Mike frowns down at the draft pool information, shrugging. "Well, it's kind of irrelevant this year, champions aren't in the pool so there's no worry about Truth and I moving, or getting split up."
Morrison squints over at him. "Imagine if there were all these rules and things back in 2009."
Mike huffs, scrolling through the screen. "Yeah, imagine how different things might be."
"Do you think they'd be very different?" John wonders, rolling over on his side to look up at Mike from where he's getting some sun on Mike's patio. "If something had been put in place that led to us not getting split up in that draft?"
"I'm not sure," Mike says honestly. "I think eventually it would've ended the way it did. Just maybe a little later."
"You would've turned on me anyway," he says, voice even and expression unsurprised.
"My goal was always to be world champion," Mike admits. "I probably would've, yeah. But like I said, things probably would've ended up the same. So I would've regretted it and tried to earn your friendship back at some point."
John smiles a little, shrugs. "Yeah, I guess so. You can be pretty determined like that sometimes."
Mike chuckles. "Yep. Especially for something I really want."
"Glad my friendship is on the same par as a world championship for you," John teases.
"Pretty close," Mike admits, setting his phone aside and leaning back in his chair, adjusting his sunglasses. "Glad to see you're done rehabbing your abs and back to wrestling after Mania weekend."
John smirks, then rotates his arm, rubbing the muscles around his elbow thoughtfully. "Yeah, it wasn't serious, thankfully. Good to be back in the grind after Bloodsport."
"Maybe it was a little bit of karma for leaving Dalton's Boys up in that Canadian mountain," Mike teases.
"Meh," he says, waving it away. "If Castle really cared, he would've gone and looked for them."
"Maybe he did," Mike shrugs. "Who knows, weirder things have happened."
"True," John says. "Never say never in wrestling after all."
This fresh on their mind, they both settle back, enjoying the warmth of the sun beating down upon them. "Great," Mike sighs after a few minutes. "Now I can't stop imagining Dalton Castle fighting a bear for those two Boys."
John cracks up.