of an A-Lister like Miz tagging along with Mandow and Axelmania, acting like their manager... Axelmania and Mike sleep fine that night but Mandow stares at the ceiling and tries to think of a way out of this that won't lead to either his or Axelmania's unfortunate passing at the hands of AJ Lee and Tamina.
He can't think of anything. Because of their actions, Mike truly believes he's their Jimmy Hart and Axelmania won't hear of doing anything to fix it, so... He sighs, rolls over, and punches his pillow a few times before trying to fall asleep all over again.
"We're so screwed," he mumbles.
Come daybreak, things aren't any better. Mike is still acting like a Jimmy Hart ripoff and Axelmania refuses to discuss it with him, perfectly content with the way things are. Until they arrive at the arena and Tamina is the first thing Mandow sees, his jaw twitching as he swallows hard. She eyes them, gaze resting on Mike's form as he lectures Axelmania about something pointless, Mandow wanting nothing more than to rush into the arena... when a familiar form steps out from behind Tamina, AJ staring at them with curious, dark eyes, head tilted like she used to do at her craziest.
Mandow gulps and grabs Axelmania and Mike, dragging them both into the arena and rushing through security and whatever else to get to the locker room where the women can't follow them. "What's your problem?!" Mike demands, tearing away from him as soon as he can, huffing and rubbing his shoulder. "Almost dislocated my arm, you idiot!"
Axelmania looks even more annoyed. "Yeah, what the hell is going on with you? Things are great but you're acting like the world's going to end or something!"
"You idiot, did you not see Tamina and AJ Lee back there?" He watches Mike, watching for some sort of reaction to the name of his wife, but he remains as clueless as ever and Mandow wonders what kind of damage they've done to him that he would forget this thoroughly. "We are so dead. So dead. Yes indeed, dead as a-" His babbles are abruptly ended when Mike slaps him, looking annoyed.
"Shut up with that nonsense. You're both stars, there will be no dying under my watch! Understand?" He looks like he's about to smack Mandow with his loud speaker if he dare say anything else, so Mandow falls quiet, glaring over at Axelmania for his role in this. "Understand?" he repeats, a warning undertone to his voice.
"Yes, we understand," Axelmania intones, Mandow finally catching his drift and echoing it, an annoyed look on his face.
As soon as he hears the magic words, Mike relaxes and starts bustling around the locker room, making various demands for his stars to be comfortable- special candies, pillows, some sort of mountain water that's supposed to be organic and... Axelmania looks intrigued by it all while Mandow just waits anxiously for the door to burst open, AJ Lee and Tamina coming through ready to fight to regain her husband.
They have a match. Nothing Mandow says gets through to Axelmania so he sets his jaw, he goes out, and he does his damn job. Miz is doing his damnedest to keep the crowd invested, booing all of them, cheering Stardust and Goldust... and then it happens. AJ Lee comes rushing down the ramp, Tamina at her back, and Mandow grimaces, not that surprised. Mike looks confused when she grabs at his arms, ordering her to stop manhandling him, but she starts to cry and he looks even more confused, staring down at her as Tamina watches, arms crossed over her chest.
The match is all but forgotten, allowing Goldust to hit Shattered Dreams on Axelmania and wrapping it up quickly. He's barely recovered when he's out of the ring, yelling at AJ to leave Mike alone. She looks confused, pained, and Tamina quickly intercedes, pushing Axelmania away from her and guides AJ back towards her husband. Mandow stands by the ropes and watches, the crowd too loud for him to hear her, but he can tell she's pleading with him, trying to understand what's happening.
"I don't know you," Mike insists, his dark blue eyes wide with confusion and uncertainty as she digs her nails in, trying to keep ahold of him somehow. AJ's shoulders are shaking, Mandow can see that much from this angle, and she slowly lets him go, Tamina wrapping an arm around her as she glowers over at Mike.
Mandow finally gives up, rolls out of the ring and stands with him. "Mike," he says, gaining the man's attention. "She's not wrong. You are her husband. Axelma-..." He exhales. Gives up pretenses. At least for now. "Curt wanted a mouthpiece. Thought if we had someone who could connect with the crowd, it would help our careers. But we couldn't think of anyone, and then you happened along, and he... he hit you with a crowbar. You've... you're suffering from amnesia or something." He turns to AJ, a horrible kind of guilt on his face. "He appears to be basing his personality off of JImmy Hart for some reason."
She stares at him. She glances at Mike. Turns sharply and slaps Damien soundly across the face, sending him clean off of his feet. As he sits on the floor and rubs his face, AJ and Tamina convincing Mike to leave with them, all he can think is I deserved that.
Word moves slowly through the locker room, but once it picks up steam, things happen in a rush. Curtis is suspended indefinitely for assaulting Mike and essentially abducting him, Sandow's punishment is that he's back to having no real path in his career- no tag team partner, no matches except for live events- and for this reason, he only hears whispers of Mike's condition, how AJ had taken him to hospitals, to specialists, to neurological doctors, to therapists, anyone and everyone for an idea to help him. All with mixed results. It's a good two months before he actually sees him in person.
Mike looks more like himself now at least, wearing suits and holding AJ's hand, but there's a tension about him that makes Sandow wonder if there are still gaps in his memory. If he can only just remember whisps of his life with AJ, if he has any idea that he was once upon a time, Mike "The Miz" Mizanin, WWE champion, with the world at his feet and a hunger for more.
Then their eyes lock and Mike stares at him with such disdain that there's no question- he can definitely remember enough to hate Damien. And as awful as that expression on his former tag partner's face is to witness once more, it eases some of the guilt weighing Damien down because it means, somewhere in there, Mike still breathes, grows stronger every day, fighting to reclaim the life that Axel and, yes, Damien himself had almost stolen from him.
It's not much, but for now, it's enough.