Things were so different in 2009. He had only attacked John as a way of cutting ties. There had been no lead up, nothing really personal behind it. John messed up, Mike lost, Mike got drafted away, Mike cut the cord. Simple, concise. It hadn't lasted long anyway, they were friends shortly after he'd won Money in the Bank again anyway.
This... this is personal. This is John constantly making little comments about his faking his injury- which he had not, thank you very much, just spent an extra week or two in a wheelchair while working up the nerve to tell his best friend. This is John taking MoistTV, clearly a derivative of MizTV and not even asking Mike or thanking him after he had graciously tried to support the show from the start, then not even inviting him out when he had Logan Paul on for week two! Then the snide little comments about the Drip Stick, and... yeah. It had been building for awhile. Mike had done all he could to support John's ridiculous Moist shtick, and the Drip Stick, and everything that came with it, and this was how he was repaid.
So when John's apologies fall hollow after he'd made Mike lose to Xavier Woods, he takes a minute. Absorbs one last moment with his best friend and those damn Drip Sticks, before he turns and attacks. It's vicious, it's longer than one simple Skull Crushing Finale and leaving. No, he lingers on it, he takes his time with it, hitting and kneeing his best friend, taking him down, keeping him down, then dragging him up and hitting the Skull Crushing Finale as a final volley. He pauses once it's done, struggling to catch his breath, to accept what he's just done- how it will affect him personally, professionally. The way AJ will react, how George and Sara will feel at a potential permanent loss of Uncle Johnny.
He rests his hand on John's head, watching him breathe with a grimace on his face, silently thanking him for the years of loyalty, of trust. Of how hard they had tried to make friendship and dedication work in this insane business. Then he eases away and walks, alone, up that ramp once more, each breath a little more of a strain the further he gets from his prone best friend.
His phone is already lit up by the time he gets backstage, a couple of concerned calls from AJ, an angry one from Taya. He skips all of them, pockets it once he has his pants on, and takes his leave of the arena. He gets back to the hotel and books his own room, only entering their shared room long enough to grab the few things he'd left behind before the show- some shampoo, a couple bottles of water, and the clothes he'd flown in on- before leaving his copy of the hotel key on the dresser and taking his leave.
He's just dropped everything into his new room and turned Raw on in time to see John challenge him to a match next Monday, stopping short and observing his best friend. He looks, all in all, fine. A little sore, angry, hurt, but otherwise, fine. They haven't competed against each since John's final match in 2011, when he'd opted not to re-sign and go find his place elsewhere. His fingers twitch at his side.
"Alright, John," he mumbles to an empty room, eyes distant as he thinks about how so many things have changed in the last ten years, but yet so many others remained the same. Rivals, tag partners, friends, enemies, and everything in between, no one brought out the best in each other like they did. He sees no reason why this should be any different. "We can do this."