He's not sure where the idea comes from, really. He and John are back in California, lost in thought sitting around the kitchen table, the quiet drone of one of Sara Louisa's cartoons going on in the background, and their eyes meet at another of her highpitched giggles over some of the antics by the characters on the show, John's lips twisting into a faint smirk while Mike's eyes widen. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he wonders.
It's dumb, suicidal almost, but they've done stupider things for less reward than this. Even so... Mike swallows. "Yeah, I think so," he says.
With everything going on, it's not too difficult to rent out a survellience van once they're back in Florida for Smackdown. It's far from top of the line, just some outdated equipment and a nearly rusting exterior, but it does what they need it to, as they sneak into the Performance Center and bribe some workers inside to help them place cameras in a few places- outside of catering, where the usual interviews take place, and then John suggests they place a couple outside of the van, just so they can watch in case Braun finds them. From there, it just comes down to brainstorming what they actually want to do.
John suggests sabotaging his protein shake. Mike agrees to handle the goo placement on the ceiling overhead where they'd placed the cameras by the interview area. They then decide to destroy the windshield on the guy's rental car. "Does this seem like enough?" John wonders, tapping his fingers against his forearm.
Mike stares at the roughdrafts of their plans, John's quick sketches surrounded by Mike's chicken scratch. "Yeah," he says thoughtfully. "I mean, what else do you want to try to do to screw with him that would keep us from getting too close to him?"
John shrugs. "Nothing I can really think of, I guess."
Mike smirks and claps him on the back. "Then we do our thing, and meet back here in a little bit to watch the fireworks."
"Yep. See ya in a little bit." John goes right, Mike heads left, the device to drop pounds of bright green goo all over Braun held over his shoulder. He chuckles quietly to himself, amazed by all of the weird things still readily available even in the midst of a pandemic.
He pays off another worker to climb up into the eaves of the building and set things up for him, standing from below and peering through his sunglasses as the man scrambles around, putting the thing a little to the side of where Mike had instructed him. "Oh, whatever," he mumbles. "It should be close enough." Once it's done to his satisfaction, he texts John. I'm done, heading to van. See you soon.
He can imagine all too well John sneaking around, waiting for Braun to appear near catering, his parkour skills helping him to stay out of sight until just the right moment, the person they'd tossed a few dollars to to help distract Braun asking him if he could reach something up high near the production truck just to drag him away from his protein shake long enough for John to go and mess around with the lid the way they'd discussed.
Mike sits back once he's back in the van safely and sighs, laughing as he switches on the camera feeds and watches as John slips out of his hiding spot and ventures towards the cup, growing more confident as less people pay him any mind, busy with their own bustling to really observe what he's doing. John moves quickly, swaps the lid with the manipulated one, and is gone in a blink of an eye.
"Good to go?" Mike asks once John returns, and he nods with a bright grin.
"Of course we are!" They settle in to watch, which grows tedious at points, but finally Braun returns and they watch eagerly as he goes to drink the rest of the shake. Which promptly spills out all over him, leaving him pissed and in disbelief that something like that had happened to him.
A little later, John's phone dings. His interview is up next. "Ooh, turn the other camera on fullscreen," John urges and Mike obliges, the two of them watching as Braun stands where they'd placed the device overhead, Kayla by his side asking him a couple of questions as a warm up. "Now!" John hisses and Mike activates the device- just to watch as the goo pours all over Kayla.
"Oh," Mike mumbles, face heating up as he remembers the guy setting this up placing it wrong. "Dammit!"
John frowns as well, ultimately shrugging it off. "Let's just go do the car. That'll make us feel better."
It doesn't take much, Mike unearths the golf club and baseball bat, tossing the golf club to John while he himself clutches the bat. "Let's go." It's a quick enough job, a few swings by each and the windshield is completely shattered, but they're still thinking of things to do next when they hear Braun coming and scramble for cover in their van.
"He won't realize it's us," ends up being famous last words from John as they sit in wide eyed horror, watching Braun come right up to one of the cameras on the outside, staring viciously at it. At them. "Oh shit," John mumbles, the two of them unable to do anything but watch as Braun plants his massive hands and pushes. At first, the van just rocks back and forth but Braun adjusts his footing and really digs in, and-
Mike and John scramble for things to hold onto as the van tips, but physics are a bitch and they can only hold on for so long before the angle of the van puts too much pressure on their fingers. Mike lets go and topples into the dark bottom of the van first, John following behind a few seconds later. Mike grunts as John lands partially on top of him, his back throbbing from where he'd landed against the doors.
"Ow," John says helpfully and Mike groans in response. "Are you ok?" he wonders, shifting and letting out a hiss of pain. "Shit. Dammit." He moves again, biting back further verbalizations of discomfort, and rests his hand on Mike's chest. "Mike?"
"M ok. Oh my God." Mike closes his eyes, trying to focus on his breathing. "Why did we think this was a good idea?"
"I'm not sure," John says. "Let's just blame Sara's cartoons, ok?"
Mike lays there and thinks about that, and then laughs, a short, pained hiss of a giggle that's quickly followed by another, and another, until he's full on manic, John watching worriedly for a few moments before he too starts chortling.
That's how they're found a few minutes later by WWE medical staff, bruised and sore, but laughing relentlessly even as they're peeled off of the doors and taken inside to be checked out thoroughly.